Broxton Out As Dodgers’ Primary Closer
With some help from his defense, Jonathan Broxton blew his first save of the season yesterday, allowing two (unearned) runs to the Marlins for a walk-off loss. Ned Colletti said today that the big right-hander is out as the team’s primary closer, at least temporarily. Take it away, Molly Knight:
Ned Colletti says Broxton is being removed as Dodgers primary closer until he gets his confidence back. Team will use Padilla/Brox/Kuo.
Joe Block adds a little more, saying that Mattingly will match-up each night until Broxton’s right. I take that to mean Hong-Chih Kuo will handle the tough lefties in the ninth and Vicente Padilla (!!!) gets the tough righties while Broxton does a little setup work (or less) for the time being. The wrinkle here is that Kuo is on the disabled list (sore back) and Padilla just came of it (elbow surgery), as in last Friday.
Padilla has appeared in two games since returning, throwing a scoreless sixth inning with the Dodgers up by two on Saturday and then allowing on run in the eighth inning yesterday when he was trying to protect a two-run lead. He hasn’t been a full-time reliever since 2001, though he had very good strikeout (8.0 K/9) and unintentional walk (1.9 uIBB/9) rates last year after several seasons in the 6.0 and 3.2 ranges, respectively. Maybe it’s the eephus pitch.
Kuo is eligible to come off the disabled list on Sunday (if I’m counting my days correctly) after dealing with that lower back strain. He’s made just one minor league rehab appearance so far, but will get in a few more this week before being activated. We know what Kuo is when healthy, and that’s arguably the best relief pitcher in baseball, regardless of hand. The problem is that he’s a little fragile after all those elbow surgeries, appearing on back-to-back days just four times last year and three times in 2009. He’s a relief ace, he just needs some special care.
I’d hesitate to outright drop Broxton right now despite the obvious warning signs (strikeouts and swings-and-misses down, walks and homers way up), but you’re welcome to do as you see fit. Kuo is probably already owned in most leagues, so grab Padilla for the time being (owned in less than 1% of Yahoo! and ESPN leagues) then pay attention to how Mattingly doles out the save opportunities once all three are actually on the active roster.
Mike writes about the Yankees at River Ave. Blues and baseball in general at CBS Sports.
Drafted Kuo but had to drop him because I had 4 other players on the DL. Was unable to pick him back up in time. The moral of this fable is… it pays to wake up early during FBB season?
yea, that or stay up late enough to pick-up players for the next day (3am for Yahoo)
I’m glad we enacted league rules to make life easier, weekly transactions, weekly FAAB auctions, 3 reserve slots, unlimited DL slots (no FAAB bids on DL players). I can pay attention once a week and get by.
The only downside is a weaker free agent pool, but in a 10 team mixed that hardly matters.
really? padilla?
Hahahahaha. No kidding. What is this? April 1st? MLB should make their first move of owning the Dodgers to trade a solid prospect for journeyman and 40 career save man Miguel Batista to solve their problems.
Kuo is the grim reaper to lefties, we know that. Less known is how hard Padilla is on right handers.
Check out the splits.
Kuo vs Lefties: .190 BA 3.42 BB/9 14.13 K/9
Padilla vs Righties .237 BA 2.02 BB/9 6.65 K/9
and in 2010 Padilla was even better with 1.54 BB/9 and 8.89 K/9 against righties
PLattoon closer for the win??
I think what Broxton’s example and lots of closer examples tells us is: Don’t EVER pay for saves. It amazes me how many people will draft a closer in the first 8 or 10 rounds, and frankly, I just don’t get it. The amount of turn-over at the closer position is ridiculous. In one of my deep 12 team mixed 5X5 roto keeper leagues (28 roster spots), I drafted exactly ONE closer… In the 13th round. Joel Hanrahan. Many people thought I was nuts. Cries of, “the punk is punting on saves!” Now, if that were true, why would I have drafted ANY closer? For my HEALTH? No… Because less than 4 weeks into the season, I have a total of FOUR closers and the three I picked up only cost me 14 FAAB dollars out of a budget of $100 for the year. Jon Rauch, Matt Capps and Ryan Madson. Punting on saves? Hardly… But I refuse to waste unnecessary draft picks to get them when the probability of them getting replaced before season’s end is SO high. Instead, I was able to draft guys like Jay Bruce, Max Scherzer, Adam Dunn, etc. Much more limited risk on THEM becoming worthless or being removed from THEIR every day job.
