[dudekid]

hey all, figured id start a thread to track closers this yr in fantasy bases since its such a volatile position...

first wanted to start with sergio santos, taking over for the injured casey janssen. this guy can throw heat and had great numbers in a setup role last year. he strikes out a lot of guys and I think he could actually be a better option than janssen who is battling not only an arm injury, but an oblique as well i believe

many ppl are grabbing j hoover to fill in for the injured aroldis chapman of CIN. id stay away from this guy unless youre desperate. he will torch your ratios, and they may even go closer by committe for now. j broxton figures to be available before chapman so he may be worth a look in deeper leagues.

i will keep my eyes and ears out and post an relevant closer updates...feel free to do the same! good luck fellas

[dudekid]

also, this one is pretty late but worth mentioning, neftafi feliz is not going to close for the rangers this year, joakim soria will be their handshake man, lets see if the mexicutioner can relive his dominance from his KC days

[Mitchell88]

thx dude kid, I always have issues with my closers. Where do you get most of your info

[dudekid]

No problem mitchell, closers are very tough, some people draft top closers who get hurt or lose their job to ineffectiveness...some people dont draft closers at all and play the wire...i kind of go with a mix, drafting a top tier closer (joe nathan this year) and mix in some lower guys depending on where they fall. i actually currently roster 5 closers on my team right now, but mainly because of breaking news and i like to use them for trade chips. i drafted nathan, papelbon, sergio romo, and i picked up j soria and last night sergio santos before i posted this thread. i will probably end up trading one and losing one to injury or ineffectiveness, and i typically dont like holding less than 3 active closers

i get my info from many different sources, i play on yahoo, i love rotoworld and prosportsdaily, follow some beat writers on twitter, etc. i will do my best to keep the thread updated as much as i can

[Andy117]

Twitter is really a great resource for fantasy sports if you follow the right guys.

[dudekid]

CLOSER ALERT - Bobby Parnell has an elbow injury, could require TJ. jump on jose valverde if you need saves and he is available.

[dudekid]

sergio santos had a rough night last night, but did strike out 3 and notched the save. santos may be more of a temporary option, he has the stuff but not sure he has the mental makeup. if you can package him with another pitcher and trade up with someone who needs a closer, it would be a good option (provided you arent desperate for saves yourself)

[dudekid]

two fantastically blown saves last night, both on my team of course. papelbon was especially terrible, blowing a 2 run lead and walking in the winning run. joe nathan blew one as well. i dont think either are in any real trouble as far as job security, blown saves happen. papelbon situation is one to keep an eye on, his velocity is reportedly down this year.


also, worth keeping an eye on the blue jays and white sox situations. segio santos came in to protect the lead, walked a guy, and was pulled instantly for brett cecil who got a K and the handshake. not sure if a committee is forming here, or if cecil is the guy, tough to say for sure yet. as for the white sox, many think nate jones will be filling the closers role, but for now it looks like they are going with the proven veteran matt lindstrom who notched a save already

[dudekid]

quick updates: brewers closing job locked up by K-Rod after a bad outing by Jim Henderson. K-Rod also struck out the side in the 11th to close it out.

White sox pen still a mess, jones sent to the DL, Lindstrom shaky...avoid this situation

Reds should have broxton back as early as Tuesday... hoover absolutely terrible dump him immediately if still owned

[Tatsu]

Who do you believe is the best Relief Pitcher to pick up that may earn a late inning win or save from time to time that will not hurt era or whip?

[MexicanStallion]

Who do you believe is the best Relief Pitcher to pick up that may earn a late inning win or save from time to time that will not hurt era or whip?

I'll throw out Luke Gregorson for Oakland and Cody Allen for Cleveland.

Gregorson could fill in if Johnson continues to struggle and they choose to give him a break. Allen same deal if Axford were to falter, could be a candidate to fill. He actually has 2 wins. Allen may be owed too though.

[Tatsu]

Allen was just dropped by someone in my league and will clear waivers on Tuesday

[EmpireMaker]

Who do you believe is the best Relief Pitcher to pick up that may earn a late inning win or save from time to time that will not hurt era or whip?

Joaquin Benoit SD
Benoit has boasted a 2.53 ERA and averaged 10.24 strikeouts per nine innings over the last four seasons. His velocity even increased a bit in 2013.

[Mitchell88]

Joaquin Benoit SD
Benoit has boasted a 2.53 ERA and averaged 10.24 strikeouts per nine innings over the last four seasons. His velocity even increased a bit in 2013.

Benoit has the best stats. Im not sure he will have the same type of year on the way the team is built. By stats though best choice, I would like to pick him up

[dudekid]

another guy worth looking into is Brett Cecil from the blue jays. Their actual closer C Janssen is on the DL with a pretty bad injury, and their "closer in waiting" Sergio Santos is not performing well. The team has actually called on Brett Cecil a couple of times already. A former starter, they shifted him to the pen last year and he ended up with 5 wins, 1 save, and 70Ks in 60 innings. Also a 2.8 ERA and 1.1 WHIP. This year he alerady has 3 K's in 2.1 innings and a save. He could be a dark horse candidate for saves, and could steal a win here and there. His one downside is that he is a lefty, and typically managers don't like to use lefties as closers. Tough to chase RP wins though, a lot of luck involved

[MexicanStallion]

Joaquin Benoit SD
Benoit has boasted a 2.53 ERA and averaged 10.24 strikeouts per nine innings over the last four seasons. His velocity even increased a bit in 2013.

I do like Benoit as well. Huston Street will almost surely have an injury at some point. Street is frustrating to own.

