Jesus saves, but not as often as K-Rod

So Thursday night, Frankie Rodriguez tied Bobby Thigpen's single season's save record with 57 saves. He's in prime position to break the record tonight against the Mariners (provided the Angels don't completely blow them out...it is the Mariners). Being an Angels fan, I'm really proud about it, but there's a few things that bother me about the whole thing.

First off, earlier this year, Jerome Holtzman, the consensus creator of the statistic passed away. Jerome was a legendary baseball writer, and by all accounts, a good man. He came up with the idea of the save in 1960 to somehow quantify a reliever's worth. When the statistic became official in 1969, MLB went back and retroactively awarded saves for those prior to that point. Now, understand...the statistic was meant to quantify a reliever's worth, but what it eventually did was create a special type of reliever...the almighty closer. Holtzman's death seemed to spark a line of revisionist thinking about the save statistic and the closer's role in general.

Jim Caple, one of my favorite baseball writers, wrote this column not long after Holtzman's death. It's a decent and thought-provoking read, but if you don't go there, let me sum it up for you:
- Closers suck.

Just kidding. In all reality, he makes some good points. Closers didn't really exist until the 80s and they didn't become rockstars until the mid-90s. Closers, by my estimation, are the ego equivalent of elite NFL wide receivers. And it's become a little ridiculous...the best closers in the league have entrance music...yes, just like pro wrestlers. I blame Trevor Hoffman...I'm not sure when it started, but he enters the game to "Hell's Bells" by AC/DC. Mariano Rivera strolls to the mound to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. I'm sure you're drawing the pro wrestling parallel along with me. And yes, just like pro wrestlers' entrances, closers' entrances are silly, but kinda cool at the same time. I used to get really pumped when I would be at an Angels game back in the pre-K-Rod days, and I'd hear Godsmack blaring from the PA at the end of the eighth inning, and see that beast Troy Percival jogging out to the mound. And he had a very scary presence on the mound...his fastball topped out at its peak around 100mph, but the scariest part was his squint...before every pitch, he squinted into the box as if he couldn't see, which added to his gravitas. Think about it...if you're facing down a guy who's got a three-digit heater, and he can't really see the strike zone, are you feeling particularly safe in the batters box?

I digress. But that's my point...the best closers have a mystique about them which is largely manufactured.

(sidebar: the Cal/Maryland game is on in the background, and all the idiot play-by-play team can talk about is the time difference between the West Coast and the East Coast. The 'Rita turned to me and brought up an excellent point: "If I were a Maryland fan, I'd be pissed off right now! Like the only reason we're winning is because Cal is three hours behind?? Screw that! The Cal team did not fly in last night...they've been here for a couple of days. They're not tired, they're just gettin' beat by Maryland!" That's my girl! By the way, to read more about terrible sports announcers, check out this blog by my buddy Brian Powell: awfulannouncing.blogspot.com. It's excellent. If he's watching, I'm sure he'll have much to say about this one.)

(side-sidebar: it appears that Cal may actually have flown in Friday afternoon, but the idiot announcers also said that Jeff Tedford has been ensuring that his team has been getting up and going to bed a couple of hours earlier than normal during the week to prepare...so it still shouldn't make a difference big enough for these morons to keep harping on it the way they have been. We now return you to your regularly scheduled West Coast Biased rantings.)

Caple's point is not that individual closers are overrated, but that the role of the closer is largely overrated. There's undoubtedly some merit to that. There are pitchers out there who routinely pitch complete games; Roy Halladay and CC (sans periods) Sabathia immediately jump to mind. Yet, most of the time closers are only brought in after they've had their setup man pitch the eighth, and only if it's a "save situation". So let's think about this...your starter went a solid 7 and got you a lead...it's not a blowout lead, but you're up by three. Your setup man comes in to pitch the eighth and he's lights out, and you're going into the ninth with a lead. Cue the pyrotechnics and the Black Sabbath, it's closer time. Now, this raises an interesting question...do you really believe that your setup man who's just pitched a great lights out inning can't hold a three-run lead for three more outs? It's a little ridiculous, yet it happens season after season. Not only that, but a few years ago, closers more often than not, would pitch part of the eighth inning. Now, it's almost unheard of. I'm not sure, and I haven't looked it up (can't be bothered, I'm nursing a mild hangover), but I'd be willing to bet that, on average, blown saves have decreased league wide within the last decade.

