StaTuesday: Feliz can take aim on Brewers' all-time save leaders
Free-agent signee Neftali Feliz arrived at Brewers camp and while he wasn't anointed Milwaukee's closer, he seems to the likely choice.
Manager Craig Counsell only said that Feliz will be counted on to "get important outs" for the Brewers, but that's been Counsell's mantra about relievers since he took over the job.
Feliz is the only player on Milwaukee's 40-man roster with any real experience closing out games in the majors -- he has 99 career saves, including 40 in 2010 with Texas -- and in his brief time as manager Counsell has shown he prefers to have one pitcher primarily finish out games.
In 2015, Francisco Rodriguez had 38 of Milwaukee's 40 saves. The other two were by Kyle Lohse, one of which was a three-inning save in a 10-3 victory and the other occurred in a 13-inning win.
Last season, it has been expected that Jeremy Jeffress and Will Smith might split the closing duties, depending on a need for a righty or lefty on the mound. Jeffress ended up with 27 saves and Smith none before both were dealt away.
After the trades, Tyler Thornburg became Milwaukee's closer and had 13 saves. The Brewers had six other saves in 2016: two were extra-inning saves, one came in October after Thornburg blew a save in the ninth, two occurred after the regular closer was given a day off after pitching in back-to-back games and the other was a two-inning save in which the Brewers scored two runs in the ninth to make it a four-run lead, thus the regular closer was no longer needed.
So even if Counsell for whatever reason doesn't go with Feliz at the back end, his short history shows that he'd likely settle on one closer regardless. But Feliz certainly makes the most sense.
Even if Feliz is deemed a trade chip later this summer, based on his history and Jeffress' performance last year, Feliz has a good shot to have one of the top-25 all-time single-seasons years for a Milwaukee closer, as far as saves is concerned.
Feliz would need just 24 saves to tie for 25th on Milwaukee's all-time single-season saves list. Only 11 Brewers relievers have reached 30 saves in a season, and it has been done just 14 times overall.
| Pitcher | Year | Saves |
| John Axford | 2011 | 46 |
| Francisco Cordero | 2007 | 44 |
| Francisco Rodriguez | 2014 | 44 |
| Danny Kolb | 2004 | 39 |
| Derrick Turnbow | 2005 | 39 |
| Francisco Rodriguez | 2015 | 38 |
| Bob Wickman | 1999 | 37 |
| Trevor Hoffman | 2009 | 37 |
| Doug Jones | 1997 | 36 |
| John Axford | 2012 | 35 |
| Dan Plesac | 1989 | 33 |
| Mike Fetters | 1996 | 32 |
| Ken Sanders | 1971 | 31 |
| Dan Plesac | 1988 | 30 |
| Rollie Fingers | 1982 | 29 |
| Doug Henry | 1992 | 29 |
| Rollie Fingers | 1981 | 28 |
| Salomon Torres | 2008 | 28 |
| Jim Henderson | 2013 | 28 |
| Mike DeJean | 2002 | 27 |
| Jeremy Jeffress | 2016 | 27 |
| Pete Ladd | 1983 | 25 |
| Bob Wickman | 1998 | 25 |
| Dan Plesac | 1990 | 24 |
| Derrick Turnbow | 2006 | 24 |
| John Axford | 2010 | 24 |
| Rollie Fingers | 1984 | 23 |
| Dan Plesac | 1987 | 23 |
| Mike Fetq | 1995 | 22 |
| Danny Kolb | 2003 | 21 |
| Tom Murphy | 1974 | 20 |
| Tom Murphy | 1975 | 20 |
If Feliz could get to 25 saves, that would put him in a tie for 25th place on Milwaukee's all-time saves list. If he could come close to his single-season high of 40 (between 34-40 to be exact), Feliz could be No. 18 all-time on the list in just one year.
He's fairly certain to crack the top 33, as that's the number of pitchers in Brewers history who have 10 or more saves. Feliz might be able to do that in a month.
| Player | Saves |
| Dan Plesac | 133 |
| John Axford | 106 |
| Rollie Fingers | 97 |
| Francisco Rodriguez | 95 |
| Bob Wickman | 79 |
| Mike Fetters | 79 |
| Derrick Turnbow | 65 |
| Danny Kolb | 61 |
| Doug Henry | 61 |
| Ken Sanders | 61 |
| Francisco Cordero | 60 |
| Doug Jones | 49 |
| Mike DeJean | 47 |
| Trevor Hoffman | 47 |
| Bill Castro | 44 |
| Chuck Crim | 42 |
| Tom Murphy | 41 |
| Bob McClure | 34 |
| Pete Ladd | 33 |
| Jim Henderson | 31 |
| Eduardo Rodriguez | 30 |
| Curt Leskanic | 29 |
| Solomon Torres | 28 |
| Jeremy Jeffress | 27 |
| Frank Linzy | 25 |
| Mark Clear | 22 |
| Bob Gibson | 13 |
| Tyler Thornburg | 13 |
| Diego Segui | 12 |
| Tom Tellmann | 12 |
| Jerry Augustine | 11 |
| Jim Slaton | 11 |
| Eric Gagne | 10 |
With Feliz on a one-year deal, we might be having this conversation again next year.
Really, that shouldn't be a surprise. Of all the 33 pitchers who have 10 or more saves with the Brewers, only 10 had 200 or more relief appearances with the club, and of those 10 just five pitched at all in this century (and one just barely): Bob Wickman (1996-2000), Mike DeJean (2001-03), Derrick Turnbow (2005-08), John Axford (2009-13) and Francisco Rodriguez (2011-15).
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players from the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
