Closers Close? Not in St. Louis.

Written by: Aaron Hooks on 8th April 2009

Closers Close? Not in St. Louis. | read this item

Oft it’s said the greatest athletes remember the few losses more than any of their wins and I guess the adage holds true for great columnists as well since I’m still having trouble shaking the stank off from Opening Day.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this again, the Cardinals weren’t supposed to be giving away games.

Hearken back to 2008 and you’ll remember that the Cardinals weren’t only bad when it came to finishing games off- they were historically bad. 31 blown saves is an all time team record. That’s impressive if you’re Colorado or Florida and haven’t played 20 seasons… but when you’re team founders had a role in ending the Civil War? That’s stupendous.

During the off-season, Cardinals management supposedly made a serious run at Brian Fuentes- at one point trotting out manager Tony LaRussa to the press to talk about how much he would add to the Cardinals.

Like too many other free-agents in the past 5 years, Fuentes signed elsewhere and the Birds were left at the altar.

Fast forward to spring training and the demise of Chris Perez. In 2008, Perez wasn’t good… but he did show promise. However he came into spring unprepared with his second pitch (already owning a 96+ fastball) and soon was re-assigned to AAA camp leaving the finisher role to rookie Jason Motte or veteran Ryan Franklin.

Eventually with a solid spring, Motte was told he’d get first dibs on ending games (at no point has TLR called Motte “The Closer”, instead leaving much doubt to how long of a leash Motte has with the Cardinals this season)… just don’t screw it up.

After being placed in Izzy’s old locker and promptly blowing the first save of his career and of the season for the Cardinals- Jason Motte has been put on notice. But really, what other options does the team have at this point?

Franklin, the most tenured option is average over his career as the closer- at best. Last season he blew 4 of his 11 save opportunities in the ninth inning and has publicly stated he feels more comfortable in the set-up role. Perez isn’t any more or less reliable than Motte. He’s got some experience closing games in the MLB, but it’s too little to make a judgment and too much to risk having him beat up again by the pros and risk damaging his head more than his AAA assignment already has.

Friends, this who position was a gamble for the Cardinals and John Mo and the front office shoved all in on two rookies.

So far?

It’s cost the team 50% of their games.

And not to put too fine a point on it- but these losses count just as much as the losses in September. Remember if this team is in contention. That they couldn’t close on a very poor Pirate team.

You pay for what you get…

Topics: bullpen, Cardinals Closer, Chris Perez, Jason Motte, Johnny Mo, St. Louis Cardinals, Tony LaRussa