Think about the number of closers who are currently closing RIGHT NOW that have maintained their closer role for the last 3 seasons… You know how many there are? I can count them on ONE HAND. Mariano Rivera, Brian Wilson, Heath Bell, Jonathan Pabelbon and Francisco Rodriguez. Yep. THAT’S IT! Everyone else has either been replaced at SOME point due to inconsistency or replaced because of a trade. I don’t know about anyone else, but unless you’re playing with house money, I’ll take ANY OTHER position player or starter in the first 10 rounds than I will make a bet that the closer I draft will remain closer throughout the year. NO THANKS.
P.S. I’m 4th in my league in Saves having drafted only ONE closer who no one has ever heard of. It’s early. But every Save counts in roto, and it will put me in better standing later in the season in case I need to trade for one.
I totally THINK you are overusing THE technique of capitalizing EVERY fourth word for EMPHASIS. THANKS.
Sorry… Next time, I’ll use emoticons and HTML formatting as well. I just didn’t use enough flair.
I disagreed at first, but your prodigious ALL CAPS shouting convinced me. NEXT YEAR I WONT PAY FOR SAVES.
I remain unconvinced. I need ALL CAPS and EXTRA PUNCTUATION11111!!!!.
Acronyms are also quite convincing.
CLOSERS!!##$ WTF
Glad you came to your senses Steve.
PAYING for SAVES has NOTHING to DO with DRAFTING a SHITTY closer ABOUT to LOSE his JOB anyway…
YEAH.
You are in a 12 team mixed where those set-up guys are available. Moreover, you are drafting, not auctioning. I’m not taking away from what you do, but merely pointing out that there are other environments that need discussion. In a “deep” 12 team A.L. or 13 team N.L., you are not going to get Matt Capps, Jon Rauch, Ryan Madson, etc. It won’t happen and it can’t happen.
Well, I drafted Broxton, Thornton, Soriano and Parnell (we value set-up guys, count holds, and a have a rule that you need 5 relievers and can’t have more saves than wins). All 4 asploded. broxton I knew was iffy last year but I assumed he could still at least be semi-decent and get saves.
I also tucked away Rauch, have traded Soriano for Hanrahan (that team had too many saves), drafted Eduardo Sanchez. Oliver and Aardsma are both around on our waiver. Vinnie Pestano. Joel Peralta.
The nice thing about relief being a weak spot is, at least in our league, one of the easiest things to fix. Guys that stockpile too many saves early trade their closers later. In that way it is kind of like real baseball. If one guy doesn’t work as a closer you can dig up another one, and good set-up guys are almost as valuable even if they aren’t closing.
Can’t have more saves than wins? That’s one of the most bizarre league rules I’ve ever heard.
You forgot Soria…So a hand and a finger
nabbed Kuo in my league just now…. thanks! sigh of relief breathed…
Kenley Jansen one hopes?
You forgot Soria.
Also, “not paying for saves” is not a viable strategy in a single-league league.
Actually, not paying for saves is a perfectly viable strategy in an auction format single league 12 team (or 12/13 team if you are N.L.). Category dumping is a fair strategy, and saves or steals is usually the place it is done. It requires a solid freeze list and a solid auction so you maximize the other 9 categories, but in light of the fact that closer jobs change so often (9 this year I believe), it is perfectly viable.
I agree. I’m in a 14-team NL-only, 5×5 league and I had to pay $15 for Putz, just so I was assured of somebody who (if healthy) would produce saves. Granted, I also took Sean Burnett, Jose Contreras, Ryan Madson, and Hong-Chih Kuo as well, so I’m comfortably leading my league in saves at the moment. Really just hoping Broxton and Lidge don’t regain their closer jobs…
Mattingly told Broxton today that the media reports are false, and that Broxton is still the Dodger’s closer..
Ahh…the dreaded vote of confidence. Won’t be too long until Broxton is working the 6th inning.
And Padilla gets the save today…
Broxton was unavailable.
Why has Guerrier and his huge contract/solid stats not been mentioned in ANY articles regarding LA’s stop-gap closers?
He is a mediocre middle man?