Who is Kansas City’s closer? Who knows? Tony Muser isn’t saying, partly because he doesn’t know either. One thing Muser has done right, he hasn’t come out and publicly taken the job away from Ricky Bottalico. Yes, Ricky has been terrible, and he has earned the name Blowttalico for all the leads he’s already coughed up, but at some point later this year, the Royals might just need him. So Muser keep sticking him out there, hoping Bottalico will find whatever it is he lost, if he ever had it in the first place. Jerry Spradlin has picked up the last couple saves for the Royals, though not without incident. Dan Reichert has been mostly good, and Jose Santiago might have the most impressive arm in the bullpen. Muser can only do what he has been doing. Put different guys in there with the game on the line, and see how they react. If one of them grabs the job, great. If not, then you keep trotting out the guy you’re paying to be the closer, and hope that somehow, some way, he figures out how to close.
