Kuzul

On Sunday, I made my second journey to the new Yankee Stadium with my fiance, Kate, and watched the New York Yankees lose, 7-3, to the Toronto Blue Jays.

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In a year of stunning rookie performances, Cuban defector and Reds uber-prospect Aroldis Chapman made his major-league debut on Tuesday, facing three batters in one inning of work. The 22-year-old was electric, hitting 103 mph on the radar gun.

More importantly, because Chapman was called up on August 31st, that means that he will be eligible for the postseason roster. If the Reds make the playoffs, Chapman will have the chance to become the latest in a glorious line of rookie call-ups who have had an impact in the postseason before they had a chance to have an impact in the regular season.

Here is a by-no-means exclusive look at some of the most memorable rookie call-ups who have contributed in the postseason in recent years.

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Through history, many players have entered baseball’s most hallowed hall. The list of players is numerous: 54 starting pitchers, 16 catchers, 18 first basemen, 17 second basemen, 10 third basemen, 21 shortstops, and 60 outfielders have plaques in the Hall of Fame. Even nine umpires have gained entrance to Cooperstown.

Some claim third base, or even catcher, is the most underrepresented position in the Hall of Fame.

However, only five relief pitchers have ever been elected: Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Bruce Sutter, Dennis Eckersley, and Goose Gossage.

With reliance on the bullpen growing in modern times, that number appears set to rise in the next 15 years.

But by how much? And who is deserving of mention among the all-time greats?

After all, there’s a reason only four such players have been elected.

IN

Mariano Rivera

The first reliever who deserves mention is the only one who seems to be an absolute lock for Cooperstown.

Since becoming the full-time closer in 1996, the Panamanian righty has dominated hitters consistently. His 206 ERA+ is the all-time record, and his 2.21 ERA and 1.002 WHIP are tops among active pitchers. Mariano is an 11-time All-Star, five-time World Series champ, and has placed in the top three of Cy Young Award voting three times.

By throwing his cutter almost exclusively, Mariano has blown away hitters to the tune of 553 saves, good for second all time.

In conclusion, Mariano Rivera has all the qualifications for a Hall of Fame reliever: a devastating pitch, an extended period of dominance, and solid playoff performance.

He has a very strong case for greatest reliever of all time, and he has a spot in Cooperstown already waiting for him.

Trevor Hoffman

The other relief pitcher who has a good chance at the hall is Trevor Hoffman. Being the all-time leader in saves and games finished helps.

However, Hoffman isn’t the lock for Cooperstown that Mariano is. Despite sitting on the precipice of 600 saves, Hoffman has Rivera breathing down his neck. By the time he is eligible for Cooperstown, Hoffman could have very well fallen to second on the all-time list.

Unlike Rivera, Hoffman does not have a career long record of dominance – rather, he has two shorter stretches, from 1994-02, and from 2004-09. And Hoffman has never been as dominant as Rivera. He’s only posted an ERA under 2.00 once, while Rivera is on his way to his tenth such season. Hoffman has also only posted a WHIP under 1.000 six times, while Rivera is on his way to an eighth.

I’m not saying Hoffman will be kept out of the Hall, but Lee Smith, known for having been the all-time saves leader before Hoffman, has been kept out.

Hoffman also doesn’t have the playoff success of Rivera. In 12 postseason games, Hoffman has an ERA of 3.46, and a WHIP of 1.231.

Billy Wagner

When talking about active closers, the conversation often ends at Rivera and Hoffman.

However, Billy Wagner, who may be the greatest left-handed reliever of all time, doesn’t get the credit he deserves.

Wagner has two of the three qualifications: a long dominant stretch, from 1999-05, and has a sizzling fastball that has reached 100 mph.

Perhaps the reason Wagner is so underrated is because he is so humble. Recently, after breaking Jesse Orosco’s record for strikeouts by a left-handed reliever, Wagner called the record “stupid”.

