While the concept of leverage is now widely appreciated, the use of a dedicated closer still has a strong hold in the game. David Laurila of Fangraphs takes an interesting look at the subject, talking to a variety of figures from around baseball. It’s a good read and also bears upon some of the considerations that contending teams will be weighing as they look at upgrades before the trade deadline.
Here’s the latest on the market for relievers:
- There’s still a wide market for Phillies reliever Pat Neshek, per Ken Rosenthal of MLB Network (Twitter link).