That's one of the knocks against K-Rod this season...he's never been brought in before the ninth, and he's only been brought in for a non-save situation a couple of times. His numbers are also not as 'dominant' as he has been in the past, or as some other closers are this season. The same day Jim Caple ran his column, fellow ESPN columnist Jonah Keri basically destroyed any hope for K-Rod to win any kind of postseason award with this column, which did a great job of analyzing his season from a purely statistical standpoint. K-Rod's not among the top closers in the league in ERA or opponent's OPS, or any of the other sabermetric stathead stats like VORP or WORP or CHAP or WPA or BUD or CARL or JACKBAUER (pop quiz: which of the preceding are actual statistics, and which did I make up?). On top of that, since the Angels under Mike Scioscia have been a small ball team that doesn't live and die by the home run, they play a ton of close games. Close games translate to save opportunities, of which K-Rod has had more than any other closer this season. And since it's really not that hard to pitch three outs for any MLB pitcher (there's plenty of data out there to support the contention that teams should completely eliminate the closer role), save opportunities mean saves.

Legendary baseball writer Ken Rosenthal wrote this column a few days ago, which echoes a lot of the same items that Caple and Keri stated in their earlier columns, but at the same time, defends K-Rod's place in history. He puts a great perspective on the problem of the closer by saying, "The save rule created closers. The save rule condemns them." It's a great read...if you're going to read any of the three I've put up, make that the one.

Now, what truly frustrates me is that this is an actual record, and it seems that because many sportswriters were afraid of upsetting a hall of fame writer of Jerome Holtzman's stature, they waited until he kicked off to start questioning the relevance of his brainchild and legacy. Not only that, but it's not K-Rod's fault that his team gets him more save opportunities. It's not his fault that Holtzman passed away and writers felt it was safe to start criticizing the save rule. Whatever the circumstances, Frankie Rodriguez is going to break the single season save record within the next few days, and he will more than likely hold that record for a very long time, because it's taken a confluence of good fortune to put him in this position in the first place.

I, for one, am extremely impressed with this kid. In his rookie season, he played setup man for Troy Percival in the World Series, and became the full time closer in 2003. He quickly became established as one of the more consistently lights out closers in the league. He had a pretty public arbitration hearing before the beginning of this season, which he lost, virtually guaranteeing that he'll be gone at season's end, whether or not they can bring home a ring. He's put it behind him and become the quintessential professional athlete in the free agent era: performing the 'did you really not see this coming?' contract year surge. So yeah, some team's going to overpay for him next year, and since the Angels have Jose Arredondo waiting in the wings to take over the closer's role (can't wait to see what he chooses for entrance music!), they'll likely shake Frankie's hand and thank him for his service. And because of the set of circumstances he's been given with this team, this season, he'll never sniff anything close to 55 saves again. I've been a fan of K-Rod since his rookie year in 2002, and I wish him the best wherever he ends up. More than anything, I'm really hoping that he can bookend his stint with the Angels with World Series Championships...he started his career with one in 2002.

Frankie, do your thing. Don't listen to the haters out there. We'll miss you next year, but at least you (and we, as Angels fans) can rest easy knowing that the single season save record will be safe in Anaheim for years and years. And wherever you end up, if you can bring home a ring for us, we'll give you the same honor we gave to Scott Speizio and Troy Percival upon their returns home. If, by chance, you come home to the Big A, and your team's got a save situation, your first fans will stand and cheer loudly for you. You've become as much a part of Angels lore as Wally, Reggie, the Kingfish and the Rally Monkey. So thanks, Frankie. Finish the season strong and let's bring it home! Your contract value will be quite enhanced if you do.