| Fantasy Firemen: AL Central |
| Written by Angus and Status | |
| Wednesday, 20 August 2008 | |
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Welcome to the second installment of Fantasy Firemen. Here you will find a breakdown of the current situation of each AL Central team’s bullpen and how it effects fantasy. This is your source for finding your best options for saves and holds and deciding which situations are the most volatile.
The various risk levels will be assigned to each situation as well as the current closer and the top threats for that position among the set-up men. Even the lowest risk level is still called smoldering because no closer is ever completely safe in his role. An inferno is the situation is which the bullpen is either in a closer by committee situation or the current closer is really on the hot set. We will post the statistics with the big players for each pen and will give you the date on which each situation was updated. Here's the American League Central. Enjoy.
Risk Level Very Low: Smouldering Low: Smoking Moderate: Burning High: Blazing Very High: Inferno
American League Central (updated 8/20/08)
Chicago White Sox
Closer- Bobby Jenks (45.1 IP, 25 SV, 25 K, 0 HLD, 1.79 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 4.96 K/9) Threat #1- Octavio Dotel (55.2 IP, 1 SV, 76 K, 18 HLD, 3.40 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 12.29 K/9) Threat #2- Scott Linebrink (DL with 39.0 IP, 1 SV, 33 K, 19 HLD, 2.31 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 7.62 K/9)
Risk- Smoldering The White Sox closing situation is stable. Bobby Jenks is solidified as the closer, and they have some of the best bullpen arms like Linebrink, Dotel, and Thornton. Dotel is dominant as a closer or set-up man with K's when healthy and Linebrink is perrenially one of the best in the game for holds. When Jenks went on the DL in July the Sox went with a closer-by-committee approach, but things work much better when everyone is pitching within their respective roles. They are stacked. The Sox have a very strong club overall as well and with the addition of Ken Griffey Jr. will be looking to make some noise in the postseason.
Cleveland Indians
Closer- Jensen Lewis (48.1 IP, 3 SV, 33 K, 4 HLD, 3.91 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, 6.14 K/9) Threat #1- Rafael Perez (63.1 IP, 2 SV, 67 K, 18 HLD, 3.13 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 9.52 K/9) Threat #2- Masa Kobayashi (51.2 IP, 6 SV, 35 K, 2 HLD, 4.35 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 6.10 K/9)
Risk- Inferno Cleveland does not have a closer right now... or at least they don't realize the DO have one. The Indians have apparently lost faith in Kobayashi’s closing abilities. Rafael Perez is their best bullpen arm, but the Indians may be reluctant to move him to the closing position since he is so valuable in multi-inning situations. Edward Mujica is another solid arm in the pen that the Indians may use to close but Jensen Lewis has received more opportunity, is young and has succeeded thus far. He isn't nearly as sexy a pitcher to have getting saves as Rafael, but it is his for now. Betancourt has really fallen off since last year but deserves to be watched. They won’t be winning many games down the stretch, so in the short term this is definitely a situation to avoid.
Detroit Tigers
Closer- Fernando Rodney (27.1 IP, 5 SV, 32 K, 5 HLD, 4.28 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 10.54 K/9) Threat #1- Joel Zumaya (DL with 23.1 IP, 1 SV, 22 K, 5 HLD, 3.47 ERA, 1.97 WHIP, 8.49 K/9) Threat #2- Kyle Farnsworth (51.2 IP, 1 SV, 50 K, 12 HLD, 4.18 ERA, 1.43 WHIP, 8.71 K/9)
Risk- Inferno Much like the Indians, the Tigers closing situation is a mess right now as well. Joel Zumaya has been deemed the closer, but because of his nagging arm/shoulder problems he isn’t able to pitch on consecutive days and is now on the disabled list, so expect to see some of Fernando Rodney and newly acquired Kyle Farnsworth. If and when Todd Jones returns again, there will be even more arms vying for the closing duty there. Jones may be given his closing spot back just because of the mess the Tigers are in when trying to finish off games. Zumaya is too injury-prone to count on right now, and Rodney has been pretty bad much of the season until lately. Farnsworth put together some decent appearances with the Yankees and Tigers, but Rodney has started to take control of this situation. Anything is better than Jones really.
Kansas City Royals
Closer- Joakim Soria (54.2 IP , 33 SV, 58 K, 0 HLD, 1.48 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 9.55 K/9) Threat #1- Ramon Ramirez (57.2, 0 SV, 61 K, 15 HLD, 2.81 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 9.52 K/9) Threat #1- Robinson Tejeda (32. IP, 0 SV, 35 K, 1 HLD, 3.66 ERA, 1.00 WHIP, 9.84 K/9)
Risk- Smoldering Joakim Soria is a sensational pitcher. He has had one of the best debuts in a career by a reliever in recent memory. It is hard to believe he is only 24. Unfortunately, this success may change things, as he probably won’t be staying in the bullpen for long. Hitters are hitting a paltry .071 against him, and many in the Royals organization believe he has only begun to scratch the surface of his talent. He pitches so efficiently that it seems natural that he will eventually slide into the starting rotation, perhaps at the top. He doesn’t have the pitch repertoire of an ace, but he has the command and demeanor of one. His curveball is plain nasty and has garnered comparisons to a decent closer in Anaheim by the name of Francisco Rodriguez. Expect him to stay as the Royals closer for at least this and next season, though. Ron Mahay was almost moved to the Red Sox at the deadline, and he is a decent option out of the pen but is too old to be a real threat for keepers. Ramirez and Tejeda are more interesting although Tejeda hasn't been given the hold opportunities yet.
Minnesota Twins
Closer- Joe Nathan (53.0 IP, 33 SV, 58 K, 0 HLD, 1.02 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, 9.85 K/9) Threat #1- Pat Neshek (DL with 13.1 IP, 0 SV, 15 K, 6 HLD, 4.73 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 10.13 K/9) Threat #2- Jesse Crain (50.0 IP, 0 SV, 38 K, 16 HLD, 3.60 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, 6.84 K/9)
Risk- Smoldering The Twins also boast a very solid situation. Joe Nathan has been “the man” in Minnesota for the past half-decade, and that won’t change soon. He is perennially a top five closer and is arguably the most consistent fantasy closer to own. The Twins bullpen has been worn down this season, which has forced Nathan to pitch out of his comfort zone of one-inning appearances. The bullpen contains power-pitching Jesse Crain, who is second on the Twins with 16 holds. Matt Guerrier leads that category with 18, but his numbers have slipped a bit from 2007. Still, Pat Neshek is the closer in waiting for this team as he is relatively young and capable of huge strikeout totals and a great ERA as proven last season. Even though he is on the DL for this season, he is still the number one threat on the long term. He is that much better than the other options.
We have more divisions to come. They will all be a permanent part of the website under Fantasy Firemen on the left side menu. Thanks for reading. |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 24 August 2008 ) |
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