“I said ‘We’re getting our (butts) kicked, it’s raining, let’s go,’ ” Wagner said . “It’s stupid. Who in their right mind makes a big deal out of doing something they’re supposed to do in the first place? I’m out there pitching in a (bad) game; we’re getting our butt kicked. It’s not worth it to make a big deal out of that. That’s embarrassing.”

Perhaps it’s his small stature. Despite being listed as 5’11”, Wagner still intimidates opposing hitters when he comes out to the tune of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”.

During his most dominant stretch from 1999-05, Wagner had just one full season with a WHIP higher than 1.000, and he led the league in games finished twice. Over that span, he had an ERA+ of 196, culminating in a 293 ERA+ in 2005.

OUT (for now)

Joe Nathan

Just six months ago, I would have told you that Joe Nathan was paving his way to a spot in Cooperstown.

Since then, he’s gone down for the season, and has gone from possibly the best closer in baseball to someone who started too late. After starting his career as a starter for the Giants, Nathan came to Minnesota by trade and started his career as a closer at age 29, far later than any closer in Cooperstown.

Since then, Nathan has been a rock, being as lights out as anyone in the game. His 2008 season is one of the best ever, as evidenced by his 316 ERA+, and WHIP of .901. If he had enough innings to qualify, Nathan would be second in ERA, ERA+, and third in WHIP, behind only Rivera and Hoffman.

However, after his season-ending injury, we have to wonder if Nathan will get those innings, or if he will come back as good as before. At his best, Nathan is one of the top closers of the last 15 years. If he can come back from injury like Trevor Hoffman did in 2004, his outlook looks good.

Jonathan Papelbon

At the young age of 29, Jonathan Papelbon has put together what may be one of the greatest five year stretches in baseball history.

It started with what may be the most underrated rookie season ever. In 2006, Papelbon blew away hitters, to the tune of a 0.92 ERA and .776 WHIP, giving him a simply unreal 517 ERA+. He gave up 0.4 HR/9. Despite this, he finished second in AL Rookie of the Year voting, behind Justin Verlander.

The next year, although his ERA doubled to 1.85, Papelbon managed to lower his WHIP, to 0.771. Since then, Papelbon has been lights out. In 2010, he’s posting his highest ERA, at just 2.91, but that doesn’t diminish a career WHIP under 1.000, an ERA of 2.01, and an ERA+ higher than Mariano Rivera’s.

Francisco Rodriguez

Despite being known mainly for breaking the single-season saves record in 2008, Francisco Rodriguez is also one of baseball’s premier closers. 

Although he is just shy of dominant, Rodriguez is very consistent. From 2004-08, his ERA fluctuated around 2.20, and his WHIP hovered near 1.100. Although some people see Rodriguez as overrated for his 2008 season, he should be looked at as a strong, solid closer, who has an outside shot at Cooperstown, especially if he experiences further playoff success. 

Keep An Eye On: Heath Bell, Brian Wilson, Huston Street, Carlos Marmol, Jonathan Broxton

Too Early to Tell: Joakim Soria, Andrew Bailey, Neftali Feliz

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Via Baseball Reference:

Mariano Rivera is 40 years old, still pitching extremely well, and is first in baseball history in ERA+. Among active pitchers, he’s ranked first in ERA, WHIP, H/9IP, K/BB, HR/9IP, WPA, and fielding percentage. (Go ahead and carefully re-read that last sentence.)

He’s an 11-time All-Star, finished in the top five for the Cy Young five times, and received MVP votes in nine different seasons.

He’s also the career leader in postseason ERA (despite having more IP than every other pitcher in the top 10) and has been a part of five World Series championship teams.

To me, it’s impossible to say with any authority whether or not Rivera is or isn’t the best pitcher ever. Though after reading that piece, it is hard to deny that he’s one of the elite pitchers of all time. Not just relievers, but starters as well.

So, what do you think, is Rivera the best pitcher of all time? Vote in our poll and let us know what you think in the comments section.

