It's all well and good that Garner is now willing to yank Lidge if it looks like he is struggling, but that doesn't really make me feel much better. Had Willy not hit his very unlikely homerun last night, we could have gone into extra innings since Lidge's screwups resulted in the Dbacks scoring a run. In 1 run games, it doesn't take much of a loss of focus to blow the lead, and it may happen before Garner has time to pull Brad. I hope they are experimenting with Nieve or others in the closer role. This close to the end of the season, you can no longer afford to have a guy like Lidge just work his way through his problems. We need every single win from this point on, and Scrap Iron needs to do whatever he thinks is necessary to get those.
"Nighty-night Nieve"... (with partial credit to rocketfatty) Featured the 95mph fastball, and the sharp breaker tonight (which is a combo slider/curve = slurve). He's really taken to becoming a dominant bullpen pitcher... and at this point, that's more valuable than being simply an average 4th-5th starter (which is in all probability all he can be, with only 2 above average pitches).
I think Lidge should just play reliever now, he still has some good stuff, but he's just not using it right. Put Wheeler as the closer for now until Lidge gets back to LIDGE. Then when Nieve is ready, you do a trade for Lidge or keep him as a reliever.
I picked up Nieve in my fantasy league. As a starter he is useless to me. I am gambling that he gets some save opps or the very least pitches some scoreless innings.
Lidge still could very well turn it around, so far now I'd still keep him there albeit on a very short leash with Wheeler ready to step in with a moment's notice. Nieve should compete with Qualls for the setup role, ready to step in when he gets in a little trouble. I think it's in the team's best interest for Lidge to turn it around so they don't have to worry about protecting that lead in the later innings. (Nieve, Wheeler, Lidge)...Qualls can go to middle relief if Nieve proves he's ready.
yes i agree with you. I like taht order Nieve, Wheeler, then Lidge. I like it especially for playoff time. I like Qualls and Borokowski doing middle relief too.
