Regarding the existence of what's called a "Closer": there was no such thing when I was a young baseball fan in the early 70s.
In real life back then, you actually did have SuAs and SuBs. The best guys came in in the 8th or even sometimes 7th innings, whenever the high leverage situation occurred. The more common designation was the Stopper, the guy who would defuse the opposition's threat of a big inning.
The first guy I can recall who routinely always pitched the 9th was Bruce Sutter. But he came in in the 8th sometimes, as well.
Fast forward to the guy who I consider the devil himself, Tony LaRussa, who IMO came up with the model of having a pitcher in every defined role, including the LOOGY and who made Eckersley the three out one inning Closer.
Study after study has shown that getting three outs, starting with no men on base, is something that a majority of professional pitchers should not find impossible to do. As for whether a guy has the "guts" to do it, if he doesn't, he probably shouldn't be on a big league mound at any time, anyway.
All the closer is, is a security blanket for the manager who doesn't want to worry about thinking and is happiest going by the book and justifying his decisions by going by the book. And for the player, it's a gift job, one which manages to get a lucky handful of players majestically overpaid for their services.
Point being that in an environment such as this, where we as SIM managers are dealing with statistical equations, there is NO reason for such a role to exist for a player which is dependent on how a player "feels" about "being The Guy."
10/19/2013 10:04 AM (edited)