Bellhorn04

In 2012 Johnson only blew 3 saves in 54 opportunities, for a 94.4% success rate. This year he has blown 9 out of 48, for an 81.2% rate.

That's right. Wow, Johnson blew his 9th save last night. That is a huge number. The bad seasons of Rodney and Johnson are a big reason we're ahead of the Rays and the Orioles in the standings.

Mind you it was a complete disgrace that Bailey was on the team throughout the season. He was as washed-up as washed-up gets. We did not have a good bench that year. Everything but.

I’m fascinated by the topic of closers. Why is that? I don’t know, maybe it’s because of Red Sox history. In 1986 we lost the World Series because Calvin Schiraldi and Bob Stanley couldn’t close it out with a 2-run lead, 2 outs and the bases empty. Schiraldi actually had two blown saves in that game, amazingly enough. Bob Stanley also played a part in us losing the playoff game to the Yankees in 1978. So he's got quite a lot going for him as far as how Sox fans remember him. Same with Schiraldi. Then in 2003 we lost the ALCS because Grady didn’t like his Closer by Committee options. So then they fired Grady and they signed Keith Foulke. And lo and behold, Foulke did an incredible job in 2004 and was a huge factor in beating the Yankees and bringing it home for the first time in my 35 years of fandom. In 2007 we won it again, and not coincidentally, Papelbon pitched 10.2 scoreless innings that postseason. Some other things that stand out for me about closers... Pressure – is the pressure of being a closer really that great, or is it overrated by fans and the media? I think the answer is that the pressure really is that great in important games, especially playoff games. In 1986 when we pulled off an amazing comeback against the Angels, the closer who blew the series was a man named Donnie Moore. The failure haunted Moore the rest of his days. In 1989 he committed suicide, after first shooting his wife, who survived. Dennis Eckersley. Fantastic, Hall of Fame career. But the enduring image for me, the one that’s been replayed a million times, is one-legged Kirk Gibson taking him out of the park to win Game One of the 1988 WS. Eck also gave up a huge, season-turning home run to Roberto Alomar in the 1992 ALCS. Rivera. The best closer of all time. But two blown saves by Mo in 2001 and 2004 prevented the Yankees from adding two more titles.

Oh well, Brock started last night's thread and we won so we may be OK.

I agree with you on some of these points. I do, however, think that pitching the last inning carries its own special pressure. I've been thinking of starting a thread about closers. The topic has always intrigued me. I will do this in the next day or two.

I disagree. It took us a year and a half to find the right replacement for Papelbon. And it was not an easy process at all.

Middlebrooks has looked like a focused player since he came back. Good to see, we need him.

You do say the strangest things sometimes.

Blue Jays closer Casey Janssen got lit up for 4 runs in .2 innings in yesterday's game.

Iggy was a 'perfect fit in Detroit', but only from the time they found out Peralta was going to be suspended.

Just have to point out that his games played for previous years all include at least 57 starts at catcher. You would think that playing first would be keeping him a lot fresher. And he's had some days off. His problems may have a lot more to do with getting 'baseball old' than being tired.

Yeah...but I am loving the 7 blown saves by Rodney. Some really ugly ones too.

Unbelievable about Kalish. Two promising young outfielders, both named Ryan (Westmoreland the other), two sad stories.

Tazawa isn't eligible for free agency until 2017.

Not meaning to gang up on you here, but Bailey is a goner. Who knows if he'll even pitch in the big leagues again. And Tazawa? He's not going anywhere. He's been our second-best reliever and his numbers since returning last year are outstanding.

Drew is on a 12-game hitting streak. He has 19 hits and 9 walks in the 12 games. Pretty sure some of those were off LHP. Also, Bogaerts has 10 errors in 53 games. Defence counts too.

If Napoli stays healthy he'll get 12 or 13 million. His base contract is 5 million but he has a series of bonuses for days on active roster and plate appearances that can take him up to 13 million.

Based on what? WAR, contract comparisons or just your own personal sentiments?

I don't even know what to say about Naps at this point except hope. When he connects it's a thing of beauty. But he's been swishing with such force lately that he could probably be harnessed as a power source for a small town.

Playing above his talent level? Come on man, are you a major league scout? He's 28 years old, he hasn't even played 600 games yet. Isn't it possible he's improving with experience? And 'replace the offense somewhere else' - you're making that sound pretty simple. What if the new catcher has a .580 OPS? At what position are we going to make up the lost 200 points of OPS?

How can you possibly give Napoli a higher grade than Drew or Gomes? Even by the crudest of measures that doesn't make sense. Drew and Gomes now have higher OPS's than Napoli. And don't forget that unless Napoli misses a bunch of time before the season ends he's going to get 13 million. By WAR ratings, Drew and Victorino have emerged as solid values this year.

But in the modern era of baseball, the starter is almost always out of the game by the 9th inning, and any late inning heroics have to be performed against the other team's closer, who usually has one of the lowest ERA's on the team. And in order for there to be heroics, it usually means you're trailing in the game. So really, getting the starter out of the game has little to do with late inning heroics. They're certainly not a 'fairytale'.

I'd say it's been analyzed sufficiently now.

Sorry jung, but there's nothing to support these statements. It would be more accurate to say that you win games by knocking out the starting pitcher because it means you've put up a bunch of early runs to accomplish that. In general you don't win that many games against the other team's bullpen. And late inning heroics are not fairy tales. It's just not something you can do consistently. Here is the Red Sox OPS broken down by innings: 1-3 .836 4-6 .780 7-9 .741 The best time to score runs is early. In the late innings you're more likely to be facing effective pitchers.