It appears that Paul is referring to closers in general.

[5] The flaw with your argument is a “backup closer” wouldn’t be able to fill his role until Mo was injured, whereas a new LF would play 162 games. What’s more, you can’t sign players without their consent. I am pretty sure that players worthy of being considered closers in the true sense of the word (Papelbon, Nathan, etc.) wouldn’t be jumping at the chance to be setup men.

As for the notion that a top closer isn’t very important, I guess you haven’t been watching Mariano these last 15 years. Cashman has, so I am sure he’ll make every effort to ensure that the Yankees follow up (you can’t replace) Mo with the best possible alternative.

You know, that’s what irks me about the “What about the post-season?” criticism of the marginal wins analysis. I mean, Mo is perhaps the Yankees’ most valuable post-season contributor. And yet, where’s the clamor to go out and get a back-up closer for stupid money just in case Mo gets hurt? At some point spending money gets dumb. Cashman seems to have realized that point.

That’s the nicest surprise from Cashman. He’s realized the true value of bullpen slots so no more stupid money thrown at Farnsworth/Karsay types. We can only hope that philosophy survives Mo rather than signing another closer (Papelbon?) to stupid money.

It just feels so wrong to say that even though it’s so true. It almost feels like blasphemy.

What a fantastic transition by Cashman. but his job won’t be complete until they have a new SS, Catcher, and Closer and they’re still winning. But so far, so good. Focusing on strikeout pitchers was very, very smart. So too was seeing the opportunity with Teixeira.

Seeing this I can’t see how any Yankee fan, most especially coming off a world championship, can doubt the plan that’s in place and what’s transpired this off-season. They continue to get younger and cheaper. And the way to do that isn’t by spending close to $100M on the least important, and most easily filled, position.

For instance [1] – even with both of those scenarios, they’re still a playoff team. That’s how much room they have to work with. The bigger worry is losing Posada or Jeter or even A-Rod for a significant stretch. But that risk is the same for any team with a premium player at a premium position. Insurance is signing someone like Tejada for the bench – too much money throw at too small of a problem. It’s the same as notion of insurance that is upgrading from Gardner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QokP44nJFlc