Mark Melancon. Wade Davis. Aroldis Chapman. Kenley Jansen. Gone, gone, gone and gone. Washington has been in the market for a closer this winter, but so far they’ve failed to land a late-inning arm. So what’s the Nationals’ next move?
“We progress forward,” GM Mike Rizzo told reporters this weekend, before the Nats made a play for Jansen, who returned to LA.
“We’ve got different avenues, the free agent market, the trade market, we’re still active in both of those.”
Melancon signed a 4-year/$62M deal with the San Francisco Giants. Davis was traded from Kansas City to Chicago for Cubs’ outfielder Jorge Soler. Chapman returned to NY on a 5-year/$86M deal. Jansen got a 5-year/$80M deal from the Dodgers.
Rizzo was asked if the numbers in the closer market this winter surprised him?
“I don’t think it has surprised us,” he said. “I don’t think it has surprised the industry.
“It’s supply and demand and you’ve got three elite closers and markets that needed them and some of the markets that can spend that kind of money on the closer.”
So where do the Nationals turn now? Greg Holland, a free agent coming off Tommy John?
Do they try to trade for a closer like the Chicago White Sox’ David Robertson or Alex Colome of the Tampa Bay Rays, both of whom have multiple years of control left and will likely command a big prospect return?
Does Rizzo think the Nationals can afford to deal from their organizational depth after he traded Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez and Dane Dunning to the Sox for Adam Eaton?
He does.
“We have a really fertile minor league system that people have asked for throughout the winter so far,” Rizzo said.
Do they turn to in-house options?
“We’ve got internal options to pitch the back of the games, guys who have the stuff to do it, the mentality to do it and the make-up to do it.”
Dusty Baker too talked about the possibility of finding their ninth-inning arm in-house.
“If there’s not one out there — we’re trying — if there’s not one out there we have to find him internally,” Baker said.
“Who knows if we have him in-house or not. Most guys don’t come out of college or the minor leagues as a closer. They evolve into it and we say, ‘[Voila], we’ve got a closer. That’s how it happens.”
“It’s not as secure as if you go out there and get somebody that has closed already, but at some point in time you’ve got to give these guys a chance.
“We have four or five guys that are probably vying for the position if we don’t get a closer, so it depends on them.”
“It’s up to them. you can appoint them, but it’s up to them to keep it.”
“Everybody wants to go out and get somebody and sometimes it’s right under your nose and you don’t even know when you see it,” the veteran skipper continued.
“The hard part is you don’t know until you get in action. Who can handle failure? That’s what it’s all about. Anybody can handle success. How you handle failure and how you get over it in a short period of time is the key to closing.”
So what does Baker look for in a closer?
“Look for a guy that has the ability to forget yesterday. You’ve got to have a guy that’s kind of — a little on the crazy side. Most of the great closers I know are a little on the crazy side, or at least ‘different’. I’ve played with some good ones and they’re all ‘different’, because to try to get that last three outs out of a team is very difficult.”
Mike Maddux, who wrapped up his first season as the Nationals’ pitching coach, talked at Nats’ Winterfest this weekend about some of the players who could potentially fill a late-inning role and shared some of his thoughts about bullpen roles in general.
“I think we have a couple guys that have what it takes to finish the ninth inning,” Maddux said.
“I’ve told guys this in the past: Is your ninth inning pitcher your best pitcher? Not necessarily. Sometimes that game is won in the sixth with two outs, it might be won in the seventh with the meat of the order coming up, the eighth inning you’ve got traffic, you need a ground ball, here comes Blake Treinen whistling a ground ball.
“Why pin that guy into the last inning when the game might be won in the seventh or eighth?”
Good question. But back to the in-house options...
“So we were fortunate enough to have some guys that have the ability to miss a bat,” Maddux said.
“Shawn Kelley, a lot of strikeouts per innings pitched. Blake Treinen, a lot of outs per pitch thrown, gets the ball on the ground.
“You saw Blake Treinen in Spring Training, you saw Blake Treinen in October, that was puppy dog to bulldog. He was a beast at the end of the year. Could he handle the ninth? Sure.”
“You might need a ground ball in the seventh. Might have the meat of that order coming up, everybody trying to lift and a homer beats you and he keeps it on the ground, might need him in the eighth, might need him in the seventh.
“Shawn Kelley, same way. Can they handle the ninth? I think they can.”
The Nationals will likely continue to search for a late inning reliever...
Will it end up being someone already on the roster? Treinen? Kelley? Sammy Solis? Or Koda Glover?
Glover said he was up for the task.
“If they throw me in that role, am I ready for it? Yeah. I’m ready for it,” Glover said this weekend.
“But if they don’t want to do that and they want to go with somebody else, I’m perfectly fine with another role too.”