Closer predictions by July...

[Havok1517]

no, no he cannot.

[go_jays_go]

no, no he cannot.

My point exactly.

[BitterDodgerFan]

bj ryan = this years arthur rhodes

[LBJackal]

bj ryan = this years arthur rhodes

BJ Ryan = good RP, Arthur Rhodes = bad RP. Doesn't mean Ryan will succeed as closer, but don't compare him to Rhodes who carried the illusion of being a good pitcher for quite some time after sucking. Some people still think he'd be good in a setup role.

[AKhomebrewer]

Fun stuff; closer prognostication usually is.

When I look into my crystal ball for July, I see a combination of Havok:
Ariz- Valverde
Cubs - Urbina
Pit - Gonzalez
Was - CCordero

and Jackal:
Cle - Betancourt (and his group of incumbents; Tsao, Graves, Baez, Takatsu, Affeldt).

and this:
Sea - Putz

[TownDrunk]

Doh!

Eddie Guardado strained his right hamstring while running in the outfield today and likely will miss some time.
The Mariners will have a better idea tomorrow whether the injury is severe. If Guardado is DL bound, the team will spend the rest of the spring deciding whether Julio Mateo, J.J. Putz or Jeff Nelson should close. Mar. 10 - 7:57 pm et

[NZF]

bj ryan = this years arthur rhodes

BJ Ryan = good RP, Arthur Rhodes = bad RP. Doesn't mean Ryan will succeed as closer, but don't compare him to Rhodes who carried the illusion of being a good pitcher for quite some time after sucking. Some people still think he'd be good in a setup role.

No, that's just not right. Rhodes was an elite RP for two seasons. One season you can fluke, not 2. BJ Ryan did no more last year than Rhodes did in 2001 and 2002. Before that, Ryan had an average record as a RP.

For the record, Rhodes pitched 138 innings combined in 2001 and 2002 with 164 K's, an ERA just over 2.00 and a WHIP of .085. That is not the record of a bad RP.

But as we both agreed before the beginning of last season, Rhodes will suck as a closer and he'd probably be ordinary as a RP now as well. He's 3 years past his best.

[LBJackal]

Yeah Rhodes' career sample size was enough to show that his 2 years were either a fluke, not going to happen again, whatever you want to call it. It's not because he was only a setup man and didn't have "closer stuff" it's because - well, he sucks. I really don't know why Beane singned him to be closer. Right from the start that deal looked horrible.

[Havok1517]

HAHAHA Eddie is already hurt! If Guardado goes down then I think a trade is on the horizon at least for insurance due to the fact that Sea doesn't have anybody else with closer stuff until/if Soriano comes back from TJ.

[NZF]

Brad Lidge will spend time on the DL and will not get over 20 saves.

Can you justify this?

I can justify it all right. Like anything I write, I can justify it.

Lidge has pitched close to 200 innings in the past 2 seasons. For a young relief pitcher that is a huge amount, for a young pitcher with a long injury history, that spells DANGER.

He pitched 107 innings last season. He was worked very hard until as late as October the 20th.

This season, the Astros bullpen is pathetic. Take out their No 1 and 2 starters and there rotation is paper thin. Lidge is going to be asked to do a lot of work again and something has to give.

He is a very likely candidate to be on the DL some time this season.