What.. the.. Buck..

[tntoriole]

Where did I say that Johnson has been better than Uehara "in an overall manner" I said to date Johnson has been better in the context of the closers role, not sure how you could misconstrue that. The original post I responded to stated that we should have gone after Uehara to close or as an option to close. I simply provided evidence that Uehara in a closers role may not be a slam dunk as the poster seemed to allude to. All of your stats seem accurate (haven't gone back to cross check them). But the reality is Uehara as a closer has not produced significantly better results than Johnson despite his better peripherals. There have been lots of guys who can do it in the 7th and 8th innings but haven't been as successful as a closer. I am not saying necessarily that Uehara is one of them, what I am saying is that we don't have results that unequivocally prove that he would be all that much better. We also don't know how he would do in the closers role over a full season. What I do know is that at Uehara's Save % he would have blown roughly one less save (well maybe two now). If you want to extrapolate his peripherals and say he would have significantly more success closing while ignoring his actual success rate at closing all while questioning my knowledge and agenda, fair enough I suppose. I am not willing to just assume that as a certainty. To date, he has not been significantly better than Johnson as a closer in the only stat that everyone here is up in arms about which is save conversion. No agendas here just not as reactionary as you I suppose. Like I said I wanted them to go out and get Uehara I think he is fantastic and probably would have saved us from trading Nick Delmonico, I just think pitching is tough. I especially think closing games is tough. I think Johnson was a huge reason we made the playoffs last year and I do believe he deserved some rope.

I would kill to have Koji in our closer role right now. He has been and is going to be the key part of why Sox win the pennant and Series, imho. And with one more appearance, he will vest with Sox for 2014 as well. A great signing for them.

[Can_of_corn]

I would kill to have Koji in our closer role right now. He has been and is going to be the key part of why Sox win the pennant and Series, imho. And with one more appearance, he will vest with Sox for 2014 as well. A great signing for them.

Already vested.

[tntoriole]

Already vested.

You are right, I was reading an article from Monday, my bad! Koji has that regal, mystical appearance that Eckersley, Rivera and great closers have. "You are toast, I know it, you know it, everybody in this stadium knows it." And he throws strike one. I love watching him pitch.

[TiredofLosing20]

I would kill to have Koji in our closer role right now. He has been and is going to be the key part of why Sox win the pennant and Series, imho. And with one more appearance, he will vest with Sox for 2014 as well. A great signing for them.

I would love to have him too. Maybe I "misremember" but he had his warts too, injuries, fatigue etc.

The failure to try to improve (even the bullpen) in the off season still boggles my mind. Like I said in my post, signing Uehara probably would have saved us Nick Delmonico.

[tntoriole]

I would love to have him too. Maybe I "misremember" but he had his warts too, injuries, fatigue etc.

The failure to try to improve (even the bullpen) in the off season still boggles my mind. Like I said in my post, signing Uehara probably would have saved us Nick Delmonico.

He did have some of those issues which I think were adjustment issues, but he has improved since being with us (and he was very good, even with warts). He is now much more focused, knows AL hitters extremely well, and his movement on pitches seems even better each year.