Fantasy Roundtable: Roundtable: Closer Talk
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
This is the weekly Fantasy Roundtable, where the writers of Rotoworld Baseball let the readers of Rotoworld Baseball in on a quick staff discussion. It’s water cooler talk … that we’ve decided to publish. Look for it every Tuesday.
Drew Silva: It’s a month into the 2015 season and I want to talk about closers. Andrew Miller, Joakim Soria, and Jeurys Familia are your current leaders in saves at 10. Can those guys stay at or near the top the whole year? Are there any names you’re trying to buy low on? Anyone you’d be trying to sell high?
Matthew Pouliot: I wouldn’t spend any energy looking at save totals over a one-month span. Blown saves, maybe. Anyway, those guys are all perfectly reasonable bets. Miller has the highest upside, but also the biggest downside, if only because he might yet have to contend with another one of the 10-best relievers in all of baseball in Dellin Betances.
Drew Silva: Yeah, there was some concern about Robertson this spring between the forearm issue and his Cactus League struggles, but he’s looked great. 0.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, and 18 strikeouts in nine innings. I’d expect the White Sox to begin playing better baseball soon. That’s a legitimately good roster.
As far as buy-low guys, I think Allen and Robertson both qualify, for different reasons as Matthew mentioned earlier. However, one name I’m not targeting is Mark Melancon. He hasn’t allowed a run in five straight appearances and eight out of his last nine, so it might look like he has straightened things out, but he’s still under 90 mph with his cutter. Everybody is saying he’s healthy, but I have my doubts. This might be the time to flip him in a deal for someone like Allen if you can. If anything, I’d still consider Tony Watson a worthy stash in that bullpen.
This is the weekly Fantasy Roundtable, where the writers of Rotoworld Baseball let the readers of Rotoworld Baseball in on a quick staff discussion. It’s water cooler talk … that we’ve decided to publish. Look for it every Tuesday.
Drew Silva: It’s a month into the 2015 season and I want to talk about closers. Andrew Miller, Joakim Soria, and Jeurys Familia are your current leaders in saves at 10. Can those guys stay at or near the top the whole year? Are there any names you’re trying to buy low on? Anyone you’d be trying to sell high?
Matthew Pouliot: I wouldn’t spend any energy looking at save totals over a one-month span. Blown saves, maybe. Anyway, those guys are all perfectly reasonable bets. Miller has the highest upside, but also the biggest downside, if only because he might yet have to contend with another one of the 10-best relievers in all of baseball in Dellin Betances.
Drew Silva: Yeah, there was some concern about Robertson this spring between the forearm issue and his Cactus League struggles, but he’s looked great. 0.00 ERA, 0.56 WHIP, and 18 strikeouts in nine innings. I’d expect the White Sox to begin playing better baseball soon. That’s a legitimately good roster.
As far as buy-low guys, I think Allen and Robertson both qualify, for different reasons as Matthew mentioned earlier. However, one name I’m not targeting is Mark Melancon. He hasn’t allowed a run in five straight appearances and eight out of his last nine, so it might look like he has straightened things out, but he’s still under 90 mph with his cutter. Everybody is saying he’s healthy, but I have my doubts. This might be the time to flip him in a deal for someone like Allen if you can. If anything, I’d still consider Tony Watson a worthy stash in that bullpen.
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