Provided the Reds want to dump him… they add a veteran bat they can play either at 3B or in a corner OF spot and they save a million bucks. We get a pretty darn good closer.

Take it from someone who watched Jose Valverde “close” games with the Diamondbacks not long ago: this guy is Todd Jones and Fernando Rodney combined. In other words, if you’ve enjoyed the late innings the past few seasons, you’ll love Valverde.

Closers – especially high-priced closer acquisitions – are tremendously overrated and risky.
There are arguably TWO dominant closers who played major roles on Championship teams since the late 80’s: Eckersley & Rivera (both of whom played on teams with multiple strong starters and high-octane offenses).
The road is littered with guys who’ve failed, often at very high expense to their employer. For every Brad Lidge ‘08, there’s Brad Lidge ’07 and ’09.
I would argue that most managers would be better served by abandoning the practice of managing for the “save” stat (bringing in the “closer” to finish games in the 9th, no matter opponent/hitters/ballpark/history) and play the matchups to finish games instead.

But Rings is dead on. Unfortunately baseball has created this mentality that only certain guys can finish off a game when there is a 1 – 3 run lead. Obviously I wouldn’t throw a Zach Miner into a game when there’s a 1 run lead, but teams just believe they need that shutdown guy. Why shouldn’t Bobby Seay come out in the 9th to face a Big Papi but instead Rodney comes out because that’s what the league is accustomed to? Never made perfect sense to me – match ups sometimes are just the way to go.

All you truly need is a hot pitcher. Rodney did a great job, but after Lyon settled in, he probably would have done equally as well. If Ryan Perry can control his stuff, he could shut down teams in the 9th. So could Zoom Zoom if he’s ever healthy and stops throwing 103 MPH beach balls up there.

If the Tigers sign a closer, I don’t mind Wagner at all. I want no part of Jose. I’ll take Lyon or Wagner, I’m just not sold on Fernando. Hopefully both those guys will come at a decent price, nothing that will break the bank.

I think bullpen roles are entirely a bad thing. You have a few guys in your pen who have set “jobs” who pitch all the time while you have a bunch guys who mostly sit around and get rusty. So than you have your best arms quickly wearing themselves out and others who are having trouble keeping themselves game ready.

Obviously, your always going to give the most work to the guys who pitch the best, but I’m what I’m trying to say is that the work is not spread out well enough anymore. In all actuality this is what the Tigers bull pen essentially was. Fu Te Ni, Zach Minor, Seay, Lyon, Rodney. That leaves a bunch of guys just sitting around as “specialists.”

My solution: If you have a guy who comes in and is pitching well, let him pitch. If the shit starts to hit the fan, than bring in someone to clean up the mess. We have clean up hitters, why not replace the closer with a “cleanup-pitcher?”