the curse of esteban yan
and russ springer. and jeff fassero. and gabe molina.
anybody got pedro borbon, jr.’s cell number?
all those hands on deck and god knows who else in the wake of jason isringhausen’s injury last night. izzy left with one out in the 9th with what initial reports called an "abdominal strain" — did not look good, but too soon to panic.
not.
assuming they shut him down temporarily (and why take chances in april?), julian tavarez becomes the closer by default; he saved 15 games in 2003-04, and there’s truly nobody else who can do it . . . unless la russa decides to play the matchups batter-by-batter, in which case they might as well recall the entire memphis bullpen.
another approach — favored by my friend anolis — would be to take a shot at the theo epstein / bill james experiment of 2003 and abolish the closer role altogether. anybody might close on a given night, depending on who’s sharp, who’s throwing strikes, who’s keeping hitters off stride. one day it might be reyes, the next day flores, the next day tavarez; let circumstances and game situations decide, a la herzog in 1985.
’course, the epstein/james theory flopped in boston in ’03, and in any case it isn’t la russa / duncan’s style. at this point aint-broke-dont-fix seems in order; tavarez closes, reyes / king / flores share setup duties, journell stays in middle relief, and the cards replace isring’sen with not one but two arms from memphis — the better to eat innings and provide maximum matchup flexibility. my guesses are cali and jarvis get the call, with luna moving down to memphis.
if that’s the case, it leaves the bullpen with just two holdovers from the stingy ’04 unit (tavarez and king) and five other guys who pitched a combined total of 48 innings in the majors last year.
on the bright side: six pitching changes a night means longer games, hence extra time to commune with busch and its spirits; could add three or four game-lengths to the schedule . . .
anybody got pedro borbon, jr.’s cell number?
all those hands on deck and god knows who else in the wake of jason isringhausen’s injury last night. izzy left with one out in the 9th with what initial reports called an "abdominal strain" — did not look good, but too soon to panic.
not.
assuming they shut him down temporarily (and why take chances in april?), julian tavarez becomes the closer by default; he saved 15 games in 2003-04, and there’s truly nobody else who can do it . . . unless la russa decides to play the matchups batter-by-batter, in which case they might as well recall the entire memphis bullpen.
another approach — favored by my friend anolis — would be to take a shot at the theo epstein / bill james experiment of 2003 and abolish the closer role altogether. anybody might close on a given night, depending on who’s sharp, who’s throwing strikes, who’s keeping hitters off stride. one day it might be reyes, the next day flores, the next day tavarez; let circumstances and game situations decide, a la herzog in 1985.
’course, the epstein/james theory flopped in boston in ’03, and in any case it isn’t la russa / duncan’s style. at this point aint-broke-dont-fix seems in order; tavarez closes, reyes / king / flores share setup duties, journell stays in middle relief, and the cards replace isring’sen with not one but two arms from memphis — the better to eat innings and provide maximum matchup flexibility. my guesses are cali and jarvis get the call, with luna moving down to memphis.
if that’s the case, it leaves the bullpen with just two holdovers from the stingy ’04 unit (tavarez and king) and five other guys who pitched a combined total of 48 innings in the majors last year.
on the bright side: six pitching changes a night means longer games, hence extra time to commune with busch and its spirits; could add three or four game-lengths to the schedule . . .
posted by L Boros at 2:23 AM
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