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	<title>Toronto &#187; Closer Battle</title>
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		<title>Drew Storen Named Setup Man; A Temporary Loss for Progressive Thinking</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/31/drew-storen-named-closer-a-win-for-progressive-thinking/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/31/drew-storen-named-closer-a-win-for-progressive-thinking/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 31 Mar 2016 10:00:00 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Kyle Matte]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bullpen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Closer Battle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Drew Storen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roberto Osuna]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=814</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Just yesterday it was announced that Roberto Osuna, the 21-year old Mexican who single handedly kept the bullpen looking somewhat respectable over the first two months of the 2015 season, would again be acting as the fireman at the back-end of John Gibbons&#8217; bullpen to start the 2016 season. While Osuna did absolutely nothing to lose the [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Just yesterday it was announced that Roberto Osuna, the 21-year old Mexican who single handedly kept the bullpen looking somewhat respectable over the first two months of the 2015 season, would again be acting as the fireman at the back-end of John Gibbons&#8217; bullpen to start the 2016 season. While Osuna did absolutely nothing to lose the job <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/30/roberto-osuna-is-the-right-choice-for-closer/">as Joshua Howsam discussed yesterday</a>, I can&#8217;t help but feel the Blue Jays took the lesser of two admittedly good options.</p>
<p>Since being acquired from the Nationals for Ben Revere over the winter, many, myself included, had expected that Storen would become the ninth inning guy for a couple of reasons, neither of which involve his salary or proximity to free agency. Over his six year career Storen has made two points quite clear: one, he&#8217;s not a pitcher who is capable of throwing multiple innings in an outing, and two, he&#8217;s a whole lot better when coming in with a clean slate. To the former point; over his 355 career appearances, Storen has averaged just 2.82 outs and 3.86 batters faced per relief appearance. To the latter; Storen has faced a total of 761 batters with the bases empty, and they&#8217;ve hit just .212/.258/.317 against him. That impressive slash line is largely fueled by a terrific strikeout-minus-walk rate of 21.7 percent. Conversely, in the 609 situations with runners on base, Storen has allowed hitters a .238/.329/.341 slash line, due in part to a far less inspiring 9.8 percent strikeout-minus-walk rate.</p>
<p>In his admittedly brief career, Roberto Osuna&#8217;s strengths have complemented Storen&#8217;s weaknesses, which makes him far better suited for setup duty in the short term. Osuna averaged 3.07 outs and 3.99 batters faced per relief appearance last season, and while both are just modest improvements over Storen&#8217;s figures, <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/21/how-the-blue-jays-can-emulate-the-rays-pitching-success/">as I wrote last week</a>, both seem poised to grow considerably in 2016. John Gibbons was <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/03/17/toronto-blue-jays-drew-storen-roberto-osuna-compete-for-closer-role/81896954/">quoted in USA Today</a> earlier this spring, saying &#8220;Osuna can give you more than one inning. Drew’s probably limited to one inning. That’s kind of who they are.&#8221; Multi-inning closers haven&#8217;t really been a <em>thing </em>since the eighties and nineties, which was a strong indicator that ol&#8217; Gibbers was leaning the same way as the masses. Conversely, setup men have become more and more flexible in their deployment over recent years, with the Yankees&#8217; Dellin Betances being the poster boy for this creative and modern thinking. The hard throwing converted-starter has averaged 3.63 outs and 4.67 batters faced per appearance over the last two seasons, with 69.4 percent of those batters coming to the plate in medium- or high-leverage situations.</p>
<p>Osuna has been dominant in situations with runners on, in both direct comparison to Storen and to himself. With the bases empty, batters hit .201/.250/.410 against Osuna (including five of the seven home runs he allowed), whereas with runners on, the opposition&#8217;s triple slash line fell to an abysmal .174/.230/.277. This difference can be attributed to the two pitchers&#8217; contrasting backgrounds, as Storen was drafted as a reliever and has exclusively been a reliever throughout his professional career. Osuna, on the other hand, was a starting pitcher through-and-through prior to undergoing Tommy John surgery in early 2013, and again pitched in the rotation upon his return to the mound in late 2014. Starting pitchers unquestionably get more practice in trouble situations, as a manager isn&#8217;t going to immediately retrieve his starter if they give up a string of hits in the early innings like he would a struggling bullpen arm.</p>
<p>It makes little sense to have Storen working as a setup man with his left-handed twin, Brett Cecil, already back there as a one-and-done pitcher. By allowing Drew Storen to reign over the ninth inning, manager John Gibbons would have instantly created a multitude of options by which to script getting the ball from the hand of his starter into the basket of victory. He would be better able to play matchups in the seventh and eighth inning when opposing managers deploy their bench, before having Storen come in with the bases empty in the ninth to squelch any hope that remains. <a href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/28/aaron-sanchez-named-to-the-rotation-hutch-to-aaa/">After correctly naming Aaron Sanchez as the fifth starter on Monday</a>, the front office and coaching staff had given themselves the opportunity to get on a bit of a roll with progressive thinking and fan satisfaction. Instead, we face the possibility of an under-utilized Roberto Osuna in the short term, and a career arc suddenly pointed straight at the back end of the bullpen in the long term. For the sake of the pitching staff, and just as importantly for Osuna&#8217;s development and future earning potential, hopefully this decision is only temporary.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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		<title>Roberto Osuna is the Right Choice for Closer</title>
