go watch CJ Wilson try and close a game, and lets see how bad of condition your in after that :P

Just like JJ Putz last year, a lot of guys can be dominant for one season.

Mariano, Paps, Nathan are better, IMO. I also think that Lidge and Wagner can be in the conversation. I’d take Frankie before Wagner, but Lidge would make me think. I really ask that a closer not walk too many people. Frankie is all about the walks.

Also, Soria is solid, but like someone said above – let’s make him do it for a few years before putting him in a class with this group – a group that has done it for 4, 5 or 6 years (or more).

SCOREBOARD PEOPLE

How a closer gets the job done is important. Walks and home runs are the worst thing a closer can give up. Frankie walks too many guys and is prone to giving up the long ball.

I think Frankie is great, but closers with lower BB rates and very low HR totals are going to be better/more effective than guys like Frankie. The fact that Frankie has 47 or so saves is mainly an indication that the Halos – in the first half of the season – didn’t score enough runs to put games away. This REQUIRED Scioscia to use Frankie more than normal. That is all. If there are a lot of save situations, closers will get saves. Period.

Should Frankie be commended for kicking ass and getting the saves? Absolutely. But, his BB rate and HR totals (as well as his diminishing K rate) are cause for concern. Mariano, Paps, Nathan and even Lidge are better when looking at the stats.

Just sayin’…

Frankie’s past years are very meaningful. Especially when you look at stats beyond the save totals and realize that his K rate is dropping, his BB rate is rising and his velocity is lower than in the past. If his numbers and stuff were exactly the same in 2008 as they were in 2005/06 then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. My point is that Frankie is not getting better – as his save total might suggest – but he is actually getting more hittable and putting more runners on base. These are not good trends for closers – elite level like Frankie, or craptastic piles of shit like CJ Wilson.

His reduced numbers in all the rate stats mentioned in the above paragraph tell me that he is declining – just a bit – but declining nonetheless. That tells me that his great save percentage could diminish in the near future.

Just my opinion, but that’s my point. Do I think he is still an elite level closer? Yep. Do I think he is going in the wrong direction? Yep. I have less confidence in Frankie this year than last year and that is based on stats and WATCHING his performance. He isn’t as solid as he once was and his numbers tell me that it is going to get worse in the future.

won’t also be full of himself?

but i’ve never seen any evidence that Frankie’s an asshole, so…