Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat - AL

September 7, 2010 @ 14:30:00

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.

Mound meetings

• Busy man: Capps

  The Baltimore Orioles' wins on Sunday and Monday were punctuated by righty Koji Uehara, who has not yielded to any other reliever since his first save of the year on Aug. 21. He's riding a six-opportunity conversion streak. Committee, schmomittee.
• After saving Friday's contest, Matt Capps gave up one run on three hits Sunday but was bailed out by an interference call that wound up being the only out he needed for a closure. The Minnesota Twins' righty bounced back with a scoreless inning Monday and has now pitched on five of the last seven days. Maybe the Twins will rest him and turn to their treasure trove of closer-capable arms if a save is needed today.
• Fresh off resting after a busy stretch, Bobby Jenks closed out both games of the Chicago White Sox's Saturday doubleheader. He was given off Sunday and Monday. Matt Thornton, who was activated from the DL Friday, closed it out Sunday. J.J. Putz (knee) expects to return from the DL Thursday to further bolster the setup bridge and hopefully keep Jenks strictly in stopper's work.
• After July 8 action, David Aardsma's ERA stood at 5.60. Following his Friday and Sunday saves for the Seattle Mariners, that number now stands at 3.69, thanks to a 0.95 ERA, a 0.95 WHIP, 12 saves and 21 K's over his last 19 innings from July 11 on. Brandon League doesn't look like he'll be adding saves to his fantasy benefits.
• Jose Valverde calmed the nerves of his fantasy baseball owners by recording a scoreless save Saturday, working around a walk. The easy feeling didn't last long, though; he suffered the loss in the Detroit Tigers' Monday contest.
  The post-break embattled righty received more support from manager Jim Leyland, though. "Valverde's fine," Leyland said. "He's our closer and that's the way it is. There's nothing wrong with Valverde."

Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat: AL | NL

Fantasy baseball closer depth charts: AL | NL

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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.

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