Blog Entries tagged 'closers'

Playing With Fire in Texas

jonlee

Eddie Guardado is back with the Twins. With Joe Nathan entrenched as the closer there Guardado loses all value in all leagues (unless Nathan goes down with injury). That leaves the closer job in Texas to Frank Francisco. He’s pitched reasonably well this season: 3.78 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 65 K in 52.1 IP. Looking deeper though, Francisco already has blown six games and has racked up five losses as well. The K-rate is very strong at over 11 f [...]

Another Closer Bites the Dust

jonlee

I have been down on George Sherrill recently mostly because of his lack of control that led to poor performances. He was still on pace for 40 saves, and was a great sleeper I picked up late in a few leagues. There was really no indication that he was suffering from injury. He then wasn’t able to warm up properly on Monday, complained of shoulder soreness, and then was promptly put on the DL. Sherrill has gone the way of <strong>Billy W [...]

Pity Jim Leyland

jonlee

What do the Tigers do now? First they started the season with Todd Jones as the closer hoping they could squeeze out another season of him using Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya in higher leverage 7th and 8th inning situations. Instead, Detroit finally got fed up with his poor performances and replaced him with Rodney. Almost immediately after being demoted, Jones went on the disabled list. In his short stint as closer, Rodney blew two saves and wa [...]

So Long Mets?

jonlee

Billy Wagner is having arm troubles again. The closer is heading for an MRI on his throwing arm on Tuesday, and even the most optimistic projections would have him missing some time. Wagner has told the Mets team site that he won’t risk further injury by pitching through pain after having a scare a few weeks ago. All bad news for the Mets.

Arizona Shores Up Bullpen

jonlee

The Diamondbacks have acquired pitcher Jon Rauch in an attempt to shore up their shaky bullpen. Arizona had seen their relief corps as a strength earlier in the season, but the performances of Brandon Lyon, Chad Qualls, and Toney Pena have dropped off in recent weeks and Juan Cruz and Doug Slaten remain on the disabled list.

Rauch has been solid this season as the closer for the Nationals for most of the season. At 6-foot-11 he is the [...]

Speculating for Saves

jonlee

Fantasy owners looking for saves have a few new options becoming available soon, they just might have to wait awhile, and do some speculating. Mike Gonzalez is obviously the first choice currently available. He was activated on Wednesday, and got a save the same day. Rafael Soriano is on the disabled list for the second time this season with elbow problems and can’t be considered reliable. Gonzalez himself is coming off Tommy John surgery, but he is the close [...]

Putz Injured

jonlee

Mariners closer J.J. Putz was brought on Wednesday to close out a win for Felix Hernandez. Putz walked Joe Inglett, threw three pitches to Vernon Wells, then was removed with an apparent arm injury. It appeared to be his elbow, but nothing was definite. Brandon Morrow came on and recorded his first career save striking out two batters. Seattle ended up winning 2-1, but the bigger concern is Putz's health. He missed a lot of time earlier in the year with an oblique injury but this cou [...]

Jarrod Washburn Closer?

jonlee

Yes Jarrod Washburn got the save on Wednesday. No, he is not the closer in Seattle. With all the bullpen craziness going on in the majors lately it would be reasonable to assume that this was just part of the trend. Instead, it is completely the opposite.

Seattle beat Baltimore in 12 innings, and in doing so completely depleted its bullpen which necessitated the use of Washburn in a relief role. After starter Carlos Silva exited after 6.1 s [...]

Tuesday Night Closer Watch

twilliams

A few interesting developments on the closer front tonight:

-Eric Gagne got the save opportunity in a 5-3 game in Milwaukee. Gagne got the save, but allowed a walk and a hit, with no strikeouts. Personally I liked Torres the best out of the other options in the bullpen. It looks like Gagne will be given another chance. Hold on to Torres or even Mota if there are no better options in your league. I've got both in a deep NL-only league, but I dropped Torr [...]