Maddon: Closer by Committee

by mark21 on Mar 26, 2007 1:26 PM EDT Comment 18 comments

Joe Maddon came out yesterday and stated that he's prepared to go with the dreaded "committee" approach for his closer, to start the year. It appears there are a number of options, but they all come with some form of baggage.

I have listed the closer candidates below, but being a "casual" Rays fan (actually I'm intigued with their collection of young talent), I'm wondering what the more knowledgable guys and the followers of Drays think.

Poll

Who will eventually emerge as the Drays closer?

Shawn Camp

2 votes

Brian Stokes

4 votes

Seth McClung

21 votes

Chad Orvella

52 votes

They bring in another closer

10 votes

They go with a committee all year

11 votes

Al Reyes

30 votes

Dan Miceli

5 votes

135 votes | Poll has closed

0 recs | Comment 18 comments |

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Comments

isn't all talk of DRays using a closer...

....purely hypothetical?

Where's the polling option "DRays will never face a save situation that would make this question relevant"?

Sorry. I have no insight to offer. Just thought I'd throw that out there and risk getting my head chopped off by a DRays fan. Which I would hate, because I do love the DRays. But it isn't for their ability to win major league baseball games.

by bleedjaxblue on Mar 26, 2007 1:32 PM EDT reply actions

I am upset with you...

I was going to make a very similar smartass comment and you beat me to it.

by Boxkutter on Mar 26, 2007 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

haha....yeah

when you've got a sitting duck like a "DRays closer" thread, you have to know you need to get there fast to make the joke....

by bleedjaxblue on Mar 26, 2007 7:14 PM EDT up reply actions

No love for....

...Juan Salas in the poll? :)

by The Thrill on Mar 26, 2007 5:39 PM EDT up reply actions

Salas

I think Salas is probably the best in house option they've got, and Maddon might agree: he's used Salas in the 8th or 9th inning in ST almost exclusively, and he's finished 3 or 4 games that I can recall from the boxes.
If they really want to groom a pen for the future, Orvella is the only guy on the list above who should sniff the back end of the pen. The other guys are washouts or are too old to be around when the Rays are any good (2010?).
It says here that Salas has the most saves of any Tampa reliever, and that he'll be pretty good this year, better in 2008...
JAS

by jasvlm on Mar 26, 2007 7:10 PM EDT reply actions

all year

i threw down a vote for the comitee all year simply because none of these players can hold down the job for more than a month except potentially salas and i don't think they hand him the job soon. i actually bet reyes ends up with the most saves by seasons end.

by kaisertown on Mar 26, 2007 7:43 PM EDT reply actions

different questions, different answers

As a Rays fan, I must always ask myself 3 questions.

1. What would I do?
answer: I'd give the closer's job to Al Reyes if he proved to be 100% healthy and make Chad Orvella the setup man and occasional spot closer with Juan Salas in the 7th inning. Eventually, the competition for closer of the future comes down to the performances of Orvella and Salas.

2. What would Joe Maddon do?
answer: Since Maddon makes the most mind-numbing decisions routinely, I'd guess he'd go with Dan Miceli, Shawn Camp, or Scott Dohmann. Apparently an ESPN chat with Crasnick revealed that someone in the organization thinks Miceli is the favorite. Go figure... what morons.

3. What would Brian Boitano do?
answer: Brian Boitano would take over the closer's role with his triple lux screwball and have the best year in Tampa Bay history.

Rays in '08....

by youALREADYknow on Mar 26, 2007 7:45 PM EDT reply actions

Just out of curiosity

What would Brian's numbers have to look like in order to have the best relief season in TB's history?

by siddfynch on Mar 26, 2007 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions

7 saves and an ERA under 5

by pedrophile on Mar 27, 2007 12:36 AM EDT up reply actions

throw out counting stats

Other than Danys Baez, has a TB reliever ever spent a full season in the majors without hitting the DL or being demoted?

by limozeen on Mar 27, 2007 12:44 AM EDT up reply actions

obviously, you're not looking.....

....for a serious answer, but Jim Mecir was pretty good. Though his screwball had nothing on Boitano's.

by bleedjaxblue on Mar 27, 2007 12:49 AM EDT up reply actions

Darn it...

I missed out on another golden opportunity to take a cheap shot at the D-Rays lol.

For the record though, I love how the when-will-they-finally-be-good question has an ever changing answer. Couple years ago it was 2007. Then it moved to '08 and '09. I think this is the first time I have seen 2010 mentioned as the year it all happens. I can't wait for it to finally happen though (at the expense of the Yanks, I hope)... but this is still my favorite running subplot on this blogsite.

by Boxkutter on Mar 27, 2007 5:50 AM EDT up reply actions

the answer is X + 3

current year plus 3 years.

I know I could have had a more witty reply, but speed is of the essence :)

by pedrophile on Mar 27, 2007 8:04 AM EDT up reply actions

Another Salas write-in here

Not sure how you can have eight choices for D-Rays closer and him not be one of them.

by Brett Perryman on Mar 27, 2007 1:16 AM EDT reply actions

Can you close

with only one pitch?

3 things to consider:

Age: 27, a little old for a prospect.

Stuff: From RaysBaseball.com: >>His fastball is fantastic and a potentially dominant pitch but he isn't going to be more than Jesus Colome with a better attitude if he doesn't further refine his slider and become more willing to use it.<< Ranked #14 in DRays prospects.

Maddon: From what I read he seems to be leaning toward Brian Stokes who is a year younger than Salas believe it or not.

One other thing, didn't Orvella try and close last year only to get smoked?

by dombonny on Mar 27, 2007 8:25 AM EDT reply actions

Quote

Strange that you pick that quote of all of them. 7 people (myself, YAK and Tyler included) gave comments there, and you picked out the one negative comment. The point of the comment, to some extent, is that he does have a good slider, he just forgets to use it a lot of the time. Also, saying he's a #14 prospect is kind of misleading - he would have been top 5 in several organizations, just the Rays have a pretty darn strong top 12. It looks like he will be sent to AAA though to start the year. There are just too many guys vying for positions, and he's raw enough that he could still use the time in the minors.

Orvella's still in the process of bouncing back. Butcher sped up his motion last year (they were obsessed that he couldn't hold baserunners), and he still hasn't gotten back to where he was before the change. Either way, his control isn't nearly as good as it was originally. We'll see if he can bounce back.

I personally think Reyes will be the closer this season. He's a NRI, but if the people upstairs are paying enough attention, I'm guessing they'll waive McClung to put Reyes on the roster.

Will Eli be showering in Evian at last?

by Brickhaus on Mar 28, 2007 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions

FYI

Jerry Crasnick said in his ESPN chat that he spoke with someone in the Rays organization that said Dan Micelli would start out with the save opportunities. Take that however you want.

by goose102977 on Mar 27, 2007 11:19 AM EDT reply actions

Al Reyes

Isn't a longterm option or anything but if hes healthy hes a good reliever with solid stuff. Hes bounced back n forth between AAA and the bigs over the years but hes not too much different than a random solid reliever whos spent the last 7 years in the bigs.

Let him take the closers. It will take pressure off the youngsters and hes a good enough releiver to do fine in that role and build up a little trade value for a team looking for a spare pen arm come July

by nms on Mar 29, 2007 6:19 PM EDT reply actions