Here is the latest update to Week 10 two-start pitchers. Again this list is subject to change going forward.

Pitchers not listed on last update

KCR – Zack Greinke
CHC – Carlos Silva
WAS – Stephen Strasburg
LAD – Hiroki Kuroda
BAL – Kevin Millwood
TOR – Brian Tallet
HOU – Brian Moehler
OAK – Vin Mazzaro
PIT – Jeff Karstens

Pitchers from Friday no longer scheduled for two starts

TOR – Shaun Marcum
OAK – Brett Anderson
CHC – Randy Wells
KCR – Kyle Davies
BAL – Brad Bergesen
LAD – Carlos Monasterios

Greinke is not pitching bad but has only a 1-7 record to show for it. While few expected him to match 2009’s output, neither did they expect a 3.60 ERA or a 4.27 xFIP. Still he has eight Quality Starts and a 1-3 record in those games.

Silva has more wins (7) this year than he had the past two years combined (5) with the Mariners. He is enjoying a career-high 6.29 K/9 and a career-low 1.10 WHIP. A 77.7 strand rate has led to a higher FIP but even that is a very nice 3.86, which is nearly identical to his xFIP.

Strasburg makes his long-awaited major league debut versus the Pirates and he already finds himself active in 61 percent of CBS Sports leagues. Strasburg went 7-2 with a 1.30 ERA in 11 minor league starts split between Double and Triple-A. He allowed 13 BB and notched 65 Ks in 55.1 IP.

Kuroda has allowed 11 R (8 ER) in his last 10 IP. Yet his ERA is virtually the same as it was his first two seasons in the U.S. The big difference is his WHIP. In 2010 Kuroda sports a 1.40 WHIP compared to 1.22 and 1.14 his first two seasons with the Dodgers.

Millwood has pitched better than his 0-6 record might lead you to believe. He has struggled with the gopher ball in his new home park in Camden Yards. Millwood has surrendered 9 HR at home compared to 5 HR on the road. But his home ERA is 3.28 and on the road he has a 5.11 ERA. This week he has home starts against the Yankees and Mets.

Tallet is back after missing six weeks with an injured forearm. His first start back he pitched 5.2 scoreless innings after posting a 6.11 ERA in his first three starts before hitting the DL.

Moehler is in his 14th season in the majors. He has appeared in 14 games this year with the Astros but has made just two starts. After getting roughed up in his first outing, in which he allowed 3 HR in 2.2 IP, Moehler allowed 2 ER in 5.1 IP last time out against the Nationals. This week he gets road starts against the Rockies and the Yankees.

Mazzaro has pitched out of the bullpen in his last three games but gets the call to start after picking up a win in his last relief outing. He has been homer prone, with a 19.0 HR/FB ratio in 2010. He faces the Angels and Giants, with the Angels being a good HR hitting team.

Karstens has appeared in 10 games and made four starts for the Pirates this year. He is 1-1 with a 3.80 ERA as a starter compared to 0-0 with a 5.65 ERA pitching out of the pen. His K/9 rate is similar in both roles but Karstens has displayed much better control as a reliever. He has a 1.40 K/BB ratio as a starter and a 2.67 ratio as a reliever.

With the MLB amateur draft set to kick off its three-day celebration on June 7, I though it would be a fun time to take a look back at some interesting names to remember from the ’09 draft.

Kyle Heckathorn | RHP | Milwaukee: The knock on Heckathorn coming out of college was that he had never dominated despite very good stuff. That has changed in pro ball. The right-hander has a power-pitcher’s frame at 6’6” and 225 lbs. He has a fastball that can reach the mid-90s, as well as a slider that can be plus at times, and a good change-up. He also has pretty good control for a power pitcher and gets a good number of ground balls. In college, he wasn’t very good at pitch selection but he’s been helped by working with pro catchers and coaches, who have really sharpened his understanding of his craft. One caution, though: He is succeeding in low-A ball, so it will be nice to see him at higher levels, perhaps later this year.

