On the one hand Iglesias saved 34 games last season. On the other he finished with a 4.16 ERA (very, very high for a closer) and was credited with 12 loses, did that tie a major league record ? He gave up 12 HR's in 61 innings pitched. He hit 2 batters and had 3 wild pitches. His WAR dropped from averaging around 2.5 to 0.8. He had several really rough games to say the least.

Thus far this season he's at a 6.75 ERA pitching 2.2 innings in 3 games. He's gave up 6 hits and 6 runs, walked a batter and hit two guys with pitches. Opponents are batting .462 against him. In summary thus far he's been knocked around hard.

Is it time to declare someone else closer ? I'm just losing hope with him, is it to soon ?

I think Bell should use his best relief pitcher in the highest leverage situation - which may be in the 7th or 8th innings and not necessarily the 9th - and it is far from certain that Igelsias is the Reds' best relief pitcher. However it is still early days in spring training and a few hits falling here and there can distort the ERA.

(03-09-2020, 12:49 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: On the one hand Iglesias saved 34 games last season. On the other he finished with a 4.16 ERA (very, very high for a closer) and was credited with 12 loses, did that tie a major league record ? He gave up 12 HR's in 61 innings pitched. He hit 2 batters and had 3 wild pitches. His WAR dropped from averaging around 2.5 to 0.8. He had several really rough games to say the least.

Thus far this season he's at a 6.75 ERA pitching 2.2 innings in 3 games. He's gave up 6 hits and 6 runs, walked a batter and hit two guys with pitches. Opponents are batting .462 against him. In summary thus far he's been knocked around hard.

Is it time to declare someone else closer ? I'm just losing hope with him, is it to soon ?

2 huge question marks that were disappointments last year are Votto and Iglesias. Neither has looked good yet but it is still early. I’m not confident in either. I can’t see Iglesias having more than the first 40 games to earn that closers role. Votto will get the first half at a minimum before his time gets cut back and that’s regardless of how bad he might hit. He is also probably locked into that 2 spot until at least then.

(03-09-2020, 03:28 PM)TJHoushmandzadeh Wrote: I think Bell should use his best relief pitcher in the highest leverage situation - which may be in the 7th or 8th innings and not necessarily the 9th - and it is far from certain that Igelsias is the Reds' best relief pitcher. However it is still early days in spring training and a few hits falling here and there can distort the ERA.

(03-09-2020, 04:36 PM)Circleville Guy Wrote: 2 huge question marks that were disappointments last year are Votto and Iglesias. Neither has looked good yet but it is still early. I’m not confident in either. I can’t see Iglesias having more than the first 40 games to earn that closers role. Votto will get the first half at a minimum before his time gets cut back and that’s regardless of how bad he might hit. He is also probably locked into that 2 spot until at least then.

It's still early for sure. Perhaps it's just early season jitters or whatever ? But I just hope they don't wait to long to pull the plug if this trend continues very far into the season.

Spring training numbers for veterans can be deceiving.  For example a pitcher may be working to develop a new pitch he has not mastered yet or a batter may be working on going to the opposite field.  They don't worry about their stats because it is just "practice".

But when players are coming off bad years like Iglasies and Votto it is not a good sign for them to struggle in spring training.

Just reading an article about this and Bell said Iglesias is the closer and would most likely only be used to end the game. So, more of a traditional role, which I think will help him mentally. Some guys just need that closer title and game ender role to get the juices and concentration at just the right level.

I try not to pay attention to pitching numbers in ST. Just the other day Gray said he only threw curveballs his entire start just to get a good feel and get them below 75 mph.

(03-09-2020, 05:43 PM)bengalfan74 Wrote: It's still early for sure. Perhaps it's just early season jitters or whatever ? But I just hope they don't wait to long to pull the plug if this trend continues very far into the season.

Maybe, but veteran players like them shouldn't still be getting "the jitters", should they?

I understand that they're stuck with Votto, due to that contract.  But, do they even have anyone else worthy of being named the closer, or would they have to deal for one?

(03-09-2020, 07:20 PM)SunsetBengal Wrote: Maybe, but veteran players like them shouldn't still be getting "the jitters", should they?

I understand that they're stuck with Votto, due to that contract.  But, do they even have anyone else worthy of being named the closer, or would they have to deal for one?

In order of likely to replace Iggy as closer:
Lorenzen
Garrett
Strop

He pitched in the 5th inning yesterday with no hits, no runs and a strike out, better. I hope they get to use him more in a closer style role a couple times before spring training is over.

If we're gonna contend this season or at least being on the verge of contending we can't have a repeat of last season with him. Every closer has a bad game or two, it happens. But he can't have 15 bad games again.

(03-09-2020, 04:36 PM)Circleville Guy Wrote: 2 huge question marks that were disappointments last year are Votto and Iglesias. Neither has looked good yet but it is still early. I’m not confident in either. I can’t see Iglesias having more than the first 40 games to earn that closers role. Votto will get the first half at a minimum before his time gets cut back and that’s regardless of how bad he might hit. He is also probably locked into that 2 spot until at least then.

Spring numbers have never mattered for Votto.

2017 Votto Spring Training Line:  .200/.355/.240 (.595)
2017 Votto Regular Season Line:  .320/.454/.578 (1.032)

Obviously not saying that Votto will be a monster in 2020, but just pointing out that judging him on spring training numbers is as accurate of a process as it was to judge Peyton Manning on his preseason W-L record. Lol