Article: The Five Best Closers in Brewers History

[clancyphile]

The Brewers have had some legendary closers in their 54-year franchise history. Let's look at the five best.

Image courtesy of © Rick Wood, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Baseball has evolved over the years, with the relief pitcher’s role climbing in importance since the 1970s. Where once, the bullpen was where fringe arms were left to follow a struggling starter; nowadays, some of the most dominant arms in the game only come out to protect a small lead. Which Brewers pitchers were the best closers? Who deserves the coffee?

5. Ken Sanders
14-23, 2.21 ERA, 61 saves in 321 IP over three seasons.

Ken Sanders was the first Brewers closer to lock games down. His best season, 1971, saw him save 31 of the Brewers’ 69 wins. It was a great performance in the days when the team struggled as it was establishing itself. He secured 16th place in MVP voting that year. After 1972, he was part of the trade that brought Don Money to the Brewers.

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4. Rollie Fingers
13-17, 2.54 ERA, 97 saves in 259 IP over four seasons

Rollie Fingers and Bruce Sutter defined the modern closer, and for four seasons, Fingers held the spot down. An injury cost him the 1982 postseason (leaving Brewers fans to wonder if the `82 series would have been different) and the entire 1983 season. It was the tail end of a Hall of Fame career.

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3. John Axford
21-19, 3.54 ERA, 106 saves in 263.2 IP over six seasons, three as the closer

Axford was a crucial part of the 2011 Brewers team that made it to the NLCS, saving 46 games that season. He locked down the ninth inning for three seasons and was a solid contributor in another, plus two cups of coffee with the team, one in 2009 and one in 2021. Axford left in a deal with the Cardinals for Michael Blazek.

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2. Dan Plesac
29-37, 3.21 ERA, 133 saves in 524.1 IP over seven seasons, four as the closer, one as co-closer

Dan Plesac held down the closer’s role for four seasons and was, for all intents and purposes, a co-closer in his rookie season with Mark Clear. His 133 saves still serve as the career mark for the Brewers, in one sense a reflection of how good he was, but also as a heartbreaking reminder of the cold realities of baseball’s economics. Most notable was that after he left the Brewers following the 1992 season, he was an effective reliever for 11 more seasons.

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1. Josh Hader
17-17, 2.48 ERA, 125 saves in 316.1 IP over six seasons, four as the closer, one as co-closer

Hader first appeared in 2017 but announced his arrival as part of a “Nasty Boys” trio with Corey Knebel and Jeremy Jeffress in 2018. From 2019 until the infamous mid-season 2022 trade, he held down the ninth inning, giving teams some Haderade as they were eased into an L for the day. While the mid-season trade, forced yet again by the cold economics of baseball, left a bitter taste in some fans’ mouths, Hader’s prominent role in four consecutive postseason appearances for the Crew cannot be understated.

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Honorable Mentions
Francisco Rodriguez held down the closer’s role for two seasons and was eventually flipped for Manny Pina, a key contributor to the Brewers' 2018-2021 playoff runs. Bob Wickman was not only a solid closer for the Crew in the late 1990s but also brought Richie Sexson to Milwaukee. Derrick Turnbow brought a wild fastball as he shut down opponents as the closer for two seasons. Mike Fetters held down the role for three seasons and brought Marquis Grissom to Milwaukee. Doug Henry also closed for three seasons, succeeding Plesac, then was traded to the Mets for a package than included Fernando Vina.

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[wiguy94]

Are you doing a separate RP list? 

