All Time One-Year Wonder: Closers

I am finally finishing this series.  I posted my team on Twitter recently, to some decent response.  Some arguments were made with a few of the selections, most notably around second base.  I will eventually do an update for some players from the last couple of years, including most likely a new right-fielder.

I'm going to do something a little different with the One-Year Wonder posts. I have decided to go position-by-position and see if I can determine who the best player at each position would be who only spent one year with the Red Sox. This requires a lot of time and research. I am not naming every single player who spent just one season with the Red Sox at each position, but just the better-known players. At the end of the post, I will pick the single best player for each position.

CLOSER

AL BENTON - 1952

After playing the 1951 season in the minors, Benton returned to the Majors for one last season with the Red Sox.  Benton had been a longtime star with the Detroit Tigers.  He was an All Star twice, in 1941 and 1942, and received MVP votes in 1941 and 1945.  He had his best seasons when he was primarily a starting pitcher, but he was used as a relief ace frequently as well.  The save was not an official statistic during his career, but he was credited with 17 to lead the Majors in 1940.  Benton also pitched for the Athletics and Indians prior to joining Boston.  The Red Sox picked him up from a minor league team in late June to provide some security in the bullpen.  Benton was used exclusively out of the bullpen by Boston, appearing in 24 games, finishing 17 of them, with no starts.  He had a record of 4-3 with a sparkling 2.39 ERA in 37.2 innings pitched.  He struck out 20 and walked 17 while notching six more saves.  He was fourth in the league in saves.  The right-hander finished his career with 66 saves.

STEVE FARR - 1994

Farr got a late start to his career but eventually found a home as a reliever for the Kansas City Royals.  After being supplanted as the closer by Jeff Montgomery he had his best season as a setup man, going 13-7 with a 1.98 ERA and 94 strikeouts in 127 innings.  He was signed by the Yankees after the season to replace the departed Dave Righetti as closer.  Farr was the Yankees' closer for three years, his best season coming in 1992 when he had 30 saves and a 1.56 ERA.  Farr started the 1994 season with Cleveland, but he struggled.  The Indians were a contending team in the strike-shortened season and needed a reliable closer.  The Red Sox, out of contention, sent similarly struggling Jeff Russell for Farr and Chris Nabholz.  Farr pitched in eleven games for the Red Sox, finishing four of them.  He had a record of 1-0, but a 6.23 ERA.  He pitched 13 innings, striking out eight batters with three walks.  It was Farr's last season in the Majors.

RICK AGUILERA - 1995

Aguilera put together a lengthy and successful career primarily as the closer for the Minnesota Twins.  He came up with the Mets and spent a few years there having some success as a starter before being traded to the Twins at the trading deadline in 1989 for Frank Viola.  He became the team's closer the next season.  He was an All Star for the first time and received MVP votes in the Twins' World Championship season in 1991.  He had a 2.35 ERA and 42 saves.  He was an All Star each of the next two seasons as well, saving 41 and then 34 games.  Aguilera was having another good season in 1995 for a Twins' team that was not going anywhere.  The Red Sox were in first place but had issues at closer with the largely unproven Ken Ryan.  Aguilera was the top reliever on the market and the Red Sox sent top prospect Frankie Rodriguez as well as J.J. Johnson to Minnesota to get the deal done.  Aguilera continued to be successful and solidified the bullpen, saving 20 games with a 2-2 record and a 2.67 ERA.  He struck out 23 and walked seven in 30.1 innings pitched.  Unfortunately, his final appearance with the Red Sox came in Game 1 of the ALDS when he allowed a game-tying home run to Albert Belle.  He returned to Minnesota the next season where the Twins made the bad decision to try to make him a starter again.  He returned to the bullpen the next season and spent a few more seasons as the closer for the Twins and Cubs.  Aguilera retired with 318 career saves.

CHAD FOX - 2003

In 2003 the Red Sox made the much-maligned and rather unsuccessful decision to go with a bullpen by committee instead of a set closer.  They acquired a number of live arms to try to pull this off, including Chad Fox.  Fox had never been a closer before but had a terrific season for the Brewers in 2001.  That season he appeared in 65 games with a record of 5-2 and a 1.89 ERA.  He struck out 80 batters, walking 36 in 66.2 innings and notched two saves.  Unfortunately, injuries cost him much of the 2002 season and he pitched in just three games.  He was signed as a low-cost, high-reward option in the bullpen by the Red Sox and was one of the leading choices for save situations.  It did not really work out.  Fox pitched in 17 games, finishing ten, with a 4.50 ERA and a record of 1-2.  He did notch three saves, a career high.  He struck out 19 batters but walked 17.  Fox was released in July and found his way to the Marlins where he was terrific.  He had a 2.13 ERA and had a role in the World Championship team's bullpen.  Fox pitched a few more years with the Marlins and Cubs but was not as successful.  

