As soon as news broke of Ryan Madson needing season-ending Tommy John elbow surgery the assumption was that the Reds would move setup man Sean Marshall into the closer role, but manager Dusty Baker apparently hasn’t made up his mind yet.
Baker told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com that he’s “been getting that question from all my friends, family, and people in restaurants” but “we have to talk to the guys” because “you just don’t throw somebody in that role.”
Bill Bray, Nick Masset, and Aroldis Chapman are the other closer candidates, but Marshall is clearly the Reds’ best reliever and one of the best relievers in all of baseball, closer experience or not. In two seasons as a full-time reliever Marshall threw 150 innings with a 2.45 ERA and 169/42 K/BB ratio, holding opponents to a .222 batting average and just four homers. If that isn’t closer material, I don’t know what is.
