On August 9, 1974, Richard Nixon resigned from his position as President of the United States. Half an hour after Nixon submitted his letter of resignation, Gerald Ford—who had been named (not elected) Vice President after Spiro Agnew resigned nine months earlier—assumed the Presidency and delivered his inauguration speech.
In that speech, Ford famously said:
My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over... Our Constitution works; our great Republic is a government of laws and not of men. Here the people rule. But there is a higher Power, by whatever name we honor Him, who ordains not only righteousness but love, not only justice but mercy.
My fellow Americans, such is the speech I'm prepared to deliver upon Boone Logan's departure from Colorado at some point during or after the 2016 season. And if there is a higher power, by whatever name we may honor Him, may he bless us so abundantly that we feel both the justice and mercy of a far less painful future without the constraints of a left-handed reliever finishing up a regrettable three-year, $16.5 million deal. Our long nightmare, too, will end soon, loyal Rockies fans.
Our long national nightmare will end soon.
Logan was not particularly good in 2015, but to be fair to him, his second season in a Rockies' uniform was better in some ways than his disastrous first go-round in 2014:
Boone Logan | G-GS | IP | H/9 | BB/9 | K/9 | HR/9 | ERA | ERA+ | FIP | WHIP | K:BB |
2014 | 35-0 | 25.0 | 11.2 | 4.0 | 11.5 | 2.2 | 6.84 | 63 | 5.13 | 1.680 | 2.91 |
2015 | 60-0 | 35.1 | 10.2 | 4.3 | 11.2 | 0.8 | 4.33 | 108 | 3.62 | 1.613 | 2.59 |
Boone did some good things, like cutting his home run rate as he became tougher to hit, but he still walked too many and struggled in late innings.
Against lefties, Logan was fine; they hit 16-for-71 (.225/.349/.254) with 30 strikeouts, but righties hit him hard: 24-for-72 (.333/.395/.514) with just 14 strikeouts. For some reason, Logan faced nearly as many right-handed hitters (82) as he did lefties (86). That needs to change.
Boone Logan's 2016 outlook
If we're stuck with Boone Logan, Walt Weiss needs to use him in roles that will put both pitcher and team in a position to succeed. That means Logan's nearly 50/50 split of opposing batters in 2015 (82 right-handed plate appearances and 86 left-handed times to the plate) ought to skew far more heavily towards lefties, considering Logan's recent and career splits. Boone Logan is not currently a take-on-all-comers set up man, nor should he be used as such, despite his absurd contract.
Beyond that, considering 2016 will be Logan's final summer before free agency, common sense tells us that if he throws well enough for a few months at the beginning of the year, a contender may very well come calling for relief help down the stretch. Logan will turn 32 in August, and that combined with his looming free agency at year's end won't net the Rockies much by way of prospects in a return on any hypothetical trade, but surely something—anything, baseball gods, anything—will be better than the last three years of Bone Lagoon.
Soon, Rockies fans, our long national nightmare will be over.