To help you decide, here are Mariano’s stats:

Related Stories

• August 12, 2010 — Yankees Notes: Thames, Vazquez, Teixeira, Posada
• July 1, 2010 — Yankees Notes: Gardner, Moseley, Thames, Aceves, Mitre, Rivera, and Outfield Grass
• June 28, 2010 — Cano and Mo Steal the Show: Yankees Comeback to Beat the Dodgers in 10 Innings
• June 24, 2010 — Yankees Notes: Mariano, Granderson, A-Rod, Torre

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The Yankees struck out 17 times in last night’s game.

Javier Vazquez only lasted 4.1 innings, allowing eight hits, six earned runs, and two walks—making that two shaky starts in a row for Vazquez.

Not to mention that the Yankees were down 6-1 to one of the best pitchers in baseball, Cliff Lee.

Being down by even one run against Lee is a task within itself.  But down by five?  Good luck.

Lee was in total control in the first six innings.  It looked as if the Yankees were going to be in for a long night.  But don’t tell that to this Yankee team.

After being shut down for the most part of the game, the Yankees finally got to Lee and his 11 strikeouts in the seventh inning, putting up two runs to reduce their deficit to 6-4.  Lee’s final line was 6.1 innings pitched, allowing eight hits, four earned runs, and striking out 11.

In the eighth, the Yankees got one run back from Frank Francisco on a mammoth home run from Marcus Thames, making the score 6-5.

The Yankees capped their comeback in the ninth, getting two runs from young Texas fireballer Neftali Feliz on a game-tying single by Derek Jeter and then a go-ahead single by Thames.

Having mounted an impressive comeback, the Yankees were primed to win this game with Mariano Rivera coming in to close the door.  But it looked like Mariano was going to struggle for the second straight night.

Rivera allowed a triple by Elvis Andrus to begin the ninth, pumping up the Rangers and the fans in Arlington.  But Rivera being Rivera, he wasn’t flustered one bit.  He ended up getting it done in typical Rivera fashion.

This was a big game for the Yankees.  They gained a game on the Tampa Bay Rays, increasing their lead in the AL East to two games.  But the big story was what happened during this game.

Just missing their second three-game losing streak in the young month of August, the Yankees did what they were known for last season: coming from behind.

The gutty, gritty Yankees of 2009 made a return.  They fought back in typical Yankee fashion, a theme that hasn’t been seen much in the 2010 season.

Perhaps a sign of things to come, the Yankees need to ride this game into Kansas City, and do what they need to do against the Royals.

Follow @steve_henn on Twitter

Check out Steve Henn’s Yankee blog, The Experience

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With the way that the game has changed over the past few decades, relief pitching has become a substantially more integral part of baseball.

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With the trade deadline behind us and dog days of August upon us, fantasy baseball owners are either making their way towards bragging rights for next season, or making their way towards the local landfill (Hey, it happens to best of us!).  

Whether you spent a fourth round pick on an elite closer, or waited to piece together your closing committee, let’s take a look at how the relief pitchers will finish out the rest of the season.

If you “mixed and matched” your relief corps this season hoping for saves here and there, it’s important to also mix in guys with high strikeout totals and low walk rates (as it is with most pitchers). In previous seasons, I’ve done just a “straight” ranking by position, as opposed to a “tiering” system, but have recently found that the tiering system will help you to better distinguish the difference between a tier-one player and a Tier-two player, ultimately leading to better value.

Tier-One

Mariano Rivera – New York Yankees

Heath Bell – San Diego Padres

Jonathan Papelbon – Boston Red Sox

These top relievers are the same pitchers season after season who continue to be worth every penny for owners who draft them early. Rivera may pitch until he’s 100 years old, but is still the best in the game. Having Kerry Wood help deliver a lead to Mo in the ninth makes him even better.  

Although Bell is involved in trade rumors every season, he continues to be the backbone of a strong bullpen in San Diego, as they push towards a division title.   

Don’t be freaked out by Papelbon being placed on waivers earlier this week, as most players are during this time of the year. “Cinco Ocho” hasn’t posted the strikeout numbers we’ve all wanted in 2010, but he’s still racking up the save numbers and has been one of the top closers over the past four seasons.

