The Diamondbacks and Saves: A Blast From the Past

by Marc Fournier on May 17, 2011 10:02 AM EDT in Randomness

So I got bored again and started to think about how awesome J.J. Putz is. He's already a perfect 9/9 in save opportunities and, barring an injury, will probably be our first full-time closer in over three years. Thinking about that, I decided to investigate into just how well our "closers" have fared up to the leagues best throughout our franchise's history. Needless to say, we're very lucky to have J.J. Putz right now...

(Click to enlarge)

So, please, pardon the cheesy Craig Robinson ripoff and follow me after the jump for more analysis...

**Each block represents four saves**

Nearly every season in our brief franchise's history has seen a closer-by-committee. It even got to a point in 2005 where three of our relievers were getting saves as a group. Jose Valverde, Brandon Lyon, and Brian Bruney had 15, 14, and 12 saves respectively that season. Matt Mantei made some strong runs in 2000 and 2003 but injuries plagued him during his entire tenure with the team. Gregg Olson was a solid closer in 1998 but, well, no one remembers a thing about him. For the most part, there's only two major seasons for us to take a look at, 2002 and 2005:

In 2002 Byung-Hyun Kim, fresh off of an insane World Series, was tabbed with closing games for another season as Matt Mantei had undergone Tommy John surgery. Kim responded by setting a franchise record 36 saves and posted a 2.04 ERA for the season. Additionally, Kim had 92 strike outs in just 84 innings for a scary good 9.9 SO/9 rate. Also, on May 11th, 2002, against the Phillies, he became the 32nd Major League pitcher to pitch an immaculate inning. He was even an All-Star. He did it all. The organization responded by converting Kim into a starter to begin the 2003 season and then traded him for Shea Hillenbrand early in the season.

In 2007, Jose Valverde was officially handed the closer's role over Jorge Julio. Julio had taken the spot the season before when Valverde was considered to be "too wild and inconsistent" but he too struggled with command and was chased out of the spot by the end of 2006. After grasping the spot once again, Valverde proved his worth and not only passed Matt Mantei for the franchise record in saves (78) but lead the entire league with 47at the end of the season. The organization responded by trading Valverde in the offseason for Chad Qualls, Chris Burke, and Juan Gutierrez.

Aside from that, one other thing pops out at me when I see the graph. If your last name doesn't end in Rivera or Rodriguez, you're probably not going to lead the league more than once. The save is such a trivial stat at times and can be relatively misleading. For example, Mariano Rivera already has two "one-out saves" this season. A lot of people argue that a save isn't even meaningful unless the threat is truly there. Whatever the case is, I wanted to find out how often teams are represented with single season save leaders. Here's the top 97:

