Red Alert: Taylor Rogers

The San Diego Padres need a new closer. This one is broken.

I’d wager that yesterday was the last time in quite some time where we’re going to see Taylor Rogers as the Padres’ closer.

Despite being literally tied with Josh Hader for the MLB lead in saves with 28, Rogers has been disastrous lately after getting off to an incredible start to the season. Allow me to prove to you that this is not an overreaction on the part of this author or the San Diego Padres…

Taylor Rogers’ 7 blown saves is the most in baseball. Nobody has more this year. Also, after a string of bad appearances, Rogers has now successfully closed out just 80% of his save opportunity. 80%! One out of five appearances is a blown save, statistically. When you factor in how lights out he was in April, May and June, it’s much worse than that. Rogers is averaging a blown save per week this month.

Now, an 80% save rate is not the worst in baseball. But it is the worst amongst any closer that has more than 14 saves this season.

Mark Melancon, who Padres fans were done with at about this time last year, finished all of 2021 with 6 blown saves and a save rate of 86.7%. So, yeah, overall…Rogers has been a pretty significant downgrade from what Melancon provided to the team in 2021. (Melancon also only has 2 blown saves this year for the Diamondbacks.)

The Padres have an off-day today, which the coaching staff is undoubtedly using to come up with better 9th inning options and the front office is undoubtedly using to try and add better 9th inning options to the roster.

My guess, and the one I’ve been pushing for the last week, is that Adrian Morejon gets at least an opportunity to be the team’s closer. He has the best stuff of any pitcher in the bullpen, and he seems to have the calm demeanor that you need from your closer on the mound.

It has to be a bummer for Rogers, who has now flamed out in his second opportunity as an MLB closer, to see the Twins coming to town this weekend and knowing that he won’t get the opportunity to prove his old team wrong for giving up on him. Rogers seems like a great guy who wants to do great things, but it also seems like his role in baseball is that of a middle reliever and not at the top of the bullpen depth chart.

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