Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat

October 2, 2009 @ 11:00:00

By Nicholas Minnix
Edited by Tim Heaney

Also see: Fantasy baseball closer depth charts

In fantasy baseball, the closer position remains volatile. Rarely does every closer hang on to the job for the entire season - injuries, poor performance and managerial decisions can cloud a team's bullpen picture.

Should you be concerned about a struggling stopper? Which setup men are climbing the depth chart? Any lingering injuries popping up? KFFL.com's Fantasy Baseball Closer Hot Seat series keeps you informed when you're looking for saves.

Mound meetings

• Jim Johnson closed the Baltimore Orioles' first win in 14 games despite allowing three hits and a run to the Tampa Bay Rays in his inning of work. Just because he's finishing the year as closer, don't expect him to have the 2010 job sewn up. The righty has OK career peripherals, but there should be plenty of comp in Spring Training.
• That's three straight saves for the Washington Nationals' Mike MacDougal. The right-hander retired the only batter he faced in relief of righty Tyler Clippard, who delivered 2 2/3 scoreless frames against the Atlanta Braves.
• David Aardsma earned his 37th save for the Seattle Mariners Thursday night, although he served up a leadoff solo homer to Oakland Athletics outfielder Jack Cust before he recorded three straight outs. Whether he can repeat a 2.20 ERA and 1.15 WHIP will no doubt be a topic of debate heading into next season. He has career bests in strikeouts per nine (10.21), walks per nine (4.39) and K/BB (2.32), but the latter two marks aren't extremely inspiring. Someone will definitely refer to him as "lucky" at some point. His outlook will require digging, for sure.

• Aardsma: Intriguing 2010 topic

  Mac was in position to notch that save because, in a 1-1 contest, Atlanta's Rafael Soriano coughed up the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth. He recorded all three outs by K, but former Braves infielder Pete Orr did him in with a one-out, RBI single. It's the right-hander's sixth loss of 2009 and the first time he had surrendered a run since Sept. 19. The last two months haven't been kind to him.
• Jose Valverde must have felt unchallenged when he entered the ninth frame of the Houston Astros' win over the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday with a five-run lead. Citizens Bank Park isn't the place to yawn; he gave up three hits, a walk and two earned tallies before slicing it off.
• The Minnesota Twins aren't happy with Jose Mijares, who was "protecting" an 8-2 lead and apparently not thrilled that Detroit Tigers catcher Gerald Laird took second base uncontested. Yeah, that's defensive indifference. Mijares threw behind shortstop Adam Everett anyway. That of course prompted Tigers hurler Jeremy Bonderman to fire at Twins outfielder Delmon Young in the subsequent stanza. Young said he knew he'd be hit.

Also see: Fantasy baseball closer depth charts

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Nicholas Minnix

KFFL's baseball editor plays in LABR and Tout Wars and won the FSWA Baseball Industry Insiders League in 2010.

The University of Delaware alum is a regular guest on Sirius/XM Fantasy Sports Radio and Baltimore's WNST AM 1570. Follow him on Twitter.

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