The inaugural season of Ottoneu Fantasy Baseball here at FanGraphs is coming to a close, and hopefully you’ve enjoyed the experience as much as I have. Deep rosters (40-man) with minor leaguers and 60-day DL maneuverability … it’s great. I even have Yu Darvish stashed on my bench (cost $1 on auction day, $2 next year to keep), hoping he’ll anchor my pitching staff next season.

Anyway, I’ve long been a sucker for trying to find value in middle relievers in fantasy, but in traditional 5×5 formats they’re almost useless. A points league is another matter, especially those based on linear weights like Ottoneu. If you’re unfamiliar with the linear weights scoring, you can see it here. It’s not a surprise that some top middle relievers are worth as much, if not more than some closers, but how much? Let’s look at the top producers for each demographic, starting with the closers. Just some advance warning, these point totals do not include last night’s games.

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Last week we put together our final set of closer rankings for the 2011 season, and now it’s time to do the same for the guys handing them the ball. Here is August’s holds ranking, and here is the holds leaderboard for reference.

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As the season winds down, lets look at a pair of players that can help you make a late run…

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One last set of first base rankings as we head down the stretch and into the season’s final month. You can find last month’s rankings right here, which link back through all the previous months.

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It’s not September yet, but it’s close enough. Here’s are our August closer rankings, which can take you back through the rest of the season, and here’s the saves leaderboard for reference. September call-ups are right around the corner, and last year we caught our first glimpse of Jordan Walden in the ninth inning during the season’s final month. I don’t think there are any closer options coming up from the minors this month, but stranger things have happened.

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Yankees fans can be a fickle bunch, so when their $180M first baseman starts posting .360-.370 wOBA’s instead of .390+ plus, they notice and wonder what’s wrong. Mark Teixeira is still one of the game’s very best hitters, a run-producing machine with serious power from both sides of the plate (.258 ISO vs. RHP and .280 vs. LHP this year, with similar splits throughout his career) and a knack for avoiding strike three (just 15.3% strikeouts this year and 17.2% for his career), but what’s going on with his batting average, the most basic of offensive metrics?

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The fantasy season is coming down to the wire, so let’s focus on two waiver guys that will help boost your stolen base total down the stretch…

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You’ve surely heard by now, but Carlos Marmol blew the routinest of saves last night, coughing up a three-run lead against the Astros. He got a fly ball for the first out, but then came a single, a wild pitch (runner to second), another single (runner to third), a walk to load the bases, then a walk-off grand slam by Brian Bogusevic. Closers blow saves, sometimes spectacularly, but the fact that Marmol temporarily lost his job last month makes this a little more interesting.

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When the Mets dealt Francisco Rodriguez to the Brewers last month, veteran ninth inning guy Jason Isringhausen stepped into the closer’s role for the Mets. Aside from a pair of meltdowns earlier this month, he did the job admirably and notched career save #300 last night. He’s 22nd on the all-time saves list, and if nothing else, that total shows longevity in a role that generally has no staying power at all. It doesn’t appear that Izzy will get many saves beyond 300, however.

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Let’s look at a pair of hot cornerers for the fantasy stretch drive…

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