It’s well-known in sabermetric circles that ponying up big bucks for a closer is folly of the worst sort. Judging by this offseason, it appears that major league front offices have caught on. Simply put, teams understand that a closer just can’t have that much of an impact if they account for only about five percent of a team’s innings.
Furthermore, teams can often find a closer within their organization, through a trade, or a low-cost free agent signing. Using a high draft pick on a pitcher with the goal of using him as a closer or trading a good prospect for a closer is just as foolish as spending big money in free agency.
Using the Steamer Depth Charts, here’s a look at how prospective closers for the 2014 season were acquired.
Draft picks
Glen Perkins (1st), Craig Kimbrel (3rd), Casey Janssen (4th), Nate Jones (5th), Steve Cishek (5th), Bobby Parnell (9th), Greg Holland (10th), David Robertson (17th), Trevor Rosenthal (21st), Sergio Romo (28th)
The Minnesota Twins drafted Perkins back in 2004 with the intention of having him be a starter. He didn’t transition to the bullpen until 2010, after posting a 5.06 ERA with strikeout and walk rates of 11.0 percent and 5.7 percent in 251 innings as a starter. Now he’s one of the better relievers in baseball, and his 2013 strikeout rate was nearly triple what it was in the starter role. Janssen and Parnell have 30 major league starts between them, but quickly transitioned to relief. Most of the remaining pitchers were drafted as relievers or quickly made the switch from rotation to relief in the minor leagues.
Free agency
Joe Nathan, Rafael Soriano, Grant Balfour, Fernando Rodney, Koji Uehara, LaTroy Hawkins, Jason Grilli, John Axford, Jose Veras, Jonathan Papelbon, Jim Henderson
This list of free agents runs the gamut from big money (i.e. four years and $50 million for Papelbon to Henderson, who signed with the Milwaukee Brewers as a minor league free agent in 2009). Papelbon and Soriano have been unquestionably bad investments, and spending $20 million on Nathan was a curious move by the Detroit Tigers. Balfour and Rodney represented the changing market for closers. The remaining deals were low-impact signings, at least in financial terms. Uehara, who was baseball’s best reliever in 2013, was acquired by the Boston Red Sox in the 2012 offseason on a two-year, $9.25 million dollar deal.
Trade
Addison Reed, Ernesto Frieri, Jim Johnson, Tommy Hunter, Huston Street
With the exception of Reed, these pitchers were acquired very cheaply. Hunter accompanied Uehara in the Chris Davis swap, and the San Diego Padres acquired Street from the Colorado Rockies for a PTBNL. Frieri was acquired at the cost of a utility infielder and a low-level prospect. Similar to the Street trade, Johnson was acquired by the Oakland Athletics for Jemile Weeks in what was mostly a salary dump for the Baltimore Orioles. On the other hand, the Arizona Diamondbacks surrendered Matt Davidson, who’s been on Baseball America’s Top 100 Prospect list for the past three seasons (albeit the 88-99 range), in order to obtain Reed from the Chicago White Sox.
International Signings
Aroldis Chapman, Neftali Feliz, Kenley Jansen
Chapman of course was a highly touted acquisition, and the Cincinnati Reds used him as a starter in the minor leagues. They’ve considered having him transition to the rotation, but Chapman doesn’t appear to be fond of the idea. Even as a reliever, his salary is a bargain. Feliz signed with the Atlanta Braves back in 2005, and was traded to the Texas Rangers as part of the Mark Teixeira swap. At the time he was a starting pitcher. He was a starting pitcher in the minors before coming up as a reliever in 2009. After two dominant years out of the bullpen, the Rangers moved him to the rotation in 2012, but a torn UCL ended his season after eight starts. Jansen was signed as a catcher in 2004, but after showing little hitting ability, the Los Angeles Dodgers moved his rocket arm to the mound in 2009.
Rule 5
Fields pitched for the minor league affiliates of the Seattle Mariners and Boston Red Sox before the Houston Astros snagged him with the first pick of the 2012 Rule 5 Draft.
While there are still some closers pitching on bad free agent contracts, most teams have found their closer somewhere else. It appears that the days of surrendering top prospects or shelling out big bucks for closers are over. Remember, it was only two years ago that the Red Sox gave up Josh Reddick and a good prospect in Raul Alcantara in exchange for Andrew Bailey, who they non-tendered this offseason.
Rather than give up valuable assets, teams are filling the closer role with late round draft picks, affordable free agents, and low-impact trades. Furthermore, they’re finding that this strategy works quite well for them. Certainly it’s better than using $46 million to sign Francisco Cordero.
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