Baseball is one of my favorite sports. It's a talking sport. You can have conversations on 50 different subjects during an entire game, and still catch all the action. One can also have many debates about the game. Who's the best hitter? Who's the best pitcher? What era of baseball was more entertaining? And in the current age of Baseball, Who is over paid?
Having grown up in Southern California, I was lucky to have two Major League teams to root for. Of course the Los Angeles Dodgers and the California Angels. I attended more Dodger games as a child (Some I actually paid for), but was a huge fan of both. In fact as I got into my late teens the Angels became my favorite team. This was primarily due to Free Agency. Players that were the backbone of my team for years, were now getting paid more money to play for the hated rivals. Even worse , players I couldn't stand, who I'd been rooting against my whole childhood, now were playing for my Dodgers!
During this time I also noticed another strange thing happening. The way the game was being played was changing. In my youth , Major League Baseball teams carried 4 or 5 Starting Pitchers. They then carried 3 or 4 Relief Pitchers. The Relief Pitchers were guys who were just breaking in to the Major Leagues or were in the twilight of their career. They weren't good enough to crack the starting rotation where the big money was. They were used to mop up in lop sided games or come in if a pitcher was injured. They could pitch 20 innings in a week , or not be used for several. They were the last players on the roster.
Soon these no name pitchers started being used in special situations more and more often. They would be brought in to face a certain hitter earlier in the game. Left hand batters typically have a tougher time against Left handed pitchers. So, in certain situations a Starting pitcher would be removed for relief pitcher even though the Starter was ahead and seemed to be pitching fine.
Because of this, the number of relief pitchers grew on each team. They even started keeping brand new stats for relief pitchers. I guess this gave these pitchers a sense of purpose, and maybe a way to keep track of the worst of the worst.
Besides the typical stats of Wins , Losses, and ERA, they now were keeping official stats called Saves and Blown Saves. A Save is awarded when a Relief pitcher enters the game with his team leading. Let me repeat, his team is already Winning! They rest of the players on his team have already done the heavy lifting. To receive a Save a pitcher must complete the game , face at least one batter, and his team cannot be ahead by more than 3 runs. So lets get this straight, a pitcher can enter the game with 2 outs in the 9th inning leading 4-1. He only needs one out to get the save. He could give up 2 walks, a single , a double , and another walk and still get the final out and receive the save. Boy that seems pretty tough. So tough, that they began to give these wonder talents a special name throughout the League. This name.... "The Closer". Pretty catchy.
I can remember 4 distinct situations where a "Closer" was brought in in the Playoffs and World Series' ,where not only did the "Closer" not save the game, he lost it and ended his teams season. 3 of the times involved my favorite teams.
1985 - The St Louis Cardinal's Jack Clark Blasts a 3 run homer in the top of the ninth inning off Dodger's "Closer"Tom Niedenfuer erasing the Dodgers 2 run lead and ending the series in 6 games.
1986-Game 5 of the American League Championship Series. The Angels lead the Series 3 Games to 1, Needing one win to advance to the World Series. After a 2 run home run by Don Baylor of the Boston Red Sox, Donnie Moore the Angels "Closer" enters the game to Close out the Red Sox and advance the Angels to their first World Series ever. He promptly gives up another 2 run home run to Dave Henderson. Boston takes the lead and wins the game. The Angels do not win another game in the Series and Boston advances to another World Series.
1988 - The Dodgers who were down 4-3 to the Oakland A's in the Bottom of the Ninth, bring up a One legged Kirk Gibson ( Who had not played and would not play the rest of the series due to a serious leg injury).Facing the formidable "Closer"Dennis Eckersley , Gibson blasted a 2 run home run to win the game. The A's never recover and lose the series 4-1. ( This one didn't bother me too much)
1993- In game 6 of the 1993 World Series , The Phillies were leading the Toronto Blue Jays 6-5 in the bottom of the 9th inning trying to force a Game 7. The Phillies bring in Closer Mitch Williams who promptly walks a batter , gives up a single and finally a series ending 3 run home run to Joe Carter.
At least they don't pay these guys that much money.
Mariano Rivera the "Closer for the NY Yankees makes $15,000,000 a year. What???? I don't get it.
I know its hard but lets try to stay focused. Last year in 2008 the 8 teams that made the playoffs had a total of 108 Blown saves. 108! That means that on average every team that made the playoffs last year had over 13 Blown saves! But who cares they made the playoffs, who cares about 13 more wins for your team. Unless its the last game of the season!
This year the top 10 paid "Closers" are each paid and average of $11.7 Million dollars a year. The bottom 10 paid just under $1 Million a year, Half of them making the League minimum of $400,000. The top 10 have 171 Saves and 26 Blown saves. That means that 1 out of every 6 times these guys blow the game for their team who worked the whole game to put them in a position to win. The Bottom 10 paid "Closers" have closed 168 games and only have 14 blown saves. That's only 1 out of 12 times do the lowest paid "Closers" have a blown save. So...... the lowest paid "Closers' are twice as effective. I don't get it!
The Los Angels Angels had great closer last year. Francisco Rodriquez had 62 saves last year. You might think that the Angels rewarded him with a contract like Mariano Rivera. No , they let him go for nothing. He became a Free Agent and he went on to the New York Mets and signed a multi-year contract for 9.7 Million Dollars. Could it be that my favorite team had finally figured it out? Oh wait, the Angels went out and signed a new "Closer" , Brian Fuentes, to a $8.5 Million a year contract. He went on to Blow 3 of his first 6 Save opportunities this year. I don't get it!
I mentioned that when I was a child I went to many Major League Baseball games. It was $9 for a Field Level ticket. These were the good seats , right up close to the action. You could hear the players talk , and see the looks in their eyes.
I have a 5 year old son, and would love to take him to a Major League Baseball game so he could experience the joy and excitement I did when I was his age. The problem is , these tickets now cost a minimum of $45 , and some teams even charge $100 for these seats.
I have a plan that might work out for all parties and help the youth of today be able to take part of this great game.
PAY THESE RELIEF PITCHERS (or "Closers" as they like to be called) WHAT THEY ARE WORTH- $400,000 A YEAR.... THE BARE MINIMUM.
This would give Major League teams an extra $11.3 Million to play with . With this excess cash Major League teams could lower their Field Level prices to below $15 a seat and not lose a dime.
But wait there is more! With all the kids and families that could now afford to come to a Baseball game and enjoy the experience from the real good seats, think of all the snacks they could sell. I mean every kid needs to experience a $10 hot dog, $5 Coke , and a $4 bag of peanuts.
With all the extra revenue from these family friendly priced snacks, they could even lower their great seat prices to $9 a seat and still make more money. Hey that's what it was when I was a kid.
I don't understand why they would not want to do this. I just don't get it.........
