People keep talking about the Tigers' awful start, and how much of a hole they have dug themselves. I have a hard time seeing that. What is this hole you speak of? Everything is relative, and after tonight, they're only two games behind their main division rival, the Indians. The reason for this?
I understand that it doesn't really matter who your closer is, as long as you get your best guys in the game in high leverage situations. Problems arise, however, when your closer isn't one of you "best guys". Joe Borowski is definitely not one of the Indians' two best relievers (Perez, Betancourt). He is probably not #3 (Lewis). With the addition of Masahide Kobayashi, it's entirely possible that the Indians' closer is not one of their four best relievers.The issue isn't that Borowski shouldn't be the closer. It's that he shouldn't be pitching late in close games at all. I keep writing about this, and I'm running out of ways to express it. The Indians generally seem like one of the smarter organizations in baseball. The decisions made by the front office are almost always logical and well thought out. This is what makes their closer situation so frustrating- they know better, yet they refuse to do anything about it. I just don't get it.
9 comments:
The problem with a closer is that even the Indians organization will ignore "peripherals" so long as the closer gets the save. In this case the peripheral isnt necessarily k/bb but even ERA & WHIP.
How many blown saves before they decide to eat the 4 million? 2 through 13 games projects to about 25.
Love your Indians stuff. Keep it coming.
It isn't that Borowski shouldn't be pitching late in games at all, it's that he shouldn't be pitching late in games when Raffy B, Raffy P, Jensen Lewis, and possibly every other reliever remain available.
I like the Indians approach with bringing in Raffy B in the highest leverage situation. (Whether that is skilled managing or dumb luck is an entirely different debate.) I wouldn't make him the closer. I'd make Lewis or Masa the closer, and keep Raffy B as the highest leverage guy.
The bats need to get going too. You can't lose too many games like this and win over 90 games.
Borowski just got hurt, so maybe things will even out.
vr, Xeifrank
It's pretty clear that those other guys just don't have the Closer Mentality. Pitchers started being born with it sometime in the mid-1960's. If Perez or Betancourt went out there in the 9th to protect a 1-3 run lead, they would surely crumble like the concrete in the new Yankee Stadium after being subjected to a jackhammer in order to retrieve a buried Red Sox jersey and prevent a "curse". (An action that makes about as much sense as having Joe Borowski pitch to the best Red Sox hitters in the 9th inning).
I was at the game last night. It was funny at the time, but this morning I'm just pissed.
I then made the mistake of listening to Brinda for about 5 minutes on the ride home. He bashed Betancourt for giving up 3 HRs so far this year and having an ERA over 5.00 on the season, and then questioning whether he has the closer mentality. All this while ignoring Borowski's numbers, and without even looking at his gamelog, I can recall 3 HRs he's given up this year: 1. Opening day (I was there), 2. Toriiiiii Hunter's GW-GS (I stayed up after the coronation of Kansas as champs to watch this), and 3. Last night.
So I don't want to turn this into the bashing of local sports radio because it's too easy, but Jesus H. Christ.
But they keep telling us that Borowski led the league in saves last year! That MUST mean he's the best.
To follow up on Webmeister's post, Borowski after the game said he felt like he had nothing on his pitches and he was "stuck in one gear". Even Manny was confused: "It seemed like a fastball," he said. "It was something like 80 mph. Maybe it was change-up. It was right there."
Trip to the DL has to be imminent.
Source
The Cubs did it:
http://cubs.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20040606&content_id=762793&vkey=news_chc&fext=.jsp&c_id=chc
You'd think the tribe would do the same.
If you adjust Betancourt, Perez, and Borowski's WPAs from last year to match their pLI if Betancourt was moved to closer, Perez to primary setup man (Betancourt's role now), and Borowski to second setup man, the Indians would add about 3 wins from last year.
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=pjDm10EfdmaE5JKtmKiX1Dw
one marginal win is worth about $4.4 mill on the free agent market, so this change would add up to just over $13 million.
That said, the Raffys repeating their performances from last year is unlikely, but Borowski seems on pace to pitch just about the same.
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