I think the Royals have proven the importance of having lock down one-inning guys to turn to in the back of the bullpen. The real folly is when teams overpay for "closers".
If you have the 3-4-5 hitters due up in the 8th inning, I'm bringing in my best reliever then and turning elsewhere for the 9th. But no, managers feel obligated to make decisions in thrall of the almight save. It's a bullshit statistic that should be eliminated.
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