Closer Report
Mar 23rd, 2007 by winabango
Thank you to all that have submitted e-mails, and please keep them coming.
Today I have a new resource that was developed by Walter Mullon. He wrote:
I have my big draft on Saturday and will be making a closer report before hand that will attempt to rank closers in tiers and list the top 3 candidates for every team. One of your recent posts was asking for article suggestions and I believe this would be a very good one. I feel as if there are a lot more questions this year with the position than in the past and the last thing any drafter wants is to be unsure about a closer (now Putz is even in the mix)and not know who his back-up is.
Walt took it upon himself to develop a Closer Report that will help all of us.
Download it here: Closer Report
My philosophy on closers is pretty straight forward. Draft one or two solid ones, one or two high risk high reward ones, and then be ready to steal new closers off the waiver wire when the previous ones fail or get injured. I also am a huge fan of having dominant middle relief pitchers on my team, especially in roto style play. Cla Merideth, Scot Shields, and Pat Neshak will do wonders for your ERA, WHIP, and strikeouts.
So here is my list of the Top 3 undervalued closers based on Average Draft Position.
- Jose Valverde - I can not believe that people are not jumping on this player. Sure he is risky, but look at his stats: K/9 of 12.59, and a K/BB of 3.14. Sure his ERA looks awful at 5.48, but his BABIP was an overly inflated .386. Arizona has a solid young club that can surprise many people and give him plenty of opportunities. He is available in the 19th round in 12-team leagues. Oh yeah, he has thrown 3.2 innings this year and gave up 2 hits and no runs, and struck out 5 this spring.
- Octavio Dotel - So he hasn’t pitched in over a year, and he is the closer for the Royals. That is what makes Dotel a great value pick in the 19th round. The Royals are going to be the surprise of the year, and I think Dotel will get 30 or more saves. Worried about this injury? Check out what he has done this spring: 4 innings pitched, 5 strikeouts, 1 hit, 1 walk, and an ERA of 0.00.
- Jason Isringhausen - A solid closer year after year, and last years injury has some owners scared to pick him in the draft. Why not pick the closer for the defending champs? You can get him in the 17th round in most drafts. If he is as healthy as he seems in Spring Training, then there is a ton of value there.
Make sure that you thank Walt in the comments section for the great work that he did.
Good post. I am constantly amazed at how far Isringhausen falls in drafts, when he is looking good this spring, plays for a decent team, and is primed for a bounceback year. I also “pre-pick” Dotel just in case I need another closer in the last rounds — he too is almost always available, and has potential for a great year. Valverde can be erratic (at least he has been in the past), but he is definitely very undervalued. These are the sorts of insurance picks that will have your team sitting pretty around midseason, when half the other teams are trying to scrape together saves from the free agent pool.
Got my big auction draft today for my main league.. Problem is, I won’t be able to sneak picks like this past most of the guys in my league..
We’ll see how it goes!
Oh yeah, and thanks to Walt for the closer report.. very useful!
Thank you for such great resources, you have earned yourself a regular reader. Just wanted to make sure you’ve heard - Jorge Julio (formerly of the D-Backs) is now the Marlins closer.
Thanks for everything - keep up the good work.
I did here that. Thanks for the compliments, and I hope that you do visit daily.
Kelly