By: Joshua Reese
One of the things the 2016 Houston Astros did well, was getting lots of different guys saves. Three "closers" had 10 or more saves last season, and while it's nice everyone had a chance to lock down the job, nobody did.
Luke Gregerson started off the season in the ninth but he faltered. Ace reliever Will Harris took over had some early success but like Gregerson, he also started to slip. Ken Giles the team's top offseason acquisition would get the final stretch, but despite his electric arm even he struggled.
As a team, the Astros converted 44 saves, even more than the season before when they went to the playoffs.
The problem is they had 20 blown saves, which is the 13th worst in the majors.
The Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, Washinton Nationals, and the Chicago Cubs were the four teams with the fewest blown saves last season - spoiler alert all four made it to the postseason.
Blown saves are just a part of the game, your closer is going to have a rough game every once in a while. But lockdown closers just will have a lot less of them than others - see the 2016 Astros.
So the question is, who's closing on the Astros in 2017?
Unless the team goes out and lands a prime closer, which they still can. In spring training A.J. Hinch will likely have a few different guys to choose from.
Giles, Gregerson, and Harris are likely the favorites to land the job out of the gate. But there should be three more names added to this eventual competition.
Lance McCullers, Christopher Devenski, and Michael Feliz should also get a look at the job.
McCullers is pie in the sky and while he probably could be very effective in the role the Astros don't seem to have any interest in moving him out of a starting role despite arm concerns.
Devenski has earned a larger role on the team but the question is how large of a role. He was great last year and when the Astros needed an out he was the guy Hinch turned to.
While Devenski is consistent and solid, Feliz is more unpolished but he has a lot of electricity in his arm and showed a lot of flashes of being a great reliever.
With so much being invested in making the 2017 Houston Astros so much better, it's time to think beyond the retreads of Giles, Gregerson, and Harris.
Michael Feliz should be given the chance to spread his wings and prove that he's the next big thing in closing. Standing at 6'4, Feliz just looks like a closer on the mound.
His upper 90's fastball is hard to square up and his wicked slider is damn near unhittable as batters only were able to get a .163 batting average against it.
While Feliz may have just about the same electric stuff that Giles has (ended the season as closer), my trust goes to the bigger rightie.
Last year it was pretty easy to tell when Feliz was on or off, either he was throwing 98-99 and blowing people away or he was throwing 95-97 and getting hit.
Giles was more of a gamble and harder to figure out, consistently he was the same pitcher throwing the ball, just some days he'd get hit and you never really knew why. On top of that whenever someone would reach base for whatever reason, things just seemed to go downhill from there.
Feliz also had is problems but it seemed more manageable in terms of maybe he just needed more rest that day or something while for Giles it seems more random.
If you look through Feliz and Giles game log. You'll see that when Giles gave up a run, it usually meant a bad week for him, Feliz on the other seemed to bounce back more often after bad outings.
Feliz like Devenski last year pitched in a lot of "dirty work" games, either when the team was trailing or in extra innings. He may have been a little less consistent than Devenski but it's easy to think Feliz will continue getting better.
Just because the Astros gave up a lot to get Giles does not mean he should just be given the spot.
The pressure of closing on a playoff team will their form you into a diamond or crush you into dust. I know for me I'd much rather see what Feliz can do in the ninth, then any other option that's currently on the team.