		<link>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/30/roberto-osuna-is-the-right-choice-for-closer/</link>
		<comments>http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/30/roberto-osuna-is-the-right-choice-for-closer/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 30 Mar 2016 11:00:24 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Joshua Howsam]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[News]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bullpen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Closer Battle]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Drew Storen]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Roberto Osuna]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/?p=808</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Early this morning, the Toronto Blue Jays finally made a decision on who would be handling closing duties at the outset of the 2016 season. Both Roberto Osuna and Drew Storen had legitimate cases to handle the ninth inning, but in true Highlander fashion, there can be only one. Osuna is closer &#8212; Shi Davidi [&#8230;]]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Early this morning, the Toronto Blue Jays finally made a decision on who would be handling closing duties at the outset of the 2016 season. Both Roberto Osuna and Drew Storen had legitimate cases to handle the ninth inning, but in true Highlander fashion, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_J3VeogFUOs&amp;ab_channel=jessemcclure" target="_blank">there can be only one</a>.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550"><p lang="eu" dir="ltr">Osuna is closer</p>
<p>&mdash; Shi Davidi (@ShiDavidi) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShiDavidi/status/715139667461611520">March 30, 2016</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<p>Roberto Osuna.</p>
<p>The 21 year old reliever burst onto the scene during spring training last year. He was only invited to camp to get a sense of the major league enviornment before heading back down to the minor leagues. However, Osuna clearly had other ideas. Armed with a high fastball in the upper 90s, a Bugs Bunny changeup, and a developing slider, he earned a job in the major league bullpen despite never having thrown a pitch above A-ball. Once the season began, it didn’t take long for Osuna to make an impact. His major league debut came on the second day of the regular season with the bases loaded and one out in the 8th inning of a one-run game at Yankee Stadium. And oh yeah, he was facing Alex Rodriguez. <a href="http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/26271672/v65432283/baltb-osuna-strands-bases-loaded-in-mlb-debut" target="_blank">I’d say it turned out ok</a>. Osuna took off from there, not allowing a run in his first seven appearances in the big leagues, and holding a 0.76 ERA on May 26.</p>
<p>When Miguel Castro flamed out as closer, and Brett Cecil melted down against Baltimore on June 20th, the role was passed to the rookie Osuna. He got his first save on June 22nd against Tampa with five strikeouts in two innings, and he never looked back. By year’s end, Osuna had put up 20 saves, a 2.58 ERA and a 9.7 K/9. He then put up a 2.16 ERA in seven postseason appearances, including a save in the ALDS-clinching game five. He finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting&#8230;and did all of it as the youngest player in Major League Baseball.</p>
<p>Despite all of that, if you had asked who had the leg up on this job two weeks ago, I’m willing to bet a large section of the Blue Jays fan base would have told you that Drew Storen was a lock. Osuna pitched in the minors as a starter and, despite his success at the back of the pen, that’s where the Blue Jays eventually wanted him to end up. However, in order to turn him back into a starter, the team would need to increase his workload in 2016. That simply can’t be done from the closer’s job. To further the point, John Gibbons <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/03/17/toronto-blue-jays-drew-storen-roberto-osuna-compete-for-closer-role/81896954/">told USA Today</a> that, &#8220;Osuna can give you more than one inning. Drew’s probably limited to one inning. That’s kind of who they are.&#8221; As such, all of the logical signs pointed to Storen.</p>
<p>All of that changed on March 22nd when Roberto Osuna <a href="https://sports.vice.com/ca/article/roberto-osuna-doesnt-want-to-be-a-starting-pitcher" target="_blank">gave an interview to John Lott of VICE Sports</a>. During that discussion, the Jays&#8217; pitcher made it clear that he has no desire to ever return to the rotation; he wants to be a closer for the rest of his career. The adrenaline of pitching with the game on the line in front of a packed house just had too much draw for the young righty. Now, obviously the team will do what they think is best, but they would be <a title="On Roberto Osuna, Aaron Sanchez, and a Player’s Wish" href="http://toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com/2016/03/23/on-roberto-osuna-aaron-sanchez-and-a-players-wish/" target="_blank">unwise to completely ignore Osuna’s wishes</a>. And if Osuna <em>is</em> going to stay in a bullpen role going forward, there&#8217;s no reason not to let him stay on as the closer. Drew Storen is a pending free agent. He’s not the guy this team needs to keep happy for the next five years. Even with the ability to go multiple innings, Osuna was the only choice.</p>
<p>Now, here we are. Robert Osuna is the closer and he will be preceded by the setup duo of Drew Storen and Brett Cecil. It may not be Chapman followed by Miller and Betances, but I’d hand a lead over to the Blue Jays trio without hesitation. Brett Cecil is still working on his streak of not allowing an earned run since June 24th (the game after he lost the closer role), and Drew Storen has proven that he belongs in MLB&#8217;s elite class of relievers. Add in Gavin Floyd and Jesse Chavez, both of whom can throw multiple innings, and Joe Biagini, Ryan Tepera, and Arnold Leon, and all of a sudden this team has the makings of a very strong bullpen. When combined with the Blue Jays elite defense, teams could find that games against the Blue Jays get very short, very quickly.</p>
<p>It all starts/ends with Roberto Osuna. Go get ‘em, <a href="http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/o/osunaro01.shtml?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-toronto.locals.baseballprospectus.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Little Cannon</a>.</p>
<p><em>Lead Photo: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports</em></p>
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