Not a Bad Idea? Lopez as closer

[wildcard]

Brandon Hyde seems dead set on making Jorge Lopez his closer.   And when Hyde get something like this in his head it takes a while to change his thinking.  Sort of like Rio Ruiz at second base.

I don't question Lopez stuff or that he is nice guy.   What I do question is his command and control as well as his mentality to be a closer.   Closers have to be mentally tough.  Be able to control themselves to rise to the challenge.   

For me Lopez is more a middle reliever.   But that is just me.

What do you think of Lopez as a closer?

[Brooks The Great]

Lopez is best used as a 2-3 inning guy when you're up 3+ runs or down a couple runs to keep the game close. Not a high-pressure situation guy, definitely not a closer. Frustrating that a mediocre tactical manager like Hyde will keep trying Lopez out and cost us a few games in the process. But I guess that would help us get yet another high draft pick.

Bautista and Baker are our best closer candidates.

[waroriole]

I agree. He should be a multi inning guy. 
 

I think Bautista will be our closer within a couple of months. 

[Sports Guy]

When you have no options, I don’t think anyone is a bad option.  You have to keep trying guys and see what sticks.  Lopez being first is fine and he should get some leeway because what do you have to lose?

[wildcard]

1 minute ago, Sports Guy said:

When you have no options, I don’t think anyone is a bad option.  You have to keep trying guys and see what sticks.  Lopez being first is fine and he should get some leeway because what do you have to lose?

Games.

[Sports Guy]

Just now, wildcard said:

Games.

They don’t care about that WC.  And there is nothing saying you are in better shape with anyone else.

[interloper]

I'm so torn because this is why I initially didn't want to move Tyler Wells out of the bullpen. But then he was so enticing in ST as a starter. But then he didn't look great in his first outing. So... I don't know, man. I think it's worth seeing what Wells can do as a starter now that they've stretched him out, but it sure creates a hole in the bullpen. 

I didn't get a chance to see Lopez's appearance last night. It seemed like maybe the issue was leaving the breaking stuff out over the plate? He should probably attack more with the fastball. 

[wildcard]

5 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

They don’t care about that WC.  And there is nothing saying you are in better shape with anyone else.

Bryan Baker saved 11 of 13 last year at AAA.  He was 6-1 with a 1.31 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP.  41.1 IP, 18K,  17BB, 48K.   .125 avg.

I read somewhere that Dillon Tate wants to close.  Not that that make him qualified to do it.

[Tony-OH]

24 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Brandon Hyde seems dead set on making Jorge Lopez his closer.   And when Hyde get something like this in his head it takes a while to change his thinking.  Sort of like Rio Ruiz at second base.

I don't question Lopez stuff or that he is nice guy.   What I do question is his command and control as well as his mentality to be a closer.   Closers have to be mentally tough.  Be able to control themselves to rise to the challenge.   

For me Lopez is more a middle reliever.   But that is just me.

What do you think of Lopez as a closer?

Do you really think these are Hyde's decisions?

[interloper]

Just now, wildcard said:

Bryan Baker saved 11 of 13 last year at AAA.  He was 6-1 with a 1.31 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP.  41.1 IP, 18K,  17BB, 48K.   .125 avg.

I read somewhere that Dillon Tate wants to close.  Not that that make him qualified to do it.

I said in the bullpen thread that Baker would be my next choice. 

[interloper]

1 minute ago, Tony-OH said:

Do you really think these are Hyde's decisions?

I actually do tend to think Hyde has a lot of say in how he uses his bullpen/roster. I don't think he has much say in things like "we're stretching out Tyler Wells". But who knows really. 

[wildcard]

On 4/14/2022 at 9:27 AM, interloper said:

I'm so torn because this is why I initially didn't want to move Tyler Wells out of the bullpen. But then he was so enticing in ST as a starter. But then he didn't look great in his first outing. So... I don't know, man. I think it's worth seeing what Wells can do as a starter now that they've stretched him out, but it sure creates a hole in the bullpen. 

I didn't get a chance to see Lopez's appearance last night. It seemed like maybe the issue was leaving the breaking stuff out over the plate? He should probably attack more with the fastball. 

Trading Sulser created the hole at closer.   

Lopez just can't command his stuff well enough to close.   And there is a mental thing there.  Last year to be a starter he knew he have to go 5 innings.  But he had mental block in the 5th.   

I agree on Tyler Wells.  I want to give him his chance at starter.  If it doesn't work then maybe he becomes the closer.  He is very good for an inning or two.

[Sports Guy]

2 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Bryan Baker saved 11 of 13 last year at AAA.  He was 6-1 with a 1.31 ERA and a 0.85 WHIP.  41.1 IP, 18K,  17BB, 48K.   .125 avg.

I read somewhere that Dillon Tate wants to close.  Not that that make him qualified to do it.

Tate isn’t good.

Baker maybe but what he did in AAA means very little.  He was 26 and repeating the level.

That said, he had good MiL numbers and certainly could be a guy who slipped through the cracks and turns out to be another Sulser type guy.

I don’t mind trying him there but I don’t see the harm in trying Lopez first.  It’s been a few games.  No need to panic, especially for a 1-5 team that is destined to lose around 100 games no matter who the closer is.

[Tony-OH]

Its too early to ditch the Lopez for closer idea. He stunk last night, no doubt, and a clean inning for Lopez usually includes at least one base runner, but let's face it, this is what we need to find out this year.

Could Baker or Bautista end up in that role this year, sure, they coud, as could Tate if that splitter can stay consistent, but I'm not going to stress about the closer on a bad team.

Let's remember, the Orioles went what, 1-for-6 last night with RISP and are somehting like 6-for-54 on the year in theses situations. The Orioles are 1-5 because they were domianted by two of the best pitching staffs in the league, and because they are still not a smart team nor do that have good roster construction.

Lopez stunk for sure last night, but he's one for one in save chances.

[NCRaven]

Maybe we lost because we can’t score more than 2 runs.  Maybe this was one bad outing.  One inning, the ultimate SSS.