arty:Hell, we don't want to talk about closer problems either...
Signed--
Dusty Baker and Felipe Alou
About half the teams in baseball need closers right now, and even the ones with solid jobs are sucking it up... White Sox are the best team in baseball and they've already been through 3 closers... Defending World Champs hate their closer now. Yanks have been through the mill with Rivera. Angels just got back K-Rod. LA just got back Gagne.
Look at the teams in legit playoff contention and tell me how many have had the same closer for the mass majority of the season?
NL East
Atlanta Braves: Spring: Danny Kolb, Current: Committee led by Chris Reitsma
NY Mets: Spring: Braden Looper, Current: To be Graves or Hernandez soon???
Philadelphia Phils: Spring: Billy Wagner, Current: Billy Wagner
Florida Fish: Spring: Guillermo Mota, Current... after tonight, I'd say Todd Jones
Artists formally known as the Expos: Spring: Chad Cordero, Current: Chad Cordero
NL Central
St. Louis Cardinals: Spring: Jason Isringhausen, Current: Jason Isringhausen
Chicago Cubs: Spring: LaTroy Hawkins, Current:... eh... we'll call it "committee"
NL West
LA Dodgers: Spring: Injured Eric Gagne, Current: Shell of Eric Gagne
SD Padres: Spring: Trevor Hoffman, Current: Trevor Hoffman
Arizona DBacks: Spring: Committee, followed by Brandon Lyon, Current... should be Brandon Lyon... but a Committee
AL East
Baltimore Os: Spring: Jorge Julio/BJ Ryan, Current: BJ Ryan
NY Yanks: Spring: Mariano Rivera, Current: Slacking Mariano Rivera
Bo Sox: Spring: Keith Foulke, Current: Calling for Keith Foulke's head
AL Central
Chi Sox: Spring: Shingo Takatsu, Current: Dustin Hermanson
Minnesota Twins: Spring: Joe Nathan, Current: Joe Nathan
AL West
Artists formally known as Anaheim and California Angels: Spring: K-Rod, Current: K-Rod off of the DL
Texas Rangers: Spring: Francisco Cordero: Current: Francisco Cordero
Okay, so legit here, there are at least 6 closer spots that are going to be tossed around in the playoff race until season's end... But who's on the market? The Mets grabbed Danny Graves off of waivers. There really isn't that "Guillermo Mota" available who was a setup man that could easily be converted into a closer. The prize closer that was supposed to be on the market was Octavio Dotel, now riding the DL for the rest of the year... So out of the teams that are out of it... who's got a legit closer that they're willing to trade? I mean Danny Baez is gonna be a prize for someone to land. Uggy just got traded, but not into a spot where he's gonna close... And unless the Phills drop out of this mess right before the deadline, he's not moving on. So to ask when a team like Arizona that is probably going to fade out of this race eventually is going to get a closer, I believe there are SEVERAL other teams that have that question that aren't going to fade out so fast... a couple of these teams of which are probably going to make serious, and maybe even deep playoff runs. But when was the last time a World Series was won by a team without a bonafide closer?
Signed--
Dusty Baker and Felipe Alou
About half the teams in baseball need closers right now, and even the ones with solid jobs are sucking it up... White Sox are the best team in baseball and they've already been through 3 closers... Defending World Champs hate their closer now. Yanks have been through the mill with Rivera. Angels just got back K-Rod. LA just got back Gagne.
Look at the teams in legit playoff contention and tell me how many have had the same closer for the mass majority of the season?
NL East
Atlanta Braves: Spring: Danny Kolb, Current: Committee led by Chris Reitsma
NY Mets: Spring: Braden Looper, Current: To be Graves or Hernandez soon???
