Darren rounded up last night’s closer news this morning, I’ll just hit up on what we have seen so far today.

• LaTroy Hawkins‘ recent implosions has led to his removal from the ninth inning in Colorado. According to Walt Weiss, Hawkins is getting a “break” but the feeling here is that it will be an extended one. It’s rare that struggling 42 year old relievers on bad teams lose their job to more talented relievers and get it back. If you’re in a deep, deep league I guess you can hold onto Hawkins, but I think it’s safe to give him the axe.

Adam Ottavino was long expected to fill in for Hawkins at some point this year but it looks as though Rafael Betancourt could have the closing duties for now. Betancourt received the save opportunity today and nailed it, throwing a perfect inning with two strikeouts in 16 pitches. Adam Ottavino was unavailable to pitch, and is the best reliever in the pen, but after Betancourt’s outing, he should get another chance. This one might be a coin toss with a slight lean towards Betancourt getting the next few opportunities, but both are must owns in all leagues.

Read the rest of this entry »

Neftali Feliz and LaTroy Hawkins both picked up their first saves of the season last night. Per ESPN’s live draft results, Feliz was drafted as the 25th reliever off the board on average and just inside the top 200 overall. Hawkins was drafted 38th among relievers and went at pick 226 overall. These are a couple of the names you wound up with if you chose not to pay for saves.

Maybe I’m wrong about this, but I assume the plan if you own guys like Feliz and Hawkins is to ride them out as long as they hold on to the closer’s job and squeeze as many saves out of them as you can. I ascribe to the “don’t pay for saves” philosophy and scrounge around late in drafts and on the waiver wire to acquire my saves. Typically when I get a guy who has the ninth inning job, I ride it out until he loses the job. But it occurs to me, as it may have occurred to you, that maybe it’s better to cash in that asset after a string of un-blown saves. Read the rest of this entry »

There isn’t any particularly breaking news today, but a few important updates on some previous bullet points discussed yesterday.

• Jenrry Mejia had a MRI today and although there was no structural damage, Mejia was placed on the DL with elbow inflammation. Jeurys Familia is the new closer and although a healthy Mejia is the better pitcher, there isn’t a particularly big difference so if Mejia is out for an extended period of time, Familia can hold onto the job. If he falters Carlos Torres and Rafael Montero are right behind him. Mejia can’t throw for at least the next 10 days after which he might feel no pain and be back in the ninth inning before we know it, but it’s still an unknown.

Read the rest of this entry »

Following the Braves trade of Craig Kimbrel, their only legitimate long term closer for the past 20 or so years, those in deep and long term leagues may be curious about what the Braves outlook is to replace Kimbrel both in the short and long term.

In the short term the answer certainly looks like it will be 38-year-old Jason Grilli. For as long as Grilli can consistently close games, he will be the ninth inning man. If he begins to struggle, Jim Johnson would be the likely successor – given he is pitching well at the time Grilli would be pitching poorly. Braves management also mentioned a candidate who would potentially fit in both the short and long term plans, if he were to stick I the role. They also have a few candidates that are either injured or in the minors, so below is my take on each of the three most likely long term closer candidates in Atlanta.

Juan Jaime

The Braves front office mentioned Jaime may get opportunities to save games down the line following Kimbrel’s trade. So, who is Juan Jaime? He is a fireballing 27-year-old Dominican who has essentially no command of his pitches and no legitimate second offering. That is not exactly a confidence booster I potentially acquiring him as a hopeful future closer, but Roger McDowell helped Craig Kimbrel and many others get their command under control and turn them into very impressive relievers. Kimbrel was going to be great anyway, but it is not certain that he would have handled his walk issues that he had as a minor leaguer as well as he did without the help of McDowell.

Jaime is in the bullpen right now and is likely the first right-hander the Braves will use before handing it over to their set up man Johnson. I picked him up in a long term dynasty league as he does have upside and is not terribly far from the role. I don’t love Jaime, but I could see the Braves developing him into a decent enough reliever that he can pile up strikeouts to mitigate his walk issues and be a reasonable closer.

Shae Simmons

If not for succumbing to Tommy John surgery in spring, it is likely that Simmons would actually be the Braves closer today. It would have been quite appropriate too, because Simmons is essentially a Kimbrel-lite in that he is small in stature but still throws heat and a quality breaking ball. He is of course not on the same level of Kimbrel, but he does possess the tools to be a dominant late inning reliever. In his short stint in the majors last year he recorded a 2.91 ERA and a 26% strikeout rate.

Walks were an issue and have been in the past, but across single and double-A in 2013 and 2014 he seemed to have honed in his command problems. Tommy John surgery will have him out the entire season but he could be ready for the start of next year. I would not anticipate him being handed the closer job right after returning from elbow surgery, but unless someone steps up and grabs the role with a choke hold lock, he should be a front runner to be the team’s closer by May or June of next season.

