Solutions for teams with closer issues
Insider
By Steve Phillips
ESPN Insider
A bullpen is a living, breathing organism with a personality unto itself. Each part of a bullpen desires a role. Each part likes stability and wants a plan for how to approach each day. This is why the closer-by-committee plan doesn't work very well.
A closer is the heart and soul of a bullpen; if he is well, the rest of the pen can usually sustain itself. If a closer is struggling, it puts the rest of the bullpen and likely the rest of the team in flux. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera struggled terribly to start the season; this led to Tom Gordon, the set-up man, struggling. And that led to the rest of the bullpen's pitching poorly.
In fact, closers who struggle can subconsciously change the way starting pitchers perform. Starters may try to pace themselves so as to pitch a complete game instead of leaving it all out there in critical situations earlier in the game. Hitters on the team of the struggling closer approach their at-bats differently, too, feeling they need to provide more of a cushion heading into the ninth inning. Therefore, they try too hard in their at-bats.
The entire Yankees team struggled for a while to start the season, which in some ways was directly tied to Rivera's struggles in the ninth inning. Now that Rivera is settled, so are the rest of the Yankees, and life has returned to normal.
Here are a few clubs whose closers have struggled mightily in the first two months of the regular season:
Atlanta Braves – Danny Kolb
The Braves find themselves in a predicament similar to what the Yankees faced earlier this season, but worse. Kolb, acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in a big offseason trade, has struggled terribly as the Braves' closer. He has since been demoted to middle relief to try to work out his problems. Atlanta is now going with a closer-by-committee (see above) until someone claims the title of closer.
The complicating factor for the Braves is that they moved their dominating closer, John Smoltz, into the starting rotation when they acquired Kolb. The Braves, including Smoltz, must be wondering why they changed the plan that had been so stable and successful in the first place. These thoughts are just human nature at work.
What do the Braves do now? Can Kolb be fixed? Should they move Smoltz back to the closer's role?
If anyone can fix Kolb, it's Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone. He's the best. Unfortunately, experience indicates that young pitchers tend to need an offseason to flush out their failures and mentally overcome struggles. Veterans find it easier to get back on track in-season because they have a track record and experience to fall back on in tough times. The Braves can't realistically count on Kolb to return to form this year.
The obvious thought now is to undo the offseason move and put Smoltz back in the closer's role, but that would likely have residual problems. The Braves have suffered two injuries to their starting rotation: Mike Hampton and John Thomson are currently on the disabled list. If Smoltz is removed from the rotation now, it would become very thin very quickly. So that really isn't an option right now for Atlanta.
The Braves and Florida Marlins will battle it out until the end of the season for the National League East title. The Braves need success and stability at the end of the game if they are going to win again. The solution doesn't really exist within their organization now.
Braves general manager John Schuerholz is very good, so I'm sure he's talking to his scouts and other GMs trying to identify possible solutions. I expect the Braves to find a closer instead of a finding a starter (and moving Smoltz back to the closer's role). Moving Smoltz back to the closer's role could work, but it would entail another major psychological adjustment by the entire team. That might be too much for the club to handle.
I expect the Braves to be in the market for cost-effective closers. Pitchers like Cleveland's Bob Wickman, Pittsburgh's Jose Mesa and Seattle's Eddie Guardado could be options to go after in trades.
Chicago Cubs – Joe Borowski, Chad Fox, Ryan Dempster, Kerry Wood
All the names listed above show the Cubs' instability at the end of the game. Ever since Borowski was injured in June 2004, the closer's role and the bullpen have been a mess.
The Cubs are proof that some guys can get the last out of a game and some just can't. Cubs manager Dusty Baker has taken a lot of heat for his use of the bullpen. When a manager seemingly makes bad decision after bad decision in handling his pitching staff, it doesn't mean he's a bad manager. It could mean he has bad personnel. If the Cubs can somehow get a quality closer, they could put Dempster back in the rotation and life would be much simpler.
It might already be too late to fix things for this year because it looks like the Cardinals might run away with the division. This offseason the Cubs will need to address the issue in a significant way. Eric Gagne could become available. If he is, the Cubs must be a major player for him. The window is closing on this group of starting pitchers. And though I mentioned it earlier, I'm not a proponent of Wood's becoming a closer. His arm probably couldn't take the grind of pitching every day, and mentally he's better suited to be a starting pitcher.
Arizona Diamondbacks – Brandon Lyon, Brian Bruney
The injury to Lyon's right elbow could be serious, but it's something that should be less disruptive to the Diamondbacks than the Cubs' problems or Kolb's problems with the Braves. And that's because Lyon's success this season has been quite surprising.
It's easier for the Diamondbacks to cope mentally with the loss of Lyon and his being replaced by Bruney, another young pitcher, because far less was expected of them as a team. However, now that the Diamondbacks are in the NL West race, they need to make a serious run at winning the division title. Let's face it: You just don't know how many times you'll be in a position to make the playoffs, and they have a legitimate chance to win the division. They need to go for it. Where a team can get lucky with a young pitcher blossoming into a dominant closer, it's unlikely to be lucky a second time in the same season.
