The Cardinals have had internal discussions during manager Mike Mathenys tenure about when, if ever, they would consider using the closer earlier than the ninth, when perhaps the true save situation is the eighth inning against the heart of the order.
The closer might not get the stat. The team would get the win.
Matheny said Sunday its appealing, but the save stat cannot be ignored.
You want to be respectful, too, to what these guys are trying to do individually, Matheny said. For us as a team to move forward certain things need to happen and a lot of times its trying to create an atmosphere where each of these guys are able to achieve everything, and there are contracts involved. There are personal statistics that help drive personal achievement as far as salaries go. For us to be completely oblivious to that, I think is a mistake as well.
Then you start having some friction, Matheny continued. There are outside influences that are constantly pushing these guys toward the statistics that are going to get them paid someday, right?
Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal earned an All-Star invitation this season and has been among the league leaders in saves all season. He used to annually talk about wanting to be a starter someday, but that conversation has faded as hes had success in the ninth inning and also been told how much money can be earned in that role as he reaches arbitration. He will be eligible for the first time this winter. The backbone of any closers arbitration case is saves; newcomers Steve Cishek and Jonathan Broxton have both seen their salaries inflate in their turns as closers for Miami and the Dodgers, respectively.
Matheny, sitting in the dugout hours before Sundays game, said the stat itself is arbitrary. (Why a three-run lead? he asked, rhetorically, and not a two-run lead?) But it has influence over decisions because it has importance to the team.
Guys are compensated for that and for us to turn a blind eye to that is not looking for whats best for all of our guys, Matheny said. Complex answer, but I think its a complex question. I think the salary structure might start to differ because of this conversation and that would be possibly good.
What it comes down to is winning. We also believe that we have guys who can get us through those tough innings.
A year ago, the Cardinals had Carlos Martinez assigned to the eighth inning, but in a game against Pittsburgh, Matheny went to the young reliever early because the middle of the Pirates lineup came up and the game was in doubt. It makes sense, the manager said, to use the best relievers at the moment they can most alter the outcome of the game. A way to do that while also being respectful of the save stat and the pressures of the final three outs, Matheny stressed is to have other options as reliable as the teams closer.
Thats the flexibility he hopes to have with the trade-deadline additions of Cishek and Broxton. They join lefty Kevin Siegrist and righthander Seth Maness as four pitchers Matheny said he can shuffle through the bridge innings based on matchup. Its not necessarily going to be one reliever assigned each of the final three innings as it was when Edward Mujica was a seventh-inning man in 2012. Instead it could be the chance to use the reliever throwing the best at the point in the game when outs are crucial, even if a save wont be awarded.
Youre going to see that with us now, Matheny said. I think youre going to see juggling in the set-up roles. The argument always comes back to who is your best reliever and do you want them in there against the best part of the order? And the answer is, you know, all things considered, yes. But there are things from the outside that influence that decision. What weve been able to do with the front office re-arming our bullpen is have more flexibility.
