Closers are waiting one more day
Jays manager Gibbons expected to announce decision Wednesday
DUNEDIN, FLA.— Among the handful of decisions left for Blue Jays manager John Gibbons before his team heads north for its annual two-game exhibition series in Montreal is who will be anointed the team’s closer. In one corner is the incumbent, Roberto Osuna, who last year as a rookie became the first 20-year-old since 1972 to earn 20 saves in a season. In the other is Drew Storen, the six-year veteran acquired in the off-season with 95 career saves to his name.
Gibbons initially said he would announce his choice after Tuesday’s game, but when it was rained out after just two innings, he said he would hold off until Wednesday morning before the team wraps its Grapefruit League season in Fort Myers against the Red Sox.
“We looked at everything and tried to figure out what’s going to make the team best,” Gibbons said, refusing to tip his hand. “We’re familiar with Osuna and we like everything we’ve seen out of Drew.”
Whatever order they end up pitching, Osuna, Storen and lefty Brett Cecil, who didn’t allow an earned run in the second half of last season, should make a strong late-inning group.
Storen, who alternated in and out of the closer’s role throughout his six years in the Washington Nationals’ bullpen, said the guys pitching the seventh and eighth innings are often just as important as the man in the ninth.
“Any time you’re dealing with those last three innings, period, there’s usually one pivotal moment in those innings,” he said Tuesday morning. “Every great bullpen has great setup guys who can get it to the closer.”
Indeed, the prevailing opinion of more analytically inclined baseball pundits is that closers are overrated and their value is inflated by a mostly arbitrary save statistic. Those who subscribe to that school of thought question why teams would save their best reliever for the ninth inning if the game hinges on a moment in the sixth, seventh or eighth? They argue that teams should use their best relievers in the highest-leverage opportunities, regardless of the inning.
The counter-argument is that players perform best when they know their role.
While Storen believes that overall bullpen depth is ultimately more important than a lights-out closer, he said the ninth inning is “a different animal.”
“The hitters are kind of against the wall,” he said. “They’re desperate and they’ve got to do something. So you just can’t give them anything.”
The more games Storen closed, the more he said he learned to “prey” on hitters’ aggressiveness.
“I always think of something Greg Maddux said about facing guys with the bases loaded: instead of trying to ramp up a little bit he took a little bit off because he let the hitter get himself out.”
Storen said he found he could “pitch backwards” — use his offspeed pitches early in the count rather than his fastball — to use the hitters’ aggression against them.
“It’s about getting soft contact and pitching efficiently, too. If I can get an inning done in under 12 pitches, that’s great, because the next day you’re not hanging as much. But once I started doing that I started running into more strikeouts, too.”
Storen, who has pitched significantly better in save situations than non-save situations in his career (2.29 ERA vs. 3.84 ERA), is also a big proponent of clearly defined roles in a bullpen.
“The best bullpens I’ve been a part of, when the phone rings you know who it is.”
The Kansas City Royals have ridden arguably the league’s best bullpen to back-to-back World Series appearances and they did so with clearly defined roles and a trio of relievers assigned the seventh, eighth and ninth innings.
Despite his team’s success, Royals manager Ned Yost has been criticized at times for his inflexible approach.
But pitchers are routine-oriented, Storen said, and most will benefit from knowing when they are likely to get into a game.
“I know people say, ‘You’re a pro, you should just be able to turn it on,’ and yes, that’s true. But at the same time when you’re talking about 162 games, you’re talking the physical and emotional roller-coaster of a season, any way you can level that out helps a ton.”
“The best bullpens I’ve been a part of, when the phone rings you know who it is (for).” DREW STOREN JAYS RELIEVER