Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat: Fernando Salas, more

June 2, 2011 @ 11:51:38

By Tim Heaney
Edited by Nicholas Minnix

 

Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat | AL depth charts | NL depth charts

What are the odds that you still own the relief pitchers you rostered in your fantasy baseball draft? KFFL.com's Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat series gives you no-nonsense ratings of performances, injuries and managerial decisions in MLB bullpens. Get your arm loose: Let's find fantasy baseball players in your rotisserie or head-to-head baseball league who'll get saves.

Key

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

 

St. Louis Cardinals

Closer: Fernando Salas

Understudy: Eduardo Sanchez, Mitchell Boggs

Lurkers: Jason Motte, Ryan Franklin, Miguel Batista, Trever Miller

Feliz: baby steps

Salas was teetering recently, and he blew his first save in 11 tries in a Wednesday frame (one run, two hits, one walk). The St. Louis Cardinals' righty has coughed up at least one hit in each of his last seven appearances and one run in three of his last five. Given his longer body of wrapping things up than previous deposed stoppers Boggs and Sanchez, he likely has a longer leash in this bullpen setup.

But exactly how extensive? St. Louie put in a call to the San Diego Padres inquiring about Heath Bell - not surprising. The Fathers likely wouldn't pull the trigger until late July on one of the most highly sought-after deadline commodities, so you could still squeeze plenty of value out of Salas in the meantime. The way this 'pen has shuffled this season, though, Salas could lose his gig before then if he continues to stumble or make them nervous; that's what did in Sanchez. Despite his rough outing last night, Franklin might even be working his way back into saves consideration down the road - not probable, but not impossible given the organization's continued loyalty to him.

How's your saves nest looking? It wouldn't hurt to determine your league's market for Salas soon if you have more pressing needs and can afford to avoid hoping Salas survives potential pitfalls.

Job security score: 2

Health score: 5

Mound meetings

• Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said that he still wants to use matchups to determine his closer for the near future, but with Vicente Padilla on track to return Friday, skip hinted he isn't afraid to put the vet back in the role. Mattingly's desire to have a single closer reinforces the idea of picking up Padilla if you're chasing saves. He's still widely available in fantasy leagues.
• Neftali Feliz looked more like his 2010 incarnation during his Wednesday save for the Texas Rangers: Though he didn't fan a batter, the righty worked around a leadoff hit to retire the next three batters. He threw a fastball on 13 of his 15 pitches, so he still could use some variety, but he showed improved command of his heat and kept the ball down in the zone. That last bit will be vital for preserving an improved approach and helping him regain his place as a stable savior.

 

Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat | AL depth charts | NL depth charts

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!

Fantasy baseball players in the news (05/23)
Fantasy Baseball Player Prospecting: Kole Calhoun, Jean Segura, Andrew Chafin, more (05/22)
Fantasy Baseball Diamond Market: Jeff Keppinger to DL (05/22)