Schuerholz: Braves' search for closer continues

<p>The countdown to spring training is on for the Atlanta Braves, but general manager John Schuerholz says the team may still be looking for a closer when pitchers and catchers report to Florida in six weeks.</p><p>"We don't have a closer, but I'm not concerned about whether we do it before we go to spring training or after we go to spring training," Schuerholz said. "We'll have a closer. We don't have one now. There's no time sensitivity with that."</p><p>The Braves went through three closers last year: Dan Kolb, Chris Reitsma and Kyle Farnsworth. After the season, the team traded Kolb back to Milwaukee and lost Farnsworth, who signed as a free agent with the Yankees. Only Reitsma is back, and the comments from Schuerholz indicate Reitsma is not viewed as the top candidate for ninth-inning work.</p><p>Schuerholz says his choices are to trade for a closer or to find one already in the organization. The option of bidding for a free-agent closer was too costly for the Braves' budget.</p><p>"The reality is the closer market is closed unless we make a trade or make a conversion of someone on our staff," he said.</p><p>Schuerholz shot down growing speculation that last season's breakout starter, Jorge Sosa, might become the closer. He said Sosa was so successful as a starter there is no reason to move him back to the bullpen, where he began the 2005 season.</p><p>Instead, expect Sosa to open the season behind John Smoltz and Tim Hudson in the rotation.</p><p>"Some would argue he was our most consistent starter, so I don't anticipate that," said Schuerholz of the suggestion Sosa could move back to the bullpen. "He was so valuable when he took over the starter role."</p><p>Sosa was 13-3 with a 2.55 ERA in 44 games, including 20 starts. Smoltz and Hudson each had 14 wins to lead the team.</p><p>Even with Mike Hampton out for the year following elbow surgery, the Braves still have at least six strong candidates for their five-man rotation. John Thomson, Horacio Ramirez and 2005 rookie Kyle Davies are the top candidates to fill the two spots behind Smoltz, Hudson and Sosa.</p><p>Schuerholz confirmed that it is reasonable to suggest the team could deal from that strength to acquire a closer.</p><p>One team looking for starting pitching is Tampa Bay, which might offer closer Danys Baez.</p><p>The Braves could hope a closer emerges from its roster during spring training under new pitching coach Roger McDowell. The team has several candidates to handle save situations:</p><p>_Reitsma had 15 saves in 24 opportunities. He was strong in June and July, with 13 saves in 15 chances. In July he was 8-for-8 in save opportunities with a 1.17 ERA. Then came leg problems which sapped his effectiveness and cost him the closer's job, as he blew five of six chances after July.</p><p>Reitsma could reclaim the ninth-inning role, but it doesn't appear he will enter spring as the first option.</p><p>"It's too early for anybody to make any assumptions," Schuerholz said when asked about the team's plans for Reitsma. "We haven't really come to a comfort level with the direction we want to take on that."</p><p>_Joey Devine, the Braves' first-round draft pick last June, earned a late-season promotion he'd just as soon forget. He became the first pitcher in baseball history to give up grand slams in his first two regular-season appearances, and then he gave up the homer that ended Houston's win over Atlanta in the playoffs.</p><p>Even so, Devine could make the major league roster out of spring training. He is still viewed as the closer of the future, assuming he wasn't too traumatized by the home runs. With a strong spring, he could fill a key role in the bullpen.</p><p>_Blaine Boyer was 4-2 with a strong 3.11 ERA as a rookie, and he showed potential to be a setup man or closer. Another 2005 rookie, Macay McBride, also enjoyed a promising debut. Each had strong strikeouts to innings ratios.</p><p>_Right-handers Lance Cormier and Oscar Villareal were acquired from Arizona for catcher Johnny Estrada. In an open competition, either could emerge with a strong spring.</p><p>Villareal, 24, hasn't been the same since setting a National League rookie record with 86 appearances in 2003, when he was 10-7 with a 2.57 ERA. Cormier, 25, was 7-3 with a 5.11 ERA in 67 appearances last year for Arizona.</p><p>The Braves seem to always find a spring surprise. Might one of the team's top minor league starters _ perhaps Chuck James or Anthony Lerew _ be given a chance to stick in the bullpen since there does not appear to be a vacancy in the rotation?</p><p>Schuerholz would like to answer the big closer question with a trade before pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 16.</p><p>"We know we're going to fix it," he said. "We just don't know how.</p><p>"As we continue to make our contacts with other clubs and let conversations grow and expand, we'll have a sense of what the best way is to get this matter ultimately dealt with, whether it is by trade or internally. We're not at that point yet."</p>

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