Tier-Two

Jonathan Broxton – Los Angeles Dodgers

Brian Wilson – San Francisco Giants

Carlos Marmol – Chicago Cubs

Joakim Soria – Kansas City Royals

Billy Wagner – Atlanta Braves

Jose Valverde – Detroit Tigers

Neftali Feliz – Texas Rangers

Rafeal Soriano – Tampa Bay Rays

The tier-two guys contain a mixture of all reliable closers who have job security. 

Broxton is certainly capable of cracking the tier-one group. After posting a disastrous month of July, his value is down right now. Since the All Star break, Broxton has posted an ERA of 9.00 and has only struck out 4.5 batters per nine innings (K/9 ratio). The recent poor results make you wonder if the big guy is dealing with some type of injury. The Dodgers brought in Octavio Dotel during the trade deadline, but he won’t pose a threat to Broxton unless he goes down with an injury. Dotel was just brought in because of Dodgers’ manager Joe Torre’s love affair with ex-Yankee players.  

Wilson dealt with some small back issues in the beginning of August, but appears to be fine and still remains an undervalued closer.  

The only bright spot with the Chicago Cubs this season is Marlon Byrd’s defense and the strikeouts from Carlos Marmol (16.8 K/9 this season!).

Injuries were the concern with Wagner this offseason for fantasy owners, but those who took a gamble on the left-hander during the late rounds have certainly been rewarded. Wagner and the rest of the Braves’ bullpen have lifted Atlanta into a division lead showing the Phillies that not everything revolves around offense.

Soriano leads the American League in saves with 31 and is also posting a 0.89 WHIP this season. He doesn’t have high strikeout totals like the rest of this group (36 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings), but doesn’t walk many hitters and has only surrendered three home runs.

Things just keep getting better for the Texas Rangers and Feliz this season. The lights-out fireballer has taken the closer’s role and ran with it, striking out everyone in his way. Feliz’s ERA at home is a high 5.06 this season (thanks to the Ballpark in Arlington) but on the road, Feliz has posted a 1.45 ERA and currently sits in third place in the American League with 29 saves. 

Tier-Three

Francisco Rodriguez- New York Mets

Leo Nunez – Florida Marlins

Matt Capps – Minnesota Twins

Huston Street – Colorado Rockies

Andrew Bailey – Oakland Athletics

The original “K-Rod” has bounced back nicely this season during his second year with the New York Mets. He’s posting better numbers across all categories this season, and could climb into the tier-two section during the final month of play. The fantasy value for Rodriguez has slipped over the past two seasons due to the inability of the Mets to produce save opportunities.

With questions around Nunez’s job security earlier this season, he’s proved that he’s the man down in Miami. Nunez has allowed just one home run and walked 11 batters over 44 1/3 innings this season. With 26 saves already in the books this year, Nunez has matched his career high in saves (26 with the Marlins in 2009).

The Minnesota Twins felt that Jon Rauch was not capable of closing games this season and went out and acquired Capps during the trade deadline. Capps has bounced back this season after an unlucky 2009 in Pittsburgh. Capps is an above-average reliever who posts low strikeout totals (7.4 K/9) and has spent time closing against subpar National League hitters to this point. The move to the American League will truly be a test for Capps, as the NL East doesn’t have Miguel Cabrera types.

Street and Bailey, when healthy, are reliable arms during the ninth inning, but both pitchers have struggled with the injury-bug this season. With not many reliable closing options on their teams, both will continue to see save opportunities.

Tier-Four

Brian Fuentes – Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Ryan Franklin – St. Louis Cardinals

Bobby Jenks – Chicago White Sox

Francisco Cordero – Cincinnati Reds

Brad Lidge – Philadelphia Phillies

Matt Lindstrom – Houston Astros

Fuentes and the Angels are fading fast in the American League West standings.  Fuentes will continue to close in the ninth, but doesn’t post “wow” numbers. He posted better numbers during the month of July (1.00 ERA, 0.78 WHIP) but continues to have the tendency to give up too many walks and home runs.

