An Old Post Truer Today Than When Written

[frankbmd]

Originally Posted by BobbyStrawberry

There is no such thing as a "blown hold"–only a blown save.

Think outside the box, Bobby.

A "hold" is merely an incomplete save that is terminated by the manager before the end of the game. Any pitcher who is pitching for the winning team, but does not finish the game or lose the lead is awarded a hold. Any pitcher who loses the lead and does not finish the game does not receive a hold. He has earned a blown hold (in theory) in much the same way that a blown save is awarded.

The interesting artificial distinction is that any pitcher who is awarded a hold, could in fact finish the game and earn a save. So any pitcher entering the game in the late innings could be a "holder" or a "saver". To award a hold the official scorer has to be clairvoyant and agree with the manager that the "holder" when he entered the game had no intention of finishing the game and earning a save.
Maybe we should call a holder, a save saver instead. Put that in your pipe and blow it.

Remember that before there was a "hold" statistic, it didn't exist.
Just because a "blown hold" statistic doesn't exist, doesn't mean it won't.

The next question then becomes distinguishing between a blown hold and a blown save. Is the only distinction here whether it occurs in the last inning of a game? Does the manager have to specify that a pitcher brought in the eighth inning will not pitch in the ninth and thus only be qualified to get a hold rather than a save? The answer is no, so I guess a blown hold is merely a blown save in disguise.

I rest my case. Don't ask me to explain the fallacies of BABIP, WHIP, RISP or LGBTQ. It's all alphabet soup.