Ryan Wheeler | 1B | Arizona: How is this for debut numbers from 2009: .361/.462/.540 in 263 at-bats. Sure, Wheeler was an advanced college hitter beating up on younger pitchers, but he’s at it again in 2010… this time in high-A ball. The left-handed hitter is batting .310/.364/.434 in 226 at-bats in the powerful California League. Wheeler isn’t showing a ton of over-the-fence power right now, but he has good raw pop and he has 17 doubles on the year. A report by Baseball America likened his potential to that of the Reds’ Joey Votto.

Brad Boxberger | RHP | Cincinnati: I’m fairly certain you’re familiar with the Reds’ first draft pick from 2009… a guy by the name of Mike Leake? Well, Boxberger didn’t zoom right from college to the Majors, but he is already is double-A and is one of the fastest-moving draftees not named after a bodily function. The right-hander has given up 47 hits and just 17 walks in 49.1 innings of work. He’s also recorded 57 strikeouts and has a solid ground-ball rate, which has helped him give up just two homers this season. He has a little bit of work to do to improve against left-handed hitters but an improved curveball could give Boxberger the edge that he needs. He repertoire also features a low-90s fastball, plus slider, and a change-up.

While it isn’t official quite yet, it looks like Mike Stanton is being called up by the Marlins and should join the team shortly. Stanton isn’t playing in Double-A today, and MLB.com’s Joe Frisaro says that he will be with the club on Tuesday.

Stanton, one of baseball’s top prospects, hit 21 homers in 240 plate appearances for Jacksonville. He posted a line of .313/.442/.729, with a wOBA of .449. Stanton had a career high walk rate (18.3%), and kept his strikeout rate around 22%. Stanton is only 20 years old, yet he should be able to step right in for the Marlins and at least hit for power.

For those of you who don’t like the fancy things we call numbers, Stanton is even built like a power hitter. Hitting right handed, Stanton is 6-5, weighing in around 235 pounds. While I’m not a professional scout, and I don’t evaluate hitters nearly as well as pitchers, Stanton just looks like a power hitter in the batters box. Our very own Marc Hulet said ” Stanton obviously has massive power potential as a future MLBer, but it will be his contact rate that dictates just how big of an impact he has.”

Before the season began, no one could figure out where Stanton would fit into Florida’s lineup. Now, with Cameron Maybin struggling, it looks like Cody Ross will move into CF and Stanton will man RF. The club wouldn’t call up Stanton to have him sit on the bench, so look for him to be in the lineup more times than not. He’s probably not worth a spot in standard re-draft leagues, but if he’s available in a keeper league, snatch him up.

Thanks to Michael Jong for the information about what the Marlins lineup will probably look like.

Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw is a special talent. The Texas prep product, taken with the seventh pick in the 2006 draft, used his searing fastball and knee-buckling breaking stuff to whiff over 11 batters per nine innings in the minors. He reached L.A. at age 20, and has since K’d more batters per nine frames (9.4) than any starter not named Rich Harden, Tim Lincecum or Erik Bedard.

It seems like Kershaw’s already an ace — after posting a 4.26 ERA during his rookie season in 2008, he pared that mark down to 2.79 in 2009 and currently holds a 3.06 ERA in 2010. But has the prized young starter made the sort of marked progress suggested by his ERAs? I’m not so sure.

Kershaw’s contact and swinging strike rates have, without question, improved. Opponents made contact against him 79% in 2008, 77.1% in 2009 and have a 71.6% rate this season (80-81% MLB average). Kershaw’s swinging strike rate has shot up from 8.7% in ’08, 10% in ’09 and 12.1% in 2010 (8-9% MLB average). Consequently, his punch out rate has soared — 8.36 K/9 in ’08, 9.74 K/9 in ’09 and 10.19 this year.

But those extra swings and misses have come at a price. Kershaw’s walk rate has gone from 4.35 per nine in ’08, 4.79 BB/9 in ’09 and 5.35 BB/9 in 2010. Taking a look at his splits, it becomes apparent that Kershaw owns lefties, but his performance against right-handers lags behind:

His xFIP against lefties is 3.05 this season, and 2.07 for his career. Kershaw’s xFIP against right-handers is 4.74 this year and 4.60 for his career. Despite walking well over five righty batters per nine frames during his time in the majors, Kershaw hasn’t been hurt badly by opposite-handed hitters. Why? a minuscule home run per fly ball rate against righties — 1.8% this season, and 5.2% during his career.

