During the regular season, the Closer Hot Seat will be your go-to guide for Major League Baseball's bullpen chatter. During spring training, KFFL's Fantasy Baseball Bullpen Session will get you tuned up for the fantasy baseball saves chase. Camp happenings don't always impact closer battles, but if there's MLB news you should know for your fantasy baseball draft, you'll find it here.

Monitor Marmol

Vinnie Pestano was a sneakier, more attractive target for fantasy baseball drafters before Chris Perez's oblique strain. The progress that the Cleveland Indians' established closer has made in his recovery may come close to restoring the speculative allure of the Tribe's setup man.

MLB.com's Jordan Bastian reported that Perez threw long toss today and experienced no problems. He's scheduled to toss a bullpen session on Friday. The right-hander believes that he has plenty of time to get ready for opening day and is on track to get into five or six exhibition games.

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Dale Sveum seems to have a lot of confidence in Carlos Marmol. The skipper must, because the Chicago Cubs' closer's poor ST results don't worry him, and the Cubbies don't have a contingency plan. As Tim discussed on Monday, Marmol's fastball command is the staff's sole focus in Arizona.

The club's new pitching coach, Chris Bosio, intends to limit the wild hurler to his numero uno in his next Cactus League outing. Bosio believes that last year's regime overworked Marmol, too. If the Cubs continue with this program - restrictions on his arsenal, building arm strength - it offers hope that Marmol will turn things around this year. Stay tuned.

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Ryan Madson's first bullpen session of spring training reportedly went extremely well on Tuesday. He was scheduled to play long toss today. There remains no reason to back off the Cincinnati Reds' closer in drafts.

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Juan Carlos Oviedo could join the Miami Marlins in camp within the next couple of days. The righty may have enough time to be ready for the opener, but it seems pointless to rush him. Barring an injury, it shouldn't be long before he's serving as Heath Bell's setup man, though.