Nothing can ruin a night for a baseball fan or fantasy owner more than watching his closer blow a ninth inning lead. The ending of our early season baseball games have been bloodier than the ending of Scarface, specifically last night with six blown saves from six different closers. If your closer did blow a save last night, you can take solace in the fact that at least they were deemed the 9th inning guy. A lot of late round picks are now chillin' on the waiver wire due to anticipation of being "the guy" in spring training only for them to be the guy spitting sunflower seeds in the bullpen with the game on the line. You drafted Jim Henderson in the 17th round? He's now their setup man. Trusted the Mets training staff with your 18th round pick on Parnell? You stupid dummy, Parnell's elbow is already barking. Did you read up a bunch and grab Nate Jones as a nice 19th round sleeper? Go read about how he entered in the 7th inning last night. Relying on Casey Janssen to duplicate his 2013 season? Oops, Toronto will just toss him on the DL for a month or so out of the blue (jays).
None of this covers the "safe" closers such as Jim Johnson (45.00 ERA, 2 losses), Papelbon (epic meltdown last night), and Ernesto Frieri (gave up back-to back jacks to his first two batters). I know it's way too early to panic and that closers are allowed to blow a save from time to time but it seems like the relief pitching has been much more unpredictable to start this season than ever.
Not much can be learned rather than to have your head on a swivel when it comes to late inning pitchers and be familiar with the next man in line when it comes to some of these closing spots. Matthew Berry likes to say, "never pay for saves" and while I personally never draft a RP early, I think you are perfectly sane in picking up a reliable RP in the middle rounds if you are certain he'll be the one that the bullpen coach asks to warm up for the 9th inning. Much like the late round wide receiver we draft based on preseason notes about an increased role in the offense who gets one target in week one, sometimes drafting a closer anywhere after the 15th round could be someone you cut within a week or two.
None of this covers the "safe" closers such as Jim Johnson (45.00 ERA, 2 losses), Papelbon (epic meltdown last night), and Ernesto Frieri (gave up back-to back jacks to his first two batters). I know it's way too early to panic and that closers are allowed to blow a save from time to time but it seems like the relief pitching has been much more unpredictable to start this season than ever.
Not much can be learned rather than to have your head on a swivel when it comes to late inning pitchers and be familiar with the next man in line when it comes to some of these closing spots. Matthew Berry likes to say, "never pay for saves" and while I personally never draft a RP early, I think you are perfectly sane in picking up a reliable RP in the middle rounds if you are certain he'll be the one that the bullpen coach asks to warm up for the 9th inning. Much like the late round wide receiver we draft based on preseason notes about an increased role in the offense who gets one target in week one, sometimes drafting a closer anywhere after the 15th round could be someone you cut within a week or two.