Pitch F/X data from Trip Somers’ texasleaguers site shows that Kershaw’s arsenal blows away same-handed batters, but he’s mortal against righties:

He still gets a healthy numbers of whiffs with the fastball against righties, but obviously nowhere near the stratospheric rate against lefties. Kershaw’s strike percentage dips a bit as well, but not tremendously so. The big change is that he swaps some sliders for curveballs against righties. That low-70’s deuce, once dubbed “Public Enemy Number One,” is rarely thrown for a strike and isn’t getting many swings and misses. Kershaw’s changeup has never been a big component of his repertoire, but he’s throwing it to righties even less this season — 2.1%, compared to 5.1% last season.

As a rookie, Kershaw’s xFIP (3.96) outpaced his ERA (4.26). Since then, it’s been the opposite. He had a 3.90 xFIP in 2009 (2.79 ERA) and has a 4.26 xFIP in 2010 (3.06 ERA). He does seem to pitch well from the stretch (career 76.8 LOB%, compared to the 70-72% MLB average), and better pitchers (particularly high-K pitchers) will tend to post higher strand rates.

However, as mentioned earlier in the look at Kershaw’s splits, the main reason for the ERA/xFIP dichotomy is an extremely low HR/FB rate — Clayton had an 11.6 HR/FB% in ’08 (right around the MLB average), but that mark fell to 4.1% last year and is 3.9% in 2010. Color me skeptical that he’ll continue to give up homers on fly balls at a clip that’s less than 40% of the big league average. It’s likely that opposing batters will find the bleachers with greater frequency in the months to come.

None of this is to disparage Clayton Kershaw — he’s still younger than some of the guys who will get drafted tomorrow evening, yet he has already established himself as a quality major league starting pitcher. Given Kershaw’s skills, it’s entirely possible that he makes improvements in his game and tames his wildness against right-handers. But, at the present moment, he’s still an unrefined talent with some blemishes to his approach. He’s very good — I just don’t think he’s great yet. Short of gains being made with his control, Kershaw’s ERA may be closer to four than three from here on out.

Carlos Quentin crushed the ball during his first season with the White Sox, batting .288/.394/.571 with a .414 wOBA in 2008. Though The Cell is a power-friendly venue (increasing runs by nine percent and homers by 25 percent from 2007-2009, per the Bill James Handbook), Quentin’s wRC+ was still stellar at 154.

Since then, Quentin has stumbled. Over the 2009-2010 seasons, the former Diamondbacks prospect has a .331 wOBA. His park-and-league-adjusted wOBA is one percent worse than the league average (99 wRC+). Considering his stationary defense, he has been a serious drag on Chicago’s playoff chances — he was worth -0.4 Wins Above Replacement in 2009, and has already racked up a full win below what one would expect from a freely available Triple-A talent in 2010.

Injuries have been a serious problem throughout his career. Prior to reaching the South Side in exchange for DH/1B/OF/3B/? Chris Carter in December of 2007, the Stanford product’s pro debut was delayed by Tommy John surgery in 2003, and he suffered a left shoulder injury that required surgery in ’07. Quentin fractured his right wrist in early September of 2008 after slamming his bat in frustration, and he missed a sizeable chunk of the 2009 season with Plantar Fasciitis in his left foot. A tight hamstring bothered him in late April and early May of this year.

A banged-up Quentin isn’t hitting with the same authority. His ISO was .283 in ’08, .219 last season and .190 in 2010. Not surprisingly, his performance when pulling the ball has taken a big hit, as have his numbers when hitting the ball up the middle:

An otherworldly pull and mid-field hitter in 2008, Quentin has been decidedly below-average since. As is the case with most batters, nothing much happens when Quentin hits to the opposite field. And he’s hitting to the right side more than ever in 2010: 28.3 percent, compared to 17.8% in 2009 and 22.6% in 2008.

