Don't really want to go down this whole Pressly wormhole again, because he coming off a historic streak, but 57-2 speaks to the entirety of the BP, not Pressly's dominance. He's saved 21 out of 25 opportunities. That's about average for a closer. It's not horrendous, but it's not lights out either. During the 57-2 stretch, that includes games that were blown where we came back (Tigers). I still think we need to look at adding another high-leverage reliever. Whether you want to call it a closer or whatever, idc. Montero is having a career year, so is Stank. Overall, the BP is having a very good year despite some catastrophic failures here and there, but the postseason is a different animal. Outside of that incredible stretch in 2018-2019 (when Pressly was a setup guy), and the recent stretch of perfect innings, Pressly just doesn't give me that confidence in his ability to intimidate teams and shut it down when he comes in, say like an Edwin Diaz, Josh Hader, Emmanuel Clase, Clay Holmes (BARF). Yes, I realize those are top of the line, ELITE level closers, but the expectation for this team is WS, and we may very well have to face a team with a closer like that to get to or win a WS.
MIL Josh Hader 29 of 31 93.548% CLE Emmanuel Clase 22 of 24 91.667% NYY Clay Holmes 17 of 19 89.474% NYM Edwin Diaz 23 of 26 88.462% HOU Ryan Pressly 21 of 25 84.000% How much for an upgrade of less than 10%? Where is he?
Clay Holmes, the guy who has been a closer for all of 15 minutes and never closed a postseason game is the guy you would rather have? Or Clase and Diaz, who have been worse at converting saves over the last few years, and have also never closed a postseason game. Or Josh Hader who has been getting wrecked recently and has basically the same ERA as Pressly since he became a closer.
Or put words in my mouth? My point is that we should be looking into adding another high leverage reliever. In the postseason, those guys are like money, you can never have enough. Obviously, if the price doesn't work, then it doesn't work. There are certainly other needs. I brought up the other closers because they have higher level "stuff", which is invaluable in the postseason. I'm not saying Pressly can't be our closer, but in an ideal world I prefer him as the setup guy. He was historically great in that role, like all-time level. There's no perfect formula for how to close games. Charlie F-ing Morton might as well be the best closer of all time in my book. Hell, Lance McCullers. But throwing around 57-2 without context and insinuating it's because Pressly just shuts it down every damn time is ludicrous. It's 21/25, and the blown saves are particularly frustrating. It doesn't mean he's a bad player, but this crusade to protect Pressly's honor is beyond me.
As dominant as Hader is, he's blown multiple critical games for Milwaukee in the playoffs and lost 2 of their 3 total postseason series. He blew their WC game in 2019 (blown save and loss) and gave up the winning run in Game 5 of last year's division series (loss). He has a 50% failure rate (2 fails in 4 appearances) and has 1 save, 1 blown save, and 2 losses in 3 years as their closer.
But he "intimidates", that's what matters. The fact that Pressly has never surrendered a lead as closer in October isn't as important as intimidation. Plus his blown saves are "frustrating" as opposed to Hader's blown saves, which I'm sure weren't at all frustrating.
The 57-2 record is important because this is a team game. Sometimes there will be a blown save but the offense comes through to save the day. I was still sure the Astros were going to tie it up in the 9th or win it but they went 1-2-3.
Meanwhile, in 2021, Atlanta won the World Series with the super scary Will Smith and his 3+ ERA (37 saves, 6 blown saves) as closer. the 2020 Dodgers won with 5 guys splitting 6 saves. 2019 Washington won with the ever-intimidating Sean Doolittle and Daniel Hudson splitting closer duties. 2017 we won with random people after Ken Giles implosions.
ah baseball. Where the few bad performances seem to always unfairly embody an entire career whatever happened to Ken Giles?
He plays for the team the Astros are currently playing. Had TJ, came back this season briefly and pitched in 4 games with a 0.00 ERA, and then right back on the IL with a shoulder injury.
I mean, it's pretty much the same caliber bottom or the order we've been running out there since Brantley went down
Yeah, he’s been decent recently, but give me a break. There’s a reason the Astros are linked to several catchers as the trade deadline approaches
