Let's Close the Discussion

If there is one thing I am tired of hearing, it is how Ryan Dempster is a terrible closer and the Cubs need to make a move. Dempster is 26 of 29 in save opportunities. He has given up only 3 Home Runs all year. Only Jason Isringhausen, Bobby Jenks, and Trevor Hoffman have given up fewer long balls from the closer role at two a piece.

The point here is that Dempster is not a bad closer. If he were, Lou Pinella would take him out and insert Carlos Marmol who seems to have the stuff to take that role. If there is a problem with Dempster, it is not with his pitching, but with his style. Typically closers are strikeout pitchers; Dempster is a contact pitcher who allows his defense to make plays behind him. If one would actually watch the games, they would see that Dempster is pitching incredibly well of late. He is hitting spots, and getting ground balls. Unfortunately, sometimes crazy things happen when the ball gets put in play. Sometimes a crappy slow roller will get a speedy guy on base, or a broken bat will yield a dumpy hit into shallow right, or perhaps a ground ball to first will hit the base and roll merrily past Derrek Lee into right field. The point is that Dempster is making good pitches and giving up runs at the same time. The good news is that things like this don't happen forever. As long as he gets good hitters to take bad swings, things will work out. Like last night for example, Mike Lamb triples to put the tying run on third with no outs. This was facilitated by another piece of bad luck as the lead off man reached when a ball glanced off of first base and away from Lee. But alas, Dempster makes a another good pitch to get Munson to ground into a game ending 3-6-1 double play.

I am not calling him Mariano Rivera, but he is a valuable closer. By the way, Mariano Rivera is 26 for 29 in save opportunities and has given up