Baseball Nation, Baseball News and Fan Opinion

"If you're a...baseball fan sick of suboptimal decisions resulting in painful losses, the man to blame is a late Chicago sportswriter named Jerome Holtzman. Fifty-three years ago, in an effort to shift more recognition unto underappreciated relief pitchers, Holtzman invented the save statistic. Today, that invention is responsible for far more unintended consequences, and far more heartache, than Holtzman could have ever intended. Bloody battles are fought over the ill-begotten riches that saves bestow on those who can get them. Managers lose games for their teams by getting seduced by saves. Pitchers who fail in save situations get labeled as gutless pariahs. It needs to end now. It's time to kill the save, send it to hell, and strand it there for eternity."

Old Minnesota boy Jim Caple penned an entertaining read for his new masters at ESPN about how horrendously overrated the save is. Based on discussion here recently, there are some folks who would enjoy the read.

I don't know how many, if any, people reading this would disagree, but it's nice to see this issue written about somewhere other than Baseball Prospectus, Hardball Times, etc. Two particularly good quotes in the article: 1) Billy Beane: "Whitey Herzog had a lot of success with a closer by committee... Although now that I think back on it, I'm not sure they called it 'closer by committee' back then. I think then it was just called 'using your bullpen wisely.' Then closers became 'specialists'." 2) Caple on the risk of more rational bullpen usage (i.e., using the best reliever in truly high-leverage situations): "Of course, there is one inherent risk to that. While teams and fans would view the save, 'save situations' and closers in a more accurate light, there is also the unfortunate risk that they would eventually overvalue the 'hold'." Also worth reading is Jonah Keri's article published on Page 2 today: "Should K-Rod be AL MVP?"