Aardsma The All-Star? Who Would've Thunk It?!

by Puneet Singh

This next statement is shocking. You might not understand it, you might not want to believe it. It's so outrageous that Michael Jackson read it and had a heart attack. Yeah I just went there.

David Aardsma deserves to be an All-Star. Take a second to soak that in.

There was a time that Aardsma was more known for being the first name in MLB history in the alphabetical order, taking that honor from Hank Aaron. Now he is slowly becoming a dominant 9th inning force.

Now before going insane and jumping off the nearest building take some time to peep the statline:

34 1/3 IP, 15 saves, 43 K's, 1.57 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 1.25 K/inn and 11.28 K/9.

Put that up to the numbers of Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon and Joe Nathan; three pitchers considered to be elite closers in the AL. Here's a look:

Papelbon: 32 IP, 17 saves, 33 K's, 1.97 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 1.03 K/inn and 9.28 K/9.
Rivera: 29 1/3 IP, 17 saves, 37 K's, 3.02 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 1.26 K/inn and 11.37 K/9.
Nathan: 29 2/3 IP, 18 saves, 36 K's, 1.52 ERA, .81 WHIP, 1.22 K/inn and 10.95 K/9.

Here even stack him up against the NL. The Top Three closers in the NL right now are Heath Bell, Brian Wilson and Francisco Rodriguez all at 2o saves:

Bell: 31 1/3 IP, 20 saves, 35 K's, 1.44 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 1.12 K/inn and 10.06 K/9.
Wilson: 34 IP, 20 saves, 37 K's, 2.91 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 1.09 K/inn and 9.79 K/9.
Rodriguez: 35 2/3 IP, 20 saves, 38 K's, 1.01 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 1,07 K/inn and 9.61 K/9.

Tell me he doesn't belong in the discusion for not only top AL Closer but Top Closer in ALL of Baseball.
Outside of saves he is on par in terms of innings pitched, K's, ERA, WHIP, K/inn and K/9. And his case for saves? He didn't become closer until May 16th when Brendan Morrow had tormented Don Wakamatsu and the Seattle faithful enough with his erractic performances. Considering Morrow had six saves and two blown saves, its a safe bet to say that Aardsma would have at LEAST six more saves to his total, if not the full eight.

Prior to landing in Seattle, Aardsma had bounced from the Giants, Cubs, White Sox and Red Sox in a span of FIVE years. It wasn't until he landed in a rebuilding Seattle situation that he was given an extensive look and fair chance. Considering the M's gave up Fabian Williamson(who? exactly) I'm sure that the Mariner's won't be regretting this deal anytime soon.

So when filling out your All-Star ballots or picking up a closer in free agency in your fantasy baseball league, just consider the name David Aardsma. You won't regret it. Just ask Jack Zduriencik, the current GM of Mariner's.