It’s true that Quentin had a .221 BABIP in ’09 and currently has a .199 BABIP in 2010, fourth-worst among qualified batters. But his career BABIP in the majors is .248, and his rest-of-season ZiPS projection has a .257 BABIP. The odds of Quentin continuing to post a sub-.200 BABIP are very slim, but there are several reasons why he gets fewer hits on balls put in play than most:

He hits few line drives

Line drives hit in the American League this season have a .726 BABIP — they fall for hits far more than any other batted ball type. While line drive rate isn’t the most stable metric from year-to-year, Quentin has a career 15.8 LD%. His LD% over the past three seasons (15.7) is one of the twenty lowest marks among MLB hitters with at least 500 plate appearances.

He pops the ball up often

Quentin has a 15.1 infield/fly ball percentage in 2010, and his career rate is 12.5%. Pop ups are the closest thing to a gimme out on a ball in play, and he hits far more than most batters. The average IF/FB% is between seven and eight percent.

He’s slow

Along with line drive rate, batter’s eye and pitches seen per PA, Speed Score is one of the variables that has a positive effect on BABIP. With an aching foot, the 6-1, 230 pound Quentin has become increasingly sluggish — his Speed Score was 4.0 in ’08, 3.1 in ’09 and is 2.1 this season (the MLB average is five).

While Quentin’s monstrous 2008 season was probably at the upper bounds of what anyone could have expected from him, his work over the 2009-2010 seasons has undeniably been disappointing. Many owners have cut ties — the 27-year-old’s Yahoo ownership rate is down to 47 percent. Quentin can’t seem to stay healthy, and his power numbers have declined. He’s worth a flyer if available, but that ’08 production doesn’t appear to be coming back any time soon.

Injury info from the Baseball Injury Tool.

San Francisco Giants purchased the contract of OF Pat Burrell from Triple-A Fresno; optioned OF John Bowker to Fresno.

“The Bat” ‘s lumber has flat lined since he inked a two-year, $16 million deal with Tampa Bay prior to the 2009 season. Burrell posted a combined .381 wOBA from 2006-2008, but he plummeted to a .304 wOBA as the Rays’ DH last season, battling a neck injury that forced him to the DL for a month.

Before drawing his release from Tampa in late May, the 33-year-old posted a .284 wOBA. San Francisco scooped him up on a minor league deal, and after a tune-up at Fresno, Burrell’s back in the big leagues. However, his utility to the Giants (not to mention his path to playing time) is unclear.

After routinely putting up Isolated Power marks in the .200-.250 range as a Phillie, Burrell had a .146 ISO in ’09 and has a .136 ISO in 2010. He has scuffled against fastballs and sliders over the past two years — he was -0.62 runs/100 against heaters in ’09, and is at -2.03 runs/100 when pitchers challenge him in 2010. Against sliders, he was -1.1 runs/100 last season and -3.37/100 this year. Burrell’s line drive rate, 20.7% for his career, was 18.1% last season and 16.7% in 2010. Those numbers portray a hitter having difficulty catching up to high-speed stuff in the majors, making less and less hard contact.

Coming into the season, CHONE projected Burrell for a .329 wOBA. ZiPS’ rest-of-season projection forecasts a .339 wOBA. Considering Burrell’s plodding D, it’s hard to say what he offers San Francisco that, say, Nate Schierholtz (.339 rest-of-season ZiPS projection, and a quality fielder) or Bowker (.332 ROS ZiPS) don’t. Granted, Bowker’s mashing and newfound patience at Fresno in ’09 (.342/.451/.596, 16.4 BB%) didn’t translate to the majors this season, but is he really a worse bet than Burrell going forward?

With Buster Posey now in the fold, San Fran has added another defensively-challenged player to the outfield mix in Aubrey Huff. Andres Torres is drawing every day play, and Aaron Rowand, despite replacement-level performance to this point, will likely keep his job. That leaves Burrell as a glorified fifth outfielder, drawing the occasional start against a lefty.

The first pick in the ’98 draft has enjoyed plenty of outstanding years at the plate. But when the skill for which you’re nicknamed vanishes, and your D draws groans, it’s a pretty quick path to retirement.

A month has gone by since we last updated these rankings, but they haven’t changed too much. The position continues to be one of the toughest to fill in fantasy sports, and the bottom half of this list is comprised of some imperfect candidates, to say the least. But every team needs a shortstop, so let’s take a look.

