First a shout out @C70. He helped me edit this post, and has been very helpful my entire time with UCB. Indeed, all of the UCB guys have been helpful, as have all of the fellow Cards fans I’ve made friends with on Twitter. Thank you all for your kindness!
On to the post.
This year, the Cardinals’ closer has been Trevor Rosenthal, but he has struggled a bit, and there’s a possibility he might be replaced as closer if his struggles continue. As you all know, Trevor himself replaced a closer (Edward Mujica) last year near the end of the season. This got me thinking: Do the Cardinals churn through their closers, or is this just a two year blip? And if they do, is it a common thing throughout baseball, or just a Cardinals problem?
To get a good sample size, I’m going to examine the last 11 seasons and see who the closers were, whether they maintained that role throughout that season and into the next season (and beyond) or not.
I don’t list anyone that has less than 7 saves, because, as managers always seem to say, closers need days off on occasion, generating a few saves for the 8th inning guy.
Closer(s) Saves
2004 Isringhausen 47
2005 Isringhausen 39
2006 Isringhausen 33
2007 Isringhausen 32
2008 Isringhausen 12
2008 Franklin 17
2008 C. Perez 7
2009 Franklin 38
2010 Franklin 27
2011 Salas 24
2011 Motte 9
2012 Motte 42
2013 Mujica 37
2014 Rosenthal 36 (and counting)
I’d forgotten how long Jason Isringhausen was our closer. He closed for us from 2002 until 2008, earning a majority of his 300 saves as a Cardinal.
That was followed by a couple of forgettable years of Ryan Franklin as closer. Then the churning really begins. Fernando Salas starts out as closer, only to have Jason Motte finish in the role, hold it for a full year, get injured, allowing Mujica to claim the role. What isn’t shown here is that Mujica faltered, allowing young Rosenthal to claim the closer role for the playoffs and this year. So four closers in five years for the Cards. Trevor is having a rough year this year, even with 36 saves currently. He’s blown four, and nearly blew another Sunday night when he couldn’t find the strike zone. If he keeps this up, he may be replaced too. Is this kind of closer churn common or a rarity?
Let’s look at several teams for comparisons sake. I’ll focus on the last 5 years:
Atlanta
Closer(s) Saves
2010 Wagner 37
2011 Kimbrel 46
2012 Kimbrel 42
2013 Kimbrel 50
2014 Kimbrel 37 (and counting)
Atlanta had a one year cameo by Billy Wagner in his last year. Craig Kimbrel stepped in the following year and hasn’t let up since. It should be noted that from 2009 to 2011, they had four closers in three years, with Rafael Soriano getting 27 saves in 2009 and Mike Gonzalez getting 10. So until Kimbrel, they were unstable.
Toronto
Closer(s) Saves
2010 Kevin Gregg 37
2011 Frank Francisco 17
2011 Jon Rauch 11
2012 Casey Janssen 22
2013 Janssen 34
2014 Janssen 19
Another situation with some unstability before one guy settled into the role. One thing to keep in mind, there are two relievers with four saves (Aaron Loup and Brett Cecil) in addition to Janssen’s 19, so there may be some instability there this year.
Finally, let’s try a team that has recently won a pair of World Series.
San Francisco
Closer(s) Saves
2010 Wilson 48
2011 Wilson 36
2012 Casilla 25
2012 Romo 14
2013 Romo 38
2014 Romo 23
2014 Casilla 10
Some instability here too. Brian Wilson was relatively stable, holding down the job from 2008 until 2011, when he got injured. Then Santiago Casilla split the role with Sergio Romo until Romo seized the role. Then he faltered a bit this year, opening the door back up for Casilla.
So aside from guys like Kimbrel, Mariano Rivera and Isringhausen, the closers role seems to be relatively unstable these days.
Thanks for reading.
Baseball Geek In Galveston 
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