Surprise. Huston Street is already injured and being replaced by someone who isn’t the full measure or picture of health in Cam Bedrosian. Cam is the goods, it is just a matter of him grabbing that role, remaining healthy, and then riding off into the sunset like the end of the movie Shane. Minus the slumped-over presumably a dead thing. The thing that I love about Cam is that he is growing as a pitcher. He always had the K/9 rate (9.3 in 2014, 9.2 in 2015, and 11.4 in 2016), but the thing that says that he is legit is that his walk rate was basically halved last year. To extrapolate on that further, in his last 26 appearances of last year he faced 92 batters, walked 8, and allowed 12 hits. Good for a slash line of .146/.239/.159 for a .398 OPS. That is approaching reliever stalwarts like Bush and Barraclough. And we know how much they are coveted right now, and they don’t have a sniff of savedom. Oh… and add in only one earned run during that time. Stats sound great because they are basically forgotten about, because his season ended the first week of August. He was basically licking the closer bait, and then poof. Til now. If you are looking to invest in him for the season, he is basically going to give you Kelvin Herrera type production, and by his ever rising ADP (last week 200, this week 140) the secret is out for the save chase in La La Grey. Let’s see what else is going down in the realm of closers as we get ever closer to draft days…
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- I am starting to worry a bit about Wade Davis, velocity is not there and from someone who saw him in person, “He lacks that bulldog effort that he used to have” Interesting note from my grandma. It wasn’t my grandma, but someone who made me a quilt none the same.
- It is still Jeanmar Gomez job until it isn’t. I get that Neris is the better pitcher, but I think Gomez opens the year as the guy.
- The world awaits Dusty baker’s decision. Said he prefers a veteran in the role and wants one guy and one guy only. Draft wise I would invest in Glover late then Kelley in the middle of a closer run. Oh and Joe Nathan is in their camp and might make the team. Nothing like complicating matters. So that is why the Nationals ae where they are.
- With Casilla being delayed to camp and behind a bit The Oakland closer for now is Ryan Madson. Doolittle takes the 2, Casilla the 3 and Dull the 4.
- Interesting to note that Addison Reed is being drafted as the closer 22 off the board currently.
$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. Kenley Jansen – (Sergio Romo, Pedro Baez)
2. Aroldis Chapman – (Dellin Betances, Tyler Clippard)
3. Zach Britton – (Darren O’Day, Brad Brach)
4. Craig Kimbrel – (Tyler Thornburg, Matt Barnes)
5. Edwin Diaz – (Steve Cishek, Nick Vincent)
6. Mark Melancon – (Hunter Strickland, Derek Law)
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.
7. Seung-hwan Oh – (Kevin Siegrist, Brett Cecil)
8. Ken Giles – (Will Harris, Luke Gregerson)
9. Wade Davis – (Hector Rondon, Koji Uehara)
10. Roberto Osuna – (Jason Grilli, Danny Barnes)
11. David Robertson – (Nate Jones, Dan Jennings)
12. Cody Allen – (Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw)
13. Kelvin Herrera – (Joakim Soria, Brian Flynn)
14. Jeurys Familia – (Addison Reed, Hansel Robles)
15. A.J. Ramos– (Brad Ziegler, Kyle Barraclough)
16. Sam Dyson– (Matt Bush, Jeremy Jeffress)
17. Cam Bedrosian – (Andrew Bailey, Jose Alvarez)
18. Alex Colome – (Brad Boxberger, Xavier Cedeno)
19. Francisco Rodriguez – (Alex Wilson, Justin Wilson, Bruce Rondon)
20. Tony Watson – (Daniel Hudson, Felipe Rivero)
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.
21. Jim Johnson – (Arodys Vizcaino, Mauricio Cabrera)
22. Brandon Kintzler – (Ryan Pressly, Taylor Rogers)
23. Adam Ottavino – (Greg Holland, Jake McGee)
24. Neftali Feliz – (Corey Knebel, Carlos Torres)
25. Jeanmar Gomez – (Hector Neris, Joaquin Benoit)
26. Fernando Rodney– (Enrique Burgos Jake Barrett)
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.
27. Ryan Madson – (Sean Doolittle, Santiago Casilla, Ryan Dull)
28. Brandon Maurer – (Carter Capps, Ryan Buchter)
29. Shawn Kelley / Koda Glover / Blake Treinen
30. Raisel Iglesias / Drew Storen – (Michael Lorenzen)
