Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat - AL

May 11, 2010 @ 12:00:00

By Bryce McRae
Edited by Tim Heaney

Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat: AL | NL

Fantasy baseball closer depth charts: AL | NL

In fantasy baseball, the closer position remains volatile. Rarely does every closer hang on to the job for an entire season - injuries, poor performance and managerial decisions can cloud a team's bullpen picture.

Should you be concerned about a struggling stopper? Which relievers are climbing the depth chart? Are any injuries popping up? KFFL.com's Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat keeps you informed when you're looking for saves.

Key

Job security (JS) score	1 (unstable) to 5 (untouchable)
Health (H) score	1 (injury-prone) to 5 (durable)

 

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

Closer: Brian Fuentes

Understudy: Fernando Rodney

Lurkers: Kevin Jepsen

Fuentes not fuerte

Fuentes blew his second save of the season last night. His ERA and WHIP are 7.04 and 1.57, respectively. It's a bit worrying because Fuentes doesn't have overpowering, prototypical closer-type stuff.

However, after the game, manager Mike Scioscia sounded like he'll give Fuentes some time to work things out. "We've got to let this keep moving forward," Scioscia said. "We haven't seen enough of this to evaluate it. We're going to need all three of those guys to settle in and get the job done the way we know they can."

This should serve as a reminder of Fuentes' shakiness. Rodney and Jepsen are both solid deep mixed pickups, in that order, for saves speculation; their ratios don't look outstanding, but they have the ability to help there.

Job security score: 3

Health score: 4

Mound meetings

• Injured Baltimore Orioles closer Mike Gonzalez has been pain-free during his long-toss sessions. He's still not anywhere close to returning, however. This should continue to be Alfredo Simon's show; the righty has yet to allow an earned run in six appearances.

Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat: AL | NL

Fantasy baseball closer depth charts: AL | NL

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Bryce McRae
Bryce McRae is a Managing Editor with KFFL and has been involved in fantasy sports since 1999. He joined KFFL as a volunteer writer in March 2005 before becoming a Hot off the Wire Analyst in March 2006. He began working in his current capacity in September 2008. His work has appeared on fantasy sports sites such as Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline as well as in print. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2008 with a B.A. in History and U.S. Studies.

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