[sveumrules]

01 Hader (316 IP) 58 ERA- | 63 FIP- | 11.1 rWAR | 9.4 fWAR | +14.22 WPA

02 Plesac (455 IP) 73 ERA- | 79 FIP- | 10.3 rWAR | 8.4 fWAR | +1.52 WPA

03 Rollie (259 IP) 65 ERA- | 78 FIP- | 8.4 rWAR | 4.9 fWAR | +8.24 WPA

04 Devin (155 IP) 48 ERA- | 56 FIP- | 5.0 rWAR | 4.9 fWAR | +8.06 WPA

05 Jeffress (302 IP) 63 ERA- | 78 FIP- | 7.7 rWAR | 4.1 fWAR | +7.61 WPA

HM Fetters (334 IP) 64 ERA- | 84 FIP- | 7.6 rWAR | 4.7 fWAR | +5.71 WPA

Axford (263 IP | 86 ERA- | 83 FIP- | 2.0 rWAR | 2.4 fWAR | +3.10 WPA) and Sanders (321 IP | 67 ERA- | 86 FIP- | 5.7 rWAR | 2.6 fWAR) are a pretty clear notch below the Top 6 for me.

I’d have Knebel (227 IP | 77 ERA- | 81 FIP- | 4.7 rWAR | 3.9 fWAR | +5.29 WPA) and Wickman (315 IP | 71 ERA- | 85 FIP- | 6.8 rWAR | 4.0 fWAR | +4.37 WPA) comfortably ahead of Axford/Sanders too.

[Brock Beauchamp]

48 minutes ago, wiguy94 said:

Are you doing a separate RP list? 

He is, it publishes early in the week.

[sveumrules]

If JJ, Knebel and Devin are being saved for the RP list (plus no doubter Chuck Crim) there might even be a spot left for the Raptor.

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

If JJ, Knebel and Devin are being saved for the RP list (plus no doubter Chuck Crim) there might even be a spot left for the Raptor.

[Outlander]

It is Clancy, it would be a huge upset if Suter wasn't on the RP list.

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

Not even an honorable mention to Doug Jones?

[nate82]

I am just trying to figure out who Doug Wickman is.....

[Thurston Fluff]

9 minutes ago, nate82 said:

I am just trying to figure out who Doug Wickman is.....

I wondered the same thing. Pretty sure he mean Bob Wickman.

[Brock Beauchamp]

53 minutes ago, nate82 said:

I am just trying to figure out who Doug Wickman is.....

Ah, thank you. That was my fault. I breezed through the honorable mentions paragraph while editing because I had one foot out the door.

[LouisEly]

4 hours ago, sveumrules said:

If JJ, Knebel and Devin are being saved for the RP list (plus no doubter Chuck Crim) there might even be a spot left for the Raptor.

Raptor's career as a reliever:

26-7, 2.90 ERA, 205 IP, 56 BB, 183 K, 1.185 WHIP, 8.0 K/9, 3.27 K/BB, .686 OPS-A

Dude got the job done.

[sveumrules]

16 minutes ago, LouisEly said:

Raptor's career as a reliever:

26-7, 2.90 ERA, 205 IP, 56 BB, 183 K, 1.185 WHIP, 8.0 K/9, 3.27 K/BB, .686 OPS-A

Dude got the job done.

No doubt deserves to be in the convo for the #5 spot with 2.8 rWAR | 1.4 fWAR | +2.12 WPA as a reliever.

Just not sure I’d put him over Chad Fox (2.4 rWAR | 2.2 fWAR | +3.96 WPA) or Bill Castro (6.5 rWAR | 2.5 fWAR plus almost 20 years as the bullpen coach).

Even someone like Boxberger had similar impact (2.4 rWAR | 1.5 fWAR | +2.45 WPA) in 75 fewer IP because all his appearances were high leverage.

[Jim French Stepstool]

The fun thing about Sanders is that he was in the era of multi-inning saves. 133 games with just over 228 IP in his best two Milwaukee seasons, with a number of outings of 3+ innings.

Still remember Fingers on the playoff roster in '82, even getting up a time or two in the bullpen. Decoy, or hoping it felt good enough to come in & throw 10-15 pitches? They wound up going through those two series with nine arms.

[nate82]

1 hour ago, sveumrules said:

No doubt deserves to be in the convo for the #5 spot with 2.8 rWAR | 1.4 fWAR | +2.12 WPA as a reliever.

