Borowski for Closer Movement Marches On
The momentum behind putting Joe Borowski back into the closer role continues to grow. Borowski made his spring debut Monday, pitching one scoreless inning, walking one and striking out one.
Even the other closer candidates -- LaTroy Hawkins and Ryan Dempster -- appear to be conceding the job to Borowski (see here and here).
Only Mike Remlinger seems to be saying, "Hold on!" The Chicago Sun-Times quoted him on Saturday (Mike Kiley, "Remlinger believes closing will begin by committee," 3/5/2005) as saying:
I don't think early we'll have just one. But by the end of April, we probably will. . . .But I also think from a professionalism standpoint, it's our job to get the three outs whenever asked. . . . When your primary focus is on winning as a team, who's getting the credit for the saves isn't as important as going out there and making sure your team keeps the lead.''I do feel it's good to have a guy who knows he's the closer. But I have been in situations where you have two, three guys getting 10 or 15 saves each a year. I don't feel that's a bad thing. It keeps people hungry. I look at it more from the standpoint of talent. We have four or five guys that could be closers on any given day."
In Monday's game, Borowski reached 88 mph on the radar gun. It's still early in the spring. Perhaps that could inch up. But that's not fast enough. Borowski doesn't have the sinker or the changeup that would allow him to be a top notch reliever absent a low 90s fastball.
In January, I predicted that Dusty Baker would make Hawkins the closer again. I had ignored the possibility that Borowski might win the job back.
This thing is long from settled.
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Diddlin' Around
Can the Cubs afford to diddle around trying to figure out who is "the man" in April? Each loss in April counts the same as ones in September (whew, is it too early for baseball triteness!?). The problem is the rest of the candidates have already been trotted out and found to be lacking. I like Hawk as a set-up man, and old Remmy is quickly sliding to loogy-land (although his numbers are better against righties).
I'm not against competition, and I hope that Dempster can push JoeBo to find his low 90's fastball. I just don't see this staff coming up with a closer-by-committee, where three guys get 10 to 15 saves each.
MarcV
Settle It if You Can
No team in history was very successful with a Committee Closer. I admit I am not the "baseball stat man", but I follow enough. Teams are successful when they settle in on a guy who comes in in the 9th and finishes up. The exception is of course the complete game, or the off day when a set-up man is doing good and he's left in.
I don't know if JoeBo has the stuff he had two years ago, but they better find out real quick! If not, then they need to find a closer on the staff or elsewhere! Otherwise, the Cubs staff is REAL REAL good this year, including Guzman... Watch out for him. He'll be the 5th man in the rotation by the end of the year. If healthy, this staff is awesome this year!
Guzman
Yes, I'm excited that Guzman might be all the way back. If he is, what a big help he would be as a mid-season call-up.