After years of searching, the Angels finally got their hands on a bona fide CloserTM. It only took a few years, half a dozen failed closers and a trade that gave away half of an already thin farm system, but Huston Street arrived mid-season to finally provide some end of game stability for the Halos.
Did the Angels really even need Street?
The thing about their long search for a closer ever since K-Rod left is that the Angels actually already had someone who could fill that role. Joe Smith had been conscripted into the role after the Halos cut bait on Ernesto Frieri and he’d been performing exceptionally well in that role. The bullpen, in general, was pitching well with the resurgence of Jepsen and Grilli and the emergence of Morin. So, no, Street wasn’t necessarily needed.
He was, however, a nice luxury item. In acquiring Street, the bullpen was given more flexibility. Scioscia was able to mix and match with Morin, Salas and Grilli in the middle innings and bring in Jepsen and Smith early if need be. More importantly, adding Street made the bullpen so absurdly deep that Scioscia couldn’t mismanage it if he tried, and he did try. Basically, Street helped Scioscia-proof the bullpen. There’s a lot of value in that.
What actually did push the needle closer to making Street a need was actually the failings of the rotation. C.J. Wilson became awful, Hector Santiago couldn’t go longer than six innings and the Angels had to go with a “bullpen day” as the fifth starter for the final month of the season. Having a deep bullpen became quite critical to the Angels being able to survive. They probably could have gotten away with not having Street, but having them allowed them to mimic the Royals model of having a lockdown set of relievers that essentially turned each game into a six inning contest.
Was he even their best reliever?
Because he was the CloserTM, he is considered to be the best reliever, but I’m not so sure he actually was. His 1.37 ERA on the season was absurdly good. It was also absurdly unrealistic. Let’s not forget that Street is an extreme flyball pitcher that spent more than half the season in Petco National Park before moving to the spacious Big A with its marine layer. He also had a comically unsustainable 93.3% strand rate. That’s a big reason his FIP was all the way up at 2.80.
Putting them side-by-side, Street and Joe Smith were just about even in terms of effectiveness. Huston had an ERA- of 38 and a FIP- of 79. Smith was at 50 and 79. Street has an advantage in ERA-, but that identical FIP- is where its at. Both players are in the same neighborhood with their K% and BB%. What you want from a top reliever is a lot of whiffs, not many walks and keeping the ball on the ground. Neither guy is a strikeout machine, but they hold their own and they both severely limit walks. Where Smith has the edge is that he’s an extreme groundball pitcher while Street gives up all the flyballs.
That makes Street more vulnerable to homers. It makes Smith more utilitarian because he can get the Angels out of a jam with a double play. They are both of a pretty equal talent, but if the season were on the line, I’m not so sure that I wouldn’t rather have Smith in the game. It is for that reason that I don’t mind that Street is the closer instead. That frees up Smith to be used in earlier innings when the situation dictates, because we all know Scioscia isn’t progressive enough to do that with Street. It would be great to do it with both, but I’ll settle for one.
Those ERA-FIP gaps are kind of scary, is that going to be a problem?
Absolutely. If I’m Huston Street, I’m looking under my bed before I go to sleep each night to see if the Regression Monster is under there waiting to get me the second I turn out the lights. It isn’t like Street is going to regress to being bad, but he probably also isn’t going to repeat that microscopic ERA that had him looking like an elite closer.
Once his LOB% comes back to at least the same galaxy as earth and his 5.9% HR/FB gets fully sapped of the Petco effect, Street will simply be a pretty good closer. At least as long as he remains healthy, which isn’t a sure thing.
Was Scioscia trying to break Street?
More than once Scioscia had Street throw on four consecutive days, generally a big no-no for any reliever. It is an especially major sin for a guy with an injury history like Street. Somehow his arm didn’t fall off, but that was only with Scioscia managing him for two months. Just wait to see what happens over a full season!
Final Answer
Obviously I’m not a huge proponent of having strictly defined bullpen roles like the closer, but it worked for the Angels last year due to the depth acquiring Street afforded them.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
