Francisco Rodriguez won the Rolaids Relief Man Award as the best American League Reliever. This is no surprise because it’s a manually calculation that goes to the pitcher with the most saves and wins. Rodriguez led MLB with 47 saves this season.
My primary concern is that Rodriguez mechanics make him an annual injury risk (he received a red light last year in Will Carroll’s injury report). And closing games where he can let it all hang out doesn’t help matters. The Angels want to ink Rodriguez to a multi-year deal but I’m always leery of doing this when it comes to closers. The average shelf life is pretty low and they can flame out quick (see Eric Gagne). Not that I wouldn’t love to have K-Rod in the pen for a long time to come, I’d just like the team to be a little more prudent.
