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The Indians have finally grown as sick and tired of Joe Borowski.
Following today’s meeting of the minds, manager Eric Wedge is expected to name a new closer or allude to a committee of of Masa Kobayashi, Rafael Betancourt and Rafael Perez.
“We talked about immediate changes and things that could take place in the coming month,” general manager Mark Shapiro told the Cleveland Plain Dealer when asked about today’s meeting.
While Shapiro’s comment is a bit more cryptic, it’s clear that the closer role will be the main focus when it comes to changes. The reasons for the change include the fact batters are hitting .395 off Joe Blow (no pun intended) with four homers, numbers that have resulted in him blowing (still no pun intended) four saves and putting up a 12.46 ERA in those contests.
Cleveland Indians Bullpen (Inside the Numbers)
| Player | G | IP | W-L | SV | ERA | WHIP | K | H% | S% | BB/9 | K/9 | K/BB | HR/9 |
| Kobayashi | 39 | 41 | 4-4 | 4 | 3.29 | 1.22 | 26 | 28 | 78 | 2.4 | 5.7 | 2.4 | 1.1 |
| Betancourt | 38 | 37.1 | 2-4 | 4 | 6.03 | 1.53 | 38 | 36 | 64 | 2.9 | 9.2 | 3.2 | 1.7 |
| Perez | 38 | 36.2 | 1-1 | 0 | 3.44 | 1.39 | 37 | 33 | 80 | 3.4 | 9.1 | 2.6 | 1.2 |
| Borowski | 18 | 16.2 | 1-3 | 6 | 7.56 | 1.92 | 9 | 34 | 64 | 4.3 | 4.9 | 1.1 | 2.2 |
Looking at the reports and the numbers it seems that Kobayashi will get the first call and it’s probably him and Betancourt that will be favored in the battle simply because they have the most experience closing out games. That said, despite 229 saves in Japan, Masa wasn’t perfect when he briefly closed out games earlier this season (he converted four of his six opportunities). Betancourt would have been the shoo in for the job at the outset of the season, but his command has clearly regressed some this season so he’s no safe bet in this battle for saves.
The wild card in this situation is Perez, who despite walking 3.4 batters per nine innings, has some upside. His 80% strand rate is particularly appealing in a closer. Accordingly to Baseball HQ, strand rate measures the percentage of allowed runners a pitcher strands, focusing on earned runs. On top of an incredible strand rate, his 9.1 K/9IP and his increase in ground balls forced make him probably the most complete candidate to be closing games in Cleveland.
Don’t count on him getting the opportunity though. In fact, in all but the largest leagues with the largest rosters, it’s probably too early to claim Perez. If you decide to wait on doing so, be prepare to act should he get the first call this weekend.
Photo courtesy of Cleveland.com
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