As was reported recently, the Rangers have no interest in trading recently demoted power righty Keone Kela, who was optioned owing to his negative impact in the clubhouse. Both Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News and Jeff Wilson of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram provide further detail on what went wrong, and you’ll want to check out those pieces for the full rundown. All said, it seems there’s plenty of space for Kela to work back into good standing with the organization, though it’s anyone’s guess how long he’ll be shelved in the minors and what it will take for him to return.
Here are a few more pitching notes from around the game:
- The Phillies took home an Opening Day win after Jeanmar Gomez shut the door in the ninth, but the closer role seems far from settled. As Ryan Lawrence of the Philly Voice reports, manager Pete Mackanin acknowledged after the game that he’s “concerned” with Gomez — who gave up a two-run home run and, in the skipper’s assessment, is struggling to work down in the zone. It seems the club will stick with him for now, but Mackanin suggested continue to evaluate and won’t hesitate to pull Gomez if he’s struggling.
- Long-time staff ace Felix Hernandez left his start yesterday for the Mariners with groin tightness, as Ryan Divish of the Seattle Times reports (Twitter links). But the expectation is that he won’t miss any time; the veteran righty says he’ll be ready for his next scheduled outing “for sure.” He did miss time last season with a calf strain that proved worse than initially suggested, though of course there’s no reason to believe this new injury will follow a similar course.
- Veteran hurler Bronson Arroyo is on track to return to the majors, as Mark Sheldon of MLB.com writes. After a sim game on Sunday resulted in “very, very positive reports,” in the words of manager Bryan Price, it seems Arroyo is slated to make his first MLB outing of the year on Saturday. Arroyo has battled injury ever since going he required Tommy John surgery in the middle of 2014, but has remarkably positioned himself to make it back to the hill at 40 years of age.
Closers are overrated. The save stat is broken. Gomez is not very good wherever you put him.
While I do agree “Saves” are a terrible way of assessing a relief pitcher, I have to disagree that closers are overrated.
Teams make and miss the playoffs by just a few games each and every year. Also, not having a shut down guy for the 9th Inning, especially with only a one or two run lead, is extremely stressful for a ball club and especially for their manager.
That shut down closer very well could end up being the difference between a ball club making or missing the playoffs.
I can promise you, every team in major league baseball would say having a reliable, shut down closer is paramount for a team to make a real run towards a pennant or playoff birth… Just go ahead and ask the teams that lack a solid closer at the back-end of their bullpen, I’m sure they will tell you.
Honestly, look no further than the latest market trends for closers. The best closers in the game today are absolutely raking in the money, and they are coveted by their respective teams and each and every team around the big leagues.
Solid middle reliever. Always had good stats in that role. That’s about it though.
would the Yanks have been as good as they were without Mariano all those years? Torre knew all he had to do was get to the 9th with the lead and it was game over.
What do the Yanks,Torre,and Mo have to do with this article?