Still Concerned About David Robertson Closing?

Yesterday we learned that the reason Baltimore Orioles cancelled their agreed upon contract with Grant Balfour was because of knee and wrist issues found during his pre-signing physical. The problem was not, as previously thought, Balfour's shoulder. Last February Grant had surgery on his right knee to repair a torn meniscus, so the idea that his knee was the problem was not far-fetched.

"Oh, it wasn't my knee this time?"

Some would like the Yankees to swoop in and sign Balfour for cheap, as I'm sure his chances for getting a nice multi-year deal are gone. But if the Athletics former closer is having health issues, then perhaps the Yankees should stay away.

Anyway, during the Grant Balfour talk, some people brought up their concerns when it comes to David Robertson being the new closer. Many others, and I count myself among them, felt that DRob will do a fine job. But I decided to take a quick look at a couple things that should make the non-believers feel better.

Before I do that, though, I have to remind some Yankees fans... there will not be another Mariano Rivera. At least there's nobody in Major League Baseball that currently looks like he could be the new most dominant closing pitcher in baseball history. To be fair, in his first three seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Craig Kimbrel has been amazing. Kimbrel's career ERA is 1.39, and he already has 139 saves. For reference, in his first three years as the Yankees' closer, Rivera's ERA was 1.87, and he'd saved 124 games. But keep this in mind... between 2009 and 2011, after having already spent 12 years in the Majors, Mariano Rivera's ERA was 1.82 and he saved 121 games. So Craig has a lot of work to do.

Whether it's David Robertson or Grant Balfour, or whether the Yankees signed Joe Nathan or Joaquin Benoit before the Tigers and Padres got to them, we Yankees fans are not going to see another Mo. As long as we get a good closer, then there's no reason we shouldn't be happy about it. And that brings us back to Mr. David Robertson.

"You're damn right it's 'Mr.' David Robertson."

Taking a look at David's career splits as his Baseball Reference page, Robertson has thrown 123.1 innings in save situations. Not only has he looked pretty darn good for the past six years, but his ERA in those save situations is 1.75. Going further, David's WHIP is 1.127. By the way, while Robertson has had issues with walks in his career, he's done a great job of fixing that the past two seasons. In his first four years his walk rate was 4.7 batters per nine innings, but in the past two years that number has gone down to 2.6 batters per nine innings.

One last thing about how Robertson has thrown the ball in save situations... opponents in that same situation have hit .201/.283/.301 against him. As for how batters did against Mariano in save situations, that triple-slash was .205/.251/.279.

I'm sure there are many reading this that still aren't convinced about Robertson, seeing as how the vast majority of Robertson's save situations occurred in the 8th inning, not the more pressure-filled final/9th inning. And on the surface that makes sense, because whether it's pinch-hitters or pinch-runners teams will do everything they can in that final inning, as it's their last chance to score runs and win the game. Well, let me remind you that opposing teams basically did treat the 8th inning as if it was their last chance to win the game. With Mariano Rivera looming for the 9th, outs 22-24 pretty much were their last chances to win. So David Robertson has gotten everything thrown at him.

Short of somehow acquiring Craig Kimbrel, I see no reason what-so-ever not to give David Robertson a shot at the closer's gig in 2014.