On the way home from work today, I was listening to KNBR -- local sports radio show. One of the hosts (might have been Tolbert) seemed to think that Jeremy Accardo would get a chance to close soon. I actually think he might be onto something. Herges, Fassero, and Brower are clearly not the answer. Accardo was the closer for the Giants' AA team and apparently did well. He had a brief appearance in the 8th inning yesterday and closed the inning out without any drama.
He's definitely somebody to keep an eye on and if he continues to perform well in late inning situations, I would be tempted to take a flier on him.
PHONENIX -- Former Illinois State player Jeremy Accardo made his major league debut Wednesday for San Francisco, pitching a perfect inning and registering his first strikeout in the Giants' 6-2 loss to Arizona.
Accardo, 23, entered the game with the four-run deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning at Bank One Ballpark. He threw 16 pitches, 10 of them for strikes, including a strikeout of the Diamondbacks' Quentin McCracken for the second out. He also retired Chad Tracy and Chris Snyder on fly balls.
On Monday, San Francisco recalled Accardo from Class AA Norwich, where the former Redbirds shortstop had posted a 1-0 record with four saves and a 0.93 ERA in eight appearances. He led the Giants' farm system with 28 saves last season.
He sounds like the Giants version of Brad Baker. If that's the case, he'll probably become the closer until Benitez returns, although managers are normally hesistant to give rookies a closer job.
I watched him pitch. Plus fastball. 95 MPH with good movement that will break bats of many right handers and tail away from lefties. Has closer type fastball. Throws strikes.
Negatives: Only threw one breaking pitch and it didn' do anything. Can't tell if it's not a good pitch generally or if that was just one bad one that he threw then.
Anyway, chances of him closing don't seem high. The giants are not the royals; the giants could actually win their division. I would be mildly shocked if Accardo gets the nod as closer. I figured Aardsma would be the choice if they're looking to go young there.
Anyway, he's a kid to keep an eye on because of that live fastball. Just not this year, IMO.
Your boy on the radio was probably commenting on the speculation started by the chronicle that Accardo may get a chance if he can prove himself in a few outings in relief in the majors first. I'd keep an eye on SF but no need to rush out and pick him up, it's not like this thing is on the radar. I only know because I took the time to look at the SF Chronicle to see what the talk was and this other guy knows because he listened to SF talk radio.
I still think Herges is the best bet although Brower has been getting the bulk of the chances lately. I think if I had to own one of them I would want to own Herges because of his experience, the "know what you're going to get" factor, and because Alou is the most familiar with him. But keep your eye on the situation and don't sleep on this Accardo kid, his fastball is electric and he has closer experience in the minors (Mentality and all that blah blah blah).
Yeah I definitely wouldn't be trying to pick him up right now unless I was in a really really deep league. But given how long Benitez will be out and given how crappy the rest of the bullpen looks, he might get a few looks. Also, I forgot to mention Tyler Walker who's in the mix as well. What a mess!
I believe the Giants are just trying to catch lightning in the bottle with Accardo, by promoting him to the majors so soon over other more seasoned pitchers. He was their best RP at the moment in the minors.
It was FP Santangello who was talking about him, Action. Mid nineties fastball, and I thought he had a pretty decent breaking ball. He did a lot better than Valdez and Aardsma in his major league debut.
I don’t know, he certainly looks like he has the stuff to be a closer. I think the Giants need to use him in more game situations though before they consider taking Brower or Eyre out of the role.
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by ActionHero » Fri May 06, 2005 2:14 am 
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