Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Big Pappy!

dcat has an enormous man-crush on rookie Jonathan Papelbon, who is now 4-for-4 in save opportunities for the Sox.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What happens to Keith Foulke?

Wed Apr 12, 11:15:00 AM CDT
dcat said...

Good question. I see a couple of possibilities. At some point he could resume the closer's ole, especially if Pappy falters or begins to show the strain of a oong season -- relievers are like backup quarterbacks -- it is no longer just a luxury to have more than one. he coule fall into that Wetteland-Rivera status the yanks had before Rivera fully emerged. Or, and I know this sounds like apostasy because of what happened in 2003 when we tried it, but we could do the closer by committee.

Hear me out on this -- Bill James has always argued that the closer is overrated, and that you should put guys into position to do their best in the inning that is most important, which is not always the 9th. most any decent MLB pitcher will close out most games that fit save categories, but there may be times when the 7th or 8th is the most dangerous or important inning -- a one run lead in the 8th is more important and harder to protect than a 3 run lead in the 9th.

And of course there is also the situational factor -- we have two guys, if Foulke recovers to where he once was, who are cosers. Sometimes a fireballer might be the guy to have. At others, a guy with a killer change might be best. I suppose it is in a manager and pitching coach's DNA to lock down these roles, but that does not have to be -- it was not until LaRussa started using Eckersley in the way we now recognize as the standard practice -- one inning save situations -- that this became the standard practice. We have two able guys -- why pigeonhole, especially when for now both seem to be playing the role of good team guys. I know this has a role at contract time, but as the Hold increasingly is recognized as a signiicant stat, maybe that factor will wane.

dcat

Wed Apr 12, 11:53:00 AM CDT

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