If you didn’t believe all the whack jobs predicting that the End of Days will occur this weekend, I present to you Brandon League. If League four losses in four straight games doesn’t trigger the Rapture, I don’t know what will.
OK, so maybe having an ineffective closer isn’t exactly the end of the world, but it sure feels like it when it is your team’s supposed best reliever that can’t slam the door game after game. But rest easy, Seattle fans, you aren’t alone. Things may seem hopeless right now, but… it gets better. League’s meltdown may be of epic proportions, but he certainly isn’t the first closer to have things go sideways and he won’t be the last. This year alone, more than a few teams have already dealt with a closer implosion. Some have solved the problem, some haven’t. Either way, Seattle has more than enough recent history they can study to try and end their ninth inning nightmares.
The Quick Hook Method
Some folks think that the best thing to do during a slump is just hunker down and ride it out. Others prefer to do the exact opposite. The Angels saw Fernando Rodney blow one save in the first series of the season and he lost the job right then and there and not a single person complained about. Sometimes managers just have to trust their instinct and realize when a guy isn’t salvageable and Rodney’s continued awfulness has only vindicated the decision, although the Angels now have an equally as big mess in their setup role now.
The “Oh No, My Arm!” Method
In League-like fashion, Brandon Lyon blew three consecutive saves for the Astros and saw his ERA balloon to 7.15 before Houston finally pulled the plug. Lyon now supposedly has some rotator cuff problems that are to be blamed for his struggles, but it wasn’t like he was ever a confidence-inspiring reliever to begin with. With League’s ERA now even worse than Lyon’s, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him land on the DL with some sort of ailment, be it real or imagined, if only so League doesn’t just move his futility to an earlier portion of the game like the previous two options would have them do.
The Kitchen Sink Method
One problem Seattle faces when it comes to replacing League is that they don’t actually have anyone suitable to take his spot at the end of the game. But desperate times call for desperate measures as we saw in the case of the Chicago White Sox. The Pale Hose thought they had the closer issue all figured out to start the season, but Matt Thornton blew that idea up by blowing save opportunities in four consecutive games (sound familiar, Seattle?). Ozzie Guillen turned to Chris Sale, to no avail. He then flirted with the idea of promoting Jesse Crain, but decided against it. With so few relief options left, he gave unheralded Sergio Santos an audition and, lo and behold, Santos is perfect in five save chances and hasn’t even allowed a run yet this season. So, go ahead Eric Wedge, just start picking reliever names out of a hat and see if one of them sticks.
The Help is On the Way Method
Mariner fans may not want to hear this, but their best strategy might just be to try and ride out League’s slump and hope that he can hold it together until their “real” closer, David Aardsma, can get healthy and reclaim that job. This wouldn’t be a half bad idea if Seattle actually had any idea on when exactly Aardsma will be back. He missed the start of the season because of a hip issue and would have been closing games right now if not for the fact that he has developed elbow and forearm problems. Now he is out for at least a few more weeks and the idea of Tommy John surgery has been bandied about. So, Seattle can wait for Aardsma if they want, but they might be waiting a long, long time.
The Committee Method
Or maybe, just maybe, the Mariners could try something new but possibly ingenious. Actually, that’s not totally true. Going with a closer-by-committee is hardly a new concept, but it is one that has never really caught on. But if you look at all of the closing situations above, including the Mariners, and one can’t help but wonder why everyone insists on one man and only one man keeping the closer role to themselves. There are really only a handful of elite closers in the game and they are the only guys who should have a 100% lock on being a team’s closer. Team’s with lesser options like League or Rodney/Walden or Thornton/Sale/Santos or Lyon/whoever has a pulse or doing themselves a disservice by trying to force the job on just one reliever who is, at best, marginally better than most of the other arms in his own team’s bullpen. Seattle could still let League get most save opportunities, when he is actually on his game. When he isn’t, call on whoever else has the hot hand at the time or mix and match based on match-ups. The point is that there is more than one way to skin a cat and not all of them involve you getting skinned yourself repeatedly when things go south like they did for League.
