Less than a week ago, with spring training coming to an end, manager Terry Froncona told reporters in Arizona “I don’t think it’s necessary that we name a closer,” and that he hasn’t “given it a ton of thought yet.” On Wednesday in a meeting with the press before Opening Day, Francona mentioned that Tony Santillan was the easy choice to fill in as the team’s closer.
Then the games began and it seemed that there hadn’t really been much thought put into it, still, as the game was coming along. Tony Santillan pitched the 8th inning for Cincinnati as they held onto a 1-run lead. The guy who was mentioned 24 hours prior as the easy choice to fill in for the closer who was on the injured list was called upon to face the 8-9-1 spot in the lineup in the 8th inning. Santillan got his job done and held onto the lead.
The Reds couldn’t pad their lead and the game headed to the 9th. And that’s when the bullpen gate opened and Ian Gibaut headed to the mound for the save situation. Even before he stepped onto the field there were questions going through plenty of people’s head as to why he was the choice. Gibaut, who missed almost all of 2024 with an injury and had to settle for a minor league contract in the offseason, didn’t exactly pitch lights out in Arizona but was being called on to close out a 1-run game. As you know by now – he got lit up and allowed four runs and took the loss as the Giants pulled off a comeback win to send 43,000-something Reds fans home disappointed.
Taylor Rogers, the big bullpen acquisition for the Reds this offseason, has had two different seasons where he’s had 30 or more saves. Last year he didn’t have a save for San Francisco, but he did post a 2.40 ERA in 64 games. The Giants had up the 2-3-4 spots, and only one of the three hitters there are lefties, which may be a reason he wasn’t called on to close things out.
Graham Ashcraft, who made a late spring move to the bullpen, didn’t exactly have a great spring training. But much of his spring came in a role as a starting pitcher. His track record as a reliever is small. He’s never pitched in relief as a big leaguer. He’s also never come out of the bullpen in the minor leagues. The last time he pitched in relief was in 2019 when he was pitching in college. That would have been a big situation to debut as a reliever in. But if there’s one thing that’s certain – Ashcraft certainly has the stuff to pitch late in the bullpen.
After the game was over, reporters asked Francona about his decision to go with Gibaut in the 9th. He expressed his confidence in him, noting that he just left one over the plate to a middle of the order hitter. But it wasn’t so much his defense of Gibaut as much as what he had to say following that. The Reds manager said that he had used Emilio Pagan earlier in the game and that maybe he should have flipped the two.
Back in 2019, Emilio Pagan picked up 20 saves for Tampa Bay. So he does have some experience closing. But in the five seasons since then he’s posted a 4.15 ERA and an ERA+ of 100, with one of those season’s having an ERA+ that was league average (2023 when he had a 147 mark).
So that brings us back to the question of has Francona, and Derek Johnson for that matter, given some thoughts about who should be the closer? In a bullpen where you have Tony Santillan, Taylor Rogers, and even Graham Ashcraft, why were the options on opening day seemingly between a minor league invite to spring training in Ian Gibaut and Emilio Pagan who has been a mediocre at best reliever for the last five seasons?
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