BRANDON LYON - 2003

Another option the Red Sox had as an occasional closer in 2003 was more a little more successful.  Lyon had been picked up on waivers from the Blue Jays where he was used primarily as a starter.  Lyon pitched the entire 2003 season out of the bullpen.  Lyon became the primary option as the closer when the team abandoned the closer-by-committee, at least for a little while.  He saved nine games before Boston acquired Byung-Hyun Kim.  Lyon was traded to the Pirates shortly before the trading deadline in a deal for lefty reliever Scott Sauerbeck.  But the Pirates discovered he had an injury, and he was traded back to Boston along with starter Jeff Suppan for Freddy Sanchez.  Lyon never pitched a game for the Pirates organization.  He spent some time on the disabled list before coming back in September, but he had lost his set role.  For the season, Lyon pitched in 49 games, finishing 31.  He had a record of 4-6 with a 4.12 ERA, 50 strikeouts and 19 walks in 59 innings.  He ended up with just the nine saves.  After the season, Lyon was packaged along with Casey Fossum and a couple of minor leaguers to Arizona in the Curt Schilling deal.  Lyon pitched several more seasons and had years where he saved 20 or more games for the Diamondbacks and Astros.  He saved 79 games in his career.  

ERIC GAGNE - 2007

Once one of the best relievers in the game and the holder of the record of consecutive saves (84), Gagne was nearing the end of his career when he was acquired by the Red Sox.  The Canadian right-hander came up with the Dodgers and took over the closer role in 2002.  That season marked the beginning of three years of dominance in which he was an All Star three times and won the 2003 N.L. Cy Young Award.  That season he was 2-3 with a 1.20 ERA, 55 saves, 137 strikeouts and 20 walks in 82.1 innings pitched.  Unfortunately, his career was derailed by injuries in 2005 and he was let go prior to 2007.  The Rangers signed him, and he started to resurrect his career, saving 16 games with a 2.16 ERA prior to being traded to the Red Sox at the trading deadline.  Boston sent David Murphy and a couple prospects to Texas with the idea that Gagne would provide some backup to young closer Jonathan Papelbon down the stretch.  Unfortunately, Gagne was a disaster in Boston.  He blew three saves and did not actually notch a single save for the Red Sox.  He was 2-2 with a 6.75 ERA, struck out 22 while walking nine in 18.2 innings, and he finished eleven of 20 games.  He was mostly relegated to mop-up duty the rest of the season and post-season.  After the season, he signed with the Brewers and accumulated ten more saves, but with a 5.44 ERA to wrap up his career.  He notched 187 saves in his career. 

JOEL HANRAHAN - 2013

The Red Sox had something of a rough pattern trading for closers for awhile.  Gagne cost them David Murphy.  Andrew Bailey cost them Josh Reddick.  Mark Melancon cost them Jed Lowrie.  Tyler Thornburg cost them Travis Shaw.  Carson Smith cost them Wade Miley.  The Craig Kimbrel deal finally snapped that string.  Joel Hanrahan was coming off of two consecutive All Star seasons with the Pirates, saving 76 games with a 2.24 ERA over the two years, when the Red Sox traded for him.  To get him, they gave up Melancon, who would go on to be a four-time All Star and is still playing, and a few prospects.  Hanrahan started the season off okay, but then got rocked in a couple of games, then went on the shelf with an injury that he would never make it back from.  His Red Sox record was 0-1 with a 9.82 ERA, four saves and two blown saves.  He struck out five batters and walked six in 7.1 innings over nine games.  The trade was not a total loss since Brock Holt also came over in the deal, and luckily Boston signed Koji Uehara prior to the season to take over as closer.  Hanrahan never pitched in the Majors again.

THE BEST ONE-YEAR CLOSER

After reading about these choices, was there ever any doubt?  Al Benton had a nice season, but the closer role was still largely undefined at his time.  The save was not even an official statistic yet.  It is sort of odd that not one of these guys lasted an entire season as the closer, though that is not really Rick Aguilera's fault as he was not even acquired until the trading deadline.  He made the most of his time there though, easily turning in a terrific season and helping the Red Sox to the A.L. East title.  I doubt they could have done it without him providing a weapon at the end of the game.  So yes, Aguilera is the best one-year closer in Red Sox history.