There are two times of the year taxing comes about. Once at the beginning of the fantasy baseball season for legal tax reasons, and then about now in September. The Yankees seem to be flip-flopping useful relievers from one to another as they all seem to be getting worn. So Aroldis Chapman with some wear and tear eased off his arm is going to be worked back into the clutch-save position for the Yanks. Betances over the past 14 days has maintained his K/9 rate of over 15, but at the expense of his ERA (7.91), and his BB/9 rate has spiked all the way up to near 8 per 9. That is the stuff that gets people fired or demoted. (Which is exactly what is happening in his case.) I can see him dropping to a lesser role for the next week or so and being used in less pivotal situations. Allowing Robertson and Chad Green to show what they got in front of the flame-throwing Cuban. Aroldis’ last 14 games have been a far improvement over his last 14. Era was only 2.70, K/9 way below his standard at 10.80. The bad department is that he hasn’t really been used too much. So as he gets back on the bike in closer role and the season comes to an end soon, let’s see what else is going down in the world of saves…
- Today ends the fourth time this season that Fernando Rodney has had 7 saves in a fortnight this year. Crazy that he was one of the last closers drafted months ago and yet finds himself sitting near the league lead in saves.
- Regardless of Bud Norris return from the DL, it looks like Blake Parker is the guy in the land of Halos.
- Juan Nicasio is on his third team this year, still not a closer though he could be.
- It’s all Dutch in Colorado again as it appears that Holland has regained form to be the closer he was for 2/3 of the season. Holding Neshek or McGee isn’t a bad idea as their schedule has some favorable spots and they won’t wanna wear out Greg again.
- I am still a little nervous that Kelvin Herrera has the goods to finish out the year despite pitching once in the last 5 days. Scott Alexander, Brandon Maurer, and hell even Pete Moylan should be rostered because I said so.
$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, Josh Fields)
2. Wade Davis – (Justin Wilson, Koji Uehara)
3. Craig Kimbrel – (Addison Reed, Joe Kelly)
4. Cody Allen – (Joe Smith, Bryan Shaw)
5. Felipe Rivero – (Daniel Hudson, A.J Schugel)
6. Ken Giles – (Will Harris, Chris Devenski)
7. Roberto Osuna – (Dominic Leone, Danny Barnes)
8. Aroldis Chapman – (David Robertson, Dellin Betances)
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. Alex Colome – (Steve Cishek, Tommy Hunter)
10. Corey Knebel – (Jacob Barnes, Anthony Swarzak)
11. Edwin Diaz – (Nick Vincent, Tony Zych, David Phelps)
12. Sean Doolittle – (Ryan Madson, Brandon Kintzler)
13. Raisel Iglesias – (Michael Lorenzen, Wandy Peralta)
14. Brad Hand – (Phil Maton, Kirby Yates)
15. Zach Britton – (Brad Brach, Mychal Givens)
16. Arodys Vizcaino – (Jose Ramirez, Sam Freeman)
17. Fernando Rodney – (Archie Bradley, David Hernandez)
18. Greg Holland – (Jake McGee, Pat Neshek)
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.
19. Shane Greene – (Joe Jimenez, Alex Wilson)
20. Sam Dyson – (Hunter Strickland, Mark Melancon)
21. A.J. Ramos – (Jerry Blevins, Jeurys Familia)
22. Kelvin Herrera – (Brandon Maurer, Mike Minor)
23. Blake Treinen – (Santiago Casilla, Ryan Dull)
24. Brad Ziegler – (Kyle Barraclough, Drew Steckenrider)
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.
25. Seung-Hwan Oh – (Tyler Lyons, John Brebbia)
26. Blake Parker – (Bud Norris, Cam Bedrosian)
27. Alex Claudio – (Jose Leclerc, Tony Barnette)
28. Matt Belisle – (Taylor Rogers, Trevor Hildenberger)
29. Juan Minaya – (Danny Farquhar, Gregory Infante)
30. Hector Neris – (Luis Garcia, Adam Morgan)
