Over at DT Jon spent all that time writing up expectations for the locks on the roster , but the bulk of the comments focused on Broxton bashing and Broxton support. It was a little surprising given how weak those locks look to me but for whatever reason Broxton was the lightening rod of the discussion.
We already voted Broxton as our best RH setup man. Does he have what it takes to move from kick ass setup man to a dominant closer, or is he missing the closer gene? He reminds me a little of Duane Ward a huge relief pitcher in the late 80's who was a great setup guy who got a few saves every year and then became the de-facto closer at age 29. He only had the one brilliant year as the main closer but then broke down and was out of baseball one year later. My only comparison to Ward is that they were both huge, hard throwing RHP relief pitchers who started out as great setup men before getting the chance to be the closer. Broxton is a few years younger then Ward at the same point in their careers and hasn't thrown the innings that Ward did as a setup guy. I don't think he'll break down like Ward and hopefully he'll do what Ward did in his first year as closer which was an all-star and World Championship season.
I don't want to influence anyone, I'm curious to know what you all think before Eric and I tell you what we think.