Jedd Gyorko

St. Louis Cardinals: Trevor Rosenthal Should Close in 2017

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 8:53 p.m. ET

Fansided, Dr. Michael D. Miles/FanSided via Redbird Rants

The St. Louis Cardinals have an ace up their sleeves in the way of a defunct closer from 2016 who should return once again to this role in 2017 but perhaps not alone.

No, you aren’t reading the writings of a mad man. Yes, I did write an article two days ago saying that Trevor Rosenthal should start 2017 in Memphis to be stretched out as a starter. I do believe this if the St. Louis Cardinals have plans to move him. That said, I also value the idea of Rosenthal returning as a closer.

Rosenthal was- quite frankly- a dominant closer when he was absolutely on. Teams worried about him. Batters had a tough time managing hits and found themselves lost at the plate when their teams needed them to come through in the closing innings.

All of this was true until he was simply overused. Was this overuse due to poor management? At times, yes. Was this overuse due to gross need in 2015? At times, yes. 2015 was a season when Rosenthal was needed to close games and there were many close ones needing a door-shutter.

Let’s take a look at Rosenthal’s career numbers when serving as a closer:

Year	Age	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GF	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	ERA+	FIP	WHIP
2009	19	Rk	4	1	.800	4.88	14	2	0	24.0	25	13	0	10	26	111			1.458
2010	20	Rk	3	0	1.000	2.25	10	1	1	32.0	23	8	1	7	30	125			0.938
2012	22	NL	0	2	.000	2.78	19	7	0	22.2	14	7	2	7	25	89	139	3.10	0.926
2013	23	NL	2	4	.333	2.63	74	15	3	75.1	63	22	4	20	108	311	143	1.91	1.102
2014	24	NL	2	6	.250	3.20	72	59	45	70.1	57	25	2	42	87	308	114	2.99	1.408
2015 ★	25	NL	2	4	.333	2.10	68	57	48	68.2	62	16	3	25	83	287	188	2.42	1.267
2016	26	NL	2	4	.333	4.46	45	27	14	40.1	48	20	3	29	56	197	92	3.72	1.909
5 Yrs	8	20	.286	2.92	278	165	110	277.1	244	90	14	123	359	1192	131	2.67	1.323
162 Game Avg.	2	5	.286	2.92	68	40	27	68	60	22	3	30	88	292	131	2.67	1.323

Notice the the great numbers in 2014 and 2015 when Rosenthal recorded forty-five and forty-eight saves respectively. In those seasons, Rosey struck out eighty-seven and eighty-three batters of the 308 and 287 batters faced. That is just incredible.

Jumping to 2016, Rosenthal finished half the number of games due to injury and due to being replaced by the dominant Seung-hwan Oh. These are Oh’s closing numbers for comparison:

Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lev	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GF	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	WHIP
2005	22	-4.8	Samsung	Fgn	10	1	.909	1.18	61	34	16	99.0	46	13	5	20	115	358	0.667
2006	23	-3.9	Samsung	Fgn	4	3	.571	1.59	63	58	47	79.1	43	14	1	12	109	289	0.693
2007	24	-3.5	Samsung	Fgn	4	4	.500	1.40	60	58	40	64.1	41	10	6	17	69	251	0.902
2008	25	-2.4	Samsung	Fgn	1	1	.500	1.40	57	53	39	57.2	34	9	2	15	51	219	0.850
2009	26	-0.9	Samsung	Fgn	2	2	.500	4.83	35	32	19	31.2	28	17	7	17	51	140	1.421
2010	27	-0.1	Samsung	Fgn	0	0		4.50	16	9	4	14.0	13	7	4	5	19	60	1.286
2011	28	0.5	Samsung	Fgn	1	0	1.000	0.63	54	52	47	57.0	27	4	2	11	76	204	0.667
2012	29	0.5	Samsung	Fgn	2	1	.667	1.94	50	46	37	55.2	33	12	1	13	81	215	0.826
2013	30	1.5	Samsung	Fgn	4	1	.800	1.74	48	46	28	51.2	33	10	4	10	54	196	0.832
2014	31	2.6	Hanshin	Fgn	2	4	.333	1.76	64	56	39	66.2	41	13	5	13	81	258	0.810
2015	32	3.5	Hanshin	Fgn	2	3	.400	2.73	63	54	41	69.1	64	21	6	16	66	289	1.154
2016	33	5.1	STL	MLB	6	3	.667	1.92	76	35	19	79.2	55	17	5	18	103	313	0.916
Foreign (11 seasons)	Foreign	32	20	.615	1.81	571	498	357	646.1	403	130	43	149	772	2479	0.854
All Levels (12 Seasons)		38	23	.623	1.82	647	533	376	726.0	458	147	48	167	875	2792	0.861

Notice any similarities? In 2015, Oh saved forty-one games overseas. By in large, Oh hovered around the 35-50 saves per season. This made the decision to name him the closer replacing the tired and injured Rosenthal.

Rosenthal set out with injury after his appearance on July 24 and didn’t pitch again until September 16. When Rosenthal exited in mid-season, he carried with him a 5.13 ERA which is disastrous for a closer.

Oh, after taking over as the named closer, watched his ERA rapidly fall which is something glorious for a closer. Oh’s ERA on July 25 was 1.79, ballooned to 2.14 at the start of August, but then steadily declined and hovered between 1.70-1.94. The “Stone Buddha” was just untouchable.

Now comes the offseason and our winter of discontent. With it comes questions on both of these Cardinals.

First, who will start the 2017 campaign as the closer? The likely answer is to keep things steady as they were at the end of the 2016 season. This would mean that Oh would be the named closer and that Rosenthal would fill the pen at the back end of games. This makes a great deal of sense and allows Rosey to show that he has rebounded from injury.

Second question facing these two is what will happen with Oh’s contract? Oh is set to make less than $3M in 2017 and has stated publicly that he would like to test the market when his contract is complete. Recently the organization is said to have interest in extending his contract which is a complete “duh” move to me.

Seung-Hwan Oh’s agent says Cards have recently expressed interest in an extension, but unlikely to complete deal. @hanshoong. #STLCards

— Easton Leonard (@The_Easton) December 22, 2016

Notice here the warning that Oh’s agent feels that a deal is unlikely. This is very much in line with Oh wanting to test the market. And who could blame him? Did you see the contracts handed out to closers this offseason? I’d test that market too.

So, if all of this stays true, then where does Rosenthal land? It is important to note that Rosenthal is under team control until 2019 which should provide for some protection for the organization should Oh find a new home. That is if Rosenthal proves that he is able to close again…

In other words, while I wrote yesterday that Rosenthal should start in Memphis as a starter, perhaps the better option for the organization is for him to bolster the back of the pen and to serve as the backup closer.

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Rosenthal provides option for the St. Louis Cardinals in 2017. Spring Training will be a major component for Rosenthal’s 2017 as it will show both the direction the organization hopes to take and whether Rosenthal’s health will allow him to close or start. Yet another reason to wish the winter away, right?