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Friday, June 18, 2010

ESPN NY: O’Connor: K-Rod has goal: Be mightier than Mo

As one of my druncles used to say…“Finishing a beer is easy…buying the next one is hard”

“Are you serious?” K-Rod himself asked when approached recently with the evidence. “I had no idea.”

Rodriguez was dressing at his home locker, and surveying the scribbled math on a reporter’s frayed notepad.

“I don’t really follow numbers and stats,” K-Rod said.

He’s following them now. And those numbers and stats say the Mets’ closer has 258 saves, or 205 more saves than the Yankees’ epic closer, Mariano Rivera, had at the same age—28 years, 5 months and 10 days.

Yes, 205. Rodriguez is also 197 saves ahead of the pace set by Trevor Hoffman, who holds the all-time record of 596 and who stands 55 ahead of Rivera. When K-Rod absorbed his Secretariat-sized lead over the younger Mo and the younger Hoffman, his eyes went goggle-wide.

“You caught me off guard here,” he said. “But if God gives me the ability to close games for another 12 years and keeps me healthy, then I think 700 saves is possible.”

Seven hundred saves in a sport that hasn’t seen a man reach 600.

“Why not?” Rodriguez said. “Why not? I would love to retire someday with 600 saves or 700 saves. Maybe 750, who knows?”

Repoz Posted: June 18, 2010 at 01:49 AM | 30 comment(s) | Login to Bookmark
Related News: General, History, Sabermetrics, Projections, NY Mets, NY Yankees

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1. TVerik, AKA Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dog Posted: June 18, 2010 at 02:25 AM (#3562533)

Mo got an extra-late start to fulltime closing. I believe Hoffman did as well. It's absolutely true that K-Rod has been able to rack up saves earlier than the all-time greats.

That said, of course, if he puts together the years in his thirties that Mariano did, he deserves to be known as the best closer ever.

2. Benji Posted: June 18, 2010 at 02:28 AM (#3562534)

I'm gonna send him my cardiologist bills. I love ya KRod but just give us a 1-2-3 inning once!

3. Swoboda is freedom Posted: June 18, 2010 at 02:29 AM (#3562535)

I have a goal for K Rod. Have a 1,2,3 inning one time and not make every easy save a nail biter.

4. Orange & Blue Velvet Posted: June 18, 2010 at 02:43 AM (#3562538)

I have a goal for K Rod. Have a 1,2,3 inning one time and not make every easy save a nail biter.

THIS.

5. Chris in Wicker Park Posted: June 18, 2010 at 02:43 AM (#3562539)

Uh, no. He'll, Rivera is better than OKrod now.

6. danup Posted: June 18, 2010 at 02:51 AM (#3562544)

I'm not sure how reliable it is for relievers, who've always seemed difficult to rate, but top seasons by WAR:

Rivera 1996: 5.4
Rivera 2004: 4.8
Rivera 1997: 4.2
Rivera 2008: 4.1
Rodrig 2006: 4.1
Rivera 2006: 3.9
Rivera 2003: 3.9
Rivera 2005: 3.8
Rodrig 2004: 3.5
Rivera 2001: 3.5
Rivera 1999: 3.5
Rivera 2009: 3.1
Rivera 1998: 3.1
Rodrig 2005: 2.9
Rivera 2000: 2.9
Rodrig 2007: 2.6
Rivera 2007: 1.9
Rivera 2002: 1.7
Rodrig 2003: 1.4
Rodrig 2009: 0.2 

Which is to say, good luck with that.

7. Joe OBrien Posted: June 18, 2010 at 02:55 AM (#3562548)

The first 300 are the easiest [/peterose]

8. Russlan will never be fond of Jason Bay Posted: June 18, 2010 at 02:56 AM (#3562549)

OK-Rod? Really?

K-Rod has been very, very, very good this year. 3.75 k/bb ratio, 1.13 whip, 11.5 k/9.

I don't doubt that someday someone will pass Rivera or Hoffman for the saves lead. I doubt anyone could be more valuable than Rivera has been in that role.

9. The importance of being Ernest Riles Posted: June 18, 2010 at 03:14 AM (#3562563)

He'll never make it. His delivery so violent, he's bound to get hurt, probably this year. < /me in 2005>

10. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: June 18, 2010 at 03:16 AM (#3562565)

Now that we know "most = best," we can declare Antonio Alfonseca the greatest relief pitcher that will ever live.

11. Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral Idiot

Posted: June 18, 2010 at 03:25 AM (#3562568)

That said, of course, if [K-Rod] puts together the years in his thirties that Mariano did, he deserves to be known as the best closer ever.

And if he blows hard enough, the Sun will go out. You can put that in the bank.

