We at Razzball realize that exporting our views across the country has damaging consequences on the blogosphere. To help make amends, we are reaching out to leading team blogs and featuring their locally blogged answers to pressing 2009 fantasy baseball questions regarding their team.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Tyler Walker
Usually I wait until the 1st of every month to go over who’s closing where and who’s backing them up. You know, the Donkey-Corn/Brain Freeze/$12 Salad post. See, you are familiar with my work. Great, I love how you do whatever you do too. Being in the heart of fantasy baseball draft season, my diploma from The College of Fantasy Baseball at Charleston says I must do some early closer updates for 2009 fantasy baseball. I’m not going to mention guys who are completely safe as of right now. One generalization before I get to these closer schmohawks. You want anyone getting saves. Yes, you do. Trust me. You may think Lindstrom will return in 2 weeks and be fine getting 25 saves this year. You may be right. But if Leo Nunez starts the season as the closer, there’s just as good a chance that he keeps the job all year. Last year, you swore Chad Cordero would get the job back from Rauch and there was no reason to grab Big Jon. You swore Huston Street would take back the job from Ziegler. You also missed out on good closers. Anyway, here’s some closers to watch for 2009 fantasy baseball:
Matt Lindstrom – Strained rotator cuff. I would still put him on my bench because he could bounce right back. Or not…
Leo Nunez – Could easily end up with 35 saves or 5. There’s the fun!
Please, blog, may I have some more?Brandon Morrow is out indefinitely due to forearm soreness. Punt! I really liked Morrow going into this season. There’s something to a reliever being converted to a starter in their first year. They just get up for the challenge or something. Whatever the case may be, Brandon doesn’t seem up for the challenge any morrow. You don’t want to deal with this meshugas. If it’s Ervin Santana, then you draft him later and hold out some hope. If it’s a 4th to 5th starter (Morrow), why bother? You wanna give to charity, the March of Dimes could use your help. Or Jerry Lewis. Anyway, here’s some other things I’ve seen so far in spring training regarding fantasy baseball:
Joe Mauer – He’s injured. If I were a spiteful person, I would say it serves you right for drafting Mauer. Not sure why anyone drafts this guy, but he’s struggling with a bulging disk — no, that’s not like when you tried to jam a CD into your radio and one was already there. He’s not going to steal any bases this year, so you’re basically drafting a no-speed Polanco at catcher in the first 8 rounds. Eh, you do what you do. I’m done getting aggravated.
Please, blog, may I have some more?It’s time to take our beginning of the month look at all the major league closers. Some closer battles have not been squared away yet. The Cubs are still holding Gregg over Marmol’s head, the Cards are still reluctant to say Perez, the A’s might split duties between Devine and Ziegler and the Mariners are looking forward to 2010. Personally, I think the Cubs will split Marmol and Gregg 75/25, taking a little value away from Marmol and adding a lot of value to Gregg. If Gregg gets any saves, he’s worth a spot on your roster. I think Devine should and will be the closer for the majority of the year. I think the Cards will go with Perez out of the gate and he’ll be the closer for the majority of the year. Though his leash will be short, making Motte a good late flier. Other good late fliers for the MR.
Please, blog, may I have some more?It’s time to take our beginning of the month look at all the major league closers. Before we get to that, I want to clear up a potential misconception. Donkey-corns are not the only closers I’ll draft for my 2009 fantasy team. I’ll more than happily draft closers from the Brain Freeze category. Cause, see, I’m a save vulture. It is what it is. I’ll take saves from anywhere, except probably from the $12 Salad category. I think those guys are great. I just don’t believe in paying for saves. I said “probably” because at the right draft spot, everyone’s worth looking at it. Some of these closing jobs aren’t finalized just yet. That wouldn’t stop me from grabbing both guys if I had room and the price were right. Just because everyone thinks Brandon Lyon should be the closer doesn’t mean Fernando Rodney has no place on a team until Leyland makes a formal announcement. Anyway, here’s all of the closers for your 2009 fantasy baseball draft, as of right now:
$12 Salads
You know that restaurant your girlfriend/wife/what-have-you likes to go to that charges, like, $12 for a salad? Every time you go there, you have a thoroughly solid meal. No complaints, except you just paid $12 for a salad when you could’ve went to McDonald’s and stuffed you and your woman for ten schmools and had $2 in quarters left over to make the hotel bed vibrate. These closers are $12 salads.
Please, blog, may I have some more?