The Diamondbacks should be in the market for the best available closer they can find. Throughout the rest of the regular season they will compete with the Padres, who have quality and stability at the end of the game in Trevor Hoffman. The Diamondbacks have invested a lot of money for this season, especially in their starting pitching. Thus, they need to buy insurance in the form of a quality closer.
Other teams with closer concerns who have visions of postseason play:
Florida Marlins: Todd Jones remains the Marlins' closer despite Guillermo Mota's having already returned from the disabled list after suffering from a sore elbow. Jones is on the backside of his career but is very serviceable. Mota is unproven in the closer's role, but he's likely to win back the job from Jones at some time. Still, there's no guarantee he'll be able to handle the role.
The Marlins should try to acquire some protection for Mota in the form of a pitcher who can be a set-up man (if Mota returns successfully) or a closer (if he fails). Guys such as Eddie Guardado and Ugueth Urbina fit that mold. The Marlins could very well compete with the Braves for the same players on the trade market.
Boston Red Sox: Keith Foulke has struggled this year. He was essential to Boston's World Championship in 2004. But it appears that it may have taken a toll on him. He's currently 2-3 with 11 saves and a 6.46 ERA. Boston's bullpen, as a group, also has performed poorly (the residual impact of a struggling closer) and has a collective 4.87 ERA. The Red Sox, though, have to solve their problems from within. I would be very surprised if they do anything other than try to get their good pitchers to pitch well. Chances are the bullpen will get back on track again.
Teams that aren't playoff contenders and that don't have proven or successful veteran closers should do everything they can to develop their own closers from within. Last season the Indians missed an opportunity to develop someone from within their organization to be the closer. They ended up having to re-sign Wickman this year to do the job, which isn't bad – but they're facing a huge hole next season because Wickman has only a one-year deal and will become a free agent. The way this season is going for Cleveland, the Indians should trade Wickman and try to find out about some of the good young arms in their bullpen and whether they have the mentality to close out games.
It's only one inning of work in selected games, but the role of a closer is far more critical to a team's overall success and confidence than one might think. Some guys can get the last out of the game and some can't. Those who can do so consistently deserve a lot of respect.
Steve Phillips, a former general manager of the New York Mets, is a regular on ESPN's Baseball Tonight.
Insider
By Steve Phillips
ESPN Insider
A bullpen is a living, breathing organism with a personality unto itself. Each part of a bullpen desires a role. Each part likes stability and wants a plan for how to approach each day. This is why the closer-by-committee plan doesn't work very well.
A closer is the heart and soul of a bullpen; if he is well, the rest of the pen can usually sustain itself. If a closer is struggling, it puts the rest of the bullpen and likely the rest of the team in flux. Yankees closer Mariano Rivera struggled terribly to start the season; this led to Tom Gordon, the set-up man, struggling. And that led to the rest of the bullpen's pitching poorly.
In fact, closers who struggle can subconsciously change the way starting pitchers perform. Starters may try to pace themselves so as to pitch a complete game instead of leaving it all out there in critical situations earlier in the game. Hitters on the team of the struggling closer approach their at-bats differently, too, feeling they need to provide more of a cushion heading into the ninth inning. Therefore, they try too hard in their at-bats.
The entire Yankees team struggled for a while to start the season, which in some ways was directly tied to Rivera's struggles in the ninth inning. Now that Rivera is settled, so are the rest of the Yankees, and life has returned to normal.
Here are a few clubs whose closers have struggled mightily in the first two months of the regular season:
Atlanta Braves – Danny Kolb
The Braves find themselves in a predicament similar to what the Yankees faced earlier this season, but worse. Kolb, acquired from the Milwaukee Brewers in a big offseason trade, has struggled terribly as the Braves' closer. He has since been demoted to middle relief to try to work out his problems. Atlanta is now going with a closer-by-committee (see above) until someone claims the title of closer.
The complicating factor for the Braves is that they moved their dominating closer, John Smoltz, into the starting rotation when they acquired Kolb. The Braves, including Smoltz, must be wondering why they changed the plan that had been so stable and successful in the first place. These thoughts are just human nature at work.
What do the Braves do now? Can Kolb be fixed? Should they move Smoltz back to the closer's role?
If anyone can fix Kolb, it's Braves pitching coach Leo Mazzone. He's the best. Unfortunately, experience indicates that young pitchers tend to need an offseason to flush out their failures and mentally overcome struggles. Veterans find it easier to get back on track in-season because they have a track record and experience to fall back on in tough times. The Braves can't realistically count on Kolb to return to form this year.
The obvious thought now is to undo the offseason move and put Smoltz back in the closer's role, but that would likely have residual problems. The Braves have suffered two injuries to their starting rotation: Mike Hampton and John Thomson are currently on the disabled list. If Smoltz is removed from the rotation now, it would become very thin very quickly. So that really isn't an option right now for Atlanta.
