To Close or Not to Close. That May Be Our Question. Unfortunately.
Im wondering if we need to start re-debating our (or anyones) need for a true closer. Not because I don't think they're useful; but because I don't think we have one. And the one We had when we had him as a closer sucked when it mattered. Let's face it, Nathan blew that yankees series and was shaky down The stretch when he was needed. My point is, capps looks awful. We need to be able to win with a bullpen getting guys out in the 9th just like the 8th.
6 Comments:
What did we give up for Capps?
Is it more of a psychological thing for the guy in the bullpen to know that he is going to be expected to close out the win instead of say having someone pitch the 7th one day and the 9th the next? Closers do seem kind of like the heads of a hydra, whenever one goes down another one pops up. For example, Everyday Eddie did it.
July 6, 2011 at 11:56 AM
Wilson Ramos. He wouldn't have come in handy this year. Nope.
I agree, RTS. I've been on the "There's no need to designate someone a 'closer'" bandwagon for a couple years. Baseball people consistently say that there's something to the mental calmness that comes from "knowing what your role is," however, so that's the excuse usually trotted out. And it's a good one, because it sounds truthy and possibly correct and is unproveable. I don't know why "your role" can't be expanded or modified, however. To something like "our best reliever for high leverage situations" or "reliever #3 - expect to throw 82.3 innings this year." I think professional athletes can take whatever mental steps are necessary to be ready for those roles whenever they're needed.
Anyway, we knew we overspent for Capps when we got him, and now we're feeling the pain. His success in Washington felt fraudulent given some of the peripheral numbers. Somehow he scraped by alright last season, perhaps from lack of familiarity of AL batters. But 92 with no movement is gonna catch up with you eventually.
I think the biggest problem with the bullpen this year was losing Duensing to the rotation. Necessary, but painful. I had thought Shaggy and the Crainwreck could have been replaced, although that hasn't panned out too well, either, I guess.
We let go of Rauch despite better performance than Capps so far this season. Ouch.
July 6, 2011 at 1:21 PM
The debate on here, driven hard by MCA over the years, has definitely brought me over to the closers are over rated side. It would seem to me that a guy with ice water in his veins should be able to come in at any point and put out the fire or the potent part of a line up and not just pitch the 9th. I guess where I am going with this is the definition of firemen circa 1982.
July 6, 2011 at 1:33 PM
It takes a lot for Minnesotans to boo, and apparently Capps has been literally boo'd off the mound his last two outings (and rightfully so). Last night the crowd was chanting "we want Per-kins" during the ninth. Classic.
Funny thing is, I think we all generally liked this deal last summer because, as Jan pointed out to me, it was ANY deal. The Twins finally made a move, and this seemed legitimate.
Well - yeah, we could really use Wilson Ramos right now.
July 7, 2011 at 12:05 AM
Few points *
1. We grew up with 2 closers who were critical in our titles (tho long ago they be) but I have to agree that unless you're trotting Mariano out there every night (and maybe one or two other guys) to close out a game, it probably doesn't matter, right? I'd also like to see what the data is on going with the lefty v. righty stuff that Gardy loves so much (Mijares kills me now) I bet Bill James has something on this? Or maybe BG has done some regression analysis on this?
2. Capps - I liked the deal when it was made. We had to give up something to get something and we made a move for an arm during a season where we won 94 fucking games. Is Ramos good? I guess. Is he better than Capps? Maybe. Either way, Capps should still get booed. I'm not a playa hater, well, I guess I am being the defintion of "a playa hater." The point, FTLOSW, is that he should still be forced to enduring the booing. He actually said he deserved it so I kinda like that about him.
3. Speaking of booing, why does Mauer take off today's finale against the Devil Rays (I refuse to drop the "Devil")? I mean, is it too much to ask him to play 10 games in a row (his last day off was June 30)? He played July 1 at catcher then on July 2 plays DH when Pavano pitches so it's not like he's really exerting himself. he plays July 3, 4 and 5 but has to take the day game off today? It's apparently all about getting at bats and there were five sitting out there today that might have helped. Now he's gonna play first base? Why not start playing it today? Or come into the game today when it got close after Cuddyer tied it up? We kinda need to win every game we can and we're better with him than without him. Is it rest he really needs? Well, he's not going to the All-Star game (cheap shot) so that's four days off next week. Anyway, I'm just sayin'.
* I tried to post this from my phone earlier and it fucked it up. Goddam technology can suck it.
July 7, 2011 at 1:14 AM
Did I not see a blurb this morning that Mauer's going to be a first base today? Maybe that would help him not miss the series finales all the time. Or at least DH him, he needs the at-bats to get out of this slump he's in.
I wasn't against the Capps deal when it happened for the same reasons as you guys laid out. We needed a late inning arm. I wasn't convinced he was as great as his success rate indicated, and I was sure that in other times we could have gotten a lot more for Ramos, but looking at the context at the time it wasn't a terrible idea. None of us knew Mauer was going to miss 50 games early this season.
July 7, 2011 at 10:06 AM
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