Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat: Sergio Santos' solo save effort, more

August 17, 2011 @ 10:55:57

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.

Mound meetings

• Jon Rauch (appendicitis) will miss at least three weeks, with Frank Francisco taking over closing duties. The Toronto Blue Jays haven't been able to catch either one of these pitchers in a productive stretch as stopper. Francisco has pitched well and, if he keeps it up, could easily keep the gig even after Rauch returns, making him worth a pickup everywhere.

• Sonar in use: Monitor Nunez

  More credence paid to a save committee for the Chicago White Sox: After Chris Sale threw two frames, Sergio Santos pitched the entire ninth inning Tuesday. Guess what? He struck out the leadoff righty bat, but he yielded a walk, a single and an RBI ground-out to three straight lefty hitters to blow the save chance.
  This failure, despite the anticlimactic way the game was tied, won't put Santos back in Ozzie Guillen's good graces. Sale remains a noteworthy pickup, and Santos owners will probably just have to hope for consistent closing opportunities. Owning and starting both would help fantasy owners.
• The danger of owning Carlos Marmol surfaced again Tuesday. In another wild outing, the Chicago Cubs' stopper gave up two singles, threw a wild pitch and walked a batter before allowing a game-losing grand slam. His blown save was only the second game of his 10 August affairs in which he's allowed a run and his only botched opp in nine tries this month.
  The Cubbies aren't playing for anything, so it's unlikely Marmol would be sentenced to setup duty for an extended time again if his blowups are only occasional. Chasing someone else right now isn't recommended for mixed leagues, but it'd be Sean Marshall or the recently dominant Kerry Wood if you're scraping the barrel. Maybe Mike Quade goes with Wood this time if a replacement if needed.
• Maybe Leo Nunez's pitching hand is still bothering him after he took a grounder off it Monday. The righty registered his 33rd save Tuesday, but he took the Florida Marlins to the brink during it, allowing two singles and a two-run homer before wiggling out of trouble. The fact that he recorded the save presumably means he's fine, but his status must be monitored.

 

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

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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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