We’re inside the final month of your fantasy baseball seasons. Hopefully you’re in contention for some titles and payouts. Who to trust for saves matters down the stretch. Don’t let a brain freeze drop you in the standings. Also keep an eye out for shifting roles in places like Minnesota, Cleveland, or San Francisco. The Brad Hand types could make or break your stretch run depending on what inning their manager calls on them.
- Brad Hand has possibly passed Cody Allen as the go-to arm in the ninth for Cleveland. That’s been the case the past week or so with Allen earning three holds and no saves. There have been points in prior seasons that Terry Francona felt Allen was better in the eighth inning.
- Josh Hader and Jeremy Jeffress have entered a co-closer situation in Miluakee. Hader with his disgusting slider and 14.99 K/9 are the preferred option here. Clean sheet’s with multiple Ks are fine in non-save situations.
- Two weeks ago I said that I wanted to see A.J. Hinch show some faith in Roberto Osuna, who had just been named the closer. Hinch has stuck to that. A save went to Brad Peacock Monday with Osuna having pitched back to back days, so that’s a non-event. The cost of an Osuna Salad is approaching $12 rest of season.
- The Dodgers are leaving Kenley Jansen home when they visit Colorado this week. His heart issue is nothing to take lightly and some of his meds sound like they need balancing. As he’s not on the DL, I’m leaving him in a closer by committee situation with a drop down the rankings.
- I was honestly unsure we would ever see Mark Melancon close out a game again. Its such an uphill climb for a guy with less than elite stuff to come back from arm issues. Melancon’s K/9 has suddenly spiked to 12.46 the past two weeks. We’ll see how long that lasts. In the meantime, he’s pushing Will Smith for save opps.
- Here’s what I had to say about guys like Jace Fry and Taylor Rogers last week.
$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.
1. Craig Kimbrel – (Matt Barnes, Heath Hembree)
2. Edwin Diaz – (Alex Colome, Adam Warren)
3. Jose Leclerc – (Alex Claudio, Chris Martin)
4. Blake Treinen – (Jeurys Familia, Fernando Rodney)
Donkeycorns
Imagine you’re following a donkey, who’s wearing a wool cap, through a desert for 1700 miles. Why are you following a donkey? Because he promises you something wonderful and you just need to trust him. Does the donkey talk? Yes. Yes, he does talk. So when you and the donkey in the wool cap arrive at his destination, he removes the wool cap to reveal a horn. The donkey is a unicorn and his gift to you for your trust is saves. These closers are Donkeycorns.
5. Roberto Osuna – (Hector Rondon, Colin McHugh)
6. Felipe Vazquez – (Keone Kela, Kyle Crick)
7.Brad Hand / Cody Allen
8. Raisel Iglesias – (Jared Hughes, David Hernandez)
8. Pedro Strop – (Carl Edwards, Jr., Steve Cishek)
9. Dellin Betances – (David Robertson, Zach Britton)
10. Kenley Jansen / Ryan Madson / Kenta Maeda
Employed
These guys are the men that make the save market go round. They punch in, punch out. Have the job, no real threat to speak of, and are basically just there to collect great benny’s so they can take care of their crippled brother. Who is only really crippled because he is scared of the sun.
11. Sergio Romo – (Jose Alvarado, Chaz Roe)
12. Shane Greene – (Joe Jimenez, Alex Wilson)
13.Will Smith / Mark Melancon
14. Brad Boxberger – (Archie Bradley, Yoshihisa Hirano)
16. Jace Fry – (Thyago Viera, Juan Minaya)
17. Josh Hader / Jeremy Jeffress
18. Bud Norris – (Jordan Hicks, Carlos Martinez)
19. Kirby Yates – (Craig Stammen, Phil Maton)
20.Trevor Hildenberger / Taylor Rogers
21. Mychal Givens – (Paul Fry, Miguel Castro)
22.Robert Gsellman – (Seth Lugo / Jerry Blevins)
Brain Freezes
I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing apples, bananas and Carlos Marmol– Wait, he just gave up 12 earned runs and hit Castro in the head with a pick-off throw. Brain freeze! Make it stop! Use the following closers at your own risk.
23. Ken Giles – (Ryan Tepera / Tyler Clippard)
24. Drew Steckenrider – (Adam Conley, Tayron Guerrero)
25. Seranthony Dominguez / Pat Neshek / Tommy Hunter
26. Wily Peralta – (Jason Hammel, Brandon Maurer)
27. Blake Parker (Justin Anderson, Cam Bedrosian)
28. A.J. Minter – (Dan Winkler, Brad Brach)
29. Wade Davis / Adam Ottavino / Seung-Hwan Oh
30. Koda Glover / Justin Miller / Greg Holland
