Crooked Pitch

When the Dodgers failed to tender Takashi Saito a contract last Friday, the 38-year-old closer became a free agent. If this had happened before the 2008 season Jonathan Broxton’s name would have immediately vaulted up towards the top of the NL closers list. But, since Broxton’s BB/9 ballooned in 2008 to 3.52 and he blew eight saves (second only to Kevin Gregg and Manny Corpas’ nice blown saves) I’m going to go ahead and take a wait and see approach to predicting success for Broxton.

And, since the Dodgers seem interested in shopping for a closer, maybe you shouldn’t throw a lot of eggs in the Broxton basket just yet.

Saito’s potential departure leaves 24-year-old Jonathan Broxton as the top candidate to be the Dodgers’ closer.

But the Dodgers aren’t entirely convinced Broxton can handle the role — “He’s shown signs he can do it and he’s shown signs he’s not ready to do it yet,” Colletti said — and have expressed an interest in signing Trevor Hoffman. Colletti also named left-hander Hong-Chih Kuo as an internal candidate to replace Saito if he signs elsewhere.