Closers

Over the past 30 years or so, closers have become the professional wrestler of baseball. The scoreboard lights up with a video montage and the stadium’s PA system blasts the player’s selected entrance music. It’s entertaining, but is it necessary? Is it good for a team to have a Mariano Rivera or Trevor Hoffman waiting in the pen for the call to try to shut the game down? Sure. For a team like the Pirates, it is not a necessity, but could help them out in the long run by padding a guy’s statline with some saves to increase trade value. The Pirates have several guys in camp who should get opportunities to pick up some saves.

Richard Rodriguez registered 4 saves last season for the Pirates. He found himself closing out games by default due to injuries in the bullpen, but he was effective. He should get more chances this year. Rodriguez could be traded before the season starts. If he’s not, saves on his statline will help to increase his value in a potential trade later in the season.

Edgar Santana has looked great this spring. He has been mentioned in the past as a guy who had future closer potential, but he hasn’t gotten a chance yet due to Tommy John surgery and a PED suspension. Santana has the stuff to close. His fastball sits nicely in the mid-90s, as does his sinker. When he’s on, his breaking stuff is nasty. He could be a part of the future since he still has several years of control. He could also be a very nice trade chip if he produces and stays healthy.

David Bednar has opened some eyes with his performance in camp this spring. Bednar has shown that he possesses closer stuff. His fastball sits upper-90s and he mixes in a splitter and a curve. I like his future potential, but don’t think he needs to be rushed into the closer role.

Blake Cederlind profiles as the closer of the future if he gets his control issues ironed out. Cederlind can hit triple digits and mixes in a cutter. Unfortunately, Cederlind was just placed on the 60-day IL with an UCL issue. If that requires surgery, Cederlind will be out this year and possibly some of next year as well.

The Pirates best bet would be to provide opportunities to someone like Rodriguez in order to boost his trade value. The same goes for Santana. Santana, however, could sit in that role for a few years since he doesn’t hit free agency until 2025. Who knows how many save situations the Pirates will find themselves in this season? They would be better off giving them to a guy to build his value for a trade. Once he is traded, they could move to establish a guy in the closer role for the future or go with a committee.