O's closer said to sign with Toronto for 5 years, $47M

[fingerthemiddle]

While Flanigan sits on his ass and does nothing...

Comments

[genuinechris]

read moneyball and the fact that the closer is overrated. Selling the Closer is Billy Beane's trick, and it's going to make him buku bucks. You take a pitcher that can't quite start, teach him to gass it for an inning every other day, and then you have a closer. Pad his stats, and you can get 3-4 million bucks in cash every couple of years towards other players.

[fingerthemiddle]

How many Wolrd Series' has Billy Beane won? How about the Yankees who pay Rivera $10.5 million a year?

Beane=0
The team that "over pays" a closer= 4 (with Rivera)

[chaptal]

Interesting that the best closer the A's ever had was Dennis Eckersley, a former starter.

That was pre Beane and his computers though :)

[fingerthemiddle]

You have to consider though that the role of "closer" was kinda looked on as a demotion by a lot of people when Eckersley was coming up- in the past 20 years or so pitchers have started being groomed to be closers as young as high school- that simply was not happening when Eckersley was young- so all closers then were once starting pitchers in the minors- now there are pitchers who never start a game in the minors...

[bisquickgoddess]

Oh God it hurts.

[lalena31]

Go Jays go!

[fingerthemiddle]

And take Mike Flanigan with ya...