3:58 PM
John Briese
Who is more important to their respective team, Cliff Lee or Mariano Rivera? With all the talk that surrounds the Phillies starting rotation this season, being dubbed by some as “the greatest ever”, questions have been raised whether the team’s starting pitching is more important than who gets the ball with a lead in the ninth inning. I’ve heard one analyst on TV note that he would trade any one of the Phillies starting pitchers for Mariano Rivera just to sure up the latter innings. I am inclined to agree with him.
The Texas Rangers are asking themselves the question of what is more important, a frontline starter, or a sure thing closer. Neftali Feliz took the American League by storm last season saving 40 games in 43 opportunities and winning the Rookie of the Year award. Feliz combined his effortless motion, a fastball that can reach 100+ when he wants it to, and his young tenacity to give the Rangers something they had not possessed in a few years, confidence in the late innings. However Feliz has expressed his interest in moving from the bullpen to the starting rotation, much like the Rangers former closer C.J. Wilson did last season. Wilson finished with 15 wins last season, and pitched very well in the postseason after making his move to the starting rotation. The difference though is that Wilson could be erratic as a closer and set up man, and never instilled the confidence in management as a late innings man that Feliz has done. So what does Ron Washington, John Daniels, and Nolan Ryan do?The Rangers have a gaping hole in their rotation since Cliff Lee flew to Philly leaving Wilson and Colby Lewis as the only veteran starters in the rotation. They were hit with a blow late Friday when they learned that 13 game winner Tommy “Big Game” Hunter will be out at least six weeks with a strain in his groin and will start the season on the DL. With Brandon Webb “nowhere close” to being ready to start according to the Rangers, they are left with the 3, 4, and 5 spots in the rotation to the likes of Matt Harrison, Derek Holland, and most likely either Mark Lowe or Alexi Ogando. A starting rotation that could give Rangers fans expectations for a lot of 15-13 games much like the one this past Thursday against the Reds. Washington has already come out and said that Feliz will be the closer this season because that is where he is most needed right now, but the question remains whether his rotation will be able to sustain leads long enough for him to come into the game in the ninth.
Personally I agree with Washington and think that Feliz is needed most in the bullpen, because I would rather have the closer that gives me the confidence that the game is over after the 8th inning, than a starter who can regularly go eight innings every five days. It may sound dumb to some, but I would rather have Brian Wilson in the 9th then have Felix Hernandez in innings 1-8. I would know that 95% of the games where my team took a lead into the ninth inning, we would come out victorious, and that to me is worth more than anything a starting pitcher could ever give me. Feliz is an amazing talent, and could be a great starting pitcher someday, but for now he needs to accept the role he has been given as the guy who will shut the door on opposing teams whenever he is needed. Although the Rangers starting rotation is looking slim, they will find ways to get to Feliz in the ninth; but moving him to the starting rotation would be a mistake right now without a suitable replacement for the closer role.
The Rangers are entering the season as the reigning American League Champions, but with less than a week from opening day they still have major concerns when it comes to who will be on the mound day in and day out. They know a couple things, that C.J. Wilson, the teams new Ace will be taking his blue glove to the mound on Opening Day, and they know that Neftali Feliz will be the one getting the ball in the ninth; everything else, they are hoping, will just fall into place. Until science allows the Rangers to clone Feliz and put him both in the rotation and as the closer, they will have to settle for only using him for one role. For now he is only one man, and can only do one job…unfortunately.
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