Evolution of Toronto closers

The Toronto Blue Jays flew into Major League Baseball in 1977, a handful of years before Rich Gossage would pioneer the modern closer role. Although Pete Vukovich was credited with saves in the Jays' first two victories, he was not what we would call a closer--he would average nearly three innings per appearance over the course of the season. (In fact, out of the 15 pitchers Toronto used in 1977, only four of them didn't make at least one start!)

Although names like Tom Buskey, Roy Lee Jackson, and Joey McLaughin was see their share of saves in the early years, it wasn't until 1985 that the Jays employed a true stopper. That was this man, acquired from Oakland for Dave Collins and Alfredo Griffin:


Caudill came to Toronto with a great reputation--in the previous three years, between Seattle and Oakland, he had racked up a very impressive total of 88 saves.

Caudill started 1985 strong, with nine saves by May 26, but after another two months, he found himself pushed out of the closer role by a hard-throwing forkballer from Texas. You might recognize him:


Tom Henke had solved his control issues, and was now the strongest arm in Toronto's bullpen. He notched his first save of the year on August 2, and managed twelve more by the end of the year, giving the Jays a virtual certain shutout in the ninth inning as they captured their first AL East pennant. Henke's ERA in that two-month season was a sparkling 2.03.

In 1986, Caudill flamed out spectacularly, and Henke feel back to earth--27 saves, but a 3.35 ERA, and the Jays finished in a disappointing fourth place. There was talk of replacing Henke with Mark Eichhorn, who had been absolutely spectacular as a 25-year-old setup man (1.74 ERA).

The next year--the year we still don't like to talk about--Henke and Eichhorn were the only reliable arms in Jimy Williams' bullpen, with Henke's 0-6 record betraying his 2.49 ERA and 34 saves.

1988 through 1991 were more of the same, with Duane Ward emerging as a strong setup man, and Henke posting solid numbers by that day's standards (including a still-amazing 1.92 ERA in '89).

The Jays finally captured their first World Series in 1992, and Henke was no small part of that season--34 saves and a 2.26 ERA. Henke also delivered five saves in the postseason and was the team's best reliever, even though it was Mike Timlin on the mound when the Jays won the championship.


Big money lured Henke to Texas for 1993, and so Ward stepped into his shoes. That was the Blue Jay Way in those days--the master leaves, so the understudy takes over. Ward responded with one of the best seasons a Jays closer would ever put together--45 saves and 2.13 ERA. This feat was all the more astonishing given his setup corps were an aged Eichhorn and a barely-above-average Danny Cox.

Unfortunately, Ward would never get to follow up on his sublime 1993--an arm injury kept him out for the entire 1994 section, and after bombing in four appearances in 1995, he called it a career.

This left the Jays scrambling for a closer, with limited success--Timlin was ineffective, unsurprisingly so was Todd Stottlemyre, and Cox had his own injury problems, but 29-year-old rookie Darren Hall emerged with a respectable 17 saves.

1995 was equally tough--Hall turned out to be a one-year wonder, and Tony Castillo spent much of the year in the role by default, but Timlin emerged late in the year as a capable if unspectacular closer, a role he would hold through 1996 and into 1997.

Timlin was traded to Seattle in July 1997, and rookie Kelvim Escobar emerged as the latest uber-closer, compiling 14 saves in only 27 late-season appearances. Couple that with the repurposing of Paul Quantrill into one of the best setup men in baseball (1.94 ERA in 77 games!), and it looked like the Jays' bullpen might be back on track.

(My memory says that Bill Risley was also expected to be a closer at some point in 1997, but his stats during his entire Toronto career were so terrible that I assume I was hallucinating that particular memory.)

For 1998, the Jays weren't taking any chances. Randy Myers was the best closer in baseball in 1997 (45 saves and a 1.51 ERA), and even better, he was a free agent. So the Jays signed him, figuring with Quantrill as a setup man, Escobar could be used as rotation depth behind names like Clemens, Hentgen, and Woody Williams.

Instead, Myers struggled to a 4.46 ERA, and was sent to San Diego in August in one of the worst waiver claims of all-time (San Diego didn't want Myers, but they put in a claim because they didn't want him going to a rival team, then Gord Ash called their bluff and didn't pull him back.) Robert Person was allowed eight save opportunities despite an ERA over 7.00, and a 40-year-old Dave Stieb finished fifth on the team's saves leaderboard. Not a good year.


Another new face emerged in 1999. Billy Koch had come up through the Jays' system as a starter, but arm surgery somehow led to him becoming a fireballing closer who everybody knew could do just as well in the majors as he had in the minors. In his rookie year, Koch delivered a respectable 31 saves while anchoring a very weak bullpen (Paul Spoljaric and John Frascatore were regulars, for example).

Koch was even better in 2000, notching up 33 saves and a 2.63 ERA, as well as an impressive 9-3 record. 2001 was a step backwards, but as the next-best choice was Scott Eyre, Koch kept his job. Trouble blew into town after 2001 in the form of J.P. Ricciardi, who traded Koch to Oakland for Justin Miller, a starter who never became much of anything, and moved Escobar back into the closer's role for the first time in years. Escobar's 38 saves were impressive enough, but his 4.27 ERA gives you an idea why that year's team was not a contender.

Escobar was moved back into the rotation early in 2003 in favour of a "closer by committee" that meant mostly Aquilino Lopez and Cliff Politte. Jason Frasor headed the committee in 2004, but proved himself not quite ready for prime time, and Miguel Batista was converted into a closer for 2005, keeping the job for the entire year despite every other regular in the Jays' bullpen posting a better ERA.


Having learned nothing from their last purchase of a free agent closer who had done well in Baltimore, the Jays signed B.J. Ryan to a huge deal for 2006 and beyond. The investment seemed wise at first, given Ryan's posting of the best Jays closer stats since Duane Ward's 1993 (38 saves, 1.37 ERA), but we all know what happened next--injuries took their toll, and Ryan's contract turned into one of the worst in baseball, as names like Jeremy Accardo and Scott Downs were used as stoppers instead.

Kevin Gregg is the latest man to try and recapture the glory years of Ward and Henke, and so far it seems like he just might do it. But time will tell, and the odds certainly show that he's much more likely to fall short of those expectations.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS CAREER SAVE LEADERS
1. Tom Henke (217)
2. Duane Ward (121)
3. Billy Koch (100)
4. B.J. Ryan (75)
5. Kelvim Escobar (58)