On the popular (maybe less now that I’m a part of it) BSR Podcast a certain individual, who didn’t attend the Harvard of the Mid Atlantic, has been screaming from the mountain Ray Lewis is currently climbing that Orioles closer Jim Johnson isn’t an elite finisher. This type of rhetoric has put the host/linch pin of this very blog on the defensive like he’s Jodie Arias.
This might come off as sacrilegious to #OrangeKoolaid drinkers, but unless you wear #42 and close games in that dump in the Bronx. you are just another guy on a heater (IMO). Don’t believe me, just ask Eric Gange how his HOF chances look after his run as the top finisher years back. Anyone remember F-Rod’s run for the Mets? How about the “dominate” Joe Nathan for the Twins back in the day? Even a guy like crazy-eye Jonathan Papelbon was considered elite by closer standards just 5 years ago. Shall I go on?
And this isn’t an indictment on Jim Johnson by any stretch. What he has done going from potential mid-rotation starter to what was considered the best player at his position last year is nothing but remarkable. Props. His run last season was the catalyst to the Orioles absurd record in one-run games as well as extra inning affairs. And although he did cough up two games in the ALDS vs. the Yankees, there was no one I would’ve rather have given the pill to in those situations.
But fast forward to Memorial Day of 2013 and it seems like JJ is just “another” guy in the bullpen. Problem with that is, our fearless leader Buck Showalter is more loyal than a golden retriever when it comes to his players. And why not, as since he’s been in the Charm City I’ve heard many more win column statements from the great Joe Angel than I did in all of the years since I moved to the City That Reads combined. But even a loyalist like Buck has to be biting his nails like junkie in West Baltimore every time he makes that call to the pen to summoned Johnson of late.
I’m not your sabermetrics guy. I like the card game WAR way more than I like the baseball stat WAR. Instead I use what people my age use and that’s the eye test. And what those 20/20 hazel sillies see is a guy who is killing my baseball team of late. And it’s not only the loses, but deflating ones that could send a fragile team into a tailspin of epic portions. Luckily, this team is as resilient an Oklahoma tornado survivor (much ups to those people, btw) and the crippling late inning losses to us dumb fans hasn’t infested that tight-knit locker room….yet.
The only question is when will Buck decide to go with another guy in the closer role if JJ continues to blow games? Because as I’ve stated for as long as I’ve been playing/covering/talking about baseball, the closer role is the most over rated position in sports (IMO). Could my new BFF and neighbor Big Game Hunter be getting that late inning call? Or will it be Darren O’Day, who closed out the Expos yesterday in DC? These questions are for us fanboys/ladies to banter about on twitter, but the final call comes from our Commander in Chief. Problem for Buck O’Bama is unless you wear the jersey #42 you are just another guy, right @Patguth321?
Jabby Burns is a diehard #OrangeKoolAid drinker and contributor to BaltimoreSportsReport.com. You can follow him on Twitter @JabbyBurns and check out his website JabbyBurns.com.
Couldn’t agree more. Almost every closer is a failed starter, including #42. It should be closer by committee. Go with the hot hand. My biggest problem with Buck and the last blown save is why leave JJ in to lose the game. After his recent performances it was obvious after a few hitters that he didn’t have it. Buck should have had someoine warming when JJ came into the game. Who cares about hurt feelings. If he goes one , two, three then great. If he shows signs of struggling then bring someone else in to finish. Don’t sink or swim with one guy.
agree
25 guys on a game day roster.
IMO you cannot place anyone of these guys above the other.
Flaherty hits a dollar twenty five and swings for the fences like it’s Ed Smith Stadium in March and where does that land him?
Reimold hits that same buck twenty five and he comes up with a “hamstring issue”.
Not saying that JJ is done, but he’s in a slump. Give him a day on the bench (in a closing situation) to get his head clear. Put him in a few 8-nil blowouts to get his majo back.
Don’t sacrifice the other 24 guys.
agree
*mojo
Cannot put JJ on the same terms as Flaherty and Reimold. JJ is a bit more proven than those two combined. Give hime some time off, see what O’Day and Mattusz can give you in save situations.
Good point incher but I think we are comparing positions rather than the actual players that try to play them………….
It’s the most overrated position until you have a guy that completely falls apart like JJ has been. Then you don’t think it’s so overrated.
Explain this to me , I think I’m missing something here,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
“Closing” and “Saves” are the most idiotic specialty and stat to come along since the immortal “clutch” hitters who actually never hit any better in the clutch than usual – oh, and “pitch counts” (back to that in amoment).
The three basic inanities of closing are 1) Getting the big “Save”, because most ANY pro pitchers could get a save by pitching one inning with up to a three run lead with no one on base, and possibly cold pinch hitters or low-batting order hitters coming up, and 2) Managers failing to realize that you can “save” (lower case) a game just as easily in the sixth inning or seventh when the opponent is threatening your lead with men on base and the power part of the lineup coming up – but they bring in a scrubby middle reliever instead of their ace “closer” because the closer needs to pinch the ninth to get a save. By the time he gets in the lead, and possibly the game, are gone. 3) This false reliance on saving games has made starting pitchers in to non-finishing pitchers, both literally and figuratively. They don’t expect to pitch nine anymore so managers exacerbate the issue by always over managing and pulling them. And this idiocy stems from the false science of “pitch counts” which amazingly is the nice, round, easy-to-remember number of 100 pitches, and seems to apply to every pitcher, no matter size strength, pitching style, performance, or bullpen weakness. The manager is going to “manage” based on this special knowledge of physiological wear from throwing 100 pitches. It’s typical baseball BS and has cost teams a lot of ballgames.
And should we discuss how an “his defense saves us more than his offense fails to produce”….. Managers love them some old cliches.
MikeN – While I agree with nearly everything you said, the economics of the modern game don’t allow teams to take those kind of gambles. There are very few Justin Verlanders out there.
In this town, we have guys like spy who want the Orioles to sign “second tier” pitchers, you know guys like Ryan “$26.5 for two years” Dempster, a guy barely over .500 in his career…When teams pay pitchers the kind of money they do, they try to protect their investment.
No manager or GM or even spy wants to go to the owner (especially one savvy enough to hide ALL his profits from the other 29 major league teams) and tell him you burnt up your $26.5 million pitcher.
What has changed since Nolan Ryan and Frank Tannana routinely pitched 330 innings a year? We have begun to breed the 6 inning pitcher. Hell, in Japan, they pitch complete games all the time. We have become a nation of pussies, not only in starting piching but in everything else. Next thing you know they are going to furlough a bunch of federal workers….maybe if a savvy owner like Peter Angelos was president…?
Exactly 9…..the idea of limiting pitchers like they routinely do know is not born of any scientific reasoning. It’s anecdotal managing run amok. A pitcher’s arm can flame out at any time on any pitch. If he’s throwing well in the eighth, and nothing hurts, he’s in a groove, etc…just because he is around this magical 100 pitch number is no reason to be pulling him for a decidedly less talented middle reliever, or tired “closer” because he’s up all the time “closing all these games that probably didn’t need “closing”.. Let the hot hand finish. It’s simple odds that the more pitchers you run out there, the more likely you send out a guy who is off that given day, versus staying with the known successful starter already on the mound.
Again, not saying I disagree, but you’d have to change the whole mind set of the league. I think Nolan Ryan was trying it in Texas, of course Nolan Ryan also traded Chris Davis and Tommy Hunter for Koji and Miguel Gonzalez?!?