After the first four games of the season, Angels manager Mike Scioscia has replaced closer Fernando Rodney with Jordan Walden. I am not sure I follow Scioscia's decision. To clarify, I am not sure I follow Scioscia's decision to begin the season with Rodney as the closer.
If Rodney was that ill-suited to be our fireman, then why would Scioscia begin the season with him in the ninth-inning role? Can any player really prove he cannot do a job in four measly days? Clearly, Scioscia did not like how Rodney closed out games last season after we traded Brian "Fuck-Up" Fuentes. So if Scioscia did not think that Rodney should be our closer after our first four games, then why was Rodney beginning the season as the closer?
It is normally not like Scioscia to panic so early in a season. But demoting Rodney and wondering out loud about Scott Kazmir's fate as one of our starting pitchers has caused me to wonder out loud why Rodney did not begin the season as a middle reliever and why Kazmir is not in the bullpen. Why, after four games, is this all a concern? Why was it not a concern in Spring Training? Why was it not a concern during the off-season?
-B. C. Helm
p.s. I need to offer up proper attribution to Brian Fuentes' nick-name, "Fuck-up." My friend Robert first coined the nick-name in 2009, the year Fuentes proved time and time again that the save is the most meaningless statistic in all sports. How could a guy lead the majors in saves in 2009 and be so sub-mediocre?
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