Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat: Mark Melancon, Francisco Rodriguez

June 3, 2011 @ 11:05:34

By Tim Heaney
Edited by Nicholas Minnix

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.

Mound meetings

• Get Bailey in your lineups

  Oakland Athletics manager Bob Geren said Andrew Bailey, who has thrown two perfect innings since returning from the DL, would be used in a save situation if one arises Friday. Get him in your lineups; it's safe to say he's back in his role. You can hang on to Brian Fuentes for a bit to wait it out, but he'll probably be irrelevant soon.
• Pitching for the fourth day in a row, Mark Melancon recorded a save for the second straight day. Since taking the Houston Astros' closer job from Brandon Lyon, Melancon is 5-for-6 in closures with a 2.13 ERA, 12 K's and a .182 opponents' clip in 12 2/3 frames.
  Lyon is set to begin his rehab on Sunday and also pitch Tuesday. His return timetable isn't yet cemented but could be within the next week if he shows solid progress.
  If you've tucked Lyon away, continue to do so in the off-chance he is returned to the role, but the grounder-friendly Melancon has laid the groundwork to keep the job even when the former stopper returns.
• Francisco Rodriguez gave up a run in his Thursday save (his 16th conversion in a row), but can you blame the New York Mets' stopper? He had two teeth removed the day before and refused to take pain meds because they would make him drowsy on the job. He guesses he'll have to deal with this for the next few days, but this isn't a reason to take him out of your lineup.

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)