Willie’s Take on Looper
Willie Randolph went on the defensive yesterday about Braden Looper‘s status on the team. Here’s what Randolph responded to the question of if he would use someone else as the closer.
At this point in the season, no. He’s my closer. He’s been my closer. He’s got the most saves of anybody on my team. So right now he’s my closer.
Let’s forget the obvious point about Looper having the most saves (as the closer he has been in the most save situations) and hit on something else. Willie is saying what he has to say. He must support Looper publicly because Looper is his only option for the closer role right now. To voice anything other than support for Looper would be counter productive. He can’t say anything that may bring Looper down menatally.
That being said I find the first part of Willie’s reply to be very telling. “At this point in the season, no.” Sounds to me like Willie doesn’t really have that much confidence in Looper and that if it was earlier in the season (as opposed to the stretch run) he would entertain the thought of using another member of his bullpen in the closer role or perhaps even trading for another closer.
Willie is smart enough to know that this is not the time of the year to be experimenting. He’s also smart enough to know that he can’t be knocking the only option he has at any position. That is why Looper will remain in the closers role for at least as long as the Mets are mathematically in the race.
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