The Save Stat Needs to Go

I've never been a big fan of the save statistic. It was created by a baseball writer in the sixties, and was fine back then, when pitchers would pitch multiple innings to record a save. Managers not manage their teams to the save rule, saving their best reliever for a save opportunity, even though I'm pretty sure the worst pitcher on a staff could get three outs before giving up three runs.

Tonight, the Braves were playing a game against the Phillies in Philadelphia. Both of these teams are ticketed for the playoffs, and tonight's game seemed like a possible preview. Each team was playing hard, and the game had the atmosphere of a playoff game. Going into the late innings, the Braves had a one run lead. Things were setup for them to use their big three relievers, and win the game. Then the game got off track when Jonny Venters gave up the tying run in the bottom of the eighth. Atlanta didn't score in the top of the ninth, so the game was tied going into the bottom of the ninth, and here's why the save stat becomes a problem.

Fredi Gonzalez, the Braves manager, decided to use Peter Moylan in the bottom of the ninth, saving Craig Kimbrel in case a save situation arose in extra innings. Moylan allowed three base runners, while only getting one out, and allowed the winning run to score. Without the save statistic, Gonzalez wouldn't have had a reason not to use his best relief pitcher in that situation.

We saw another glaring example of managers hurting their teams because of the save rule in Pittsburgh earlier this year. We all remember when the Pirates lost to the Braves earlier this year in the 19th innings, and then went on to lose 11 of their next 12 games. Joel Hanrahan has been the Pirates best relief pitcher all year, but because of the save rule, Hanrahan only appeared in 4 of those games. Five of those 12 games were one run games, but Hanrahan didn't wasn't used because Clint Hurdle, the Pirates manager, was saving him for a save situation instead of using him to try to help the team win games.

As an Indians fan, I got to see Joe Borowski rack up 45 saves in 2007. Forty-five is a lot of saves, but was Borowski a good pitcher in 2007? No, absolutely not. His ERA was 5.07. Watching the Indians that year was probably the closest I've ever come to having a heart attack. Getting saves doesn't make you a good relief pitcher, getting a lot of strikeouts an ground balls without walking many batters makes you a good relief pitcher.