Steve Phillips
๐ค SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
He's passionate.
He's got the fire that you want in a closer.
And so...
It was one that it probably took a little longer to get Hoffman out of that role that I would have liked, but I give them credit for making that tough decision and having a hard conversation.
It's made Hoffman better, too, and it's taken some of that burden off of him where he'd go out there and pitch in a still high leverage but less intense role where he doesn't have to be perfect.
And for Varlin, I remember the first game he came in to close.
Got a couple runners on, got a little dicey, but he got out of it.
And from that point, he seems like, you know what, I can do this.
I'm comfortable.
Because being a closer, yes, you have to have swing and miss stuff.
You have to have a stomach to be able to handle a situation.
But you also have to have that ability to bounce back when something goes wrong.
Now, not a lot's gone wrong for Varlin yet.
It will at some point blow a game at some point.
And how he comes back from that will be the critical test in all of it.
But I'm I'm very confident in him.
And I will tell you that, like, you know, David Bednar is the closer for the Yankees.
And he's been a closer for years with Pittsburgh and with New York.
I feel much more comfortable with Barlin coming into the game than with Bednar comes in the game.
And I don't even think it's close.