A deep enough slump.
My real point was that his option would likely have vested. notin says it was unlikely because of his injury history.
But at the start of the season Hanley only needed to play about 112 average games to achieve it.
Yes. We're all over it here.
An interesting detail is that our old buddy Eric Gagne sent Cora a text about it. They were both on the 2007 team.
To which Slasher had one of the lines of the year: 'that trade for Gagne finally paid off'.
Let's take a look at some of those Koji numbers from 2013. They really are beyond incredible. I think it's the WHIP numbers that are the most mind-boggling.
July .391
Aug .364
Sept .286 !!!
ALDS .333
ALCS .667 not at his best! LOL
WS .429
In 2013 Koji probably had the best run of any closer in history, or maybe Rivera had a similar stretch.
When we say we don't want any drama from our closer, we're basically saying we don't want any baserunners. We don't even want any balls put in play, actually. An immaculate inning would be nice.
In the 2014 WS, Bumgarner pitched Game 1, 7 innings, Game 5, on regular rest, 9 innings, and Game 7, on 2 days rest, the final 5 innings. I would say it was fairly important to the Giants winning that Bumgarner started Game 1.
Yes, it's a bit risky. But saying it 'doesn't accomplish a whole lot' might be taking it a bit far. We're talking about trying to optimize our lineup in 3 World Series games. That can be a big deal.