Joe Girardi Is Right to Not Name a Closer to Replace Mariano Rivera
May 11, 2012 · Jake Singer · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
Last week, Yankees Universe was shaken by the news that Mariano Rivera tore his ACL while shagging fly balls in Kansas City. For the first days after the injury, Yankee fans reminisced about Mo’s greatest moments and wondered whether they would ever see him pitch again.
Rivera announced that he would come back, and now the season must go on.
The next question was: Who will be the Yankee closer?
Manager Joe Girardi has been coy and has still not given a firm response as to whether David Robertson or Rafael Soriano will try to fill Mariano’s shoes in the ninth inning. The Yankees’ own depth chart doesn’t list a closer, either.
Immediately after the injury, it appeared that Robertson would assume ninth inning duties, closing out wins on Friday and Tuesday against Kansas City and Tampa Bay, respectively, before blowing a save on Wednesday in the Bronx.
But Soriano got the save in last night’s win over the Rays, even though both pitchers had thrown two nights in a row, which shows that the Yankee closer situation is still not completely settled.
And I think that’s a good thing.
The “closer” role is one of the most meaningless and arbitrary titles for any position in all of baseball.
Because “closers” generally only come in for the ninth inning when the team is leading by three runs or less, the position (if you can call it that) gives a subjective importance to the ninth inning that is totally illogical.
Why is the ninth inning any more important than the eighth inning? Or the seventh? Or even the first? I understand that it represents the last three outs of a game, but in order to win a baseball game, a team has to lead its opponent after nine innings and 27 outs—each out is equally important in getting to 27.
The argument that it takes more “mental strength” to pitch the ninth inning than the eighth is silly. A pitcher has a job to do, which is to get outs, and it doesn’t matter in what inning he has to do his job. Get it done, or don’t be a major league pitcher.
Managers also use the position of closer to keep their bullpen aces out of games they should pitch in. Most managers in the league refuse to bring in their closers in tie games on the road in the ninth inning or in extra innings, choosing to save their closer until their team gets a lead and a save opportunity presents itself. This leads to road teams losing extra inning games without ever using their best pitcher.
For example, last Wednesday the Braves beat the Phillies 15-13 in 11 innings in Atlanta. Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel did not use closer Jonathan Papelbon in the loss, because as he said, “When we ever have a lead…he’s going to save.”
If Manuel had used Papelbon in, say, the 11th inning, perhaps he wouldn’t have allowed the winning runs to score, and the Phils would have had a chance to score the go-ahead runs in the 12th, or 13th or 14th. Papelbon may not gotten the save, but at least the Phillies would have had a chance to win, instead of going down without using their best relief pitcher.
Instead of sticking to a definition of “closer” that only allows managers to use their best relief pitchers in specific situations, managers should use their best pitchers in the most important spots of the game, regardless of the inning.
If the Yankees have a one-run lead against the Red Sox after seven innings, and the Sox have Dustin Pedroia, David Ortiz and Adrian Gonzalez due up in the eighth inning and Will Middlebrooks, Daniel Nava and Mike Aviles due up in the ninth (this order was taken from the Sox’s lineup last night), Joe Girardi should bring in his best pitcher in the eighth, plain and simple.
If Mariano Rivera was healthy, I would want him to pitch the eighth and get the most difficult outs.
With him out, I want Joe Girardi to prioritize getting out the opponents’ best hitters late in the game, regardless of the inning, over getting the last three outs of the game no matter what.
He doesn’t have to stick to the same guy every night, either. If the matchups one series against an opponents’ best hitters favor Robertson over Soriano, but in the next series they favor Soriano, that’s fine. Play the matchups and win the game.
Don’t worry about what inning to slate Robertson and Soriano into for every game. Don’t worry about naming one of them “closer” and leaving the other as the “eighth inning man.”
That’s why Joe Girardi has done the right thing by not naming a closer so far, and I hope he (and other managers) don’t feel the need to stick to the traditional definition and role of “closer” going forward.
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