Prior to the 2010 season, I warned fantasy owners about Franklin. He uses the magical illusion of smoke and mirrors to deceive fantasy owners into thinking he is a top closer when in fact, he’s not. Franklin has a 25/6 K/BB rate over 42 2/3 innings and left-handed hitters have a stat line of .303/.333/.515 against him this season, making him avoidable. Manager Tony LaRussa is also known for riding the hot hand and playing the matchups. If Franklin fades down the stretch, so could his save opportunities.

Lidge this season has been inconsistent, but with the Phillies are really left with no other options during the ninth inning, so look for Phillies’ manager Charlie Manuel to stick with Lidge.

Tier-Five

David Aardsma – Seattle Mariners

Chris Perez – Cleveland Indians

Kevin Gregg – Toronto Blue Jays

John Axford – Milwaukee Brewers

Joel Hanrahan – Pittsburgh Pirates

Drew Storen – Washington Nationals

Alfredo Simon – Baltimore Orioles

Aaron Heilman – Arizona Diamondbacks

Aardsma – see above under Ryan Franklin. Aarsdma has blown four saves this season and has also walked 16 batters over 34 1/3 innings. With the chances of the Mariners actually having a lead during the ninth inning slim, Aardsma has little fantasy appeal.

 Perez finally ends up where he belongs – pitching in the ninth and closing out games. Too bad it’s for the Cleveland Indians. With Wood leaving via a trade, Perez controls his own destiny and is a viable fantasy option for cheap saves the rest of the season.

Prior to Hoffman imploding back in May, most knew little or nothing about Axford. With little bullpen relief on the Brewers, Axford was given the job and hasn’t looked back since. Yes, Axford has the unknown factor surrounding his name, but with a sweet mustache and a 10.8 K/9 ratio this season, he’s a reliable bottom tier closer.

With Dotel leaving for Los Angeles, Hanrahan takes over the closer duties for the Bucs. It was a toss up for the ninth inning job between Hanrahan and All-Star Meek, but with Hanrahan owning more ninth inning experience, the Pirates will roll the dice with him. Hanrahan will have the same value as Dotel did when he was closing games for Pittsburgh, but fantasy owners shouldn’t be afraid to own either Meek or Hanrahan.

The Storen era is officially set to begin in Washington. The Nationals have stated that they will use a closer committee role the rest of the season with Storen, Tyler Clippard, and Sean Burnett, but Storen is your guy long term. Clippard posted horrible July numbers with a 7.90 ERA during 12 appearances. Clippard has already logged over 62 innings this season which is a career high for him, so fatigue could be playing a factor. Burnett, a former first round pick for the Pirates, is holding right-handed hitters to just a .174/.245/.209 stat line over 86 at-bats this season, while lefties are hitting .302/.371/.476 over 63 at-bats.  Oh year, Burnett has a career 6.71 ERA and a 1.67 WHIP from the month of August until the end of the season. Take in this order: Storen, Clippard, and Burnett.

Orioles’ manager Buck Showalter didn’t fool around with the bullpen during his fist game on Tuesday evening. Mike Gonzalez recorded the first two outs during the ninth before being replaced by Simon, who recorded the final out for the save. With the Orioles having nothing to lose by trotting Simon out there, the whole closing situation in Baltimore is a toss-up. Gonzalez wants to pitch in the ninth inning badly and appears to have regained the velocity on his fastball which has been missing all season, so anything can happen. Be warned.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are in shambles this season, and the bullpen isn’t exempt from the mess. In one of my earlier pieces, I wrote that Gutierrez was the favorite to earn save opportunities for Arizona given the recent failures of Chad Qualls and Aaron Heilman. With Qualls leaving for sunny Florida, D-backs’ manager Kirk Gibson was still reluctant to name a closer.  With Gutierrez hitting the disabled-list with a right shoulder injury, it’s Heilman’s turn on the carousel. I also like rookie Sam Demel as a potential replacement for Gutierrez, as he’s posted 21/5 K/BB over 20 1/3 innings. 

