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How much longer do we keep running Cishek out as closer?

I would love getting some feedback from someone with access to better statistics and analysis. This post is just based on what I know.

I love watching Steve Cishek pitch. I kept rambling on to whoever would listen (virtually no one) last year that Cishek should be our Closer. His numbers is '12 were awesome, he was incredibly effective, and his delivery is just fun to watch.

But relief pitching is a fickle business, and he just doesn't seem to have it in '13. I know that he's only had about 18 innings of work, but even though numbers might be inflated by some bad outings, at the same time some of his numbers are helped by the fact that his bleeding is cut short when he blows saves on the road.

I don't know what the issue is. Small sample size? Just having an off year? Does he need more regular work? Is he not handling the pressure and expectation?

And even if they do decide to move him back to Setup, who takes his place? Redmond seems to want to run Mike Dunn out there when Cishek falls apart, but is it wisest to use your only real left-handed bullpen arm in a Closing role? Technically Ryan Webb's numbers are better so far (1.48 ERA, 0.86 WHIP) but he's never really had the dominant K/9 numbers (6.3 K/9 for his career) that the position traditionally demands. Mike Dunn's WHIP is cause for more concern in crunch situations (1.21 in '13, 1.49 for his career) but his strikeout rate (10.0 K/9 for his career) is fantastic.

I guess, in a bubble, the answer would be closer by committee based on who was coming up in the 9th, but although that works well in theory, I always think it becomes a distraction because it causes way too many opinion pieces, press conference questions and other nonsense that teams don't need.

Hopefully someone with better numbers will give me a better answer.

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