Sunday, August 14, 2011

Do the Angels Need a New Closer? No

There's been a lot of talk of replacing Jordan Walden as the closer for the Halos. The top matter of this discussion, is because of Walden's league leading 8 blown saves. The thing is, is that the Angels don't score that many runs and they are ranked very low among the teams in the AL in just about every offensive category. So Walden usually pitches the ninth with perfection in mind to keep 1 or 2 run leads. You would think he's used to this, being a closer. Well, no he really isn't and here are some things to consider:
  • He's a rookie
  • He was converted to a reliever around 2009 or 2010
  • He was never a closer
So let's continue on about what I said earlier, about how Walden has to be just about perfect to keep these 1-2 run leads in the 9th. Walden despite having 8 blown saves has just a 2.74 ERA which is pretty good for a closer with 8 blown saves. Now also going back to an earlier point made, lets look at some other teams' that don't score that many runs and look at their closers:

Twins-460 R-Closer: Matt Capps: 49 innings-Saves 15 BS: 7 ERA: 4.41 WHIP: 1.16

Orioles-483 R -Closer: Kevin Gregg: 45 innings-Saves 17 BS: 4 ERA: 4.20 WHIP: 1.58

Rangers- 615 R-Closer- Neftali Feliz: 46 innings-Saves 23 BS: 6 ERA: 3.33 WHIP: 1.20

Mariners- 395 R: Closer: Brandon League: 47.1 innings-Saves 29 BS: 4 ERA: 2.85 WHIP: .99

A's-462 R-Closer: Andrew Bailey: 25.1 innings-Saves 14 BS: 2 ERA: 2.13 WHIP: .99

Angels-462 R-closer: Jordan Walden: 46 innings-Saves 26 BS: 8 ERA: 2.74 WHIP: 1.19


Now you may be thinking... why are the Rangers on that list? They score a lot of runs. Well, even though they score a lot of runs Feliz still has trouble closing games out and he also gives up more runs (indicated by his ERA) than Walden.

We can exclude Andrew Bailey from the list because of the number of innings he has pitched this year. But that leaves us with Capps, Gregg, League, Feliz, and Walden. Though Walden does have the most blown saves he does have a better ERA and out of the 5 closers (excluding Bailey), Walden is 3rd in WHIP.

The numbers speak for themselves, Walden is a top AL Closer (among low-scoring teams).

The final word is: Why would you want a different closer?

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