The Big Three:
1. Hanley Ramirez, Florida (.367 wOBA, .402 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
2. Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado (.376 wOBA, .369 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
3. Derek Jeter, New York AL (.349 wOBA, .355 ZiPS RoS wOBA)

Jimmy Rollins has to drop out of this tier because of his injury issues. We don’t like to Wally Pipp anyone, but the reality of the situation is that he’s declining physically and his game relies on his athleticism. He’s not all about working the count and getting on base, so if the power and the legs start slipping, it could get a little ugly for Rollins owners.

The Next Best Thing:
4. Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia (.469 wOBA, .359 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
5. Jose Reyes, New York NL (.295 wOBA, .353 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
6. Elvis Andrus, Texas (.344 wOBA, .336 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
7. Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay (.377 wOBA, .359 ZiPs RoS wOBA)
8. Stephen Drew, Arizona (.356 wOBA, .341 ZiPS RoS wOBA)

This tier seems pretty uncontroversial. Some may still believe in Rollins, or have given up on Jose Reyes, but this is a solid group of shortstops. They shouldn’t hurt a fantasy team, in other words. Reyes may actually be the lightning rod for discussion, especially placed above a young phenom like Elvis Andrus, but he still retains more power upside than the younger shortstop, and there were some things to like with what Reyes was doing in the second half of May. If he can’t up the walk rate and rediscover his power stroke, though, he’ll move down the list. Andrus might also have some batting average regression coming. Stephen Drew is having a fine season, but with barely-above average power and little speed, he’s just missing those valuable counting stats to move up the list.

The Leftovers:
9. Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles NL (.326 wOBA, .328 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
10. Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay (.299 wOBA, .328 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
11. Alexei Ramirez, Chicago AL (.290 wOBA, .327 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
12. Miguel Tejada, Baltimore (.298 wOBA, .332 ZiPS wOBA)
13. Yunel Escobar, Atlanta (.291 wOBA, .340 ZiPS wOBA)
14. Marco Scutaro, Boston (.329 wOBA, .352 ZiPS RoS wOBA)
15. Erick Aybar, Los Angeles (.288 wOBA, .316 ZiPs RoS wOBA)
16. Alex Gonzalez, Toronto (.348 wOBA, .300 ZiPs RoS wOBA)

Rafael Furcal and Jason Bartlett drop to this tier for different reasons. Furcal rewarded his owners with more time on the DL, and without the stolen bases he begins to look like an empty batting average. Bartlett isn’t even giving the batting average part of that equation, though, and would drop further down on the list if the rest of the list weren’t so craptastic in its own right. Asdrubal Cabrera will be back on the list when he returns in two months from his forearm fracture. Ryan Theriot, however, has to overcome a platoon situation at second base before he’ll be a valuable shortstop again. An honorable mention goes to Alcides Escobar, who has shown little flashes of his potential and has batted in the second hole some this past month, but the fact that he’s losing starts to Craig Counsell can’t be ignored.

George Kottaras, Brewers (Owned in 1% of Yahoo Leagues)

With Gregg Zaun (torn labrum) possibly done for the season, Kottaras is drawing the bulk of starting assignments behind the dish for Milwaukee.

The former Padres and Red Sox prospect owns a career .269/.367/.444 line in the minor leagues, including a .239/.331/.424 showing in Triple-A. Kottaras, 27, displayed good patience (13.3 BB%) and pop (.175 ISO) on the farm as a backstop, but he was often panned for his lack of defensive prowess — Sean Smith’s Total Zone system rates Kottaras as 18 runs below average during his minor league tenure.

Milwaukee is apparently willing to stomach Kottaras’ adventurous D in exchange for his bat, and with a strong showing in 2010, the lefty batter now has a .230/.353/.443 line and a .350 wOBA in 215 career major league plate appearances. Kottaras has rarely gotten himself out, swinging at just 15.6% of pitches thrown outside of the strike zone (25-27% MLB average recently).

Kottaras will have to contend with prospect Jonathan Lucroy for playing time, but he’s worth a roster spot if he continues to get penciled into the lineup. ZiPS projects a .237/.341/.412 triple-slash for the rest of the year, with a .338 wOBA.

