Quote:
Originally Posted by molson
He's off to a slow start, but you wouldn't be able to replace him with anything CLOSE to as good. There aren't any closers out there that get 1-2-3 every time.
|
Slow start my ass. You're talking to a guy who has watched probably 80% of K-Rod's career saves. Trust me, this guy is a constant heart attack in the ninth inning and has been since around 2004, when hitters figured out they could usually let the sliders go by and sit on his fastball.
This isn't a slow start. This is a career trend that has been going on for a while now.
And while I agree we wouldn't necessarily be able to replace him with someone as good, we also wouldn't have to spend at least $13 M per year on that someone, and could spend it elsewhere (contrary to popular belief, the Angels are much closer to their salary breaking point than uber-teams like the Red Sox and Yankees).
Heck, we already have that someone on staff. His name is Scott Shields and he is signed for the next three years after this, and regularly gets 1-2-3 innings (and has closed before during K-Rod's injury problems).