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Hypothetical Bullpen Days and Why People Love Big Sexy Bartolo Colon

May 25, 2018 By avanfossan Leave a Comment

Bartolo Colon

Remember this guy, Minnesota Twins fans? It is Bartolo Colon way back in 2000 pitching for the rival Cleveland Indians. Big Sexy celebrated his 45th birthday Thursday.

It’s closing in on two months into the major league season and not a lot of action yet with closers losing jobs. I’m trying hard folks to get some changes but it isn’t working out too well.

However, there are a couple other roads we could look down. With the Tampa Bay Rays starting Sergio Romo two days in a row against the Los Angeles Angels last weekend, I thought I would look at some potential situations in which teams might be able to pull something like this off just for fun. It will look more like a “bullpen” day for each team, assuming they have a pending off day or a long stretch of games.

New York Yankees

The first team I want to look at is the New York Yankees. With all of that fire power in the back end of the bullpen, it would be interesting to see how far Dellin Betances, Aroldis Chapman, Chad Green and David Robertson could go. For the sake of argument, I think I would break it down as follows: start Betances, Green, Chasen Shreve, and Robertson for two each, then bring in Chapman.

Houston Astros

Houston Astros is the next team not because of the greatness of their bullpen but more because of the versatility of the pitchers they have. I honestly think this team could do it and not miss a beat. The wild card would be Collin McHugh starting. He is listed as long relief which means he could throw multiple innings. I’ll take that and assume he can give me three. Even though he only pitched 19.2 innings in 15 appearances this season, he has some starting experience.

I’ll follow McHugh with Brad Peacock for two, Will Harris for two, Ken Giles (typed that very nervously), then Chris Devinski. The great thing about the Astros is that I could switch around Peacock, Giles and Devinski and really not miss a beat. The Astros bullpen is one major reason why they are the team to beat in Major League Baseball.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Milwaukee Brewers are my third, what if they had a bullpen day, experiment. If you’ve been reading my column the past few weeks, you’ll know that I’m very big on Josh Hader. Stud. Now that closer Corey Knebel is back, that moves Hader into the setup role, although I still think he should and will have the closer job sooner rather than later.

That being said, the Crew’s bullpen is legit. I’d start with Dan Jennings and as he is long relief, and try and get three innings out of him. Then it’s a piece of cake: Matt Albers for two, Jeremy Jeffress for two, Hader and then Knebel closing it out.

I think the Crew is a starting pitcher away from being mentioned among the contenders in the National League. Their bullpen is better than the Nats, Dodgers, Rockies, Cards, Cubs and Braves. A July trade may give Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker, another world series in Milwaukee.

Extra Innings

Last week I went on my soap box about Robinson Cano and how people have a tough time taking accountability for themselves. This may sound hypocritical because the guy I want to talk about today is about as beloved a player there is in the league right now. Happy Birthday to Big Sexy Bartolo Colon, who turned 45 on Thursday.

Watching Colon over the years, he is a guy that as a Minnesota Twins fan, I was terrified to see when he was with the Indians. He threw heat plain and simple. I don’t know the exact record against the Twins while he was in Cleveland but I do know I didn’t go to bed happy very often when he pitched.

Then came the PED suspension in 2012 while with the Oakland A’s. Katrina Hamrick of Fanside’s Call to the Pen wrote an article on why we as fans celebrate Colon even though he had the PED suspension. Colon’s quote, in my opinion, is why.

“I apologize to the fans, to my teammates and to the Oakland A’s,” Colon said in a statement released by the players’ association. “I accept responsibility for my actions and I will serve my suspension as required by the joint drug program.”

Yes he apologized but he also took accountability for it. It wasn’t a doctor’s fault or he didn’t know what he was doing. He said I did it and moved on. We are a country of second and third chances and Colon fits into this.

So with this I say happy birthday Bart. You’ve brought smiles to a lot of fans around the country and in the game. You are all of us 40-somethings living through your successes on the field.

