Quote:
Originally Posted by muzak
It's where he needs to be for now. They need to find a suitable closer first, then reassess the situation. It's not as simple as plugging in someone else from our pen, it shifts everything around. Just think about all those close games where you can feel comfortable knowing you have Feliz coming in to close the game out. I remember all those holding-my-breath moments of (late) Franky and CJ. With Feliz, I never felt anxious.
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The Rangers lost a ton of games in the 8th and 9th innings last year. It's not like Feliz was Rivera out there. Going into last season we had Frank Francisco as our closer, who was hardly established as a sure thing in the closer spot.
And the reality is that the closer spot is over rated. The majority of the games they enter are in the 9th with no one on base and a multiple-run lead. That is not a high leverage situation. There is more emotional attachment to losing games in the 9th, so that does add to the importance, but it's still a highly overrated position.