Just not sure I’d put him over Chad Fox (2.4 rWAR | 2.2 fWAR | +3.96 WPA) or Bill Castro (6.5 rWAR | 2.5 fWAR plus almost 20 years as the bullpen coach).

Even someone like Boxberger had similar impact (2.4 rWAR | 1.5 fWAR | +2.45 WPA) in 75 fewer IP because all his appearances were high leverage.

I would even put Suter below someone like Jesse Orosco, Graeme Lloyd and Carlos Villanueva. 

[Robocaller]

Rollie Fingers should be #1, no question. He won the MVP as a reliever. He frequently pitched multiple innings and didn't rack up saves as much as contemporary closers do. The Brewers have had many great seasons from closers, but no one compares to Fingers.

 

[CheezWizHed]

Yeah, Ax-man doesn't make this list IMO.  

Also, I'm surprised there was no shout out for Trevor Hoffman.  His numbers with Milwaukee don't compare, but he did achieve his 600th save as a Brewer and retired after 2 seasons with the Crew as the all-time saves leader. 

[RobDeer 45]

Can we run this back with a worst of list for each position?  It would actually be very entertaining.  Maybe you could have a minimum games played to qualify.  

[sveumrules]

48 minutes ago, RobDeer 45 said:

Can we run this back with a worst of list for each position?  It would actually be very entertaining.  Maybe you could have a minimum games played to qualify.  

Ca: Estrada
1B: Stubbs
2B: Schoop
3B: Helms
SS: Yuni
LF: Leonard
CF: JBJ
RF: Hammonds
DH: Newfield
UT: Sogard
SP: Soup pitched great!
CL: Gagne
RP: Machado

[Brock Beauchamp]

5 hours ago, Robocaller said:

Rollie Fingers should be #1, no question. He won the MVP as a reliever. He frequently pitched multiple innings and didn't rack up saves as much as contemporary closers do. The Brewers have had many great seasons from closers, but no one compares to Fingers.

I find that more of an indictment to how MVP ballots used to be cast than an endorsement of Fingers.

The year he won MVP, Fingers had a WPA of 3.4.

Mariano Rivera had a 4+ WPA five times in his career. Joe Nathan had a 4+ WPA three times in his career and cleared 5+ twice. Billy Wagner had a 5+ WPA season. Trevor Hoffman had two 5+ WPA seasons.

Josh Hader had a 4.8 WPA season in 2021.

MVP voters in the past simply weren't very good at discerning actual value provided on the field.

[nate82]

57 minutes ago, sveumrules said:

Ca: Estrada
1B: Stubbs
2B: Schoop
3B: Helms
SS: Yuni
LF: Leonard
CF: JBJ
RF: Hammonds
DH: Newfield
UT: Sogard
SP: Soup pitched great!
CL: Gagne
RP: Machado

I would put Tim Johnson over Yuni at SS or over Schoop at 2B depending on where you want to put him at. 

[sveumrules]

24 minutes ago, nate82 said:

I would put Tim Johnson over Yuni at SS or over Schoop at 2B depending on where you want to put him at. 

Yeah, that 510 PA with a 44 OPS+ In 1973 is about as low as it gets, but it was before my time.

Schoop & Yuni are way more visceral for me.

[Outlander]

Pinch Hitter - Brad Nelson

[endaround]

Looking at the bottom of the Brewer WAR list populated by "the next big thing".  Hey, Ramon Flores is still around!

[Robocaller]

On 2/6/2023 at 10:15 AM, Brock Beauchamp said:

I find that more of an indictment to how MVP ballots used to be cast than an endorsement of Fingers.

The year he won MVP, Fingers had a WPA of 3.4.

Mariano Rivera had a 4+ WPA five times in his career. Joe Nathan had a 4+ WPA three times in his career and cleared 5+ twice. Billy Wagner had a 5+ WPA season. Trevor Hoffman had two 5+ WPA seasons.

Josh Hader had a 4.8 WPA season in 2021.

MVP voters in the past simply weren't very good at discerning actual value provided on the field.

or WPA didn't.