CKL Relievers of the 1970s

[leecemark]

--Please vote for 5. I lowered the IP level to 300 IP to give a better view of the top relievers in the attached leaderboard. No relievers made the top 3 in CYA voting this decade (or in CKL history). The voting format has changed a few times, which is why there are different number of relievers per season below.

All Stars
1970: 1) Chuck Taylor, Tug McGraw, 2) Nolan Ryan, Mudcat Grant
1971: 1) Frank Linzy, Sparky Lyle, 2) McGraw, Jack Aker
1972: 1) Fred Gladding, Bob Locker, 2) Mike Marshall, Ken Sanders
1973: 1) Fred Beene, Mac Scarce, 2) John Hiller, Sparky Lyle
1974: 1) John Hiller, 2) Orlando Pena, Dale Murray
1975: 1) Rollie Fingers, 2) Dyar Miller, Jim Todd
1976: 1) Bob Apodaca, 2) Dave LaRouche, JIm Willoughby
1977: 1) Bruce Sutter, Jim Kern, 2) Rich Gossage, Ken Forsch
1978: 1) Rollie Fingers, 2) Ron Reed, Goosage
1979: 1) Kent Tekulve, 2) Sutter, Kern

[leecemark]

Notable achievements
Bruce Sutter - top ERA amoung qualifying releivers. Only has 4 years under his belt, but worked over 100 IP in 3 of them and saved 20+ in 3. Also has season of 15 and 12 wins as he's been more of an old fashioned relief ace than a modern closer.
Sparky Lyle - has spent most of the decade as the lefty half of closing teams. Twice managed 20 saves in that role during the Spikes mid-ceade run. Had his best year last season closing for the Dust Bunnies and posting an amazing 0.78 ERA with 10 wins and 29 saves in 69 IP>
Jim Kern - has been the Thunder closer since making his debut 5 years ago and picked up 20+ saves in each of those seasons.
Rich Gossage - set the single season saves record with 42 and has 2 other 30 save seasons. Second on the decade saves leader board, 3 behind the leader. Has 4 90 IP seasons.
Rollie Fingers - led the decade in saves, peaking at 35 and posting 4 other 20 save seasons. Never had a dominating season to match any of the above, but was a dependable option out of the pen all decade.
Tug McGraw - never a full time closer, but put together a terrific decade as a LH setup man who shared the closer job in his better seasons. Led the decade in games pitched (by 57) and holds (by 27).
John Hiller - had perhaps the decade's best relief season in 73 with a 1.48 ERA in 97 IP. He saved 29 that year and again the next, with one additional 20 save season before transitioning to a LH setup guy.
Kent Tekulve - 5 very good years with the Skipjacks, picking up 90 saves in his 4 years as closer. Has the best save percentage of the 15 men with 100 opportunities.

[Windy City Fan]

Gonna stump for Kern pretty heavily here. He's 3rd for the decade in saves, despite only playing 5 years. The others over 100 saves in the 70s (Fingers, Gossage, Lyle, Hiller) all pitched most or all of the decade. Of those with over 100 save opportunities, only Tekluve and Lyle are ahead of him in save percentage. His workload has been pretty heavy for a closer with 442 IP in 5 seasons. He's had 3 90+ IP seasons and 2 more at 80+. Another point showing his heavy workload over five seasons is that he's 5th for the decade in games finished, again despite pitching only half the decade. In ERA, Sutter and Lyle are the only candidates that are better. He has the SLG allowed at a mere .300 and is 4th among the candidates for closer in BA allowed at .226.

[catcher24]

Once again I have taken the liberty of producing a chart. I based this particular chart on pitchers who had at least 80 save opportunities and 250 IP during the decade (interestingly when I had it set to 350 IP Tekulve doesn't show up, so I lowered the total to include him). Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to get just the IP for relievers (it can be done from the DM game reports, but apparently not in the Encyclopedia reports), so IP is not listed, since that simply produced a list of starters.

relievers1.JPG relievers2.JPG

relievers3.JPG

Here is a list of IP for the top 20 relievers with the most save opportunities. Keep in mind that Forsch was a starter for two seasons and Marshall was a starter for one season.

relievers4.JPG

[catcher24]

1. Sparky Lyle - Solid relief for the entire decade. Tops in blown save percentage, second in save percentage and games finished, fourth in ERA and saves, tenth in games and also top twenty in holds. A solid performer who pitched every season during the decade except 1970.
2. Jim Kern - Only two pitchers had more saves than Kern during the decade. However, both of them pitched many more seasons and blew far more saves than Kern, who had the fourth best save percentage - and the entire idea of a closer is to save the game. Very impressive numbers for a guy who has only five seasons in.
3. Bruce Sutter - This is sort of a homer vote. Probably would make the list but lower if he hadn't pitched for the Jaxx. However, his is first in WHIP, RC/27, component ERA, RC ERA and K/BB and second in ERA. His games and saves totals are smaller than some others (although he is 10th in saves) since he's only pitched four years.
4. Goose Gossage - Second most saves for the decade, numbers more impressive than Fingers so he finishes higher.
5. Rollie Fingers - A nod to the saves leader for the decade. IMHO he blew too many saves and had too high an ERA and WHIP to place higher.

Apologies to Kent Tekulve, who deserves to be on the list as well, but he seems to be a one inning closer as opposed to my top five, who have a lot more innings.

[leecemark]

1) Bruce Sutter: only 4 seasons, but he is easily the best reliever we've seen IMO
2) Jim Kern: one more season and not that far behind on quality.
3) Rich Gossage: has the dominant closer seasons and amoung the leaders in relief innings, although some of those innings have been more quanity than quality.
4) Sparky Lyle: great numbers, but takes a hit due to his being used more as a lefty specialist than a workhorse ace like the above.
5) Rollie Fingers: consistently good, but never had a season to match up with the top years of the guys above him.

[Windy City Fan]

1. Kern - Maybe a bit of a homer vote, but he's got more IP and Saves and a better SV% than Sutter.
2. Sutter - A lot of IP for a reliever with only 4 seasons under his belt.
3. Gossage - Good counting numbers, though some of his seasons weren't all that great. Some were though.
4. Tekluve - Low IP downgrades him, but he's been effective.
5. Lyle - Great lefty specialist.

[rmadachik]

1. Gossage
2. Sutter
3. Tekulve
4. Kern
5. Lyle

[dust bunnies]

1. Sutter
2. Lyle
3. Gossage
4. Kern
5. Tekulve

[catcher24]

Wow, a much wider difference of opinion here than for the starting pitchers. Interesting.

[rmadachik]

Wow, a much wider difference of opinion here than for the starting pitchers. Interesting.

Maybe it's just me but it seems that DMB tends to have a higher blown save rate than real life. so I personally give a closer a little slack in that area. I thought Gossage and Sutter had more dominant peaks than the rest of the candidates which gave them the edge.

[Windy City Fan]

I would agree that it seems save rates are a little lower than what we're used to, but to me that means the guys that have the best rate are all the more valuable! Of course other factors like work load and such have to be factored in.

It is interesting to see how folks rate different players. We've got six guys who are scattered up and down the ballot for folks. Four different picks for the top spot.

[rmadachik]

I guess looking at things .... Since I have been an owner only since the 75 season My personal window of observation tends to lean towards the latter half of the decade.

[J W]

1) Sparky Lyle
2) Kent Tekulve
3) Jim Kern
4) Bruce Sutter
5) Rich Gossage

[leecemark]

1) Bruce Sutter 23
2) Jim Kern 20
3) Sparky Lyle 18
4) Rich Gossage 16
5) Kent Tekulve 10
6) Rollie Fingers 2