Schiiling as a closer good or bad?

[rinsd]

Now I have a little pet theory that elite starters tend to take an inning before they have their full groove.

I was curious if anyone had info on Schilling's lifetime first inning ERA and whether this would be a good indicator of his effectiveness as a closer.

Johnny Damon doesn't like the move

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2102619

[Sandpiper]

1. Closers have to be able to warm up at a moment's notice

Something that a starter is totally unaccustomed to.

That's why I think it might be a tough transition for him.

I think he'd be better off as a middle reliever working his way back into the starting rotation from there.

[rinsd]

3. True...

And it seems his teammates have commented that he takes a long time to warm up.

[Joey Liberal]

2. Bad

He needs a lot of time to warm up when he pitches. I think he needed more time in the minors to get back in shape. But, the Red Sox are paying him huuuge money, so I cannot argue with the decision.

[KarenInMA]

4. Bad. Timlin will do fine.

Schilling will probably never get back to his old velocity/control. That's pretty bad for a closer. Theo needs to get a stopper-fast.

[OneBlueSky]

5. c'mon . . . this is nothing but a stop-gap measure because . . .

Foulke is out and Schilling isn't ready to start . . . rest assured that, come September, Schilling will be back in the rotation (assuming his injury problems are behind him) and either Foulke or someone else will be closing . . .

[Telly Savalas]

6. Here's the stats for the last two years.

In 2004: Schilling's first inning ERA was 2.53 with a 1.09 WHIP and a .240 avg against.

But in 2003 it was 4.50 ERA with 1.38 WHIP and .283 avg against.

Link: http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/players/player/splits/2004/8052

Sorry, but I can't find career situational stats on the guy. The data from the last 2 years basically says "your guess is as good as mine". If he gets warmed up as fast as he did in 2004, then you've got a good closer. If it's like 2003, not so good, but still an improvement over Foulke.

Good question, though. I'd noticed that my favourite guy Roy Halladay seems to get off to a rocky start. Turns out his ERA is 5.00 in the first inning, yet 1.93 in the remaining innings.

[rinsd]

7. Thanks alot for the info....

I forgot how much better cbssportsline has gotten for stats.

I've noticed this with 3 elite pitchers over the years, Pedro, Clemens and RJ(well not this year).


I think I'll go see if my "observations" match up with what the numbers say.

[ed2004]

8. Shilling closing

It could take him a while to get used to it, but it could one way of elongating your career. He was a very potent pitcher up until last year.