Philadelphia Phils: Spring: Billy Wagner, Current: Billy Wagner
Florida Fish: Spring: Guillermo Mota, Current... after tonight, I'd say Todd Jones
Artists formally known as the Expos: Spring: Chad Cordero, Current: Chad Cordero
NL Central
St. Louis Cardinals: Spring: Jason Isringhausen, Current: Jason Isringhausen
Chicago Cubs: Spring: LaTroy Hawkins, Current:... eh... we'll call it "committee"
NL West
LA Dodgers: Spring: Injured Eric Gagne, Current: Shell of Eric Gagne
SD Padres: Spring: Trevor Hoffman, Current: Trevor Hoffman
Arizona DBacks: Spring: Committee, followed by Brandon Lyon, Current... should be Brandon Lyon... but a Committee
AL East
Baltimore Os: Spring: Jorge Julio/BJ Ryan, Current: BJ Ryan
NY Yanks: Spring: Mariano Rivera, Current: Slacking Mariano Rivera
Bo Sox: Spring: Keith Foulke, Current: Calling for Keith Foulke's head
AL Central
Chi Sox: Spring: Shingo Takatsu, Current: Dustin Hermanson
Minnesota Twins: Spring: Joe Nathan, Current: Joe Nathan
AL West
Artists formally known as Anaheim and California Angels: Spring: K-Rod, Current: K-Rod off of the DL
Texas Rangers: Spring: Francisco Cordero: Current: Francisco Cordero
Okay, so legit here, there are at least 6 closer spots that are going to be tossed around in the playoff race until season's end... But who's on the market? The Mets grabbed Danny Graves off of waivers. There really isn't that "Guillermo Mota" available who was a setup man that could easily be converted into a closer. The prize closer that was supposed to be on the market was Octavio Dotel, now riding the DL for the rest of the year... So out of the teams that are out of it... who's got a legit closer that they're willing to trade? I mean Danny Baez is gonna be a prize for someone to land. Uggy just got traded, but not into a spot where he's gonna close... And unless the Phills drop out of this mess right before the deadline, he's not moving on. So to ask when a team like Arizona that is probably going to fade out of this race eventually is going to get a closer, I believe there are SEVERAL other teams that have that question that aren't going to fade out so fast... a couple of these teams of which are probably going to make serious, and maybe even deep playoff runs. But when was the last time a World Series was won by a team without a bonafide closer?
WS Winners with no or a weak closer.
1990 - Cincinnati Reds (won with bullpen by committee Charlton, Myers and Dibble)
2001 - Arizona Diamondbacks (Byung Hung Kim had 19 saves and blew a bunch in the playoffs. He was no closer.)
Since 1990
'90 - CIN - Nasty Boys (Charlton, Myers and Dibble)
'91 - MIN - Rick Aguilera
'92 - TOR - Tom Henke
'93 - TOR - Duane Ward
'95 - ATL - Mark Wohlers
'96 - NYY - John Wetteland
'97 - FLA - Rob Nenn
'98, '99 and '00 - NYY - Mariano Rivera
'01 - ARI - B.H. Kim
'02 - ANA - Troy Percival
'03 - FLA - Ugueth Urbina
'04 - BOS - Keith Foulke
Arizona isn't going to be a world series contender anyways. Actually none of the teams in the NL West are. It'll be like last year where some team will win because someone had to.
Available closers at the deadline might be
PIT - Jose Mesa (no takers last year)
KC - Mike MacDougal
SEA - Eddie Guardado (the best of the three)
1990 - Cincinnati Reds (won with bullpen by committee Charlton, Myers and Dibble)
2001 - Arizona Diamondbacks (Byung Hung Kim had 19 saves and blew a bunch in the playoffs. He was no closer.)
Since 1990
'90 - CIN - Nasty Boys (Charlton, Myers and Dibble)
'91 - MIN - Rick Aguilera
'92 - TOR - Tom Henke
'93 - TOR - Duane Ward
'95 - ATL - Mark Wohlers
'96 - NYY - John Wetteland
'97 - FLA - Rob Nenn
'98, '99 and '00 - NYY - Mariano Rivera
'01 - ARI - B.H. Kim
'02 - ANA - Troy Percival
'03 - FLA - Ugueth Urbina
'04 - BOS - Keith Foulke
Arizona isn't going to be a world series contender anyways. Actually none of the teams in the NL West are. It'll be like last year where some team will win because someone had to.
Available closers at the deadline might be
PIT - Jose Mesa (no takers last year)
KC - Mike MacDougal
SEA - Eddie Guardado (the best of the three)
