Matt Clement Should be our Closer
This is not a joke. I know everyone in the world has given up on this guy (bum?) but I have not. When you are paying a guy close to $10m per year, you need to get something out of him. We need a closer, and we need to do something with Matt Clement. I haven’t heard anyone give a real reason that this is not at least a possibility, and I am just about sure that there are some people within the Red Sox organization throwing this idea around right now.
Right now, the Red Sox have starting pitching. In fact, we may even have too much starting pitching again this year (Schilling, Beckett, Matsuzaka, Wakefield, Papelbon, Lester to name the core 6) so we know Clement isn’t going to be starting. He’s also coming off surgery, so he’s not going to be ready to be throwing 100+ pitches for quite some time – so definitely 100% not starting games in April.
So what do we have in Matt Clement? We have an overpaid, underperforming pitcher, who is a head case, can’t handle the pressure and loses control when he gets in trouble on the mound. Sound familiar? No? Is this not what we all were saying about Derek Lowe a couple years ago? Head case, can’t pitch in Boston? Sounds like Keith Foulke. These were the 2 most successful closers (Papelbon aside) in Boston in the last 5 years. So why can’t Matt Clement do it? He has good stuff, has proven to be durable in the past (30+ starts from 1999-2005 before he was injured last year) before he got hit with the ball in the face and damaged his arm.
Being the closer is perfect for him. He will earn (most) of his salary if he can be effective. He will be important, and it will be a position he can be happy and confident with. The Matt Clement I have seen is a guy who pitches great for a couple innings, but then makes a couple mistakes, lets some guys on, and breaks down mentally. If he only needs 3 outs, he either gets them or doesn’t, and we move on. There is no ‘next inning’ for him to worry about.
He’s still a Fenway friendly pitcher who will get out of a lot of jams with ground balls and double plays. He has good stuff when his confidence is up, and what better way to give a guy a confidence boost than to hand him the ball at the end of the game.
Maybe we don’t throw him in there on day one, but if Papelbon is starting, we’re looking at Devern Hansack as our potential opening day closer. I say, if we’re going to take a big risk in this position, lets put our best (career wise) pitcher out there and see if he can earn his keep. The closer position this year should be a stop-gap to Craig Hansen, so we can just unload Clement after this year and he can go make the NL All Star team in 2008 with the Padres or something, but until then, I say, give the guy a chance and lets see what he can do. We’re going to be looking at a lot of 2 and 3 run saves this year with the lineup they are putting together, so why not give it a shot.
Feel free to disagree, but just don’t let your reasoning be that “he sucks” because he’s got the stuff, the experience, and the mental makeup to pitch only one inning if you ask me.
Prediction for the year: matt Clement – 4-7 with a 3.97 ERA and 32 saves in 68 IP. Wouldn’t that be huge?
Stumble it!