Rockies’ Huston Street shut down…who’s the closer? UPDATE!
March 17, 2010
In what has become a painfully predictable annual occurrence, Rockies closer Huston Street is injured. Aside from the fact that his 2008 with the Athletics destroyed my hope for scoring saves points, Street is one of the least reliable – and one of my least favorite – closers in baseball. And today, he feels pain in his shoulder playing catch and is shut down, pending an MRI.
The obvious next choice is newly-signed reliever Rafael Betancourt…but he’s out with shoulder trouble too and manager Jim Tracy swears he’s an 8th inning-only guy. So that leaves the two-headed monster of Manuel Corpas and Franklin Morales. Both have closing experience (Corpas in 2007, Morales last September) but both are also boom-or-bust type pitchers who have had miserable springs. Come to think of it, Corpas has had a miserable two years (even though he was the Rockies closer for 2 weeks last April), having been unable to recapture his 2007 mojo after replacing Brian Fuentes on the way to the World Series. A converted starter, Morales took over last year after Street got hurt (really? Street got hurt?) and actually had a solid run as closer. He saved 6 games in 9 days before running into a rough patch, but did show that he had the ability to get the job done (or at least as well as any other B-level closer).
So what do you do? Well, nothing yet. In 2008, I drafted Cliff Lee and promptly cut him before the season started in favor of Miguel Batista who may or may not have been the Mariners closer that year. He wasn’t, I lost Cliff Lee, and learned a valuable lesson – don’t fish for a player who may be worthless by cutting a guy you just drafted. This is not your last chance to grab a closer, and these guys are really not that great.
FB101’s 411: Jim Tracy said today its Morales…so pick him up. Just don’t cut Cliff Lee for him, please.
Relief Pitchers
March 9, 2010
Closers
- Jonathan Broxton, LAD (7-36-114-2.61-0.96)
- Jonathan Papelbon, BOS (1-38-76-1.85-1.15)
- Mariano Rivera, NYY (3-44-72-1.76-0.91)
- Jose Valverde, DET (4-25-58-2.29-1.15)
- Francisco Cordero, CIN (2-39-58-2.16-1.32)
- Francisco Rodriguez, NYM (3-35-73-3.71-1.31)
- Joakim Soria, KC (3-30-69-2.21-1.13)
- Heath Bell, SD (6-42-79-2.71-1.12)
- Brian Wilson, SF (5-38-80-2.74-1.20)
- Andrew Bailey, OAK (6-26-91-1.84-0.88)
- Chad Qualls, AZ (2-24-45-3.53-1.12)
- Carlos Marmol, CHC (2-15-93-3.41-1.46)
- Ryan Franklin, STL (4-38-44-1.92-1.20)
- Trevor Hoffman, MIL (3-37-48-1.83-0.91)
- David Aardsma, SEA (3-38-80-2.52-1.16)
- Rafael Soriano, TB (1-27-102-2.99-1.06)
- Mike Gonzalez, BAL (5-10-90-2.41-1.19)
- Brian Fuentes, LAA (1-48-46-3.93-1.40)
- Huston Street, COL (4-35-70-3.06-0.91)
- Billy Wagner, ATL (1-27-52-2.30-0.89 in 2008)
- Bobby Jenks, CHW (3-29-49-3.71-1.28)
- Brad Lidge, PHI (0-31-61-7.21-1.81)
- Frank Francisco, TEX (2-25-57-3.83-1.12)
- Leo Nunez, FLA (4-26-60-4.06-1.25)
- Kerry Wood, CLE (3-20-63-4.25-1.38)
- Jon Rauch, MIN (7-2-49-3.60-1.21)
- Matt Guerrier, MIN (5-1-47-2.36-0.97)
- Joe Nathan, LAA (2-47-89-2.10-0.93)
- Octavio Dotel, PIT (3-0-75-3.32-1.44)
- Brandon Lyon/Matt Lindstrom, HOU (17 combined saves, ERA near 5.00)
- Jason Frasor/Scott Downs/Kevin Gregg, TOR (43 combined saves)
- Matt Capps/Brian Bruney, WAS (27 combined saves)
Middle Relievers/Saves Vultures
- Michael Wuertz, OAK
- J.P. Howell, TB
- Neftali Feliz, TEX
- Daniel Bard, BOS
- Takashi Saito, ATL
- Chris Perez, CLE
- Grant Balfour, TB
- Fernando Rodney, LAA
- Matt Thornton, CHW
- LaTroy Hawkins, MIL
- Chris Ray, BAL
- Rafael Betancourt, COL
- Phil Hughes, NYY
- Luke Gregerson, SD
- Dan Wheeler, TB
- Ryan Madson, PHL
- Joel Zumaya, DET
- Joey Devine, OAK (out all of 2009)
- Angel Guzman, CHC
- George Sherrill, LAD
- Franklin Morales, COL
- Brandon League, SEA
- Kevin Jepsen, LAA
- Juan Gutierrez, ARI
- David Robertson, NYY
- Hong-Chi Kuo, LAD
- Jason Motte, STL
- Ryan Perry, DET
- Juan Cruz, KC
- C.J. Wilson, TEX
- Joel Hanrahan, PIT
- Jeremy Affeldt, SF
- Phil Coke, NYY
- Ramon Troncoso, LAD
- Ronald Belisario, LAD
- Mark Lowe, SEA
- Kyle McClellan, STL
- Manny Delcarmen, BOS
- Hideki Okajima, BOS
- Ramon Ramirez, BOS
- Taylor Buchholz, COL
- Damaso Marte, NYY
- Peter Moylan, ATL
- Jim Johnson, BAL
- Pat Neshek, MIN
- Brad Ziegler, OAK
- Danys Baez, PHI

