The Phillies were three games from missing the postseason altogether. I don't think it's a stretch to say that Lidge, who went 41-for-41 with a 1.95 ERA, could have given you at least three more games over the course of 162 that an average reliever wouldn't have. And it's not as simple as plugging in Romero (who, by the way, wasn't nearly as good as Lidge last year, even so) -- you would then have to find someone to step into Romero's role, and so on and so forth.
They made the playoffs by 3 games. With a closer that was perfect, allowing Romero to pitch the 8th. Having Lidge lets everyone else slot down - taking out Lidge doesn't just mean Romero takes over. It means some crappy pitcher not on last year's roster has to pitch 60-70 extra innings over the course of the season. I would say having Lidge instead of that no-name reliever probably helped them win more than 3 games over the course of the season. But that said, even if he didn't, it doesn't really matter. It's similar to the Carmelo Anthony vs. Mililic or whatever decision for Detroit. Would they rather have Carmelo today? Absolutely. Was it a bad long-term move? No question. But would they have won an NBA title with Carmelo in the rotation? Maybe, maybe not. Who knows if the chemistry is there or if Hamilton or Prince are as good as part-time players or whatever else. They might have just been an also-ran team like Phoenix in 1990's or a few years where they were close but never reached the title. At the end of the day, they are probably happy with that decision because the ultimate goal is to win an NBA title and they did it.
Yeah, I read that too and thought it was an excellent piece. Lidge is a fascinating pitcher to evaluate because the little fundamentals that coaches teach (but usually don't mean that much, at least in a given game) mean so much more than usual given the type of pitcher that he is. A lot of people have given the simplistic explanation for years that he has to add a third pitch to be "lights out" again, and of course that's not true. When your pitches are as dominant as his are, you can thrive on two. But most major league hitters guess, especially against elite pitchers, and with Lidge, the percentages are inherently greater in the hitter's favor. It doesn't matter if his location is pinpoint because he's that good, but when it's not... And again, it's worth pointing out that Lidge is not lazy, nor does he have mental issues. Every pitcher goes through issues with fundamentals and mechanics over long stretches in their careers. They just don't show up as much in the results because for most pitchers, results are a combination of both pitch selection and pitch control. For Lidge, it's much more tilted toward the control, which means just a little tweak can send him through a bad stretch. He'll be fine, just like he was after he had a similar stretch for much of 2006. It's just part of who he is as a pitcher fundamentally, and the Phillies understand that.
I suspect that the Phillies understand as well that Lidge is getting paid a ton of jack to be a top closer and that there is no Plan B.
He'll be a top closer by the end of the season and for the majority of the contract -- that's what I meant. It's no cause for concern. He's had these temporary blips before, and will again. Then he'll more than make up for them with a stretch like he had from the last week of 2007 throughout all of 2008.
Wow, Lidge blows 2 consecutive saves on Friday and Saturday, while Bourn is hitting .300, leading the NL in steals, is playing good defense in Center, all while having an extremely acceptable OB %. Lidge right now has a 7.27 ERA.
I don't remember him ever having blips. He got worse and worse, then it was roller coaster. The only time he was good for a large stint was when he was pitching in the 6th and 7th innings.
And yet, Lidge played an integral part of their WS title run. I'm giving the slight edge of this trade to the Astros because we got young talents, but Phillies got what they wanted from Lidge and actually won WS. Too bad they are stuck with his contract now.
To be fair, the first one wasn't really his fault. He was going to get out of the inning, but the third baseman made a costly error. Lidge has been destroying my fantasy team this year, though.
He then went back into the closer's spot (early June '07) and was successful there for a couple of months, until he injured his knee and basically walked on one leg the last couple months. That compromised his mechanics, and he regressed. But he was clearly a superior pitcher in 2007 to 2006.
yeah, its hard to argue with the results from philly's end and yet the astros weren't going to be a world series team last year or this one or next. great closers are crucial, if you are a team on the verge. when wagner was great for us and lidge, the astros were contenders. its a weird situation, they're crucial only if you're winning, because they get paid a lot. so its no reason for a bad team to have one its spending a bunch of money him.
yeah, but that statement could also read, "when Roy, Rocket, and Andy were great for us..." or "when Bulldog, Lima, and Shane were great for us..." Not disagreeing with you; just noting how incredibly lucky the Astros were from like 1997-2005 to have such freaking good pitching. We had some duds on the back end of the rotation or in the 'pen here and there, but all-in-all it was some niiiiiiiiiiiice pitching for a pretty long time. that *is* ironic, isn't it.
