Situations arise all the time with closers. Injuries occur, poor performance, and then the return of the incumbent. In the preseason, Will Smith was the guy the Brewers had tabbed as the closer. Then, like I just said, an injury happened. So now that he is back, what goes on in the back-end of the Brewers bullpen? Jeremy Jeffress has done a stellar job with a less than average set-up crew in front of him. He has pitched to a 2.45 ERA and a slightly more bloated xFIP of 3.41. For all his previous tangles with pitching, he is striking out far less then he is normally accustomed to at just a 6 K/9 rate. Low for a closer, even from the Lauvern and Shirley state. He has managed 14 saves in 15 opportunitioes, and for a team like the Brewers, 14 is a healthy total. So does his reign come to an end now that the best reliever is back in the fray? Granted, it is never a great thing when usual mop-up relievers start stealing your stats, namely Blaine Boyer and Carlos Torres, who have 3 saves between them in the past nine games. And granted, saves are wonky and games dictate them sometimes, come from behind wins, and situational loogy-ness are also a factor. So I think with the way Jeffress has been going, he stays there until Will comes and steals his mojo and never looks back… Until the trade deadline, which could alter things up completely and basically revert it back to the way it was. So if Will Smith is on your waivers, do yourself a service and add him speculatively for a week or two. If he doesn’t give you the returns that you expect, then, well, the opposite happened of what I think should happen. Enjoy Week 9 of the fantasy baseball season’s closer report!
- I am a little nervous about Hector Rondon’s back ailment. My back has hurt for four years and I don’t even try to fly first class everywhere, or let alone only work for 15 pitches four-out-of-seven days. I mean, geez.
- Funny thing about Kenley Jansen, he has more blown saves in the past two weeks since last report than all of last year. I am definitely not nervous, unless you are…
- Vulture win guy of the moment? Michael Feliz has the 9th highest WAR among all pitchers over the last 14 games. Ahead of names like… basically everyone.
- The real Wade Davis is back, and the Royals are scorching from their starters to the last guy toeing the mound. The main bullpen guys have 12 Holds in the last 14 games, and Davis has 7 saves during that time.
- Maybe Kevin Jepsen isn’t so bad at finishing games for the Twins, fine in his last 11 games, but at the cost of just your ratios and regret.
- I feel like the Giants closer gig is open to anyone that pitches great for a few games in a row, I am not saying Casilla is garbage. Just think that he is due to go splat soon.
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…
- Will Smith
- Pedro Strop
- Ken Giles
- Drew Storen
- Sergio Romo
$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, Louis Coleman)
2. Wade Davis – (Kelvin Herrera, Joakim Soria)
3. Aroldis Chapman – (Andrew Miller, Dellin Betances)
4. Jeurys Familia – (Addison Reed, Jim Henderson)
5. Craig Kimbrel – (Koji Uehara, Junichi Tazawa)
6. Trevor Rosenthal – (Kevin Siegrist, Seung-hwan Oh)
7. David Robertson – (Nate Jones, Matt Albers)
8. Zach Britton – (Darren O’Day, Brad Brach)
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. Hector Rondon – (Pedro Strop, Justin Grimm)
10. Jonathan Papelbon – (Felipe Riviero, Shawn Kelley)
11. Mark Melancon – (Tony Watson, Neftali Feliz)
12. A.J. Ramos – (David Phelps, Kyle Barraclough)
13. Cody Allen – (Bryan Shaw, Zach McAllister)
14. Francisco Rodriguez – (Justin Wilson, Alex Wilson)
15. Roberto Osuna – (Drew Storen, Joe Biagini, Jason Grilli)
16. Fernando Rodney – (Brandon Maurer, Ryan Buchter)
17. Huston Street – (Joe Smith, Fernando Salas)
18. Ryan Madson – (Sean Doolittle, John Axford)
19. Santiago Casilla – (Josh Osich, Cody Gearrin)
20. Luke Gregerson – (Ken Giles, Will Harris)
21. Sam Dyson– (Jake Diekman, Matt Bush)
22. Jeanmar Gomez – (Hector Neris, David Hernandez)
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. Alex Colome – (Xavier Cedeno, Enny Romero)
24 Steve Cishek – (Joaquin Benoit, Joel Peralta, Nick Vincent)
25. Brad Ziegler – (Daniel Hudson, Tyler Clippard)
26. Jeremy Jeffress – (Will Smith, Tyler Thornburg)
27. Jake McGee – (Carlos Estevez, Miguel Castro)
28. Arodys Vizcaino – (Hunter Cervenka, Alexei Ogando)
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.
29. Kevin Jepsen – (Fernando Abad, Trevor May,)
30. Tony Cingrani – (Ross Ohlendorf, Blake Wood)