 – All statistical data provided via Baseball-Reference.com

Reggie Yinger is the Senior Editor at Baseball Press and his writing has appeared in a men’s national magazine publication.  He also contributes exclusive writings to The Fantasy Fix. You can contact him at 

reggie@baseballpress.com or follow him on Twitter 

@sacksjacked.

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Let me just preface this by saying that pitchers, as a whole, are much more difficult to predict than hitters, at least as far as the rest of their career goes. Pitchers are much more susceptible to random, career altering injuries, discovering new pitches, and other unusual events; therefore, there is a much greater element of randomness.

Also, the Hall of Fame seems much more unclear on what constitutes a Hall of Fame pitcher, outside of 300 wins. The last starter elected by the Baseball Writers Association (essentially, what you think of when you think of the election process) was Nolan Ryan, back in 1999.

Before him, the last choices were Don Sutton, Phil Niekro, Steve Carlton, and Tom Seaver. You may notice two things about that group. First, every one of them has 300 wins. In fact, the Baseball Writers haven’t elected a non-300 game winner since Ferguson Jenkins (only 284 wins) back in 1991; whether this says something about the Hall’s electors or the quality of pitching in that time, I can’t say.

Second, every one of the aforementioned pitchers started their career in the 1960s. Yes, apparently, it has been over four decades since any Hall of Fame starter began his career.

This doesn’t even account for the erratic process they use to elect relievers; there is no obvious milestone, or, really, any sort of standard (if you’re looking for a good example of such oddities, look up one of Joe Posnanski’s articles comparing Hall of Famer Bruce Sutter and Dan Quisenberry).

Nevertheless, I want to cover every position for the the future of the Hall of Fame; and so, I begin with my first round of pitchers.

(Note: I used Baseball-Reference for WAR throughout the article. Fangraphs calculates pitching WAR a different way, and uses a more standard scale, but they only have numbers from 1980 on. Feel free to check it out if you’re interested, though.)

(Another note: There are a lot of pitchers. Surprising, I know. So, I broke them up by division; this article will be on the AL and NL East pitchers, with ones for the Central and West to follow.)

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Now that the trade deadline has passed, the final two months of the season begin to take their course. Now that the All-Star break has passed, it’s interesting to see if any frontrunners have fallen or any new faces have made shocking gains.

Except for Ubaldo Jimenez, this is not really the case. The NL frontrunners remain the same top four as it has been all season, though the rankings of the AL may be a surprise. Who finishes below Lee as the obvious frontrunner?

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By Larry Barnes | Yankees ‘n More
It might sound strange to say this on a night when Mariano Rivera just successfully closed out a 3-2 win in a shutout 9th inning on the road for his 21st save in 23 chances, but… I’m concerned about Mariano Rivera.

For the first time in God only knows how long, Mo was out there tonight with his cutter. He got by with basically sinkers (2-seamer) and 4-seam fastballs. He had good velocity (94 on some of the 4-seamers), but his command wasn’t nearly as sharp as normal.

We know Rivera has been fighting some sort of strain or pain in his side, which is why he chose to skip the All-Star game. We also know that’s been a lingering issue for Rivera this season.

Whether that or something else is an issue, there seems to be an issue. When is the last time Rivera didn’t have good cutting action on the ball and was forced to turn to other pitches? And, at least to these eyes, Rivera’s delivery did not appear NEARLY as smooth tonight as what we’ve we all become used to seeing.

Compound all of that with the multiple reports that say the Yankees have been pushing very hard in an attempt to get Joakim Soria away from Kansas City. In an ideal world, the Yankees would love to make Soria the setup man for Mo.

Perhaps, however, part of the reason (assuming the reports are accurate) that Brian Cashman is pushing so hard is because he believes he might need somebody else to close games before this season is over.

It’s just one game. But we know Rivera has been dealing with some issues throughout the season, and what we saw tonight is worthy of at least some concern.

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