Odds And Ends: Bradley, Rodriguez

If the Angels want to sign K-Rod, they should sign Teixeira instead.

Yankees should sign Bradley to play RF/DH.

"Yankees should sign Bradley to play RF/DH."

That'd be a mistake.

For one thing, Milton Bradley would be run out of town by May with his attitude. He's too brittle to play the OF. The Yankees have too many DH types. Damon and Matsui can barely play the OF and it's unlikely Posada will be an effective catcher again.

the guy is gonna reach 60 saves this year and isnt even in his prime yet. if he doesnt get 15 mill that would be a steal for the team that signs him. k rod deserves the money. put this into perspective. roger clemens last year got 25 mill for half a season in which he wasnt any good. yanks and sox will make a huge push for him and look for a number closer to 18- 20 a year

Newsflash: K-Rod isn't anywhere near the super stud that everyone thinks he is.

As of a few days ago...

K-Rod - 54 saves, 2.43 ERA, 1.23 WHIP

Wagner - 27 saves, 2.30 ERA, 0.89 WHIP

Lidge - 33 saves, 2.18 ERA, 1.20 WHIP

Yay... he gets lots of save opportunities. What a worthless stat.

$15M per season for K-Rod? No way. Arredondo is coming up quick and I'd rather have him at closer next season. Shields is good set-up man so why even move him.

Moreno needs to concentrate on signing Teixeira instead cuz Kendry Morales isn't going to cut it. Add to that, trying to lure CC to Anaheim.

they should concentrate on signing texeira more than k-rod. IMO k-rod will still be an angel next season and for many more to come.

I like Soria too.

Frankie: 55 SV 5 BLSV

Papelbon: 35 SV 4 BLSV
Nathan: 36 SV 6 BLSV
Wagner: 27 SV 7 BLSV
Rivera: 32 SV 1 BLSV
Lidge: 34 SV 0 BLSV
Soria: 34 SV 3 BLSV

I think it's really tough to actually say that K-Rod should be the highest paid closer in baseball. Were talking about a guy with a pretty violent delivery whose shown a decline in velocity over the past couple seasons. You're gonna give him 4/60 for maybe 65-70 innings a year? I wouldn't. It's practically impossible to distinguish him from any of the top closers outside of saves, which are completely situational. The guy has had 60 save attempts already. His save total is impressive but not terribly special in any way.

"Were talking about a guy with a pretty violent delivery whose shown a decline in velocity over the past couple seasons."

The thing that has made Frankie different this year from any other is that he is throwing a nasty change to both lefties and righties. Yah his velocity has dropped 1 or 2 mph and we all assume it's because of his violent delivery, but in the past he never had a great change so he had to throw 95+ to confuse guys with his nasty slider. This year he understands that he doesn't have to throw 95+, he can get away with 93-94 located at the knees.

"I think it's really tough to actually say that K-Rod should be the highest paid closer in baseball."

We're talking about a guy with 200 career saves at age 26 whose on pace to break not only the single season save record this year, but a guy on pace to break the all time saves record by the time he's 40. Rivera never reached 200 saves until halfway through the 2001 season when he was 31 and now he's 38 with 475 career saves, only 275 ahead of Frankie. Hoffman (the alltime saves leader) didn't reach 200 until he was 30 either. Lee Smith didn't reach 200 until he was 31. He ended with 478. Frankie is on pace to shatter the record, so yes he is best closer in baseball and should be the highest paid!

"Don't think teams are not seeing the same thing."

If Frankie was as bad this year as this link says he is then why is he not blowing saves on a daily basis? And don't say he is lucky...that's BS! Franky has made the pitches when he needs to and he has gotten guys out. Yes the walks have hurt him, I'm not gonna disagree there, and if it weren't for the walks Franky would only have blown 1 or 2 saves. I dont think he is having arm problems, he's never been on the DL for any arm issues, but earlier this year he was sidelined because of tender ankles, so maybe his body is not able to maintain with his delivery. However he has calmed the delivery down this year than it was in past years. The adjustment to a smoother delivery may be the cause for a loss in velocity, control and break on his slider, but he still has the nasty change so that pitch hasn't been effected.

2 things. Great article in ESPN or yahoo a couple of weeks ago that bashed this idea of KRod as MVP. Basically saying the fact he has over 50 saves is unimportant and the saves stats for closers is much like the wins stats for pitchers, meaningless. KRod, is actually not the most dominate closer if you count in stats besides number of saves. Point beng, the Angels have other alternatives that won't cost them 15M and should entertain them. It will also give them flexibility to sign power hitting Tex and the flexibility to trade Kendry Morales for missing pieces.

Secondly, I'm actually a little surprised the Rangers didn't make a serious attempt to trade Bradley for at least a top pitching prospect. Makes me think they're more likely to try to sin him themselves.

"Basically saying the fact he has over 50 saves is unimportant and the saves stats for closers is much like the wins stats for pitchers, meaningless."

