It will be interesting to compare Dotel and Wagner later on,...I'd say Dotel can hold his own, if not best Wagner when all is said and done in the season...
Closers are the most overated pitchers in baseball. Wags was a great closer, but Dotel should be able to get close to his stats. DD
I totally disagree. A good closer is vital to a contending team. When you're only up by one run in the bottom of the ninth on the road and the home team is looking for a comeback, you need someone out there that you can depend on to shut them down and come away with the win. I think the Astros will miss Wagner a great deal.
Yeah Bill was just a fantastic closer. He always stepped it up in the playoffs and never gave up any big runs to the Braves in his post season tenure. He was a one pitch wonder that would often throw a hanging slider.
Or fall in love with his fastball and blow crucial games because he refused to throw the slider. So Wags saves 90% of the games he is in....if Dotel only does 86%, how much different is that? I mean we are only talking about 3 outs.... DD
Who is going to pitch the 7th and 8th innings now? Will that person be as effective as Dotel? Never said that it did. However, a crappy closer can lose games even if a team has good starters and offense. (see: Boston's terrible closer by committee debacle a while ago)
the eighth will belong to a guy named Lidge. i'm hoping the 7th will belong, primarily, to guys with names like Clemens, Miller, Pettitte and Oswalt.
excellent point...these guys go 200+ innings...Wagner pitches, at most, one a game..and he's not going every night. that doesn't tell the whole story in relation to value of a closer, but it still can't be overlooked when looking at what the astros are going to pay out for productivity.
