I’ve all but worn out the “Neftali Feliz should be a starter” argument in the past few months. The response back every time I’ve made it is “the Rangers plan on keeping him as a closer now, but moving him to the rotation in 2012.” Well, it seems that Neftali Feliz himself hasn’t gotten the memo on that:
“I spent most of spring training as a starter and I enjoyed it. But I’m a closer now, and God willing I’ll remain a closer the rest of my career. I made the decision that I won’t start anymore ... The team has told me that next year I would still have the chance to start, but I don’t want to do it anymore. This year my arm didn’t feel good after they moved me from the rotation back to closing, so I don’t want to go through that again and risk the same thing happening.’'
That’s quite odd. If the change to closing is what made his arm feel bad, doesn’t that imply that his arm felt good while starting? And isn’t at least possible that the more frequent work as a relief pitcher, even if it’s a lower overall work load, is what is causing his problems?
And above all else, is this decision really one for Feliz to make as opposed to Ron Washington, Jon Daniels and Nolan Ryan?
