mid level closer ratings

[tds1273]

how would you rate these closers and feel free to coment on them as well--

Biddle
Looper
Baez
Marte
Lyon
Politte


also is alfonseca worth looking at or has borowski claimed that job for good?

[unclepaulie]

Biddle and then Polite(sp?) I would't even mess with the others you listed unless you are in a very deep league.

[jdh]

1. Baez (most established closer on this list and probably will keep his job, if for no other reason than the Indians want to trade him around the deadline; team will hurt save chances)

2. Looper (Team should be at about .500 but new mgr. MacKeon may use a semi-committee approach; still should be good for 25 saves)

3. Politte (Toronto's permanent closer now; they won't put Escobar back in that role; Jays tend to blow people out when they win games, so fewer save chances likely)

4. Biddle (Not established as a closer, or even as a decent setup man; may be on a short leash and you have to think Stewart will win that job soon given his superior performance)

5. Marte (Not officially Chicago's closer; hard to tell what Manuel will do and even when he decides, he might be fired soon. I can't see them paying big bucks to Koch to be a setup man for the whole season)

6. Lyon (Boston closer situation is up in the air, and he isn't getting all the save chances, because they are officially using a committee. There is the possibility that Person will be the closer when he comes back or that eventually BoSox have to trade to get a real closer)

[HOOTIE]

JDH order pretty solid. You could argue Looper 1 with Baez poor start, but Baez probably has best stuff of group.

[Juhlz]

looper
Marte (if he is getting the job done it doesn't matter how much they are paying Koch. They are not going to pay him to blow saves. Marte has a 0.00 era and 4 saves in last 5 appearances over the span of 2 weeks. Koch will reamin in a setup role-in my opinion.)
Politte
Baez
Biddle
Lyon

[Guest]

good insight juhlz. I definately agree with you on Marte. I think he will take over if he is the better closer no matter how much Koch's salary is.

[jdh]

I think that part of the problem with Koch is that Jerry Manuel is way too trigger happy with closers. Koch is the type of pitcher that needs to get into a groove, and can then become virtually unstoppable. This early in the season, he should have just stuck with his closer until he completely proves incapable of doing the job, because it's not like Koch doesn't have a track record of being an upper tier closer. Manuel did the same thing last year, going way overboard in demoting Foulke and then watching him go to Oakland and tearing things up. Also, compare how Manuel has handled Koch to how Art Howe has handled Armando Benitez. Benitez got off to a start almost as bad as Koch's but Howe kept sending him out there and he has been finding his groove lately, successfully saving his last 7 save chances.

Even if Manuel does make Marte his closer and demotes Koch, as soon as he is fired, which probably won't be much longer, the new manager will most likely give Koch another shot. The problem is just that Manuel has proven to be completely incapable of managing closers properly.