Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat: Frank Francisco, Kenley Jansen, Jordan Walden

September 2, 2011 @ 10:12:54

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

• Blocked, but still enticing

  With Javy Guerra having pitched on each of the previous two days, Kenley Jansen toed the rubber for the Los Angeles Dodgers save Thursday. The K machine is next in line, probably even if and when the Blue get Jonathan Broxton (shoulder) back; they're hoping that's this season. Jansen has closer-worthy stuff to watch long term (or add for strikeout help in deep leagues), but it's Guerra's show.
• A sharp Frank Francisco wrapped up a Toronto Blue Jays victory Thursday with a 1-2-3 frame, with freshly activated Jon Rauch recording the eighth-inning hold. As noted yesterday, Francisco is on a roll, and he has now logged 14 straight shutout appearances. He's fanning fewer batters of late, but maybe that means he's focusing on pitching. That'll go a long way to him keeping the stopper gig even with Rauch back given how the tall tosser was giving up runs in nearly every closing cameo.
• An admittedly fatigued Jordan Walden perked up Thursday for a perfect ninth inning. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim stopper, even with some shaky bouts this season, boasts a 1.65 ERA and 18 K's while also going 10-for-13 in closure attempts over his last 18 outings (16 1/3 innings).

 

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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