Closer on Board?

JoeBo is on board and in the mix in the bullpen. The Indians filled another need in getting a guy with closing experience on a 1-year, $4M deal with those magic words, “club option for 2008”, allowing a successful year for Borowski to translate into bullpen stability for the Tribe for another year.

On an interview on WTAM this afternoon, Shapiro stated that Borowski was not guaranteed the job of closer, but that he provided the team a “closing option”. To me, that sounds like Shapiro is not done adding experienced arms to the bullpen, either via FA (Dotel, Foulke, Gagne) or via trade (Gonzalez, Shields).

Borowski is certainly not a perfect answer (remember, he had to have an MRI exam looked at before the Tribe would sign on the dotted line and the Phillies pulled a 2-year deal off of the table after seeing an MRI), but to the Indians credit, they’re not touting him as such. By Shapiro’s own admission, Borowski doesn’t have filthy stuff; he has the mindset and “courage” (Shapiro’s word) to close out games. As we learned last year, your stuff could be electric (Carmona), but unless you have developed the mentality of a closer, those last 3 outs become the toughest of the game.

Shapiro said that, because of the risk that exists with all of the available relievers, the team would attempt to defray the risks with numbers. That is, they’ll keep adding arms to bring to Spring Training so a successful mix of relievers is brought up to the North Coast.

If, in fact, they do add another arm, they’re looking at 4 new relievers in a 7-man bullpen. That would constitute the overhaul that we were all looking for, and they’ve already added 409 career saves to a bullpen badly in need of some experience in closing ballgames. The question is which of the existing Indians fill those 3 (or 4) spots, but there’s plenty of time for that once the dust has settled.

Back to JoeBo, who successfully closed out 36 games last year, more than the entire Indians’ 2006 team, for a Florida team that won the identical amount of games as the Indians (78). The only players with more saves than Borowski last year were K-Rod, Hoffman, Jenks, Wagner, Ryan, Jones, and Street. He was tied with Joe Nathan and J.J. Putz, ahead of Gordon, Rivera, and Lidge, among others. That’s some nice company for a guy the Indians seem to be settling for and not guaranteeing the closer role to.

The last closer to move from Florida to the AL Central worked out pretty well and, admittedly, Todd Jones had some pretty lean years between his years of effectiveness. Borowski lost 2004 and 2005 to injuries, but he seems to have regained his 2003 form, when he saved 33 games for the Cubs.

This move, even if it is the last addition the Indians make to fortify the bullpen, stands up pretty well on its own. The fact that the Indians don’t sound like they’re done gives more validity to the idea that once they completed their “To-Do List”(and it essentially is, once an adequate backup middle infielder is found), they’ll roll up their sleeves and see if there are any other ways to improve this team.

For now, let the Polish community of Cleveland welcome Joe Borowski. I haven’t figured out if he should enter the field to Polka music or a montage of RoboCop with the graphic “JoeBoCloser” on the JumboTron. I’m leaning towards the Polka music, but it’s early.

The Winter Meetings are still happening and things are starting to happen, so let’s see what other cards Shapiro and the boys are willing to play.