Casey Janssen: Overachiever

Casey Janssen wowed the hell out of me in 2011, posting a 6-0 W-L, 2.26 ERA, and 7 Holds, working from the bullpen. If there was somebody that you could count on to get a shutdown inning from in the 'pen, it was Janssen.

Almost 3 years removed from shoulder surgery, Janssen fit in perfectly from stints on the rotation before settling in the bullpen. Long relief, garbage time, set-up, close, whatever he was thrown into, Casey just seemed to flourish. Toronto rewarded him and avoided arbitration by agreeing to a two-year, $5.9 million contract with a $4 million option for 2014.

His role is to be the 7th inning arm, before Jason Frasor and new closer Sergio Santos.

The Upgrade

Would you let this fucking psychopath close out your games? Hell fucking no! This guy is a total flake, and not in a good productive way that closers tend to be.

The nuttier the closer, the more effective they are. But that isn't the case for Francisco. He has crazy electric stuff, and can throw through a brick wall, but his head needs a shake, or lobotomy. He was always too inside himself, prone to doubt and panic, leading to a lot of tense moments at the end of games.

He saved 17 but blew 4. His closer-partner Jon Rauch led in blown saves with 5, but he is Frank's opposite. Sound mind, no stuff. Rauch's pitch is a batting practice fastball. It's most likely we need to get a lively arm for the late part of games.



UPDATE: Both signed mercifully with the New York Mets. Their replacement, Sergio Santos, was plucked from the Chicago White Sox. He saved 30, and blew 6 games in 2011. Still, the 6 blown was lesser than Francisco and Rauch's combined, with more production on the tail end of Toronto's bullpen.