Mike Foltynewicz

During the Braves rebuilding process, they made sure to grab a number of high quality, high ceiling starting pitchers. This winter alone they acquired Matt Wisler, Tyrell Jenkins, Ricardo Sanchez, Max Fried, and Manny Banuelos. On top of that, their top three starters are under control for at least four seasons, so the Braves have a ton of young starting pitching. They will do whatever they can to allow Foltynewicz to shine as a starter, but it would not be the end of the world if they eventually decide the flame thrower who can hit triple digits would be suited best in a late inning bullpen role.

Given that they have such a plethora of young pitching, it would be a way to allow a number of them to get acclimated into major league roles that suit their talents best. Foltynewicz has made a number of top 100 lists and if he does move to a bullpen role, his fastball and curveball combination could make him deadly. He is probably the most valuable asset of the players I have covered in this article due to his potential as a starter, but if you are looking for the potential long term closer to stash away, I would be far from shocked if the Braves opt to move Foltyenwicz there in the near future. They already flirted with the idea of putting him in the bullpen during spring.

The return of another baseball season marks the return of another tradition: the search for talent in the far reaches of fantasy leagues. In this space, we’ll root through the dumpster bins as we try to locate the players who were either forsaken on draft day or who have stumbled on to playing time opportunities. Some guys will work out, some others — heh, perhaps more than some — won’t, but whether you’re looking for spare parts or trying to keep your head above water in a deep format, this column is for you.

Two quick notes: Most of the players discussed are best suited for mono leagues, although there is the occasional customer whose value extends to mixed formats. Finally, I use CBS for the ownership percentages.
Read the rest of this entry »

Opening Day is here and the closer carousel is in full swing.

• Colin touched up on the Craig Kimbrel trade fall out last night and as expected Jason Grilli was tabbed as Kimbrel’s replacement. Grilli threw a perfect inning today with two strikeouts for his first save of the year. Grilli’s fastball topped out at 97 mph today and he was consistently hitting 95 mph which is actually better than in his heyday as the Pirates closer. The options behind Grilli aren’t too appealing so if Grilli pitches reasonably well he should have no problem holding on to the job. Strangely enough, in some sense the better Grilli pitches the worse his job security would be as he would become an intriguing trade commodity for competing teams considering the Braves have clearly played their hand on not competing this season. Either way, I would advise you to run to the waivers to put a claim on Grilli and don’t be afraid to spend a lot of your FAAB budget on him as well.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s still March and the season has yet to start but that doesn’t mean the closer carousel isn’t in full swing. From here on out, as teams whittle down their major league rosters and we get more information on bullpen usage, we will be updating the BR regularly.

• Red Sox closer Koji Uehara has been on the shelf with a hamstring injury lately and it acted up again in a bullpen session Monday. While Uehara’s injury isn’t major, he’s still 39 years old without a clean medical bill. Uehara won’t be out for too long but it’s important to note Uehara said “I don’t know when I’ll be back […] It’s a day-to-day process. I have to do what I have to do to get ready.”  In Uehara’s place, expect Edward Mujica to take over the ninth with a little Junichi Tazawa thrown in. Mujica should now be owned in all leagues, even shallow ones. He can’t be relied upon for particularly strong ratio help or strikeouts, but saves are saves and Mujica will be tallying them in the first month of the season.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s my favorite time of the year here at RotoGraphs, the season of bold predictions. (My least favorite time, naturally, is late September, when I have to atone for these forecasts.) As usual, the trick here is to balance imagination against reality, the impossible versus the attainable, the speculative against the demonstrable. It’s a tough task that, for me, often results in happy predictions, but then again, it’s March — ’tis the season to indulge in some fantasy baseball fantasies, right?
Read the rest of this entry »

Yesterday, I took our bold predictions one step further by unveiling my bold hitter league leaders. It’s not easy picking a league leader that could both be considered bold, and yet still not outrageous. Today I turn to pitchers, who with two ratio categories, are perhaps a bit easier.

Read the rest of this entry »

With the news that Kenley Jansen is going to be sidelined into May after undergoing surgery on his landing foot, the Dodgers are going to need to find someone to close games for them in his stead. Over the past five seasons, Andrew Friedman has cobbled together bullpens in Tampa that ranked 11th in WAR in the majors. Not stellar, but definitely better than the 24th place the Dodgers have ranked over that same span. Has he given Don Mattingly the right mix to fill the hole left by Jansen, or is he going to go out and add a Rafael Soriano through free agency, or will he reach out to the Phillies and try to make a deal for Jonathan Papelbon?

Read the rest of this entry »