So the end is Bill Nye the science guy. The last hurrah for the year of 2013 in regards to bullpens. Don’t be upset, you won’t even know that I left, I’ll even make it less awkward and do the Irish goodbye and just sneak off to the bathroom and never come back. So, it has been a fun year from start to finish, it wasn’t as exciting as last year but we still had 19 guys over 30 saves as compared to guess what from last year. The suspense isn’t that awesome because it’s also 19. Crazy how things change but never ever really change, stats are a finicky bunch all muddled with consistency. Damn you numbers and your ever chronologically ordered entanglement. So it saddens me as a Yankee fan to have to write the final time the name of Mariano Rivera. There is nothing else to say about Mo that hasn’t been said by numerous other more famous sites. The stats are crazy and to me he is my Tawny Kitaen crawling across the hood of that car looking all 80’s, but an awesome 80’s. Unfortunately that makes Joe Torre David Coverdale and that just ruins it all. So happy trails GOAT, it’s been real and we appreciate your fantasy aptitude for as long as you have supplied it. So have at the final rankings of the year for the closers and the dudes who wait for injury or next year.
$12 Salads
You know that restaurant your girlfriend/wife/what-have-you likes to go to that charges, like, $12 for a salad? Every time you go there, you have a thoroughly solid meal. No complaints, except you just paid $12 for a salad when you could’ve went to McDonald’s and stuffed you and your woman for ten schmools and had $2 in quarters left over to make the hotel bed vibrate. These closers are $12 salads.
1. Craig Kimbrel – (Jordan Walden, Luis Avilan, Scott Downs)
2. Kenley Jansen – (Ronald Belisario, Paco Rodriguez, Brian Wilson)
3. Greg Holland – (Aaron Crow, Kelvin Herrera, Tim Collins)
4. Joe Nathan – (Tanner Scheppers, Joakim Soria, Robbie Ross)
5. Aroldis Chapman – (J.J. Hoover, Manny Parra, Sam LeCure)
6. Mariano Rivera – (David Robertson, Shawn Kelley, Boone Logan)
7. Addison Reed – (Nate Jones, Matt Lindstrom, Donnie Veal)
8. Grant Balfour – (Ryan Cook, Sean Doolittle)
9. Koji Uehara – (Junichi Tazawa, Matt Thornton, Craig Breslow)
10. Glen Perkins – (Jared Burton, Casey Fien)
11. Edward Mujica – (Trevor Rosenthal, Kevin Siegrist, Seth Maness)
12. Sergio Romo – (Santiago Casilla, Sandy Rosario)
DonkeyCorns
Imagine you’re following a donkey, who’s wearing a wool cap, through a desert for 1700 miles. Why are you following a donkey? Because he promises you something wonderful and you just need to trust him. Does the donkey talk? Yes. Yes, he does talk. So when you and the donkey in the wool cap arrive at his destination, he removes the wool cap to reveal a horn. The donkey is a unicorn and his gift to you for your trust is saves. These closers are Donkeycorns.
13. Joaquin Benoit – (Jose Veras, Drew Smyly, Bruce Rondon)
14. Fernando Rodney – (Joel Peralta, Jake McGee, Alex Torres)
15. Jim Johnson – (Tommy Hunter, Francisco Rodriguez, Darren O’Day, )
16. Jonathan Papelbon – (Justin De Fratus, Jake Diekman)
17. Rafael Soriano – (Tyler Clippard, Drew Storen)
18. Chris Perez – (Joe Smith, Cody Allen)
19. Mark Melancon – (Jason Grilli, Tony Watson, Bryan Morris,)
20. Casey Janssen – (Sergio Santos, Aaron Loup, Brett Cecil)
21. Jim Henderson – ( John Axford, Brandon Kintzler)
22. Rex Brothers – ( Matt Belisle, Adam Ottavino, Wilton Lopez)
23. Huston Street – (Luke Gregerson, Dale Thayer, Nick Vincent)
24. Danny Farquhar – (Yoervis Medina, Oliver Perez)
25. Steve Cishek – (A.J. Ramos, Mike Dunn)
Brain Freezes
I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples, bananas and Carlos Marmol– Wait, he just gave up 12 earned runs and hit Castro in the head with a pick-off throw. Brain freeze! Make it stop! Use the following closers at your own risk.
26. Brad Ziegler – (Heath Bell, Will Harris, Joe Thatcher)
27. Ernesto Frieri – (Dane de la Rosa, Michael Kohn, Kevin Jepsen)
28. LaTroy Hawkins – (Gonzalez German, David Aarsdma, Robert Carson)
29. Kevin Gregg – (James Russell, Blake Parker, Pedro Strop)
30. Chia-Jen Lo – (Josh Fields, Josh Zeid, Kevin Chapman)
