Yesterday afternoon we got word that Neftali Feliz was placed on the disabled list with right shoulder inflammation, and it’s always scary when a young flamethrower has a shoulder injury. You can expect the Rangers to take their sweet time with Feliz’s rehab, making sure he’s fully healthy before activating him. They’d be stupid not to considering his long-term importance to the franchise. That opens the door for Darren Oliver, who grabbed the first save opportunity (and save) in the Neftali-less era last night.

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After blowing four saves in five chances, Ryan Franklin lost hold of his closer’s job for the Cardinals over the weekend. In his first crack at redeeming himself yesterday, the veteran right-hander allowed a solo homer (to Laynce Nix!) in two innings of work against the Nationals, coming into the 7th inning of game when St. Louis trailed by two. Clearly, he’s got a long way to go before reclaiming his job. But what about the guy that replaced him?

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The Ryan Franklin and Joe Nathan/Matt Capps stuff is old news by now, but let’s get you caught up on some others in danger of losing their jobs…

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There’s no position more fungible on a baseball team than the closer. At other positions you can have middling to even below average success and still keep your job (see Bartlett, Jason). But, blow a few saves in a row? If you’re named anything other than Mariano Rivera you’re likely in trouble. That was the fate endured by Joe Nathan and Ryan Franklin over the weekend.

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Let’s take a quick look at two middle relievers heading in the opposite fantasy directions…

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Let’s look at two closers who, right now, are headed in the opposite direction…

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The season is all of a week old, not even when you consider that today’s games haven’t been played yet, but we’ve already had some movement on the closer front. Let’s take inventory of whose stock is on the rise, and whose is slipping…

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Catchers and closers, catchers and closers…

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A few weeks ago in Spring Training, new Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said that he planned to use lefty Jonny Venters and righty Craig Kimbrel as co-closers at the start of the year, basing their usage on matchups. It’s a great plan; a manager deserves to be applauded for not marrying himself to one set ninth inning guy and instead optimizing his bullpen, even if it creates headaches for us fantasy players. Yet when the time came yesterday, here’s how Fredi played his cards with two-run lead…

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A few weeks ago we ranked relievers based on their projected fantasy value, and built into that is a look at each closer’s job security. Let’s be a bit more straight forward on the job security front, since knowing which closers are at risk of losing their job is half the battle.

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