.... might just be a top 5 closer in baseball right now. rivera still the measuring stick. krod has the saves (though hes put himself in a lot of jams this season). nathan and papelbon go 3 and 4. but show me a better closer than soria at 5. this kid, despite getting a well-deserved trip to the ASG, is still flying way under the radar. and he is friggin good. doesnt fu.ck around with hitters. doesnt put unnecessary guys on base. goes right after guys. gets the job done routinely. obviously he doesnt have the high-pressure saves that some of the other guys do, but he is a stud. over/under before getting plucked in a trade with a big market team? 1.5 years tops.
Dude is awesome. He's THAT good. There is a reason his era is in the mid 1's. Watch this Kansas City team the rest of the year. They are only 11 games under .500 and I believe they have a chance to finish around .500 and they are motivated to do so. Their bullpen is better than average and their starters with Grienke, Meche and Bannister are pretty darn good. Also, Hochevar isn't pitching badly. I like this team. I had them tonight against Oakland and I don't see that Oakland is at all better than them.
Speaking of Grienke, he's the real deal now that he has his issues worked out. He struck out 11 tonight and was brilliant, getting ahead of all the batters,etc. I know Oakland is not an offensive juggernaut but I believe Grienke is really coming into his own. KC plays hard and will all the way down the stretch. Might be worth playing on and won't have to lay much juice to do it.
Speaking of Grienke, he's the real deal now that he has his issues worked out. He struck out 11 tonight and was brilliant, getting ahead of all the batters,etc. I know Oakland is not an offensive juggernaut but I believe Grienke is really coming into his own. KC plays hard and will all the way down the stretch. Might be worth playing on and won't have to lay much juice to do it.
Honestly I think thats fair for people not to consider him in that caliber. Krod, nathan, mariano etc are all proven commodities while he is only about a year in as a closer. Look at guys like Turnbow and Lidge who looked like dominant forces their 1st years in and totally melted down thereafter. Secondly he has yet to pitch in real bigtime pressure situations. I mean if he closes the game cool no one cares, if he blows the save cool still no one cares. There arent any crucial games for KC because they are never in contention. While this is totally speculative and its impossible to theorize the measure of a mans nerves I have to think that closing a game that could decide on whether you are in 1st or in contention of a playoff berth makes the situation a whole lot more dicey.
AL vs NL makes no difference in the 9th. Pitchers are pinch hit for in the 9th. The point is Turnbows numbers were fucking awesome but wasnt able to keep it going. If Soria gives up a solo jack in his next outing their ERAs are nearly identical so the numbers are much closer than you think. And you only remember Turnbow pitching the last 2 years. Because when he was throwing 98+mph fastball for strikes with a incredibly dirty breaker you wouldnt judge stuff. Soria easily has more quality pitches. Honestly they should consider him being a starter with the amount of pitches he has. But raw stuff easily Turnbow without a doubt.
AL does make a difference because the DH is not coming off the bat. Much easier to be in the flow of the game than coming cold off the bench. AL overall has better hitting teams for the most part. Obviously you think Turnbow is the greatest and no sense arguing with you about it any longer. I have seen both pitch and I know which one I think is better. In YOUR opinion Turnblow has better stuff. I don't agree with it. You can make a blanket statement but it doesn't make it true, it only makes it your opinion. End of conversation.
Im not trying to argue that Turnbow is better. Im saying its perfectly fine for people to not hold Soria in that high esteem this early in his career. Turnbow is an example and to say that Turnbows 05 numbers and Sorias current numbers differ considerably is silly. they are separated by a solo jack. And turnbow has 20 more IP logged.
part of being a big time closer is having dominant stuff ... but also strong command of the strike zone. there are always going to be guys who throw 97 coming out of the pen and always tease you with how good they 'could' be. but guys like rivera and nathan (and krod up until this season actually) are so good because they dont let the leadoff man get on via the walk nor do they throw all over the place and get behind in the count. to that point, thats what i like about soria. as a closer, it doesnt matter how good your stuff is. if you are constantly 2-0 or 3-1 on hitters it will eventually catch up with you.
Not gonna argue that Soria is having a great year. Also that he has the potential to be a top 5 guy for years to come. Having said that I would choose Jenks over him at this point to close out my games. Jenks has the experience of handling the aforementioned "high pressure situations" plus his "stuff" isn't exactly chop liver (sh!t I say for being in NY for 3 weeks).
If I was a GM and all closers would be made available this would be my top 5 list:
1)Hand of God
2)KROD
3)Nathan
4)Retard Boy
5)Jenks
If I was a GM and all closers would be made available this would be my top 5 list:
1)Hand of God
2)KROD
3)Nathan
4)Retard Boy
5)Jenks
fwiw - id have my top 10 as:
1) rivera
2) nathan
3) rodriguez
4) papelbon
5) soria
6) bj ryan
7) jenks
8) putz
9) lidge (incidentally, his late-season and post-season the year houston went to the WS was one of the most dominant stretches i have ever seen by a relief pitcher. if hitters managed medium-deep fly balls on on him, it was almost a shock. he'll never get back to that form)
10) saito
i think the most important part of being a big time closer is how they handle big time situations. not saying Soria CAN'T do it, but I believe he blew 2 saves in Yankee stadium this year. When he came into the game I just had a feeling he would blow the save and he did, twice I believe. It would have been a huge step forward as becoming an elite closer if he could have got the job done on that stage. Not saying if given the opportunity he couldn't do this on a consistent basis, but it's a much bigger deal coming into the 9th in a 1 run ball game at Yankee stadium compared to having a 2 run lead against the A's.
For me he has to prove he can get the job done over the long haul on the big stage. My list..
1. Rivera
2. Nathan.
3. K-Rod
4. Papelbon
5. Jenks