The Braves and Florida Marlins will battle it out until the end of the season for the National League East title. The Braves need success and stability at the end of the game if they are going to win again. The solution doesn't really exist within their organization now.
Braves general manager John Schuerholz is very good, so I'm sure he's talking to his scouts and other GMs trying to identify possible solutions. I expect the Braves to find a closer instead of a finding a starter (and moving Smoltz back to the closer's role). Moving Smoltz back to the closer's role could work, but it would entail another major psychological adjustment by the entire team. That might be too much for the club to handle.
I expect the Braves to be in the market for cost-effective closers. Pitchers like Cleveland's Bob Wickman, Pittsburgh's Jose Mesa and Seattle's Eddie Guardado could be options to go after in trades.
Chicago Cubs – Joe Borowski, Chad Fox, Ryan Dempster, Kerry Wood
All the names listed above show the Cubs' instability at the end of the game. Ever since Borowski was injured in June 2004, the closer's role and the bullpen have been a mess.
The Cubs are proof that some guys can get the last out of a game and some just can't. Cubs manager Dusty Baker has taken a lot of heat for his use of the bullpen. When a manager seemingly makes bad decision after bad decision in handling his pitching staff, it doesn't mean he's a bad manager. It could mean he has bad personnel. If the Cubs can somehow get a quality closer, they could put Dempster back in the rotation and life would be much simpler.
It might already be too late to fix things for this year because it looks like the Cardinals might run away with the division. This offseason the Cubs will need to address the issue in a significant way. Eric Gagne could become available. If he is, the Cubs must be a major player for him. The window is closing on this group of starting pitchers. And though I mentioned it earlier, I'm not a proponent of Wood's becoming a closer. His arm probably couldn't take the grind of pitching every day, and mentally he's better suited to be a starting pitcher.
Arizona Diamondbacks – Brandon Lyon, Brian Bruney
The injury to Lyon's right elbow could be serious, but it's something that should be less disruptive to the Diamondbacks than the Cubs' problems or Kolb's problems with the Braves. And that's because Lyon's success this season has been quite surprising.
It's easier for the Diamondbacks to cope mentally with the loss of Lyon and his being replaced by Bruney, another young pitcher, because far less was expected of them as a team. However, now that the Diamondbacks are in the NL West race, they need to make a serious run at winning the division title. Let's face it: You just don't know how many times you'll be in a position to make the playoffs, and they have a legitimate chance to win the division. They need to go for it. Where a team can get lucky with a young pitcher blossoming into a dominant closer, it's unlikely to be lucky a second time in the same season.
The Diamondbacks should be in the market for the best available closer they can find. Throughout the rest of the regular season they will compete with the Padres, who have quality and stability at the end of the game in Trevor Hoffman. The Diamondbacks have invested a lot of money for this season, especially in their starting pitching. Thus, they need to buy insurance in the form of a quality closer.
Other teams with closer concerns who have visions of postseason play:
Florida Marlins: Todd Jones remains the Marlins' closer despite Guillermo Mota's having already returned from the disabled list after suffering from a sore elbow. Jones is on the backside of his career but is very serviceable. Mota is unproven in the closer's role, but he's likely to win back the job from Jones at some time. Still, there's no guarantee he'll be able to handle the role.
The Marlins should try to acquire some protection for Mota in the form of a pitcher who can be a set-up man (if Mota returns successfully) or a closer (if he fails). Guys such as Eddie Guardado and Ugueth Urbina fit that mold. The Marlins could very well compete with the Braves for the same players on the trade market.
Boston Red Sox: Keith Foulke has struggled this year. He was essential to Boston's World Championship in 2004. But it appears that it may have taken a toll on him. He's currently 2-3 with 11 saves and a 6.46 ERA. Boston's bullpen, as a group, also has performed poorly (the residual impact of a struggling closer) and has a collective 4.87 ERA. The Red Sox, though, have to solve their problems from within. I would be very surprised if they do anything other than try to get their good pitchers to pitch well. Chances are the bullpen will get back on track again.
Teams that aren't playoff contenders and that don't have proven or successful veteran closers should do everything they can to develop their own closers from within. Last season the Indians missed an opportunity to develop someone from within their organization to be the closer. They ended up having to re-sign Wickman this year to do the job, which isn't bad – but they're facing a huge hole next season because Wickman has only a one-year deal and will become a free agent. The way this season is going for Cleveland, the Indians should trade Wickman and try to find out about some of the good young arms in their bullpen and whether they have the mentality to close out games.
It's only one inning of work in selected games, but the role of a closer is far more critical to a team's overall success and confidence than one might think. Some guys can get the last out of the game and some can't. Those who can do so consistently deserve a lot of respect.
Steve Phillips, a former general manager of the New York Mets, is a regular on ESPN's Baseball Tonight.
