Opening Day Trading

Posted by admin

April 7, 2009

I’ve had this idea that if I were a baseball manager I wouldn’t have starters or closers. Instead the pitching staff would divide up the games. Each pitcher would pitch to roughly nine batters so that no batter seen the same pitcher twice in a game. I don’t like the idea of a closer. If the opposing team has the meat of their lineup hitting in the eighth I would want my top guy pitching against them.

Maybe there is something to be said for a the killer instinct of a closer. Maybe some guys just don’t have it, or need some experience to get it. Today Jason Motte came in for the St. Louis Cardinals with a two-run lead. Motte pitched great last year in 12 games with the Cardinals. He had an ERA below one and did have a save. I decided that laying the Cardinals in the top half of the ninth inning for 1.03 was value. Pittsburgh went on to score four runs in the inning and won the game 6-4.