It only seemed appropriate that St. Louis Cardinals closer Ryan Franklin finished off Sunday’s doubleheader and series split with Chicago as well as the traditional first half of the season as we head into the All-Star break.
Number 31 recorded his 21st save of the season backing up Adam Wainwright in Sunday’s 4-2 game two win at Wrigley Field. Franklin struck out all three batters looking that he faced in the inning, increasing his save conversion rate to 95.5 percent (21 of 22).
In the process, Franklin dropped his MLB-leading ERA to 0.79 and most appropriately was named to the National League All-Star Team, his first such recognition at the ripe old baseball age of 36. He comes into the contest on a roll, having been unscored upon in his last 13 games and 16 innings.
Ian Walton pointed out one explanation for the improvement in his recent analysis. “Franklin has become as much more effective pitcher against left-handed batters this season due to a sudden 26.2% usage of the cutter (compared to 2.5% last season) in addition to phasing out his slider.”
It was a job that Franklin did not even own as the season opened. After Jason Motte blew the opening day save and since-traded Chris Perez fumbled some chances, Franklin just quietly took the reins and strengthened his hold on them every time out. The situation was finally so obvious that even manager Tony La Russa had to admit that Franklin had become indeed his closer.
Here are some of Franklin’s impressive results, with his 2008 numbers at the break offered in contrast:
| Franklin at 2009 AS break | Number | Percent | Franklin at 2008 AS break | Number | Percent | |
| Saves/opportunities | 20/21 | 95.5% | Saves/opportunities | 12/16 | 75.0% | |
| Inherited runners stranded | 9/10 | 90.0% | Inherited runners stranded | 5/12 | 41.7% | |
| First batter retired | 30/33 | 90.9% | First batter retired | 33/44 | 75.0% | |
| ERA | 0.79 | ERA | 3.43 | |||
| Won-loss | 2-0 | 100.0% | Won-loss | 3-2 | 60.0% | |
| Strikeouts-to-walks | 27-7 | 3.86:1 | Strikeouts-to-walks | 27-18 | 1.50:1 |
It wasn’t just Franklin last year, as the Cardinals bullpen couldn’t find a reliable ninth-inning man and amassed an amazing total of 31 blown saves, 12 games lost in extra innings and 13 walk-off losses, all MLB-worsts.
Despite a much younger supporting cast in 2009, the stability of the closer has seemed to help the entire pen. Comparing this group to last season’s at the break shows a marked improvement in every measure.
| Cards pen at 2009 AS break | Number | Percent | Cards pen at 2008 AS break | Number | Percent | |
| Saves/opportunities | 24/31 | 77.4% | Saves/opportunities | 26/48 | 54.2% | |
| Inherited runners stranded | 115/148 | 77.7% | Inherited runners stranded | 88/129 | 68.2% | |
| First batter retired | 194/272 | 71.3% | First batter retired | 201/288 | 69.8% | |
| ERA | 3.70 | ERA | 4.29 | |||
| Won-loss | 11-8 | 57.9% | Won-loss | 13-20 | 39.4% |
While that is not all due to Franklin, as the leader of the pen, he deserves considerable credit for the solid first-half contribution of the Cardinals relief corps.
Franklin seems to be underappreciated by some fans. Its hard to know why. He is not glitzy, a guy who worked his way up the old fashioned way, with hard work. Drafted down in the 20 rounds, years at AAA, finally gets a chance age 28 with the Mariners. He had at least one good year as a starting pitcher in the majors, but declined and became a set-up reliever. The Cards picked him up and he had a great 2007, while the team did not. This led some fans to urge Franklin be traded fro “prospects.” Instead, the Cards rewarded his good performance with a multi-year contract, to send a message to the Clubhouse.
In 2008, given health problems with Isringhausen, Franklin stepped up to the closer role for the first time. He did a pretty good job, given the circumstances. But Tony was not sure he could improve, so wanted to recruit Brian Fuentes for mega bucks, because Fuentes was experienced. Experience and cool under pressure are key attributes for closing.
In spring training, Motte pitched so well that Tony had to give him the first shot at closing. That lasted one game. We had to sacrifice the opening game in order to puncture the myth of the readiness of rookie closers, and Tony was happy to get back to sanity with Franklin.
It turns out, Franklin has the guts and enough stuff, so has been brilliant. Some know-it-alls forecast Franklin will be bad the second half, much like some wanted to dump him in 2007. Franklin could well decline, because its hard to maintain near perfection. And he could get worn down with workload. But right now, it turns out that the Cards were wise to re-up Franklin in 2007, just as they were to re-sign Pineiro. ML experience is a useful asset.
They signed Franklin “to send a message to the clubhouse”? You seriously believe that?
Was it the same message they sent when they didn’t bring back Russ Springer even though he was more effective than Franklin and stated publicly his desire to return?
Will he eventually trim his beard though? Some people as I have stated recently react differently to changes in there alter-ego makeup. Frank is one, Joel has benefited, Welly and K not so much. There is one other in the platoon. I will hunt them down like dogs, regardless of their fancy outfits. Osama
Oh yea. Franklin’s stuff is starting to resemble the subtleties of Rivera. He is always around the plate where look-a-like similarities become so effective. The true test comes when he coughs up a tough one and then has to go after the same team the next night. Lets hope he is carrying that much ammo.
Do I believe the Cards sometimes send positive messages to the Clubhouse to reward good performance, under certain qualifying conditions? Yes.
After the 2006 WS win, we gave Edmonds a two year extension. And a two year extension to Scott Spiezio, who had done a good job. Spiezio had failed in Seattle (2004-5), been released. We signed him in spring 06 for the minium and after the season during which he hit a key pinch triple during the final series, against the Brewers IIRC, he got a two year deal at $2.2MM/per. This rewarded him for good play.
That winter, Goldilocks Weaver departed for the greener pasture of Seattle, while Marquis too found moola, with the Cubbies, as did Suppan with the Brewers. Given high market prices for starting pitchers, the Cards hit on the novel idea of moving Looper to the rotation after 500+ relief apparances. Off-season signings included a hoped-for bounce-back from Kip Wells and Ryan Franklin, who had an unstellar ERA with the Reds as a set-up reliever. Kip did not work out, but Franklin did a boffo job as set-up guy during the first half of 07. The Cards chose to give Franklin a two year deal, to retain his services. This happenned under Jocketty. I interepreted this as 1) we needed pitching for 2008; and 2) we liked the job Franklin had done and wanted to salute it.
Springer pitched well last year in a set-up role, as did Looper as a starter. No doubt the Cards still respected these guys a lot, but they did not fit so well anymore with the roster for 2009, so we let other teams reward them for jobs well done. Ditto with Aaron Miles; Tony seemed to love Miles.
I think Tony and Dave’s experience and patients played a big part here Jumbo. And of course, no alternatives. It should be apparent to everyone at this point that Motte and Perez could never have taken this Role this year. I would wager that Perez never surfaces, and that Motte never becomes more than a setup man.
I’d be pretty happy with Motte as a set-up man.
I agree with TLR that it was premature to think of Perez and Motte closing games in 2009. There are precedents for young guys closing, like Huston Street and Papelbom, but teams are well served to let a rookie gain some setup experience first.
The Indians are good at evaluating and selecting prospects in trade. Few top Mike Shapiro at that game. Chris Perez and the player to be named later are probably going to turn out pretty well.
With two blown saves opening day, it sure looked like we might be in for another high wire act by the bullpen in 2009. Just think, we’ve only suffered five more since then. Remarkable!