Filed Under: Fantasy Baseball

Fantasy Baseball Closer Situations – Angels, Orioles, Braves

May 18, 2018 By avanfossan 2 Comments

Los Angeles Angels Keynan Middleton

Los Angeles Angels closer Keynan Middleton requires Tommy John surgery and is out for the season. So who is next man up from the Angels bullpen? It is a muddy mess right now.

The Los Angeles Angels and the Baltimore Orioles dominate this week’s installment of our weekly update on fantasy baseball closer situations. Lets get to it.

Los Angeles Angels

On May 13, Keynan Middleton left the game against the Minnesota Twins with the dreaded words, “elbow stiffness”. He is now on the list for Tommy John surgery and will be out the remainder of the year. At this time and as evidenced by our Angels depth chart, the closing situation in Los Angeles is very muddy.

The Twins saw Middleton, Jim Johnson, and Cam Bedrosian all in the series as “closers” with Justin Anderson blowing a save on May 11th. Anderson did pick up a save earlier this week but the situation is far from clear.

With Johnson, Bedrosian and Anderson all with saves, it’s very tough to determine who, if any of them, will get the bulk of the opportunities. We also consider Blake Parker as a potential closer. Coming into the season, one weakness the Angels had was indeed their bullpen and now it seems it’s an even bigger concern.

Baltimore Orioles

The situation in Baltimore is starting to get a little clearer. Zach Britton threw live batting practice on May 15 and is scheduled to ramp up his throwing both in live batting practice as well as bullpen sessions in the coming days.

This is great news on a variety of fronts for the O’s. On the one hand, they have their all-star closer back and won’t have to rely on a committee. The other upside for the O’s is that if Britton is back to full strength and the O’s are out of playoff contention (check), he may bring a fair amount of talent back if management decides to sell at the trade deadline. Perhaps the above noted Angels or the Twins could be interested.

From a fantasy standpoint, it really is a no brainer. If Britton hasn’t been picked up in your league, do it now. Darren O’Day and the rest of the committee will have little to no value if he can come back and be the closer he was in 2016 with 47 saves and a 0.54 ERA.

Atlanta Braves

It’s safe to say the Braves are way ahead of schedule in their rebuilding plan with regards to winning ball games. As of Thursday, they find themselves in first place in the NL East, a division that the Washington Nationals and Philadelphia Phillies were supposed to contend and the Nationals eventually running away with it.

The problem is the Braves aren’t able to lock down games when it matters. Arodys Vizcaino has been very inconsistent and manager Brian Snitker has made comments about possibly bringing in A.J. Minter or Dan Winkler to close things out.

Vizcaino and Minter both earned saves so far, but Vizcaino has blown two and Minter’s WHIP is over 1.56, not instilling a ton of confidence. Winkler already had seven holds in 20 apperances. While this might not make a lot of sense now, it’s possible the Braves could be even a third team interested in Zach Britton if his services are offered later this summer. We won’t put anything past GM Alex Anthopolous with respect to pulling off a big deal.

Extra Innings

The extra innings this week really don’t have anything to deal with closers. It’s more of how the game is policed in a good way. Robinson Cano was hit with an 80 game suspension this past week from Major League Baseball, although he is able to serve it while on the DL for his hand. Cano is the third Seattle Mariners player, following Nelson Cruz and Dee Gordon, to get hit with the suspension.

There are a lot of variables as to how players test positive but playing ignorant isn’t one of them. “I didn’t know what I was taking,” or, “it was a false test,” are some of the better (read: lame) excuses that players and agents come up with. I’m not sure what ever happened to, “I got caught so I have to face the punishment.”

I know. Nobody takes accountability for themselves anymore. It’s always somebody else’s fault. Cano is no different. It was a, “Dominican doctor,” who prescribed whatever it was that he took.

For all the criticisms that former commissioner Bud Selig took from the, winning the all-star game equaled home field advantage in the World Series, to the continued ban of Pete Rose, Selig really cracked down on steroids and PEDs to clean up the game. Hats off to him for doing it.

Filed Under: Fantasy Baseball

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