RIP... Maybe we're all being a little hard, yeah right... This is his job...He needs to be put in the minors until he regains his confidence and stuff... Overall, our entire bullpen stinks...we can't get into the playoffs like that...
Max: Everytime Lidge blows a save, you will continue to see these posts. It's assumed that closers should never blow saves. Nevermind that he's been pitching well lately, that's just a blip and now he will revert back.
This is hilarious. This thread was dead for a good while...then Lidge has a bad outing and here we are again. How about let's wait to see how the season plays out before making a judgement on him. Check this: THERE IS NO ONE ELSE IN THE BULLPEN RIGHT NOW I WANT PITCHING IN A SAVE SITUATION OTHER THAN LIDGE. NO ONE. Either trade for a closer, which ain't gonna happen, or stay with Lidge. That's the only two options you got.
The June 20th was a blown non-save, yet no post on this thread. An outing of Tim Tim Redding-ian proportions and the thread breaths new life. I saw bring on Jason Hirsh and let's see what he's got.
I don't want to wait to see how the season plays out. Are we going to cruise into the playoffs with a closer that has a plus 5.00 ERA, and after he blows some playoff games we'll realize that he's done. We will have missed our opportunity because Clemens will likely retire, and Pettite may be gone as well. We need to be proactive and not wait until it's too late with Lidge. Reduce his role in the bullpen and make him earn the closers spot again. Use a rotating closers role in the bullpen with Lidge, Wheeler, and Nieve for a month. Whoever proves to be the best make them the closer for the rest of the season. If everyone sucks make a trade.
I haven't been to my "We Support You Lidge" group I started out of fear my membership declined. We are always hard on Lidge. He has given us perfection and all of a sudden we are seeing a decline. It's hard to watch. I just hope he doesn't lose himself back down to AAA. I guess it's in the baseball gods' hands.
Do the Astros go for broke again this year? Would the Braves swap Smoltz for Lidge? Smoltz returns to the closer role for the Astros and the Braves get a younger closer in hopes that a change of scenery will put him back on top.
It looks like both me and max missed it I was just kinda glad I didn't make sh*t up and call it a memory
Here's the thing...while his inflated ERA is not ideal, it's the saves that are the most important thing for a closer. And he's converted 19 of 22 saves; that's still among the best. There is no one else in the bullpen that I feel would be able to do as good of a job as he has done. Nieve is great, but I don't think he's right for the role. The only two I would consider outside of Lidge are Qualls and Wheeler; Wheels hasn't been as effective this year and we all see what Qualls does in a tight situation. I don't care how many runs he gives up as long as he gets the save and secures the win. That's the bottom line. If he starts blowing saves on a consistent basis, then yeah a change is needed. But so far he hasn't done that. There is no better option in our bullpen and theres next to zero chance of trading for a closer. We don't have as much leeway (right now) as in years past, true. But Clemens is back, hopefully he'll spark Pettite, Roy is being Roy, Backe is nearing a return. And Buchholz and Wandy are both better options right now than Zeke and Wandy were last year. Maybe if Backe comes back but doesn't have the stamina to go a whole game for awhile he can take up a set-up or closer role if a change is needed.
