Most of the Time, They’re Career Savers

John Smoltz already had been converted, but he did not officially become a convert until he signed on the dotted line last winter.

That’s when Smoltz, one of the most successful major league pitchers in the 1990s, spurned free-agent contract offers from several teams that still coveted him as a starter and opted to remain with the Atlanta Braves as a closer.

Up to that point, Smoltz was a reluctant reliever. He had started every regular-season game he had appeared in since 1987 until he returned last season from an elbow injury that forced him to miss the 2000 season. He saved 10 games--and possibly his career.

“It’s a totally different role, it’s night and day,” said Smoltz, who has 13 saves this season. “You fight a lot of demons that you definitely don’t fight as a starter.”

The overwhelming majority of those who are paid to finish games in the major leagues began their pro careers starting them. A dominating pitch or two, good control and the ability to bounce back quickly from failure are traits shared by closers, but baseball executives and managers say there is no formula for a successful conversion.

Billy Koch of the Oakland Athletics, for example, never pitched in relief in the minors, but he has never started in the majors.

“There isn’t just one way to find guys that will fill that role,” Dodger General Manager Dan Evans said. “Sometimes you have to be creative. Sometimes, you just have to be lucky.”

Great arm strength and weak bats turned position players such as the Angels’ Troy Percival and Trevor Hoffman of the San Diego Padres into relievers in the minor leagues.

Others, such as Keith Foulke of the Chicago White Sox, emerged as closers after faltering in major league stints as starters.

Eric Gagne, who had never earned a save during his pro career, got his shot as a closer with the Dodgers this season because of a logjam of talent in the rotation.

“Sometimes when a guy goes to the bullpen, he’s not throwing as many pitches so his fastball or another pitch seems to gain a little life,” Angel Manager Mike Scioscia said. “I think that’s what’s happening a little bit with Gagne. Throwing 15 to 25 pitches a game is a lot different than throwing 125.”

Hall of Famer Rollie Fingers, Mike Marshall, Rich Gossage, Bruce Sutter and Lee Smith are among those who were much better at finishing what others started.

Dennis Eckersley was the rare front-line starter who evolved into one of history’s best closers.

Eckersley, who recorded 197 wins and 390 saves, began his 24-year major league career in the bullpen thanks to Frank Robinson, who was managing the Cleveland Indians in 1975. Eckersley had played 11/2 minor league seasons, but had performed so well in spring training that Robinson wanted him to break camp with the major league club. Robinson said team executives balked at the idea until he assured them he would bring Eckersley along slowly as a reliever.

“But he didn’t last long in the bullpen,” Robinson said. “By the middle of May he was in the starting rotation.”

Eckersley saved two games in 1975, but made his name as a starter during the first 12 years of his career, winning 20 games for the Boston Red Sox in 1978.

On April 3, 1987, he was acquired by the A’s in a trade with the Chicago Cubs. “He was kind of in limbo when we brought him over,” said Sandy Alderson, the A’s general manager at the time.

Alderson said the A’s were hoping that Eckersley could provide more depth in the rotation. He pitched in a “swing” role in 1987 before Manager Tony La Russa and pitching coach Dave Duncan decided that Eckersley’s control and mental toughness could make him a closer.

“The rest is history,” Alderson said.

Percival, the Angels’ all-time saves leader, was put on track to become the team’s closer after it quickly became apparent that he was not going to be their catcher.

Selected by the Angels in the sixth round of 1990 draft out of UC Riverside, Percival batted .203 and struck out 25 times in 79 at-bats in his first season at Class-A Boise of the Northwest League. Angel coaches, however, noticed that Percival’s rocket throws from behind the plate were traveling faster than those he caught from most pitchers, and he was turned into a relief pitcher.

He saved 12 games for Boise in 1991 and was in the big leagues by 1995, where he learned at the right elbow of Lee Smith, who compiled 478 saves in more than 17 big league seasons. Percival has started only three games as a pro, all rehabilitation work with Class-A Lake Elsinore.

“They groomed me for this job from Day 1,” said Percival, who has six saves this season and 216 in his career. “When you do it that way, you learn to fail at it and come back in the minor leagues before you get up here.”

Foulke developed into a closer after he went 1-5 with an 8.26 earned-run average for the Giants in the first half of 1997 and was traded to the White Sox. Like many, Foulke lacked command of more than two pitches, which led to his struggles as a starter.

“He had a dominant changeup and a plus fastball,” said Evans, who was an assistant general manager for the White Sox at the time. “Put him in the bullpen and have him focus on 15 to 20 pitches and you have a different guy.”

Foulke was a long reliever in 1998 and was the setup man for Bobby Howry in 1999. He emerged as a closer the next season and saved 34 games. Last season, he had 42 saves.

“It wasn’t like Mariano Rivera with the Yankees--no one ever said, ‘You’re the closer,’” Foulke recalled. “I just started pitching the ninth inning more and more.”

Bob Watson was the general manager of the Yankees when Rivera moved from setup man to closer after John Wetteland signed a free-agent contract with the Texas Rangers after the 1996 season. Rivera’s 97-mph fastball, slider and makeup made him an easy choice.

Watson, who also was general manager of the Houston Astros, said Rivera’s seemingly natural progression is not the only way to find a closer.

“Sometimes, it’s just by accident--you don’t have anybody else,” Watson said.

Take the case of the Rangers this season. They broke from spring training confident that their staff featured not one, but two potential closers in Jeff Zimmerman and John Rocker. But Zimmerman got hurt and the club attempted to send Rocker to the minor leagues in April.

Enter Hideki Irabu, a fringe starter who was cast into the closer role out of desperation. Irabu, who had never saved a game in parts of five previous major league seasons, has responded with 10 saves.

Irabu’s eventual return to the rotation is not out of the question. Not after the startling success this season of Boston’s Derek Lowe.

Lowe saved 42 games for the Red Sox in 2000, but faltered in 2001 and lost the closer’s job. He got three starts at the end of last season and spent the off-season building up his body to rejoin the rotation.

On April 27, Lowe pitched the first no-hitter at Fenway Park since 1965 when he beat the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 10-1. Lowe is 6-1 with a 2.16 earned-run average.

“I knew he had good stuff, but I didn’t know he had the stuff to go nine innings,” Percival said. “But me becoming a starter? Not a chance.”

Foulke said you can take a pitcher out of the rotation, but you can’t take starting out of his blood.

“It’s no secret, I’d like to go back to starting one day,” he said. “I’ve been working on developing another pitch, and Lowe is one of the guys I’m looking at. He did it. You never know.”

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Times staff writer Jason Reid contributed to this report.

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*--* Not Bad Company Pitchers with at least 100 saves and 35 starts in the major leagues. (Eric Gagne has started 48 games): Pitcher Saves Starts Dennis Eckersley 390 361 Rollie Fingers 341 37 Rick Aguilera 318 89 Rich Gossage 310 37 Dave Righetti 252 89 Hoyt Wilhelm 225 52 Jose Mesa 193 95 Jeff Russell 186 79 Steve Bedrosian 184 46 Tug McGraw 180 39 Lindy McDaniel 172 74 Stu Miller 154 93 Dave Giusti 145 133 Jim Brewer 132 35 Bob Stanley 132 85 Terry Forster 127 39 John Hiller 125 43 Al Worthington 110 69 Ron Kline 108 203 Johnny Murphy 107 40 Ron Reed 103 236 Ellis Kinder 102 122 Craig Lefferts 101 45 Firpo Marberry 101 187

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