With the baseball season starting in the blink of seven-days-eyes, I figured it would be fitting since we all crunch drafts ’til the last possible moment. Waiting until the end isn’t always a bad idea, you get the last news possible on injuries and job security. Bad thing is that you lose some of the sleeper appeal. By now, if you haven’t heard of a guy who could be closing, there is a great possibility that he doesn’t have a Sam Hill’s chance of closing. Just facts. These guys aren’t born yesterday and matriculate with a mastery of three pitches overnight. The bullpen folk have one job and that is to make a save situation stay a save situation. This holds true for holds guys, pun semi-intended. So the list is basically where it should be until we start seeing some production from the lads. The committee situations that exist in Milwaukee and possibly Philly will be that until someone gets the bulk of the load on his back. Which sounds gross, but from a fantasy perspective, you want a full orgy of saves on your closer. After all, quantity is the name of the game, that and continued success at it. It is like everyone else’s job; you do good you stay. You do poorly, you get pink slipped and sent to middle relief-dom. So fingers crossed, or if you play the cuff odds, just simply uncross them and pray for the worst. Here is the last rankings of Closers and their hand-cuffs for the start of fantasy baseball version, 2.016…
- The Yankees have an elite-type back after the suspension that Miller still stays in the roughage category. 30 days as the closer could still net him 10-12 saves and he could easily finish the year with 15/30 saves holds.
- Cody Allen may be the first guy from the second tier I see making the leap to the next grouping. He ended last year with 1 ER given up in his last 19 appearances spanning 25 innings. His K-rate was over 13. Great starting pitching and a under the radar type relief crew in front could make him a top-8 guy in no time.
- The Rays situation is a complete committee to me, Farquahr and Colome will probably each get opportunities until one shows better effectiveness. The best thing to look for is that for a career is that Farquhar gets LH out better than RH. Colome is the opposite.
- I am still not so sure that Vizcaino is the guy in Atlanta, Grilli appears to be back and only increases the level of prospect return by having him close for the first 45 games or so. Just my thought.
- The committee or the semblance of one in Philly has Bailey in the conversation for saves now that Hernandez has been slowed in spring. I understand that saves are saves but, Bailey’s last save was June of 2013. Hernandez’s was July of that same year. Hooray for the way back machine.
- Will Smith is the guy you want in Milwaukee, Jeffress has barely thrown in spring and Smith is their best reliever period.
$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 – (Pedro Baez, Yimi Garcia, Chris Hatcher)
2. Wade Davis – (Joakim Soria, Kelvin Herrera)
3. Craig Kimbrel – (Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa)
4. Jeurys Familia – (Addison Reed, Antonio Bastardo)
5. Zach Britton – (Darren O’Day, Mychal Givens)
6. Trevor Rosenthal – (Kevin Siegrist,Jordan Walden, Seung Hwan Oh)
7. Ken Giles – (Luke Gregerson, Pat Neshek)
8. Andrew Miller – (Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman- Susp)
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.
9. David Robertson – (Zach Putnam, Jake Petricka, Nate Jones)
10. Mark Melancon – (Tony Watson, Arquimedes Caminero, Jared Hughes)
11. Hector Rondon – (Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm)
12. Shawn Tolleson – (Keone Kela, Sam Dyson)
13. Cody Allen – (Bryan Shaw, Zach McAllister)
14. A.J. Ramos – (Mike Dunn, Bryan Morris, Kyle Barraclough)
15. Francisco Rodriguez – (Mark Lowe, Justin Wilson)
16. Jonathan Papelbon – (Shawn Kelley, Blake Treinen, Trevor Gott)
17. Huston Street – (Joe Smith, Mike Morin)
18. Glen Perkins – (Kevin Jepsen, Trevor May)
19. Drew Storen – (Roberto Osuna, Brett Cecil)
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.
20. Jake McGee – (Jason Motte, Chad Qualls, Miguel Castro)
21. Steve Cishek – (Joaquin Benoit, Tony Zych)
22. Santiago Casilla – (Sergio Romo, Hunter Strickland)
23. Brad Ziegler – (Tyler Clippard, Daniel Hudson, Silvino Bracho)
24. Sean Doolittle – (John Axford, Ryan Madson)
25. Fernando Rodney – (Kevin Quackenbush, Jon Edwards)
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.
26. Arodys Vizcaino – (Jason Grilli, Jim Johnson)
27. J.J. Hoover – (Jumbo Diaz, Zach Weiss)
28. David Hernandez – (Andrew Bailey, Edward Mujica)
29. Danny Farquhar, Alex Colome – (Xavier Cedeno, Steve Geltz)
30. Will Smith – (Corey Knebel, Jeremy Jeffress)
