Phillies Closer Options, and Metallica?

Luis Garcia – “Metallica” (the black album) (1991)

The black album is overrated. There, I said it. Other than “Enter Sandman” (see intro of this piece for the video), this album is good, but not the great metal musical masterpiece that many think.

The reason people say it’s great is because it’s the one most people heard on the radio, and turned them on to Metallica in the first place. They heard Sandman over and over and thought, wow. What a great album! However, other than that, or “Sad But True“, there really isn’t a great song on there. Yes, most are good, but great? I beg to differ.

Luis Garcia is overrated. There, I said that too. Not overrated as a baseball player, but as a closer option. Yes, he can throw a baseball really, really hard, and his slider is rather good at creating swings and misses. But Garcia is not going to be a great option to close. Why?

Walk rate: 6.61, 8.36, 5.00. Those are Garcia’s BB/9 each year that he’s been in Philadelphia. Some think he’s great, others are not as enamored. I fall right in the middle. I just don’t think he’s a good option to close because of this volatility. You simply can’t have a guy in the ninth inning who might walk in a run.

As tantalizing as it might seem to give him a shot at that closer role, Garcia should continue as currently used – a good setup guy, who occasionally gets sent out and put into the ninth inning role based on specific circumstances.

Next: Phillies Pen Lacks Metal: DEATH MAGNETIC