It seems like every season Billy Beane, the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, makes a move that takes everyone by surprise. Sometimes he trades his best players before they hit free agency and it makes you scratch your head. Other times he makes a trade and the guys he brings back that all you can say is ‘who?’
Then there are others that make you wonder what the other team was thinking. This offseason Beane made one of those trades that make you wonder what the other team was thinking as he got the closer with the most saves over the last two seasons for a player that had fallen out of favor with the team.
That trade seemed to be well in the A’s favor as they were going to replace an all-star closer, Grant Balfour, with another all-star closer, but so far Jim Johnson has not lived up to the hype. Luckily for the A’s the move to get Johnson was not the only move Beane made to bolster the bullpen.
He also made trades to acquire a premium set-up man with closer experience, Luke Gregerson, and a quality left hander, Fernando Abad, to round out a bullpen that already included Ryan Cook and Sean Doolittle.
All these moves made the A’s bullpen one of the deepest pens in all of baseball, and with the struggles of Johnson it is being tested early and caused Manager Bob Melvin to go to a closer by committee. Eventually, though, you would expect someone to step up and take over that closer role, but who should it be?
Fernando Abad
Abad has looked great in his five innings of work so far this season, but he should not be closing games unless he is facing three straight lefties. Yes, he is on a roll, striking out seven batters and allowing zero runs this season, but his role is clear, he is the Jerry Blevins of this bullpen. With the current set-up of closer by committee he may be brought in to get a one or two out save if a righty like Gregerson or Cook get in trouble in the ninth, but he will not be the everyday closer.
Ryan Cook
Cook has been a closer for this team and made an all-star team with a great start to the 2012 season that led to him taking over as the closer. He has experience and he’s looked good early in the season, but he will not be the everyday closer either. Cook struggled mightily down the stretch in 2013 to the point where he lost his spot as the right handed set-up man to Dan Otero. In addition to his struggles at the end of last season Cook was injured in spring training and is just recently off of the disabled list. While it appears that Cook has bounced back from his late season struggles in his three innings pitched it is still a small sample size and he is going to have to show a lot more to leapfrog over the other guys in the bullpen.
Sean Doolittle
The closer of the future of the Oakland A’s is Doolittle. He is a power pitching right hander who is perfecting a slider and at times has been unhittable to righties as well as lefties. In his brief career he has posted solid ERA’s of 3.04 and 3.13 and is currently off to a hot start, but has given up two home runs, one that blew a save against the Angels. He has earned his shot to get some of the saves in this colser by committee, especially if the opposing team has lefties coming up in the ninth, but he is not ready to be the full-time closer. He will need to perfect that slider that he could not seem to throw for a strike against the Angels before he will be ready to be the man at the back end of the bullpen, and it is highly unlikely that he’ll have that ready this season.
Luke Gregerson
Gregerson has often stepped in as closer for the Padres and has already picked up two saves in this closer by committee. He has the career ERA of 2.84 screams closer in 334 and two-thirds innings pitched, but there has to be a reason he never supplanted Huston Street, who has been erratic and often injured, as closer. Gregerson has a slightly better career ERA, strikes out just about the same amount of strikeouts per nine innings, yet the Padres did not believe he was a better fit as closer than Street. While Gregerson has been great in his seven and two-thirds innings so far this season, there seems to be something about him that the Padres didn’t believe in and may be better off as a set-up man. He will be great to come out and get the save against tough right handers and along with Doolittle could be the first platoon closers to go along with all the other platoons the Oakland A’s employ.
Jim Johnson
It’s highly likely that most A’s fans won’t agree with me on this, but Johnson is the man who should eventually be the full-time closer. I know, his 9.95 ERA, two blown saves and loss in the home opener are ugly, but under the horrible start it still the guy who saved 101 games over the last two seasons and has an ERA of 2.71 over the last four seasons. He has struggled and is single-handedly the reason that the closer by committee is happening right now, but since being removed as closer he has settled down and looked more like that guy who Beane traded for to take over the closer duties. His grip didn’t seem right early in the season and it was pointed out during the ESPN broadcast on Monday night by Rick Sutcliffe. “To me it comes down to the grip of Johnson right now. He’s trying to throw sinking fastballs away a left hander and they're starting to cut,” he said. “It’s just inconsistent with of the placement of that thumb.” If that’s all it is and Johnson can get it together, then he is the best option at closer in the bullpen.