When Drew Storen went down with an injury before the season started, the closer job was going to be shared by the shaky veteran Brad Lidge and the unproven young heater thrower Henry Rodriguez. Because neither one of these guys was the perfect option, it looked like Davy Johnson was going to go with a closer by committee until the return of Drew Storen.
Well with Brad Lidge leaving for the DL with a sports hernia until June at the earliest and Henry Rodriguez losing his ability to handle the pressure, Davy Johnson has to make a choice.
Rodriguez has walked 5 straight batters and one night after giving up a game winning walk-off grand slam in the bottom of the 9th inning he couldn't get more than one out before loading the bases and putting the game winning run up to bat.
Davy Johnson most certainly will demote H-rod and replace him with either the setup man Clippard, or a guy like Craig Stammen to finish games.
Clippard has been very consistent over the last several years, but his strength has been in the 8th inning. This season he is 1-2 with a 3.38 ERA. Stammen has been much stronger, striking out over 1 guy per inning with a 3-0 record and a 1.29 ERA. Burnett and Mattheus could also be options.
Just looking at the numbers, I would lean towards Stammen taking over. Stammen has more "closer type stuff". That would allow Clippard to remain where he is comfortable in the 8th slot. Then H-Rod could fill the 7th inning role that Stammen has been so good at and gain back some confidence.
Davy J may also try more of a committee approach with Tyler & Craig, and throw H-Rod in the 8th here and there, but one thing is certain. Henry Rodriguez is not the answer to close games.
UPDATE: Really Davy,
Still gonna go with him?
