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I agree that there are innumerable reasons why Farquhar may not have pitched last night, but it is clear that the role of closer is caudified (ossified) in the M's dugout. Wedge almost always chooses role stability and reliability over short-term strategic gain, maybe Thompson agrees or merely feels an obligation to manager as Wedge's replacement rather than according to his own preferences.
Generally, I think the importance of short term strategy is exaggerated by most baseball fans. Players generally perform much worse as pinch hitters than they do otherwise. In this regard, I often side with Wedge. The two exceptions are using closers in tied games (or down a run on occasion) and defensive substitutions.
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Totally agree that it would be weird for the M's to see Farquhar as Closer(TM)... so much so, that I don't think they do. Maybe it was as simple as Farquhar pitching 4 of the last 6 days and not wanting to make it 5 of 7.