Bargain Closers Have Helped Save Pirates In Many Ways
Pittsburgh Has Had Deft Touch In Handing The Ball To Right Guy
By John E. Sacco

Before he even had the chance to close games out for the Pirates, let alone become the team's all-time leader in saves with 158, Kent Tekulve was taken off the club's 40-man roster.

That means there wasn't a lot of hope for him to stick in the big leagues with Pittsburgh.

At the same time, the Pirates have paraded any number of non-descript, pedestrian pitchers through the clubhouses at Three Rivers Stadium and PNC Park only to find a closer here, and a closer there.

That's the way it has almost had to be for the Pirates, who simply have not been able to and cannot go out on the market and pay the going rate for a top-rate closer.

Somehow, someway, through different eras, different management, and different times, the Pirates have been able to come up with a pitcher competent enough, confident enough and driven enough to get those final three outs.

Sometimes they have reached for those who others really didn't believe in or think much of. Other times, they have handed the ball – out of necessity – to a pitcher whose career numbers gave no indication that the pitcher could save a major league game or had any business even trying to do so.

For the most part, though, the club has almost always had someone to rely on in the role.

"Overall, it's been out of necessity to do it that way," Tekulve said. "The Pirates just can't go out on the market and get everybody they need or would like to have. Through the years, as far as closing games go, they probably have been more inclined to try somebody from within the system."

Tekulve was in the Pirates system and apparently on his way out of it before finally succeeding Dave Giusti and Goose Gossage as the team's closer in 1977. Tekulve saved five games in 1975, Giusti's final year as Pittsburgh's closer, and he saved seven others in 1977, Gossage's lone year with the Pirates. Ironically, Gossage was a starter in 1976 for the Chicago White Sox.

Tekulve saved 31 games in both 1978 and 1979 and led the team in saves in four of the first five seasons of the 1980s before being traded.

Since Tekulve's departure, the Pirates closers have included the likes of John Candelaria (1985), Don Robinson (1986), Jim Gott (1987-88), Bill Landrum (1989-91), Stan Belinda (1992-93), Alejandro Pena (1994), Dan Miceli (1995), Francisco Cordova (1996), Rich Losielle (1997-98), and Mike Williams since then, save for his two-month stint in Houston last year.

Giusti was a starter in Houston and St. Louis before joining Pittsburgh. Candelaria and Robinson were converted starters at the end of their careers. Gott and Landrum were brought in as journeyman-type pitchers and given a chance to close. They came through, Gott helping the Pirates inch closer to respectability and Landrum being the closer on a couple of division championship teams.

Belinda was developed from within while Pena and Miceli came via other organizations. Cordova was brought in from the Mexican League and Loiselle, a replacement player in 1994, came as part of a trade for Danny Darwin. Williams was then brought in after unsuccessful stints as a starter with Philadelphia and as a reliever in Kansas City.

He has become one of the better closers in the game and has carried on a tradition that, in many ways, is rather inexplicable.

"I think it's a combination of a couple things," Pirates' Manager Lloyd McClendon said. "Certainly, some of those guys had not found their way with other organizations. As for the Pirates, really it's been a need or something we've been plagued with here that we just didn't have a bona fide guy to go out there and close games.

"The opportunity has certainly been there for guys like Mike to come in and work out of the bullpen, get on a roll and not look back. That's literally what happened with Mike. When he first came to us, he certainly didn't come to us as a closer. In fact, he was trying to make the club." Williams doesn't fancy himself in the category of San Diego's Trevor Hoffman, Mariano Rivera of the Yankees or Houston's Billy Wagner.

But he cherishes the chance to be a closer.

"It's been a blessing in disguise for me," Williams said. "Going out there and not having to face guys two to four times through the order is an advantage. I don't think my stuff was good enough to be a successful or quality starting pitcher.

"Going to the bullpen, facing guys once – maybe twice – is a big thing for me. I'm only going to see a hitter once or twice a series at the most and maybe only a couple times per year. That really helps me the way I pitch, my slider and stuff."

Landrum posted two saves in 61 career games with Cincinnati and Chicago Cubs prior to joining the Pirates. In 1989, Landrum saved 26 games. In 1990, the season the Pirates won their first division crown in 11 years, he saved 13 games. The following season, he saved 17 games, sharing the role with Belinda, who made 16 saves.

Before coming to the Pirates, Landrum's lifetime ERA was 5.16. With the Pirates, his ERA was 2.32. He's a classic example of the Pirates' good fortune with finding a closer from just about anywhere.

"A lot of it has to do with supply and demand," Landrum said. "If Jim Leyland would have had Bryan Harvey at the time, I would have never had the opportunity to close a game out. Lucky for me, he didn't. Jim was forced to try to do something. He was trying to find somebody to fill the role. I jumped in and, luckily, things worked out."

Williams and Tekulve agree that a successful closer has a certain mindset and confidence.

"As far as being a closer, in your mind, you have to be ready to pitch everyday," Williams said. "You have to have a short memory. If you listen to everyone who closes, you have to forget about the last game whether you saved the game, won it or lost it. That's the attitude you have to have.

"I think every closer has an (out) pitch. What it comes down to is you have to get three outs before they get the tying run. You live and die on the (out) pitch. Everyone has his pitch. When it's on the line, that's what you're going to go with."

Tekulve said having a short memory is paramount for being a successful closer.

"You're going to have good games and bad games," he said. "You learn to live mentally day-to-day. Probably the biggest thing is when you have success, not to get too excited about it. If you get all revved up about a save, you're setting yourself up. You ride a roller coaster."

The Pirates, undeniably, have been lucky to come up with pitchers who they eventually handed the ball to as a closer.

While they haven't had a long shelf life with the exception of Giusti and Tekulve, they have been productive. Even a guy like Loiselle, who went from replacement player to saving 29 games as a rookie and then 19 in 1998 before suffering arm injuries, has come through.

Williams, who was bidding in late June to become the team's first closer since Giusti to save 20-plus games in four consecutive seasons, could never have been projected as a closer.

"Probably with the Williams situation, it was a surprise when it first happened," McClendon said. "You never really know what makes it click for a guy. The competition is a lot higher being the closer. He adjusted to it real well, adapted very well and thrives in pressure situations."

"Look at (Los Angeles' Eric) Gagne," McClendon said. "He was a starter. They had a need and he fit the bill. All of a sudden, he's a dominant closer. I think a lot of times it does happen by happenstance."