Are the Red Sox grasping at proverbial straws here? I mean, let’s go to the waiver wire in real life… Grab a reliever, Jean Machi, that has three career saves, and let’s say we’ll think about him being the closer for our team. It sounds weird and crazy, but then you look at the Sawx record (it’s the worst in the AL by the way), and realize maybe it’s not such a far fetched idea. Hanley Ramirez has nine freaking doubles all year. NINE! I just hit four at Fenway the other day, until I realized they were hamburgers. Okay, back to closers. So the Red Sox, with the loss of Koji Uehara to the DL, will turn to just about anyone to see if they can close the 8-10 chances they will get the rest of the year. The front runners are Junichi Tazawa (has 4 blown saves in the last 30 days) and Jean Machi, and the sleeper candidate is the former All-Star closer Ryan Cook. Who in himself was traded for that spectacular fantasy asset: PTBNL. The situations for closers is getting bleaker with the bad teams losing actual options and not having a genuine fall-back option that you could tie your waiver wire dollars too. Best advice is don’t chance saves from all these guys, it will nuke your numbers elsewhere. Concede that you will only get seven points from saves instead of nine. Friends don’t let friends drive drunk while texting or making waiver claims.
- In a weird but true stat, there are 22 closers on pace for 30 plus saves this year. In my research, there have never been more than 19 to do it in one year.
- Speculating on a dynasty closer, look at Corey Knebel‘s numbers for the Brewers. He has a propensity for the tater, but K-wise and stuff, he is right there.
- I am glad the Cubs settled on Rondon, he was the right choice to start the year and by hook or by crook, Maddon went back the way he came. In last 30 games, he’s pitched towards 7 saves, with an ERA under a buck and a K rate north of 10.
$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. Aroldis Chapman – (J.J. Hoover, Jumbo Diaz)
2. Kenley Jansen — (Jim Johnson. Pedro Baez)
3. Greg Holland– (Wade Davis, Kelvin Herrera)
4. Craig Kimbrel – (Joaquin Benoit, Shawn Kelley)
5. Trevor Rosenthal – (Kevin Siegrist, Jonathan Broxton)
6. Andrew Miller– (Dellin Betances, Justin Wilson)
7. Mark Melancon — (Joakim Soria, Tony Watson)
8. Jonathan Papelbon – (Drew Storen, Casey Janssen)
9. Huston Street – (Joe Smith, Trevor Gott)
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.
10. Glen Perkins – (Kevin Jepsen, Trevor May, Blaine Boyer)
11. David Robertson – (Nate Jones, Zach Duke)
12. Zach Britton – (Darren O’Day, Brad Brach)
13. Cody Allen – (Bryan Shaw, Zach McAllister)
14. Jeurys Familia – (Tyler Clippard, Bobby Parnell)
15. Francisco Rodriguez, (Will Smith, Jeremy Jeffress)
16. Ken Giles– (Luis Garcia, Justin de Fratus)
17. Hector Rondon (Jason Motte, Pedro Strop, Rafael Soriano)
18. Santiago Casilla – (Sergio Romo, Hunter Strickland)
19. A.J. Ramos – (Mike Dunn, Bryan Morris)
20. Brad Ziegler – (Daniel Hudson, Andrew Chafin)
21. Shawn Tolleson – (Keone Kela, Sam Dyson)
22. Roberto Osuna – (LaTroy Hawkins, Aaron Sanchez, 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.
23. Luke Gregerson – (Pat Neshek, Josh Fields)
24. Brad Boxberger – (Jake McGee, Xavier Cedeno)
25. Carson Smith – (Fernando Rodney, Tom Wilhelmsen)
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.Tommy Kahnle – (Justin Miller, Rafael Betancourt, John Axford)
27. Arodys Vizcaino – (David Aardsma, Andrew McKirahan)
28. Bruce Rondon – (Alex Wilson, Al Alburquerque)
29. Junichi Tazawa – (Jean Machi, Ryan Cook)
30. Edward Mujica / Evan Scribner / Drew Pomeranz / Eric O’Flaherty