12. BillP Posted: June 18, 2010 at 03:55 AM (#3562575)

Rodriguez has 57 more saves through age 28 than Bobby Thigpen did. Bobby Thigpen had 456 fewer saves from age 29 on than Mo has (that is to say, Thigpen got 1).
Of course K-Rod is better than Thigpen, but I don't think he has a significantly better chance of getting 400-plus saves in his thirties than Thigpen did...

13. smileyy Posted: June 18, 2010 at 04:01 AM (#3562579)

People are always so eager to find the next X, even when they're still able to be appreciating the current X.

14. Raskolnikov Posted: June 18, 2010 at 04:11 AM (#3562585)

K-Rod has been very, very, very good this year. 3.75 k/bb ratio, 1.13 whip, 11.5 k/9.

K-Rod has been effective, but not dominant. I'm still worried about that velocity.

The Mets still could use a great set-up man - someone like JJ Putz.

15. Rich Posted: June 18, 2010 at 04:13 AM (#3562587)

/compiler

16. Walt Davis Posted: June 18, 2010 at 05:27 AM (#3562595)

K-Rod will probably need to pitch as many post-30 innings as Doug Jones ... and I can't imagine we'll ever again see a reliever pull off the nearly impossible feat of 1100 innings over 14 seasons! That's like asking a starter to pitch more innings than Cy Young!

17. Dale H. Posted: June 18, 2010 at 05:28 AM (#3562596)

He obviously can't accomplish this, now that they've just started testing for steroids. It's impossible to do anything baseball related without the juice.

18. Walt Davis Posted: June 18, 2010 at 05:32 AM (#3562598)

And, what the heck ...

for pitchers with at least 500 innings through age 28, K-Rod is #1 with a 175 ERA+, barely beating out Walter Johnson (172 ERA+).

19. Mat Gleason Posted: June 18, 2010 at 07:38 AM (#3562606)

"You caught me off guard here, but let me do the math... Should I hit on 13 if the dealer is showing a 10?"

20. Something Other Posted: June 18, 2010 at 07:46 AM (#3562607)

I can live with Roddy rarely getting 123 innings as long as he gets it done, and as long as he keeps his walk rate under that truly awe-inspiring tightrope act of 5 per 9 of last year. I wonder if his 35 saves in 2009 is a record with that kind of walk rate.

21. Freeballin' (Tales of Met Power) Posted: June 18, 2010 at 11:18 AM (#3562649)

[6] Are you confusing saves with WAR? That has to be a first, the stats are not similar.

22. Rants Mulliniks (formerly Cold Prosimian) Posted: June 18, 2010 at 11:42 AM (#3562658)

Antonio Alfonseca the greatest relief pitcher that will ever live.

What you don't think there will ever be another polydactyl pitcher?:-)

23. There are no words... (Met Fan Charlie) Posted: June 18, 2010 at 11:57 AM (#3562681)

Oy. Just get 'em out, Frankie.

24. An Athletic in Powderhorn Posted: June 18, 2010 at 11:58 AM (#3562683)

[6] Are you confusing saves with WAR?"

I doubt it. He's not answering "What are K-Rod's chances of compiling more saves than Mo?" He's answering "What are K-Rod's chances of compiling more value than Mo?"

25. Freeballin' (Tales of Met Power) Posted: June 19, 2010 at 01:21 PM (#3564075)

[24] And this is what leads me to believe he has misunderstood something.

26. An Athletic in Powderhorn Posted: June 19, 2010 at 01:48 PM (#3564094)

Ok. It leads me to believe he's talking about something different than you think he should be. We do have a history around here of taking tFA just as a starting point for whatever we feel like discussing, you know.

27. Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral Idiot

Posted: June 19, 2010 at 02:12 PM (#3564115)

Is it just my mistaken recollection of his early Anaheim days, or a loose Mets uniform, but hasn't K-Rod gone from near-scrawny to near-blubbery in the past 6 or 7 years? He lists at 6' and 195, but on TV it looks more like baby fat than muscle.

28. Raskolnikov Posted: June 19, 2010 at 02:15 PM (#3564118)

I'm just relieved that K-Rod is back to hitting 93-94 on the gun. He had been living on 90-91 for most of this year.

29. Gonfalon Bubble Posted: June 19, 2010 at 02:18 PM (#3564119)

30. Jolly Old St. Neck Wound, Moral Idiot

Posted: June 19, 2010 at 02:24 PM (#3564128)

It's a shame Mariano Rivera is the #1 relief pitcher in saves. Until that changes, we'll never be able to sensibly compare how Rivera's value might stack up against a hypothetical somebody who's ahead of him on the all-time list.

When you get a relief pitcher who can duplicate Rivera's unbroken succession of lights out seasons (now 15 and counting), and who then doubles down his performance in a long string of postseasons (0.74 ERA and a .774 WHIP in 88 games), at that point you can start to make "value" comparisons to Rivera. The raw number of saves is interesting, but that's hardly the sum of Rivera's resume.

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ESPN NY: O’Connor: K-Rod has goal: Be mightier than Mo

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