Mar 01 2019 12:17 PM
I'm a scary Puerto Rican save guy coming off the second-saviest season in history. The first-saviest belonged (and belongs still) to Francisco Rodriguez, and then he went to the Mets and ... well, his ERA went up by a run and a half and his save total was reduced by 43%. So, are we learning? Or is my presence an indication that Omar Minaya is part of the braintrust again.
They even re-signed Jeurys Familia to back me up. That's a total Omar move!
Wait a minute ... did somebody say Carlos Gomez was back? Omar is totally running the show now, isn't he? Brodie Van Halen or whatever his name is — he's just an avatar being operated by Minaya, right? Is Tony Bernazard back in the system? Maybe not, but Rafael Landestoy is! CLOSE ENOUGH!
Anyhow, while what'shisname listed me as one of the top 100 players in the bigs, history has shown that the great closer seasons have almost invariably been followed by a large regression. Will that happen to me? I don't know that 57 saves is in the bag, but my peripherals last year were trailblazing: 15.2 K/9 and 2.1 BB/9. That leaves a lot of room for some regression while still being excellent.
You know who never touched those numbers? Francisco Rodriguez, that's who. K-Rod, my ass, right?
So that's how it lays out. But now the games have to be played. How's it going to shake out?