Games Saved Single Season Leaders Top (97)
Name	Games	Year	Team	League	Rank
Francisco Rodriguez	62	2008	Los Angeles Angels	AL	1
Bobby Thigpen	57	1990	Chicago White Sox	AL	2
Eric Gagne	55	2003	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	3
John Smoltz	55	2002	Atlanta Braves	NL
Trevor Hoffman	53	1998	San Diego Padres	NL	5
Randy Myers	53	1993	Chicago Cubs	NL
Mariano Rivera	53	2004	New York Yankees	AL
Eric Gagne	52	2002	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	8
Rod Beck	51	1998	Chicago Cubs	NL	9
Dennis Eckersley	51	1992	Oakland Athletics	AL
Mariano Rivera	50	2001	New York Yankees	AL	11
Francisco Cordero	49	2004	Texas Rangers	AL	12
Rod Beck	48	1993	San Francisco Giants	NL	13
Dennis Eckersley	48	1990	Oakland Athletics	AL
Brian Fuentes	48	2009	Los Angeles Angels	AL
Jeff Shaw	48	1998	Cincinnati Reds	NL
Jeff Shaw	48	1998	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL
Brian Wilson	48	2010	San Francisco Giants	NL
Heath Bell	47	2010	San Diego Padres	NL	18
Armando Benitez	47	2004	Florida Marlins	NL
Chad Cordero	47	2005	Washington Nationals	NL
Jason Isringhausen	47	2004	St. Louis Cardinals	NL
Joe Nathan	47	2009	Minnesota Twins	AL
Francisco Rodriguez	47	2006	Los Angeles Angels	AL
Lee Smith	47	1991	St. Louis Cardinals	NL
Jose Valverde	47	2007	Arizona Diamondbacks	NL
Tom Gordon	46	1998	Boston Red Sox	AL	26
Bryan Harvey	46	1991	California Angels	AL
Trevor Hoffman	46	2006	San Diego Padres	NL
Jose Mesa	46	1995	Cleveland Indians	AL
Dave Righetti	46	1986	New York Yankees	AL
Lee Smith	46	1993	New York Yankees	AL
Lee Smith	46	1993	St. Louis Cardinals	NL
Mike Williams	46	2002	Pittsburgh Pirates	NL
Antonio Alfonseca	45	2000	Florida Marlins	NL	33
Joe Borowski	45	2007	Cleveland Indians	AL
Dennis Eckersley	45	1988	Oakland Athletics	AL
Eric Gagne	45	2004	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL
Eddie Guardado	45	2002	Minnesota Twins	AL
Bryan Harvey	45	1993	Florida Marlins	NL
Jose Mesa	45	2002	Philadelphia Phillies	NL
Jeff Montgomery	45	1993	Kansas City Royals	AL
Randy Myers	45	1997	Baltimore Orioles	AL
Robb Nen	45	2001	San Francisco Giants	NL
Dan Quisenberry	45	1983	Kansas City Royals	AL
Mariano Rivera	45	1999	New York Yankees	AL
Francisco Rodriguez	45	2005	Los Angeles Angels	AL
Kazuhiro Sasaki	45	2001	Seattle Mariners	AL
John Smoltz	45	2003	Atlanta Braves	NL
Rafael Soriano	45	2010	Tampa Bay Rays	AL
Bruce Sutter	45	1984	St. Louis Cardinals	NL
Duane Ward	45	1993	Toronto Blue Jays	AL
Bob Wickman	45	2005	Cleveland Indians	AL
Jeff Brantley	44	1996	Cincinnati Reds	NL	52
Francisco Cordero	44	2007	Milwaukee Brewers	NL
Mark Davis	44	1989	San Diego Padres	NL
Billy Koch	44	2002	Oakland Athletics	AL
Joe Nathan	44	2004	Minnesota Twins	AL
Dan Quisenberry	44	1984	Kansas City Royals	AL
Mariano Rivera	44	2009	New York Yankees	AL
John Smoltz	44	2004	Atlanta Braves	NL
Jose Valverde	44	2008	Houston Astros	NL
Billy Wagner	44	2003	Houston Astros	NL
Todd Worrell	44	1996	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL
Armando Benitez	43	2001	New York Mets	NL	63
Dennis Eckersley	43	1991	Oakland Athletics	AL
Keith Foulke	43	2003	Oakland Athletics	AL
Roberto Hernandez	43	1999	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	AL
Trevor Hoffman	43	2000	San Diego Padres	NL
Trevor Hoffman	43	2001	San Diego Padres	NL
Trevor Hoffman	43	2005	San Diego Padres	NL
Doug Jones	43	1990	Cleveland Indians	AL
Jose Mesa	43	2004	Pittsburgh Pirates	NL
Joe Nathan	43	2005	Minnesota Twins	AL
Robb Nen	43	2002	San Francisco Giants	NL
Mariano Rivera	43	2005	New York Yankees	AL
Mariano Rivera	43	1997	New York Yankees	AL
Jeff Shaw	43	2001	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL
Lee Smith	43	1992	St. Louis Cardinals	NL
Joakim Soria	43	2010	Kansas City Royals	AL
John Wetteland	43	1996	New York Yankees	AL
John Wetteland	43	1999	Texas Rangers	AL
John Wetteland	43	1993	Montreal Expos	NL
Mitch Williams	43	1993	Philadelphia Phillies	NL
Rick Aguilera	42	1991	Minnesota Twins	AL	83
Heath Bell	42	2009	San Diego Padres	NL
Keith Foulke	42	2001	Chicago White Sox	AL
Trevor Hoffman	42	2007	San Diego Padres	NL
Trevor Hoffman	42	1996	San Diego Padres	NL
Todd Jones	42	2000	Detroit Tigers	AL
Brad Lidge	42	2005	Houston Astros	NL
Derek Lowe	42	2000	Boston Red Sox	AL
Jose Mesa	42	2001	Philadelphia Phillies	NL
Troy Percival	42	1998	Anaheim Angels	AL
Jeff Reardon	42	1988	Minnesota Twins	AL
Jeff Shaw	42	1997	Cincinnati Reds	NL
Joakim Soria	42	2008	Kansas City Royals	AL
John Wetteland	42	1998	Texas Rangers	AL
Rick Aguilera	41	1992	Minnesota Twins	AL	97
Danys Baez	41	2005	Tampa Bay Devil Rays	AL
Armando Benitez	41	2000	New York Mets	NL
Danny Graves	41	2004	Cincinnati Reds	NL
Eddie Guardado	41	2003	Minnesota Twins	AL
Trevor Hoffman	41	2004	San Diego Padres	NL
Bobby Jenks	41	2006	Chicago White Sox	AL
Jose Jimenez	41	2002	Colorado Rockies	NL
Brad Lidge	41	2008	Philadelphia Phillies	NL
Robb Nen	41	2000	San Francisco Giants	NL
Jonathan Papelbon	41	2008	Boston Red Sox	AL
Jeff Reardon	41	1985	Montreal Expos	NL
Ugueth Urbina	41	1999	Montreal Expos	NL
Brian Wilson	41	2008	San Francisco Giants	NL
Name	Games	Year	Team	League	Rank
Stats current through 2010

