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Fantasy Baseball Closer News Roundup – Twins, Cardinals, White Sox

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Greg Holland

Fantasy baseball closer news including the rocky start for Greg Holland with St. Louis Cardinals, and updates on the Twins, White Sox, Brewers, Indians and Astros.

We are into the last week of the first month of fantasy baseball season and a lot happened so far – many injuries across MLB and other things. The phenomena known as Shohei Ohtani has sparked comparisons with Babe Ruth, as far as two way players go. Boston Red Sox incredible start and, ironically, Oakland Athletics Sean Manaea’s no hitter against said Red Sox. Much to my chagrin, the Minnesota Twins’ pitching staff igniting the New York Yankees early season slump (as usual).

As far as closers go, it’s been relatively quiet although there are a few tidbits of note. You can also keep on top of things checking our news feed filtered by closers and primary setup men from our depth charts.

Minnesota Twins

Fernando Rodney of the Twins still has a hold on the closer job but has looked anything but solid in his outings. He blew a save opportunity Thursday night recording no outs and collecting the loss after allowing a three run home run to Gary Sanchez.

That is Rodney’s third straight blown save. Unfortunately, setup man Addison Reed has given up runs in two if his last three outings, so he isn’t showing he is ready to close games.

St. Louis Cardinals

One of the situations to keep an eye is in St. Louis. The Cardinals thought they had solved their back of the bullpen issues when they signed free agent Greg Holland a week into the season. Holland, who had been working out in Florida, was coming off a solid season with the Rockies saving 41 games and helping the Rocks get to the NL Wild Card game last year.

This year has been rocky (no pun intended) so far. He clearly is behind from a control standpoint walking eight batters in five innings. As a result, manager Mike Matheny has been using Bud Norris in closing situations.

It may be that Matheny is letting Holland get his feet under him and let him work through his control issues with the belief that he’ll get himself straightened out and help the Cardinals chase down the Chicago Cubs in the NL Central. With that being said, if you haven’t picked up Norris or are looking to handcuff somebody with Holland, it would be a good idea to get him.

Chicago White Sox

Another situation to look at was one I was curious about last week but wanted to let things play out and see where things fell. Chicago White Sox closer situation is questionable as well. Joakim Soria is the closer as of today. He has two saves and an ERA of 3.38.

The issue isn’t the ERA or the saves, but rather is there a better option? I believe there is. Nate Jones is the current setup man for Soria. He has one save but his ERA (1.04) and his strikeouts (11) are better than Soria.

The White Sox record currently sits at 5-16, which certainly doesn’t lend itself to many save opportunities. But as a good friend of mine says with regards to bad teams and saves, “somebody has to get them”.

Brewers, Indians, Astros

The Milwaukee Brewers are still closing by committee although Josh Hader seems to be getting the call more often before Matt Albers and Jacob Barnes.

The Indians put Andrew Miller on the 10-day DL Thursday with a hamstring strain. I asked last week, would Tito ever think about switching up Cody Allen and Miller? The answer for that right now is no but I still think it’s a possibility down the road.

Finally Ken Giles of the Astros is still manager AJ Hinch’s go-to man but that leash appears to be getting shorter and shorter.

Closer Roundup – Rays Alex Colome, Astros Ken Giles

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Alex Colome

Tampa Bay Rays closer Alex Colome is struggling and that could prompt a change, but is Sergio Romo a capable replacement? Andy takes a look at the Rays, Astros and Brewers closer situations for us.

We are over half way done with April but haven’t played a whole lot of games yet thanks in large part to Mother Nature. Even dome stadiums aren’t safe from the elements. We’ve had one significant injury among closers to Corey Knebel of the Milwaukee Brewers, and some shaky late inning bullpen situations. Here are three teams to monitor for a potential change before they cause any grief to your fantasy baseball team.

Tampa Bay Rays

Alex Colome Current Closer Sergio Romo Waiting

Although I don’t see Colome necessarily losing his role as closer, mainly because Romo isn’t really a valid option, he’s blown two saves already raising some red flags in Tampa. Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times discusses why Colome has been struggling this year.

Kevin Cash said out loud what others have been suggesting, that opposing hitters know Colome is going to rely on his cutter much more heavily than his fastball, and they are able to take advantage of it.

According to FanGraphs, Colome is throwing his cutter 75% of the time so far this year. This is up from 67% in 2017 and 52% in 2016 (Topkin). Teams are indeed sitting on the cutter and much like you would teach a young hitter: sit fastball and adjust to everything else.

Houston Astros

Ken Giles Current Closer Chris Devinski, Brad Peacock Waiting

Giles hasn’t really been setting the world on fire so far this year. He has one save and has been shaky at best during his outings. As of April 8th, manager AJ Hinch committed to Giles as the closer. Since then, Peacock (one save) and Devinski (two saves) have picked up the saves that Giles normally would have earned.

From Astros beat reporter Brian McTaggart, Hinch made comments after the April 13th game that the schedule, matchups and way the games have played out resulted in opportunities for Peacock and Devenski. Hinch added, “I think that at the end of the season Ken Giles will have the most saves, but I don’t know”.

If you trust Hinch, and more importantly Giles, then you have nothing to worry about. I, on the other hand, don’t necessarily like the tone of Hinch and his overall feelings towards keeping Giles in his current role. I prefer Devinski over both Peacock and Giles.

Milwaukee Brewers

Committee Current Closer Josh Hader Waiting and Willing

The good news is Corey Knebel is progressing from his hamstring injury, estimated six weeks recovery from April 5. Speaking from experience, hamstrings are always tough to judge because they can pop or get tweaked again if you step just right or if not warmed up properly.

That being said, the Brewers are using Matt Albers and Jacob Barnes extensively, but Josh Hader is leading the Brew Crew in saves, holds and strikeouts (stats). What this tells me is that Hader is arguably the most valuable relief pitcher the Brewers have.

If you are into sabermetrics, you could argue the reason for the high number of holds is that manager Craig Counsel is using Hader in important situations. If you’re an old school stat person, it might tell you Hader is your prototypical set up person. It tells me Hader is their best pitcher and he will have the full time closer job soon.

Discussion – Cleveland Indians

I thought about everything that I’ve written this season about closers and potential changes that may occur sooner rather than later. I’d like to throw this out there and see what other people think: Is Cody Allen a better closer than Andrew Miller?

Miller is a hard throwing lefty with a wipe out slider. Miller also comes three-quarter delivery and is a beast against lefties. Allen is a righty that depends very much on his curveball as his fastball is 93-95. Although Allen is the current closer, would Tito ever go to Miller?