Joe Nelson laughed at the mention of Spring Training numbers, noting that he led the Grapefruit League in saves in 2008 because the Marlins' regular closer took care of his work in the fifth or sixth innings.
"Numbers like that are pretty irrelevant," Nelson said. "Unfortunately, there are some guys who are going to go out and hit .600 with four homers and still not make the team. So you can't base a 162-game schedule on 40 at-bats or six innings during Spring Training.
"You've got to look at a little bit of their history and what they've done in the past, and know that some guys work into Spring Training."
Nelson struggled some earlier this spring when he gave up an outbreak of home runs, so regardless of the relevance of the numbers, he knows bad numbers can affect his mind-set.
"It can mess with your psyche," Nelson said. "Every one of us is as confident as we can be, but we do have a fragile psyche. And this is a game built on failure, so you're used to it a little bit."
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