[playersonly69]

Thanks for the information

[Andy117]

Robertson is on the DL, grab Shawn Kelley for the next two weeks.

[Otters27]

Wow this thread is a huge advantage. Just as long as you are not playing fantasy bases against other SBRS

[dudekid]

great call andy, you beat me to it! david robertson of the yankees has a mild groin strain. wont be out too too long, but he is on the 15 day dl. grab shawn kelley if available.

taking a look at houstons bullpen (hey even the worst teams can win 40-50 games), it is pretty in flux right now due to jessie crain being hurt. i actually dont see crain as a long term closer solution, i never thought he was THAT good...they have an emerging guy, Josh Fields...2 clean appearances, astros winning a few games here and there, could be worth a stash at least until some more save chances come and we get a better idea. he has recorded the past 2 for them i believe

[MikeTizzy]

great info and thread here mr. dude!

[MexicanStallion]

Robertson is on the DL, grab Shawn Kelley for the next two weeks.

Can't make this up. Closer after closer keeps getting injured or swapped out.

Veras of the Cubs is another 2-3 outings away from going to Strop.

[MikeTizzy]

gotten get them plug in saves!

[dudekid]

So updating a previous item I had on here, we might want to take another look into the brewers closer situation. Right now, K-Rod is being used in the 9th. however, last night jim henderson pitched a perfect 9th inning, although with a large lead in somewhat of "garbage time", but his lowest fastball came in at 94 and his high was 97, his velocity seems to be back in the mid 90s where it was when he was their top option. could be good news for his chances to get back into the 9th, if someone dropped him in your league you may want to stash now...

[dudekid]

what a mess this season has been so far already! closers basically wreaked havoc around the league last night

-blown save from jim johnson...he is on the hot seat, but i wouldnt rush to drop him. i think he will right the ship, oakland is paying him too much to close games (terrible deal from the get-go IMO). that being said, if you drafted jim johnson, you may already know from the past few years that he is a high wire act and basically i would advise against watching any of his innings if you value your blood pressure

-blown save from joe nathan...now this one worries me. he reportedly had "dead arm" though he swears its not a "newsworthy item" well hes the first closer i drafted, so to me this is newsworthy. i hate that i drafted nathan already. hopefully he can turn this around, but he has just looked dreadful so far. the bright side is that detroit doesnt have great options in the pen...maybe rick porcello? phil coke is downright awful and they know this

-shawn kelley blew the save for the yankees in his first real shot since being named closer...this situation isnt really that high priority, he will remain the closer (unless he keeps blowing them) just until robertson comes back which shouldnt be too long anyways

these are tough situations because there is a lot of grey area. sure, these guys have sucked to start the year, but they are pretty high paid closers that are entrenched in their roles. still, especially in the closer streaming game, you need to be proactive rather than reactive. its not always a bad idea to handcuff or speculate if you can get a live arm that eventually takes over.

some hedging options: luke gregerson (oak), ryan cook (oak), rick porcello (det), matt thornton (nyy)

[Tatsu]

Johnson is out as the closer in Oakland

[MrZ]

Great info in this thread, thanks!

[MikeTizzy]

lets keep this updated through out whole season fellas.

[dudekid]

sorry fellas didnt get a chance to update today but yes, Johnson is out as the closer in Oakland. pretty surprised he had such a short leash. my take is that oakland will use a committee until he rights the ship in some lower pressure innings. its a sucky situation, but i just put my bet on luke gregerson in my league...ryan cook is probably the best closer of that bunch but hes fresh off the DL. Im hoping gregerson can get a couple clean saves under his belt and grab hold of the job...they are paying johnson a lot to close though so im sure hell get it back eventually

quick update on valverde, he had a clean save last night and also threw his splitter for the first time in years... if he can get that pitch going regularly he could really reward owners who took a flyer on him

[EmpireMaker]

I think Cook will end up being the closer in Oakland, they will probably go committee for a while but I think it will eventually be Cook.

[Cross]

I've got a good feeling the Cubs throw someone else in for Veras.

[MexicanStallion]

Uehara has a sore shoulder, so Mujica will get a very short stint it seems.

[dudekid]

koji is inactive due to shoulder soreness. i heard on the local radio here that he actually missed 2 months in texas due to the same issue a few years back. that being said, he claims this issue isnt as bad as that. mujica is definitely the best option for the sox, he had a great year closing for the cards up until the end of the year when he had fatigue.

the cubs bullpen situation is pretty much a disaster. the incumbent jose veras is just blowing saves left and right, despite a manager vote of confidence, i think he will be removed from the role until he can right the ship. that being said, there arent many great options behind him...pedro strop seems to be the favorite but hes not doing all that well himself.

it looks like k-rod has completely locked in his role as milwaukees closer.jim henderson has really come around lately too, but it looks like he will remain in the 8th. if krod gets injured or becomes ineffective, henderson is the clear cut option behind him.

[dudekid]

and right on queue, jose valverde spectacularly blows a save in a way only he can, getting 2 quick outs and then eventually giving up a game losing 3 run blast. gonzalez germen is on the rise, keep an eye out

[dudekid]

a few updates:

craig kimbrel is dealing with shoulder soreness. this is hopefully nothing serious, but it looks like carpenter is second in line for saves in ATL.

though OAK says they are using a closer committee, gregerson has gotten the past 2 save chances and converted. that being said, jim johnson is rounding back into form. as I have said in previous posts, I really think they will turn back to him in the 9th since they are paying him closer money. he is a good buy-low candidate

joel hanrahan is auditioning for some teams on thursday. if he comes away with a good showing, he could be in line for a job for a few different teams, most speculation is around the mets. keep an eye out on him for thursday