Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat - NL

June 11, 2010 @ 12:30:00

By Tim Heaney
Edited by Nicholas Minnix

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)

 

Arizona Diamondbacks

Closer: Chad Qualls

Understudy: Aaron Heilman

Guess he isn't completely fixed. On the heels of four straight scoreless outings, Qualls came into a tied game yesterday and gave up four runs on five singles in the ninth.

On second thought...

A few of the singles were soft, but Thursday marked the seventh time Qualls has allowed two-plus runs in an outing this year. Heilman remains your target if you need to chase saves or hedge your Qualls bet, as long as you can avoid dropping anyone valuable.

Adding fuel to speculative fire: The Minnesota Twins are reportedly scouting Qualls. It's doubtful that he'd usurp Jon Rauch unless the latter were injured.

Job security score: 3

Health score: 4

Mound meetings

• Matt Lindstrom has been battling back spasms and was rested Thursday, so understudy Brandon Lyon threw a scoreless ninth to close out a win for the Houston Astros. "Lindstrom was ready to go out there, but he needed a little rest," skipper Brad Mills said.
  Though Lindstrom's injury doesn't sound serious, grab Lyon if you really have a dire saves need.
• John Axford: closer or vulture? He was credited with the win in each of his last two outings thanks to late rallies.
  With the way the Milwaukee Brewers are trusting Axford, Trevor Hoffman owners must continue to practice patience if they're begging for saves. As useful as Axford has been, ditching Hoffman in roto leagues is a mistake.
• The Cincinnati Reds' Francisco Cordero bounced back from two rough outings with a perfect save Thursday. As long as he's healthy, Cincy will let him work through struggles. Their alternatives aren't inspiring.

Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat: AL | NL

Fantasy baseball closer depth charts: AL | NL

KFFLians are saying....

Comment

 

---

What do you think? We want to hear from you!

Name: E-mail: Please, enter the number that you see

Comment Guidelines

Tim Heaney

Since the Boston University alum joined KFFL in 2006, his work has been featured by USA Today/Sports Weekly and Yahoo! Sports, among numerous publications.

Tim competes in Tout Wars and LABR and appears every Wednesday on 1570 AM WNST in Baltimore, as well as frequently on Sirius XM Fantasy Sports Radio.

Follow him on Twitter.

Talk Sports 24/7!
KFFL Sports Forums: Over 24,000 strong and growing!

Top 10 Fantasy Baseball Pickups of the Week: Andy Dirks, Christian Friedrich, more (05/19)
Teachable moments in fantasy baseball stashing (05/18)
Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market: Rickie Weeks' weaknesses (05/18)