I wish that he wasn’t… and I wish I could parse my words a little better for a good pun’s sake, but the fact is in the stats. Sam Dyson is allowing more baserunners, more baserunners to get on via the walk, and a higher slugging percentage in the second half of the year. Add in the fact that batting average against and K-rate are down since 30 days ago, its never a good sign for someone to be all cozy and buy long-term property in the town of closerville. Listen, he already wasn’t elite in the K-rate department, but to be hovering in the mid 5’s for the past 20 appearances is just bad. From what I am noticing, his velocity has leveled out, but he isn’t using his arsenal as much or as frequent, relying mostly on his sinker and moving away from his ancillary fastball and slider. Not all awful things in the immediate world in the result-driven world of fantasy, but troubling nonetheless. When a reliever doesn’t trust or use his stuff in a way that was once successful, it shows a lack of confidence in it. The guests knocking at the door have been a phenomenal swoon for almost all fantasy leagues with the likes of Diekman, Barnette (who has been sneaky great), Bush and Kela. The saves that have been divided up show that Bush and Diekman look like the guys to watch most for in a change. So with about a month of useful fantasy to go, now is not the time for a 20-save guy to spin his wheels… grab the cuff in advance and cover yourself like it was your Linus blanket or a just in case of emergency fantasy glass thingy.
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- Jim Johnson looks to be staying and pulling a Jennifer Hudson-type Dreamgirls performance to stay in the closers role in Atlanta. Arodys looks to be eased into leverage situations, and results are in J.J.’s favor for him to stay.
- The Royals are awaiting the return of Wade Davis. They aren’t going anywheres they should just shut him down honestly.
- Edwin Diaz is elite in every way as a closer, him being a noob is the only thing stopping him from being in the salad category.
- The D-Backs are better off seeing what they have in the youngsters, instead of Jake Barrett. Burgos and the bevy of minor league talent will be up and pitching in a month so if you own Barrett you are warned.
- A.J. Ramos is almost back, so plan accordingly
- Cingrani and Igelsias are doing a flip flop for saves. First one to mess up bad is the loser.
- The Angels are desperate for a bullpen arm of any semblance of usefulness. Cam is still 2 weeks away.
Closer d’Etat (Top set-up guys next up for saves)
A new feature that I have been looking to add is the top set-up guys who are either pitching well or are right behind the closer. Getting the off day save for a shaky closer or someone who can jump in for a downed king of saves. Never hurts to bag an extra reliever for your bench at best they either don’t play, you bench them or the do well. No one ever does bad for someone we all roster…
- Enrique Burgos
- John Axford
- Will Harris
- Mike Morin
$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. Zach Britton – (Mychal Givens, Brad Brach)
2. Kenley Jansen – (Adam Liberatore, Joe Blanton)
3. Dellin Betances – (Tyler Clippard, Adam Warren)
4. Aroldis Chapman – (Hector Rondon, CJ Edwards)
5. Craig Kimbrel – (Brad Ziegler, Matt Barnes)
6. Jeurys Familia – (Addison Reed, Hansel Robles)
7. Mark Melancon – (Shawn Kelley, Blake Treinen)
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.
8. Edwin Diaz – (Tom Wilhelmsen, Nick Vincent)
9. Cody Allen – (Andrew Miller, Bryan Shaw)
10. David Robertson – (Nate Jones, Dan Jennings)
11. Francisco Rodriguez – (Justin Wilson, Shane Greene)
12. Seung-hwan Oh – (Kevin Siegrist, Jonathan Broxton)
13. Roberto Osuna – (Jason Grilli, Joaquin Benoit)
14. Kelvin Herrera – (Joakim Soria, Pete Moylan)
15. Tony Watson – (Neftali Feliz, Felipe Rivero)
16. Ryan Madson – (John Axford, Ryan Dull)
17. Jeanmar Gomez – (Hector Neris, Cesar Ramos)
18. Santiago Casilla – (Sergio Romo, Derek Law)
19. Sam Dyson– (Jake Diekman, Matt Bush)
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. Jim Johnson – (Mauricio Cabrera, Chris Withrow)
21. Alex Colome – (Brad Boxberger, Xavier Cedeno)
22. Ken Giles – (Will Harris, Pat Neshek)
23. Brandon Maurer – (Ryan Buchter, Brad Hand)
24. Fernando Rodney – (Kyle Barraclough, A.J. Ramos DL)
25. Tyler Thornburg – (Corey Knebel, Carlos Torres)
26. Brandon Kintzler – (Ryan Pressley, Taylor Rogers)
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. Adam Ottavino – (Carlos Estevez, Boone Logan)
28. Tony Cingrani / Raisel Igelsias – (Ross Ohlendorf)
29. Jake Barrett – (Enrique Burgos, Randall Delgado)
30. Fernando Salas – (Mike Morin, JC Ramirez)