Kris Medlen, Braves (10%)

Eno Sarris mentioned the 24-year-old as a potential steal last month, and since then, Medlen has continued to deal.

A 10th-round pick out of Santa Ana Junior College in the 2006 draft, Medlen murderized minor league batters, first as a reliever and then out of the starting rotation. In 227 total innings (79 ‘pen appearances, 23 starts), the 5-10, 190 pound righty punched out 10.4 batters per nine innings, issuing just 2 BB/9.

In the majors, Medlen has 8.38 K/9, 3.03 BB/9 and a 3.69 xFIP in 116 innings (46 relief stints, nine starts). In its 2009 Prospect Handbook, Baseball America said that the converted shortstop featured a 92-94 MPH fastball and a plus curveball that reached the high-80’s, as well as a solid slider and changeup. His repertoire in the big leagues has looked decidedly different: Medlen’s sitting about 90 MPH with his heater, relying heavily upon an 81 MPH changeup while adding in some high-70’s curves.

That might not scream “power pitcher,” and Medlen has predictably whiffed fewer batters as a starter. But, according to Trip Somers’ texasleaguers site, Medlen hasn’t lost zip on his fastball while facing lineups multiple times, and he’s doing an outstanding job of locating the fastball, change and curve for strikes.

That’s the sound of the final nail in the coffin for the Cleveland Indian’s 2010 season. Already 11 games out of first and languishing at .365, the Indians lost star centerfielder Grady Sizemore for the season today. His knee surgery turned into microfracture surgery, and his early prognosis is for a six-to-nine month recovery period. It’s a tough ‘break’ for a franchise that can’t seem to buy good luck these days.

Dark humor aside, microfracture surgeries are no laughing matter. Ask Tracy McGrady and Chris Webber how their recovery went and you’ll get some nervous laughter and an evasive answer. The silver lining in this story is that Sizemore is still young (27) and he doesn’t have to jump thirty inches up and down on those knees on every other play in his sport. In fact, the combination of those two facts allows for at least some optimism in Cleveland. At least the problem was discovered, and sorted to the best of the surgeon’s abilities. Let’s leave it to the doctors report on his recovery.

Hopefully the injury can be blamed for his poor play this year and last, though his declining ISO is somewhat worrisome. Was his knee hurting in 2009? Did he just peak early in 2008? Will he ever regain that 30/30 form? In real baseball, the Indians may take the 2009 vintage and be happy with it. 112 wRC+ center fielders with plus defense don’t grow on trees. And truly, even fantasy owners should be happy if he comes back and plays to 2009’s level, but they won’t pay early-round prices for that production until he proves the power and speed are back. Still, he makes for an intriguing late-round pick in 2011 because of his immense upside, and certainly keeper league owners should not sell low.

So now what? The Indians will slog through the season and see what else the farm system has to offer at the center field position. Trevor Crowe will get continue to get first dibs on the interim position, and before long Micheal Brantley will get the call. In some ways, this may help the organizational health of the Indians by giving two players that have finished their minor league apprenticeships the chance to play every day in the major leagues. Perhaps they prove they can play every day and allow Cleveland to trade them for value elsewhere. Perhaps one of them proves that they can be a valuable fourth outfielder. Either way, they get a shot.

Crowe’s .276/.362/.391 minor league line doesn’t offer a ton of hope for an above-average regular, but his .813 OPS versus lefties could make him a good fourth outfielder or platoon option. His defense in center was around scratch in the minors according to Total Zone, and a scratch-defensive centerfielder that can hit lefties is not dog meat. At the major league level, he just needs to show he can walk like he did in the minors – his 5.5% walk rate to date is not cutting it.

Brantley is playing decently in the minor leagues currently (.306/.386/.373), but, like Crowe, doesn’t have Sizemore’s above-average (or better) power. For his career, he’s played better against righties (.301/.390/.372), so we may have the beginnings of a center field platoon once he’s called up. According to Total Zone, though, his defense has ranged from exceptional at centerfield (+16 in 2009) to abysmal (-21 in 2009). The book is still open on his ability to play the position at all, and it’s important because he doesn’t own any power to speak of.

