Closers are mishandled and
overrated. When Dennis Eckersley was closing for
the Oakland A's in the 1980's other managers around the
league saw what he was doing and thought: "Gee, I need a
closer who can come in and lock down those close games."
What they really needed was Dennis Eckersley to come in
and lock down those close games, but the supply of
Eckersleys was, and still is, limited. So they
took their best short man, who often posted an ERA over
4.00, and who wasn't any more effective than forty other
guys would have been in that position, and they sent him
in for the ninth inning of most of their close games.
What happened? The guy's save total skyrocketed
and soon he was demanding millions per year.
However, if you take pretty
much any one of your bullpen pitchers and use him in the
ninth inning of seventy games, he'll manage to hold on
to enough of them to rack up thirty or forty saves.
Does that mean that he's now worth $10 million per year?
Of course not. Take the exact same pitcher and
pitch him for the sixth and seventh inning of seventy
close games. He won't get any saves and the
following year he'll be happy to play for something
close to the league minimum. But it's the same
pitcher!
The only quality that a
top-notch closer must have that some players do not is
the ability to warm up quickly. You don't see any
closers in the major leagues who need a hundred warm-up
pitches before they can come into a game. Do you
want to pay someone millions because he has a rubber
arm? I would hope not. But most, if not all,
major league teams do exactly that.
Let me describe a game
situation for you. It's the bottom of the sixth
inning at Fenway Park and the visiting Yankees are ahead
by a score of 6 to 4. The Yankees starting pitcher
allowed a double, then walked the next two batters.
The bases are loaded and the go-ahead run is standing on
first. The Yankees bring in one of their
middle-relief guys from the pen. He manages to get
a strike out, an infield pop-up, and a fly ball to
center. The bottom of the sixth is over and the
Yankees have retained their lead. The
middle-relief guy stays in and pitches the seventh and
eighth innings without giving up any more runs. In
the bottom of the ninth the score is still 6 to 4 and
the Yankees bring out their superstar mega-millionaire
closer to wrap things up. He retires the side in
the ninth and is credited with a save. But who is
the real hero of the game?
How many major league managers would have brought in
their superstar closer to that situation in the bottom
of the sixth? I would venture to say absolutely
none. How many times have you watched your
favorite team in a similar situation blow the game
because their middle reliever gave up a couple of runs?
I realize the manager wants to save his top reliever for
when there's a lead to protect, but how much sense does
it make to let the top reliever watch as a pitcher with
weaker skills blows the game, regardless of what inning
it is?
Contact me with any positive feedback, snide
comments, sincere or sarcastic questions,
pseudo-intellectual remarks, or honest wishes for a long
and pleasant life.