How can you say the saves stat is meaningless?... That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard... That's the whole point of a closer. A closer is the teams' best reliever who comes into the game in either the 8th or 9th inning to "close" out the game, in other words to "save" the game and get the win for the team! They're not in there to focus on getting a 1.00 ERA or get 13 K/9 innings, they're in there to get the SAVE and end the game... THAT'S THE POINT OF A CLOSER AND THE MOST IMPORTANT STAT BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DO. THAT'S WHAT FRANKIE DOES CONSISTENTLY... HE DOES HIS JOB. I didn't know I would have to spell it out for you, I thought you knew the game of baseball enough to understand the job of a "closer", but I guess I was wrong.

If that was the case and the Angels felt they needed Frankie to pitch in the 8th to get out of the jam then they would bring him in, however the Angels only use Frankie for 1 inning to keep him from burning out... The Yanks and Bosox would bring Rivera and Papelbon in to get out of those type of jams and have them pitch 2 innings. The Angels don't need to do that because they have strong set-up men wheras the Yanks and Bosox have difficulties getting the ball to Rivera and Pap.

If the Angels were to get out of that type of jam maintaining the 1 run lead then Frankie would come in into the 9th and "save" the game holding onto the lead. It may not be as difficult as getting out of a bases loaded jam, but it still is hard because the other team is still in striking distance... even a 2 or 3 run lead is difficult because a few baserunners reaching on bloops , errors, etc. would bring the tying run to the plate. The final 3 outs are always the hardest to get, whether it's little league baseball (as we saw in the LLWS) or in proffesional baseball... that's why saves are such an important stat!

"Your argument is the closer is the best reliever but you're also implying strong set up men can negate their purpose."

THE CLOSER IS THE BEST RELIEVER ON A TEAM, AND THE SET-UP MEN GET THE BALL TO THE CLOSER... I NEVER SAID SET-UP MEN NEGATE THEIR PURPOSE, I WAS SAYING THAT SCIOSCIA USES FRANKIE DIFFERENTLY THAN ANY OTHER MANAGER USES THEIR CLOSER (SO STOP POSTING FALSE STATEMENTS). FRANKIE PITCHES ONLY 1 INNING PER OUTING, THAT WAS MY POINT... YOU SUPPORTED MY POINT EXACTLY.

"You can bring a closer in the 9th up by 3 run and they'll get a save."

YES YOU CAN BRING IN THE CLOSER WITH A 3 RUN LEAD, HOWEVER THAT HAS BEEN A RARE CASE WITH FRANKIE THIS YEAR... THE ANGELS HAVE PLAYED VERY CLOSE GAMES THE MAJORITY OF THE YEAR SO FRANKIE HAS BEEN COMING IN WITH ONLY 1 RUN LEADS AND GETTING THE SAVES. THERE HASN'T BEEN EXTRA RUNS FOR FRANKIE TO PITCH WITH.

"...his STATS ARE NOT AS DOMINATE PARTICULARLY HIS WHIP, WALK RATE AND OPPONENT BATTING AVERAGE..."

RELIEVERS (AND CLOSERS) ARE NOT ALWAYS PERFECT, SO HOW MANY OF THOSE HITS, RUNS AND WALKS CAME IN POOR OUTINGS?... A LOT OF THEM! OR HOW MANY OF THOSE CAME EARLIER IN THE YEAR WHEN HE WAS PITCHING WITH TENDER ANKLES? A LOT OF THEM! YES HE DOES WALK QUITE A FEW BATTERS BUT AS LONG AS FRANKIE IS SAVING GAMES AND NOT BLOWING THEM ON A REGULAR BASIS, I DON'T CARE!

"...you'll make an argument in favor of the Angels for any goddamn reason..."

I WILL DEFEND MY FAV TEAM AND I WILL DEFEND MY TEAM'S CLOSER! I'M TIRED OF EVERYONE BEING ON THE FRANKIE-HATER BANDWAGON, HE IS A GREAT CLOSER. PERIOD.

"Let some other sucker waste that much money on a guy who'll only throw 70 innings."

WHAT?, DO YOU WANT HIM TO THROW 200 INNINGS, IS THAT IT? HE IS A CLOSER, 70 INNINGS FROM A CLOSER IS GREAT... ESPECIALLY IF HE IS SAVING GAMES ON A REGULAR BASIS LIKE FRANKIE HAS DONE!

HERE'S A STAT FOR YOU:

55/61

FRANKIE HAS 55 SAVES THIS YEAR AND HAS 61 TOTAL SAVE OPPORTUNITIES. THAT'S 90%!

I never "implied" that setup men negate their purpose!

"And yes, I'd spend 15M on a pitcher who throws 200 innings rather than a closer, of course they have to be quality."

Yah I'd spend 15 mil on CC, but wer're not talking about CC, we're taliking about Frankie so maybe you should stay on task!

"Final, you're not defending your team... you're blindly attacking."

I'm not blindly attacking, I'm not attacking anyone, you're attacking Frankie and I'm defending him... everything I said about him is true.