Age catching up to Jones

July 12, 2008 · Paul Raymond · Jump to comments

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It looks like father time is starting to catch up to Detroit Tigers closer Todd Jones. Manager Jim Leyland has recently said that he plans on cutting the work load of the 40-year old pitcher. To many this is no surprise, Jones has never been a great closer but he has been pretty effective usually getting the job done, but over the past four seasons we’ve seen his ERA go on a steady rise. So is Jones still going to be the closer?

Yes, he is still the teams closer. Leyland had back to back days in mind when talking about cutting back on Jones work. Mainly, it involves day games after a night game, much like a catcher you won’t be seeing him participate unless absolutely needed. Most probably wonder why for someone who plays an inning at best a game?

Just this week, Jones earned a win Wednesday night against Cleveland with a scoreless inning. He came back Thursday afternoon against Minnesota and promptly gave up 2 runs ( 1 earned ) in two-thirds of an inning. I’ve looked back through this seasons stats and found no other scenario where this has occurred but I guess this is enough reason for Leyland to start making more changes.

“Jones is the closer, but I’m going to watch it, and if I need to use somebody else for a day, I’m going to do it,” Leyland said.

In all honesty, I think this is just an excuse for Leyland. The team started the year horrendously, they are fighting their way back into the mix and I think Leyland doesn’t want Jones and his bloated ERA around to screw things up. So not using him in back to back days maybe his idea to reduce the chances of a bad outing.

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