Fantasy owners are left crying in their adult sodas at their neighborhood establishment. A 30/30 player will not be on the wire at this point, and they may have no solace for teams built on Sizemore’s speedy legs and powerful bat. If they are looking for help from the Cleveland team, Brantley may be the one to pick up, if only because he plays better against right handers and there are more of them.

Jonathan Broxton | Los Angeles Dodgers
The Comments: Broxton has offered a little bit of everything to this point: three wins, 13 saves, 1.11 ERA, and a strikeout rate of 12.95. Over the past week, he was worked hard and saved two games in as many tries over four games.

Heath Bell | San Diego Padres
The Comments: His trade value keeps going up but Bell is probably not going anywhere at this point. The closer has an excellent strikeout rate, a solid ERA and he’s third in the league in saves. He has just one save opportunity this past week and converted it.

Brian Wilson | San Francisco Giants
The Comments: Another closer with another hefty strikeout rate (13.30 K/9), Wilson has just one blown save this year. This past week, he converted his only opportunity.

Carlos Marmol | Chicago Cubs
The Comments: With 25.0 innings under his belt this season, Marmol already has 50 strikeouts (18.00 K/9) and the strikeout rate is not going anywhere. Marmol converted his only save opp this past week.

Billy Wagner | Atlanta Braves
The Comments: Wagner has posted some solid numbers this year and he finally has the saves total to show for it. The lefty recorded four saves this past week, which was more than Marmol, Wilson, and Bell combined.

Ryan Franklin | St. Louis Cardinals
The Comments: Franklin posted an 0.73 ERA in May, which was down from 3.60 in April. He hasn’t had many save opportunities lately, with his last coming on May 20. He’s worked two innings in each of his last three appearances. Franklin has walked just one batter all year.

Octavio Dotel | Pittsburgh Pirates
The Comments: Dotel’s xFIP of 3.83 suggests that he’s been a little unlucky with his 5.06 ERA. His strikeout rate is excellent at 12.66 K/9 and he added two saves this past week. He’s one of the best things about the Pirates right now; Bell is probably off the trading block but Dotel might be an interesting name come the end of July.

Leo Nunez | Florida Marlins
The Comments: The K/BB rate of 5.00 is certainly nice. His xFIP of 2.89 suggests that his success is well earned. He appeared in four games this past week and recorded three saves. He got touched up a bit in his last appearance and may have been over-worked a little bit.

Francisco Rodriguez | New York Mets
The Comments: Rodriguez went 1-for-2 in saves this past week but he racked up a good number of strikeouts with seven in four innings. If he can find the command of his curve, it would really help his cause.

Francisco Cordero | Cincinnati Reds
The Comments: Surprise, surprise, a Dusty Baker pitcher is leading the closers in appearances… Cordero appeared in just two game this past week and nailed his only chance at a save. He failed to strike out a batter in either game, though.

Jose Contreras | Philadelphia Phillies
The Comments: Contreras made three appearances this past week and recorded a save in his only shot. He also gave up a run against Atlanta on June 2, which was the first time a player had scored against him since April 20. Brad Lidge is back now, so Contreras should see a decline in opportunities.

Manny Corpas | Colorado Rockies
The Comments: Like Contreras in Philly, Corpas may loss opportunities with the return of an injured pitcher in Franklin Morales. Corpas remains the favorite for the bulk of save chances, but Huston Street is also making good strides in his rehab, so monitor the situation closely.

Chad Qualls | Arizona Diamondbacks
The Comments: The 15.79 H/9 is an ugly number. Qualls made two appearances this past week and blew his only save opportunity.

Matt Capps | Washington Nationals
The Comments: Capps continues to lead the Majors in saves but he notched just one this past week and blew saves in consecutive games against Houston on June 1 and 3. He gave up five runs last week but his ERA is intact because they were all unearned.

Matt Lindstrom | Houston Astros
The Comments: Lindstrom is in a funk. The right-hander has blown three of his last four save opportunities, including two against Washington. He’s fighting his command right now and has walked five batters in his last four games.

John Axford | Milwaukee Brewers
The Comments: Axford has been a breath of fresh air with a strikeout rate of 13.03 K/9 and a hit rate of just 5.59 H/9. The rookie hurler is 3-for-3 in save opportunities on the year and he nailed both his opportunities this past week.