2009 Closers Thread (No Game Commentary Please)

[BitterDodgerFan]

Are you kidding? Have you already forgotten the 3-year stretch Chad Cordero had with the Nats? Those teams were awful too, albeit slightly better than today's Nats. What about Soria last year for an awful Royals team? I won leagues with both of them.

Losing teams are great places to find cheap saves. As someone already said here, they get more chances in close games.

I think the WA situation is definitely worth keeping an eye on.

And if one of those bums learns how to close out a game they might win a few more.

Cordero and Soria are/where top closers though. None of these guys on the Nationals are or even have the tool's to become top closers. At max they will get 45 save opp's as a team and I doubt they convert 30 of them, divided by the 8 different guys we see closing you'd be better off grabbing a MR from another team

cadensdad, no offense but i think your statement is quite ignorant since you have no idea of the depth of the leagues people play. some play NL/AL only or super deep, 16+ team leagues where saves are hard to come by. stop trying to defend yourself because your original statement is wrong as can be and there is a reason why we come to this thread to discuss these things.

[mobzz]

Matre to DL. Is Melancon next in line? I'm a scared Rivera owner.

[Steve-o]

Cordero and Soria are/where top closers though. None of these guys on the Nationals are or even have the tool's to become top closers. At max they will get 45 save opp's as a team and I doubt they convert 30 of them, divided by the 8 different guys we see closing you'd be better off grabbing a MR from another team

This is one of my pet peeves and I hate when people just flippantly say this. There is no meaningful correlation between a winning record and save opportunities.

Prior to the 2008 season, Derek Carty ran a number of tests to find out if saves and save opportunities could be predicted, based on a variety of factors (including, but not limited to, team wins, runs scored, and runs allowed). What he found was intriguing, as none of those factors correlated with save opportunities in any significant way. It seems counterintuitive to say that the things that win ballgames—namely, preventing and scoring runs—and the wins themselves, have little to no bearing on the number of times that a team will find itself in a save situation, but the numbers don't lie.

Last year:
Rank Team W-L SaveOpps
1. Angels 100-62 90
2. Mets 89-73 75
3. Cardinals 86-76 74
4. Brewers 90-72 71
5. Red Sox 95-67 70
6. Cubs 97-64 69
T7. Rays 97-65 68
T7. Mariners 61-101 68
T9. Twins 88-75 66
T9. Rangers 79-83 66
T11. Astros 86-75 65
T11. Phillies 92-70 65
13. Tigers 74-88 64
T14. D'backs 82-80 62
T14. Orioles 68-93 62
T16. Marlins 84-77 61
T16. Rockies 74-88 61
T18. Royals 75-87 60
T18. Giants 72-90 60
T18. Nationals 59-102 60
21. Padres 63-99 59
T22. Blue Jays 86-76 58
T22. Dodgers 84-78 58
24. Pirates 67-95 57
25. Yankees 89-73 56
26. Reds 74-88 55
27. A's 75-86 53
T28. White Sox 89-74 52
T28. Indians 81-81 52
30. Braves 72-90 49

[Field]

Hawkins just picked up his first save since Valverde hit the DL. He was actually called on in the 8th with 2 outs and 2 men on; he got behind in the count 3-0 to Frenchy, but ended up striking him out. He picked up 2 more K's in the 9th for a clean save.

He looks to be a good pickup for the month of May.

[Yanks_Baby]

I stand by my statement. Hawkins is going to be a sweet pick up. He's shown brilliant stuff in the national league, and has experience as a closer. He could get a dozen or more saves between now and valverdes return.

[Zhangman1]

Read Morrow was angry w/ management about putting him on the DL b/c he thought it wasn't necessary. I'm just gonna assume that he'll be back when he's eligible to be activated (next weekend i believe)

[Slayer Rules]

Ziegler is back with the team but who knows when he will close again - especially now that Green is now openly mentioning Bailey as the team's closer:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ath ... ?blogid=21

Brad Ziegler is back from the flu but probably unavailable today; he's lost eight pounds and he required two IVs on Friday night. He said he was never in fear he had swine flu because he didn't have stomach issues. He was pretty sick, though - high fever, body ache. He was semi-quarantined on the team flight from Dallas, as much as possible considering the air circulates throughout the plane.

How long will Ziegler stay the closer, though? There was thought before the season that Joey Devine would move into the role fulltime at some point, and with Devine now out for the season after elbow surgery, Andrew Bailey is the new candidate for the job.

Twice in the past two days, manager Bob Geren has mentioned Bailey as a potential closer, including this morning, when he said, "He could be the closer, he's moved up that quickly."

Not a lot that needs translating there. Look for Bailey in the ninth in the coming days, although probably not today after working two innings last night.

[Yanks_Baby]

Ziegler is back with the team but who knows when he will close again - especially now that Green is now openly mentioning Bailey as the team's closer:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ath ... ?blogid=21

Brad Ziegler is back from the flu but probably unavailable today; he's lost eight pounds and he required two IVs on Friday night. He said he was never in fear he had swine flu because he didn't have stomach issues. He was pretty sick, though - high fever, body ache. He was semi-quarantined on the team flight from Dallas, as much as possible considering the air circulates throughout the plane.

How long will Ziegler stay the closer, though? There was thought before the season that Joey Devine would move into the role fulltime at some point, and with Devine now out for the season after elbow surgery, Andrew Bailey is the new candidate for the job.

Twice in the past two days, manager Bob Geren has mentioned Bailey as a potential closer, including this morning, when he said, "He could be the closer, he's moved up that quickly."

Not a lot that needs translating there. Look for Bailey in the ninth in the coming days, although probably not today after working two innings last night.

Maybe Aussie, being the resident Oakland expert, could give his opinion. However, I see no reason to not keep Bailey out of the closer role exactly because of last night. He's more valuable going 2 innings when needed, and pitching when and wehre he's needed than closing. Give the job to Wuertz who has good stuff and is capable, and wait til Devine gets back and then reevaluate. But to peg Bailey as a closer so soon would just be a waste of a great arm IMO. Similar to the Marmol/Gregg situation. Anyone else agree?

[kemper5]

I picked up Baily incase, I really do not see Zeigler closing this week, he has not pitched in a week and lost weight, is coming over a devistating flu that wiped out his body..It does not look good for him.

[T-Bone Costanza]

Guys... don't Wuertz's two saves on Thu. and Sat. trump the Geren quote about Bailey at this point, at leat short term while Ziegler gets over the flu?