Teams Represented: Number of Appearances
Anaheim Angels/ California Angels/ Los Angeles Angels: 5
Arizona Diamondbacks: 1
Atlanta Braves: 3
Baltimore Orioles: 1
Boston Red Sox: 3
Chicago Cubs: 2
Chicago White Sox: 3
Cincinnati Reds: 4
Cleveland Indians: 4
Colorado Rockies: 1
Detroit Tigers: 1
Florida Marlins: 3
Houston Astros: 3
Kansas City Royals: 5
Los Angeles Dodgers: 6
Milwaukee Brewers: 1
Minnesota Twins: 8
Montreal Expos: 3
New York Mets: 2
New York Yankees: 9
Oakland Athletics: 6
Philadelphia Phillies: 4
Pittsburgh Pirates: 2
San Diego Padres: 11
San Francisco Giants: 6
Seattle Mariners: 1
St. Louis Cardinals: 5
Tampa Bay Rays/ Devil Rays: 3
Texas Rangers: 3
Toronto Blue Jays: 1
Washington Nationals: 1

Not surprising to see the Padres (Hoffman) and the Yankees (Rivera) well represented. I was a bit surprised, however, that the Blue Jays and Orioles only has one and that Tampa Bay has three.

Sources:

https://www.baseball-reference.com

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/history/single_season_leaders.jsp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byung-Hyun_Kim

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Comments

i actually hope Putz dominates

and we trade him for prospects around the deadline

assuming we are out of it by then

by blue bulldog on May 17, 2011 11:11 AM EDT reply actions

Probably going to have to wait until next year to move him

But I do hope we can get a nice return for him as well. I think there’s a legitimate chance we could pull it off, too.

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

by Dan Strittmatter on May 17, 2011 3:16 PM EDT up reply actions

i dunno

cheap closer for a full year is a lot better than cheap closer for half a year

also the longer we wait the greater the chance putz’s arm just explodes

unless of course you mean wait until the winter meetings. i guess that’s as good a time as any.

by blue bulldog on May 18, 2011 2:14 AM EDT up reply actions

If he stays off of the DL for the season

he would have maximum value then. July would depend on that, and another team desperately seeking a closer to get good value. Then who would close, Hernandez?

by xmet on May 18, 2011 4:20 AM EDT up reply actions

I don't understand the table

I thought it was supposed to be single season saves leaders, but there are multiple entries in the same year – they can’t both be the save leader for the season, right? What am I missing?

by Craig from Az on May 17, 2011 11:45 AM EDT reply actions

Not see multiple entries for the same year

The year is shown at the bottom. Think of it, for each years as three columns one in front of each other. The blue line at the back is the MLB saves leader, the green one is the number of saves Arizona had, and the red one is the number of saves our best guy that year had.

"I'm confused."
"Yeah, well. It's a big club. We should get t-shirts."

by Jim McLennan on May 17, 2011 11:49 AM EDT up reply actions

What stands out

Is how often we were not able to use the same closer all year – either for reasons of injury or ineffectiveness. Now, obviously, you’re always going to have situations in a season where you need someone to stand in for your closer, when they’ve worked multiple night in a row, or were used in an extra inning game.

But on three occasions in franchise history already, we have had three pitchers with 5+ saves. The Padres and Rockies haven’t done it at all over the same time-span. The good news is, those occasions were in 2000, 2005 and 2010, so we should be set for the next four seasons… :-)

"I'm confused."
"Yeah, well. It's a big club. We should get t-shirts."

by Jim McLennan on May 17, 2011 11:58 AM EDT reply actions

I remember Gregg Olson!

Guess that makes me a dinosaur around these parts. (I’m 26.)

Olson was indeed a very good closer in the 1998 season. However, he didn’t get a lot of save chances because the team was doing so poorly. I remember that the greatest achievement of that season was when we didn’t lose 100 games.

In 1999, we were a better team, and Olson was a worse closer. At one point, he blew three saves in four chances. That, plus his age, was enough for Joe Garagiola Jr. to cut him and acquire BK.

The Crolian Progressive: As great an adventure as ever I heard of...

by Nonpartisan on May 17, 2011 2:55 PM EDT reply actions