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jafabian said:
The M's weren't all that good that year. The next year Sasaki pushed him to middle relief and his ERA was 5.36. He then went to Philly and his next two years he had 2.34 and 2.97 for his ERA and saved 42 and 45 games respectively. Benitez had a 1.93 ERA with the Yankees. Was Rivera hurt at the time? But when Benitez went to Seattle it jumped up to 3.14. Then he's the closer for Florida and he goes down to 1.97 and 47 saves.



Like I said, he's inconsistent. His performance as a closer has fluctuated, as well. In 2000, his ERA was 2.61. In 2001, it was 3.77. Then, in 2002, it was back down to 2.27. All three years he was the Mets' closer.

Mesa was the same way. His first three years as Cleveland's closer, his ERA's were 1.12, 3.73 and 2.40. The last three years, spent with the Phillies and Pirates, his ERA went from 2.97, to 6.52, then back to 3.25.

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You would think it shouldn't make a difference, but all closers will tell you otherwise. I suppose it's like being a DH. You'd think the production should be the same whether you DH or not, but almost all players will tell you that ain't so.



I think closers might say they like closing more, because it makes them feel more important. I don't think they'd say it affects their pitching, though.

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When Sasaki came back from injury his last season with the M's they tried him at middle relief to ease him into it and he was terrible. He complained that he needed the rush of the closing situation to get into the game. I suppose it's more mental than anything else, but isn't that what makes the closer the closer? Seperates middle relief from closing?



Well, if you can't get a rush pitching in the major leagues, you don't belong. That, along with injuries, is probably why Sasaki isn't in the MLB anymore.

MisterJLA is RACKing awesome.