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Thursday, July 20, 2006
Deal for closer a little late
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
I still don’t think they can get there — Bob Wickman is one pitcher, not the needed three or four — but the Braves now believe they can. They doubted a month ago, maybe even a week ago, but after a deluge of offense and the acquisition of a real closer the old swagger will come gushing back. I still don’t think these are the Braves of old, but you can bet the Braves will act as if they are until/unless they’re eliminated.
That’s no small consideration. The last three division titles were in large measure products of that conspicuous self-assurance. The other teams in the NL East didn’t know how to win, and the Braves were certain they did. They can’t win their division this time — the Mets are too good and too far ahead — but they’ve given themselves a chance to make the postseason. When a team is 13 games under .500 on the morning of July 2, that’s a chance it didn’t figure to have.
Asked if he’d have traded for Wickman were the Braves 10 games back in the wild-card standings as opposed to 4 1/2, John Schuerholz tried not to answer but essentially did. The front office had been waiting to see if it should be selling off players, and the gains made this last fortnight arrived as a signal to buy. “Even if you’re 10 games back, you need a closer,” Schuerholz said, neglecting to note that the Braves wouldn’t have been 10 games back if they’d had a closer.
The Braves held preliminary discussions with Wickman over the winter, but he chose to re-up with Cleveland for one season at $5 million. How might this season have looked had the Braves offered, say, $12 million over two seasons? But they tried to finesse it, saving their money and praying Chris Reitsma could graduate to being a ninth-inning man, and when that didn’t happen they had no chance. It’s a credit to this manager and these hitters that they didn’t pack it in back in June. Sure, pros are paid to perform no matter what the standings say, but how many last-place teams actually hold out a smidgen of hope?
There can, however, be no lasting hope with a bad bullpen. The Braves have won 11 of 14, but only three of the victories featured a save. “We’ve characterized our bullpen as a work in progress,” Schuerholz said, though the “progress” part has been open to debate. Then he dared to liken Wickman to Fred McGriff, saying that McGriff’s arrival in July 1993 enabled the other Braves to hit in their natural positions and suggesting that Wickman-as-closer will do the same for this relief corps. Schuerholz again: “It’s no longer a work in progress.”
Let’s not hand the Braves the keys to Postseason 2006 just yet. They still have to climb over seven teams, at least four of which — Cincinnati, Arizona, Houston and L.A. — have reason to suspect they’re just as worthy. And Wickman pitching a scoreless ninth will have little value if Jorge Sosa or Ken Ray can’t work a tidy eighth. And Wickman, effective as he has been, isn’t Mariano Rivera.
Wickman doesn’t strike people out. (He has just 17 K’s in 28 innings.) He hasn’t had his best year. (His ERA is 4.18, and opponents are hitting .271 against him — both numbers markedly up over last season.) He has worked only four postseason innings and has spent the bulk of his career with teams that contended for nothing. Sometimes it’s different closing for a team that expects to win. Ask Dan Kolb.
That said, Wickman was the best closer available, and Schuerholz got him for Max Ramirez, who was never apt to be any better than third-best catcher in the organization. It was a move that had to be made if the Braves are to sustain a serious run, and Schuerholz made it. But before anyone gets too giddy, here’s one last sobering notion: Had the same GM bought the same pitcher over the winter, the Braves wouldn’t have nearly so many teams to catch.
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Smoltz is the closer Braves need
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Imagine this conversation. (It’s easy if you try.)
John Schuerholz: “I heard your widely publicized request for veteran help loud and clear, and I’m pleased to inform you that the Braves have found the absolute best available closer.”
John Smoltz: “That’s great news. Who is he?”
John Schuerholz: “A guy named John Smoltz. You report to the bullpen tonight.”
It is a source of some amusement that the pitcher who’s lobbying for relief help is himself the greatest reliever in franchise history. I know, I know: Smoltz is also the best starting pitcher the Braves have at the moment, but the whole twisted sequence of events — the failure of Dan Kolb, the inability of Chris Reitsma to close games (both last season and this), the premature promotion of Joey Devine, the doomed-from-the-start experiment with the flaky Kyle Farnswoth — that led to the collapse of this bullpen was set in motion by Smoltz’s oft-expressed desire to work every fifth day.
As for finding a real closer at this late date with the limited resources he has to trade: If Schuerholz can do that, he’s a better GM than I think he is, and I think he’s the best.
As for the Braves revisiting their Smoltz-as-starter scenario: I continue to believe that could happen over the winter. (Assuming Mike Hampton’s rehabilitation goes well, assuming Kyle Davies gets healthy and shows he can get people out, assuming Chuck James isn’t a one-month wonder, assuming Tim Hudson ever gets it going and keeps it going.) If the rotation can somehow be stabilized — a huge if, granted — I continue to believe Smoltz would be of greater value as a reliever.
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