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Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Nov 28, 2007
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I've long felt that Jason is mediocre at best. Nearly every time he actually saves a game, he nearly blows the save. Otherwise he blows the save. What do you think? Is Izzy a Stud or a Dud?
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Reputation:94
Level:All-Star
Since:Nov 26, 2006
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While I agree that his saves can be extremely nerve-racking a large part of the time, a friend of mine pointed something out to me when I was making a similar argument. Who would you rather have (important condition) that is reasonably available? When we had this conversation, I came up with Rivera, Wagner, Lidge, and Gagne as being better (so you can see this conversation was a few years ago) but obviously not meeting the condition of being a closer that the Cardinals could get.
I've not followed baseball as closely the past couple of years as I used to (I'm from a football town), so I pose this to you. Name me someone who you can say with some certainty that will get us 30ish saves and is someone we could get to replace him that is either within the budget or will not cost us a ridiculous number of players in a trade. My guess is that there won't be more than one name that is both good and "acquirable", but let's see.
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Reputation:95
Level:Superstar
Since:Jan 18, 2008
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I've never really felt he was good enough to be our closer... Wainwright was better last year than Izzy was... Ryan Franklin is better also at this point this year...
But he is a LaRussa boy and will be our closer as long as Tony has input (which shouldn't happen anymore IMO)...
As I said... JMHO...
MT
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Reputation:94
Level:All-Star
Since:Jul 3, 2007
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Who would I rather have? Anyone with an era under 8.
Actually, era can be a bit deceptive for a relief pitcher, but once it is over 4.5 this far into the season, you know the guy has nothing in the tank.
I don't buy the b.s. about this being strictly in Izzy's head. The guy has never been an overpowering force on the mound. And now that he has appanently lost a little zip on his fastball, he is quite hittable. pipe
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Reputation:98
Level:Superstar
Since:Aug 29, 2006
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Izzy has been far closer to a stud than a dud during his time as a Cardinal. It's no contest.
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Reputation:79
Level:Pro
Since:May 28, 2007
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It was only a matter of time before Izzy became a dud, and I mean that strictly in a sense of losing zip on his pitches. Ever since game tape was introduced, especially now since Izzy is older and the players he is pitching to are younger, that teams would see he only has 2 good pitches. Both of them being straight down the middle and in the mid 80's to low 90's, which bodes well for hitting those pitches over the fence. For the time being Izzy needs to be coming in around the 6th or 7th inning until he gets right, leave the closing duties up to Franklin or Mulder when he is ready to pitch to real MLB hitters. We'll see though, today was a very exciting win! Pujols is coming around and is due for a big streak. Glaus and Ludwick are playing great, Ankiel is consistant thus far. I like our team for the rest of the season. We need our pitching to stay strong, especially the mid relief and closers.
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Reputation:97
Level:Superstar
Since:Feb 14, 2008
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this offseason, Octavio Dotel (82 career saves) was available, as well as David Riske, Mike Timlin, and Scott Linebrink. saying those guys are a lock for 30+ saves is a stretch, but they have closer experience. there were a number of other options, including percival.
going into '07, Keith Foulke and Eddie Guardado were available, among others with less experience (including Cardinals pickup Ryan Franklin)
going into '06, Antonio Alfonseca, Kyle Farnsworth, dannys baez, Tom Gordon, roberto hernandez, Trevor Hoffman, Todd Jones, bj ryan, Billy Wagner, and Bob Wickman were available. trevor hoffman took a hometown discount to stay with the Padres, bj ryan and billy wagner cost too much for our criteria, so take them out i guess.
the best options left were: tom gordon, octavio dotel, todd jones, Troy Percival. that's my opinion anyway. now that those options are laid before us, i think signing Jason Isringhausen was pretty good. however, izzy was signed for '02, and i didn't go back that far to see who he was competing with directly.
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Reputation:81
Level:All-Star
Since:Apr 4, 2008
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outside of wagner none of those guys were particularly good and wagner wasn't really available to the cards - no way the Astros trade him to them
izzy has always put some danger into routine saves but he has generally done the job quite well. I would never refer to him as a stud - a title better reserved for the riveras and pujols of the world - but calling him a dud is simply silly
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Reputation:88
Level:All-Star
Since:Mar 26, 2008
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For a guy that is making over 10million this year, definitely a DUD. He had a pretty good last year. We need to | |
