Franklin the Turtle

Ryan Franklin poses in his ninja crouch as he prepares to stealthily pitch to the next batter. 

No. 31 Ryan Franklin (R) - Ryan Franklin and the Cardinals faithful have a love hate relationship.  Franklin starts his first full season as the team's closer.  His first season with the job he ran with it saving 38 games and posting a 1.92 era.  Last year his era rose to 3.46 but he still saved 27 games and blew only 2 saves.  Franklin is off to a rough start at the moment.  In 4 chances he has blown 3 saves and has a 9.64 era.  His job is safe at the moment which might have more to do with TLR not trusting his other options than it does anything else.  Still the season is early and I for one don't think any knee jerk reactions need to be taken by replacing him.


Franklin's career numbers are nothing special either.  He came up with Seattle and spent 6 years there going 35-50 with 4.34 era.  From there he spent a season between Phili and Cincy before signing with the Cardinals in 2007.   He was the set man before taking over closing position from Jason Isringhausen who fell out of favor.   


Franklin is not your typical closer and does not overpower batters.  And he is in fact no Bruce Sutter.  He does have a 4 or 5 pitches that allows him to keep the batters guessing though.  This year he has apparently added a knuckle ball.  While it would be nice for the Cardinals to have a dominate closer, but the important thing is just getting the job done, it doesn't matter how.  Despite having to drink heavily to deal with watching him pitch (not that it was any different with Izzy before him) I like Franklin.  He is a soft spoken nice guy and he gives it his all each time he goes out.  


Franklin is 38 and it is rumored that this will be his last season before he retires.  Look for him to get back on track and become a reliable and unexciting 9th inning option for the team.  After his tenure with the team it is anyone's guess who will step into the role of closer.  Options include Mitchell Boggs, Eduardo Sanchez and Jason Motte unless the team chooses to look outside of the organization towards a Ryan Franklin esque pitcher and turn a starter into a reliever.  Names that come to mind include Manny Parra or  Jeff Francis type pitchers.   I really, really, really, really hope they go with someone in house as opposed to options like this.