The Closer Report: Setup for Failure

By Paul Shapiro

Since when do closers remove themselves from the closer role? Isn’t that manager’s job? Well, this happened not once, but twice this week. Both Jason Isringhausen and Eric Gagne asked for a “mental break” from their respective team’s closer role.

On Friday, Isringhausen racked up his Major League-leading fifth blown save, a distinction that he shares with Gagne and one that they would both rather not have. After this performance, Isringhausen suggested a meeting that included himself, manager Tony La Russa, pitching coach Dave Duncan and general manager John Mozeliak. During that meeting, Izzy removed himself from the Cardinals’ closer role.

"It needed to be done," he told reporters. "It's a mental break more than anything. … I'm just getting sick of embarrassing myself and letting my team down. … They can't keep sending me out there when I'm pitching the way I'm pitching.

Isringhausen, who actually leads the National League with 11 saves, compared the way he has been pitching to that of “a second grader.” He blew just two saves in 34 chances last season.

So that leaves the ninth inning for setup man-turned-closer, Ryan Franklin. He has two saves in the past week in two chances, but Franklin doesn't have what most experts would call “typical closer stuff.” For now, he is clearly the go-to-guy for saves, but the Cards’ skipped Tony La Russa said Russ Springer would also be considered in save situations. Personally, I like Kyle McClellan. He has thrown 19 1/3 innings, with 16 strikeouts, a 2.79 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP.

The truth about the Cards’ closer situation is that once Izzy gets his head back on straight, he’ll be closing games again. This will probably occur by the end of the month.

Now, onto Gagne. This guy cracks me up. Before Brewers’ manager Ned Yost could pull the Canadian from the closer role, Gagne did it himself.

He came into Saturday’s game, in a non-save situation, and coughed up two runs to move his ERA to 6.89. After the game, Gagne said that he no longer wants to be called the Brewers closer.

"I don’t deserve that ninth inning right now,” he told reporters.

Gagne, who signed a one-year, $10 million deal this offseason, is legitimately stealing money from the Brewers.

The Brewers will use a closer-by-committee approach while Gagne tries to work out the kinks. If that means he starts juicing again, then this guy might be able to “save” his career. (I crack myself up sometimes.) Otherwise, look into picking up the likes of Salomon Torres, David Riske, Guillermo Mota, Brian Shouse and Mitch Stetter. There are almost too many names to go around for any of them to have value.

On Sunday, Torres came into the game to protect a 5-2 lead. He got the first two outs, allowed a run and was then removed with two runners on and a left-hander due up. Shouse then picked up the infamous one-out save.

But a save is a save. And, you never know, the Brewers could call up Derrick Turnbow from the Minors.

You know what’s so amazing about all of this? This all happened during a series between, you guessed it, the Cardinals and the Brewers in Milwaukee. Coming into Monday night’s series finale, there have been two blown saves in three games and a loss for both Izzy and Gagne.

Next in line: The closer role is entirely volatile. Here are some setup men to keep an eye on in the upcoming weeks.

Cubs – Carlos Marmol (23 IP, 2 SV, 30 K, 1.17 ERA, 0.70 WHIP)
Braves – Blaine Boyer (21 1/3 IP, 0 SV, 22 K, 4.22 ERA, 0.84 WHIP)
D-backs – Chad Qualls (19 2/3 IP, 1 SV, 20 K, 2.75 ERA, 1.22 WHIP)
Padres – Heath Bell (20 2/3 IP, 0 SV, 14 K, 2.61 ERA, 1.11 WHIP)

Closers of the future: For those of you who want to look into the future, here are four setup guys that should end up with at least 150 saves in their career. These are their career stats coming into Sunday night’s games.

Dodgers – Jonathan Broxton (187 IP, 5 SV, 239 K, 2.89 ERA, 1.22 WHIP)
Yankees – Joba Chamberlain (39 1/3 IP, 1 SV, 51 K, 1.37 ERA, 0.84 WHIP)
Mariners – Brandon Morrow (69 2/3 IP, 0 SV, 73 K, 3.88 ERA, 1.61 WHIP)
Tigers – Joel Zumaya (117 IP, 2 SV, 124 K, 2.62 ERA, 1.18 WHIP)

The Swami Says … I predicted last week that three of the 11 closers without a blown save would do just that – blow a save. I was close. Two closers, Jonathan Papelbon and Troy Percival, blew saves, but Papelbon blew two. That equals three, so I’ll look at that as a moral victory. That leaves nine closers who haven’t yet blown a save this season. Mariano Rivera, Joakim Soria, Brad Lidge and B.J. Ryan still haven’t allowed an earned run. Billy Wagner is in that boat as well, but he blew a save on an unearned run. And I still stand by what I said last week, “Soria will be the last closer remaining without a blown save heading into June.”