Closers are the most overrated players in fantasy baseball. The good ones deliver strong contributions to one category, but generally pitch less than five innings per week.
During drafts, I usually ignore the position until the late rounds. Despite this strategy, my teams are usually very strong in the saves category. In fact, my teams have finished tied-first, second, first and first in saves over the last four seasons in my 10-team roto keeper league.
How is this possible you ask? It’s simple really. Let me run some numbers by you…
The Boston Red Sox were as busy as any team in baseball this offseason. Although they lost Victor Martinez and Adrian Beltre to free agency, the Red Sox made two shift-of-power acquisitions in Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez.
Perhaps the most fantasy-rich team in baseball with six players in our top 100 (see below), the Red Sox feature an excellent lineup that includes both speed and power...
Over the last three years, only five closers have recorded at least 30 saves each season (Jonathan Papelbon, Francisco Cordero, Mariano Rivera, Joakim Soria and Brian Wilson). This fact alone illustrates the high turnover rate at this unstable position.
With nearly half of baseball's 30 teams likely to start 2011 with a new closer, it's important for fantasy managers to brush up on the bullpens in transition.
Every week during the 2011 season, I'll update the Closer's Corner as ninth-inning roles change hands. In the meantime, I'll post updates as free agents continue to sign and spring training battles become more clear...
Although 2010’s official Opening Day isn’t until tomorrow, the Yankees/Red Sox Sunday night matchup marks the beginning of another baseball season.
For those of us who devote our entire summer to fantasy baseball, tonight signals the start of a six-month journey that requires a daily grind; constantly setting lineups, adding free agents and proposing trades, not to mention watching the games...
Closers are the most overrated players in fantasy baseball. The good ones deliver strong contributions to one category, but generally pitch less than five innings per week.
During drafts, I usually ignore the position until the late rounds. Despite this strategy, my teams are usually very strong in the saves category. In fact, my teams have finished first, first and second in saves over the last three seasons in my 10-team roto keeper league...
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
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