Quote Originally Posted by smootness View Post
If you win most of your Friday games in the SEC, you're going to have a phenomenal season. Having your best pitcher sit until the late innings is a risk because it only becomes helpful in close games. If you're winning easily or losing big, it doesn't help at all. I'd rather have him run out there every Friday and shut the other team down.
Well you start hitting on one of the oldest debates in baseball. Take us for example. With a capable closer, we win 10 more games last year, and that's no exaggeration, I can go back and look at the schedule and name most of them. Your logic is very sound, I'm not disagreeing with you that having a Friday night ace is invaluable. I've noticed that most teams that win national championships have 2 dependable starting pitchers and a closer at minimum. I look at it like, what do we have to do to fit that mold come tournament time? There is simply nothing more frustrating than having your starting guys go deep into the game only to have a reliever blow it.

I personally think Hudson would be the best closer out of the top 4 guys. And since we have to have one, why not him, I say. But again, it's an off-the-wall prediction for a reason.