Baez & Rodriguez should Trade Places...

[Alex]

Baez was a decent starter. I'm not so sure of him as a closer. I think Rodriguez could close, and close well.

Why not switch the two, make Baez a starter again, and put Rico in the closers role?

The Braves put Smoltz in the bullpen after he had been a starter for a decade, even after Atlanta's starting pitching looked weaker than it had in years, they stuck with Smoltz in the closer's position.

Baez's starting ERA was a very steady 4.5 when he did start. Rico strikes me as being the perfect closer.

The net effect is we had have a team that would be confident once they were winning late in a game.

I'm not saying I would definitely do this, but doesn't it seem that Rico is definitely closer material?

What should the threshold point be, where the number of blown saves by Baez means a switch should be in order?

[ckotyk]

They will leave Baez as the closer until Wickman comes off the DL. Baez seemed to do really well early this season and he's not as bad as he's been recently. I think he could have been a good starter, however, he needed to develop a 3rd pitch. Maybe his future lies as a setup guy?

I actually don't think that Rodriguez would make a good closer. The reason being that he doesn't get enough strikeouts. I think strikeouts are key for a closer.

I think our next best option after Baez is Riske.

[Alex]

I seem to recall Baez blowing a save before he got his 3-4 saves in a row. Tonight the first two runners got on that he faced, and he was able to work out of it with an inning ending double-play.

That makes three bad appearances in a row.

He seems to be hovering around 50% effectiveness his 8-10 appearances this year. That's not so good.

[ckotyk]

He didn't blow his first save until April 16th. Up until that point he had a 0.0 ERA in 8.2 IP. That started 4 bad appearances in a row including 5 ER w/ no outs on April 22nd.

I don't see last night as a bad outing. Sure it wasn't perfect but anytime you can get out of an inning w/ no runs scored I consider that a good outing. His performance last night reminded me of Wickman. It also might be signaling a turnaround since it's the first time he hasn't allowed a run since the start of this rough stretch.

[Alex]

I thought he came into a game earlier in the season and allowed the tying run to score, perhaps someone else left the runner on base?

Yeah, I was thinking Wickman also after last nights game!

[Alex]

Roger Brown Comments

Roger Brown agrees with me.