Davey Johnson Must Boot Henry Rodriguez from Washington Nationals' Closer Role

Dealing with closers can be a delicate matter for major league managers.

Even the great ones are going to make mistakes. Pitchers can't be successful if they're worried that the slightest misstep could get them pulled from a game. They need some wiggle room to fail. But the good ones shake off the bad outings and come back ready to pitch again.

Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson has given Henry Rodriguez plenty of wiggle room. Rodriguez has had plenty of recent trouble throwing strikes with his bazooka fastball, walking opposing batters and making games tighter than they were when he came in. Yet Johnson insisted that he was still confident in Rodriguez and would keep him as the closer, according to the Washington Post.

But Rodriguez may have finally pushed his manager's faith and patience too far. 

The Nats held a 2-0 lead over the Philadelphia Phillies going into the bottom of the ninth on Monday night. A situation like this, a tight game on the road against a division rival, is where a closer earns his merit. 

But rather than take the mound and shut the opposition down, Rodriguez put the game in jeopardy with his inability to locate his fastball. 

To lead off the Phillies' ninth, Rodriguez walked John Mayberry on four straight pitches. So much for a shutdown inning, with the tying run now coming to the plate. 

Rodriguez's throws were so far out of the strike zone that Nats catcher Jesus Flores couldn't even receive the ball cleanly. As I joked on Twitter during the game, Flores needed a refrigerator box to handle Rodriguez, not a catcher's mitt.

Freddy Galvis bailed Rodriguez out three pitchers later by swinging at a high fastball. But Mayberry still advanced to second base on a wild pitch to Mike Fontenot. Fontenot then moved Mayberry to third with a single. Rodriguez followed up with yet another wild pitch to pinch-hitter Ty Wigginton, moving Fontenot to second. 

So let's reset: With just 12 pitches, the guy who was supposed to close the door on a 2-0 lead instead put runners on second and third, recording only one out. 

With the ballgame teetering for the Nats, Johnson couldn't take any more and pulled Rodriguez before he could throw another pitch to Wigginton. For the second time in a week, Johnson had to make a change in the ninth inning, bringing in Sean Burnett to clean up a mess Rodriguez created.

At the risk of being Captain Obvious, this isn't what a closer is supposed to do.

The key word in the job description for a relief pitcher is "relief." As fellow reliever Craig Stammen put it after the game (via NatsInsider.com), the closer gives his teammates a break, allows them to exhale, knowing that the game is in good hands. 

The Nationals can't keep living like this. This will send Johnson back back into retirement. Sooner or later, Rodriguez will create too big a mess for Burnett or another reliever to clean up. And these wins that Washington has been squeaking by with will turn into losses. 

Johnson has to make a change. 

It would be one thing if the Nats didn't have a suitable replacement. With a deep bullpen, they have plenty. Burnett is certainly a candidate, but Johnson might prefer to keep him available as a situational left-hander. 

Stammen has been one of the best middle relievers in baseball this season, compiling a 1.44 ERA with 27 strikeouts in 25 innings. But does Johnson really want to handcuff himself by restricting Stammen to the ninth inning? 

Ryan Mattheus is another possibility, though he doesn't have the strikeout stuff of the Nats' other relievers. And he's currently dealing with foot problems that might keep him out for two weeks, depending on what doctors find on Tuesday. 

The best man for the job is probably Tyler Clippard, who was a lights-out setup man last year and has settled down after struggling earlier in the season.

Johnson prefers to keep Clippard as the eighth-inning man because he's been so successful in that role. But either of the previously mentioned relievers, including Rodriguez, could take over that job while Clippard and his 10.9 Ks per nine innings takes over as the stopper. 

Besides, it would be a short-term move. Whoever takes over as closer will just be keeping the seat warm until Brad Lidge recovers from his sports hernia and Drew Storen returns from elbow surgery soon after that. Then everyone can go back to the roles they originally had. 

"I'm going to sleep on it, but I'm looking at alternatives," Johnson said after the game, via masnsports.com. When he wakes up on Tuesday morning, he'll likely realize that he has no choice but to make a change. Too much is at stake for the Nats to keep putting Rodriguez out there. 

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