Fantasy Baseball: Mid August Closer Report

If you’re looking at prognostications for who will close next month, good luck. Teams that are out of contention and don’t have a true lockdown closer could look at younger players to see how they look in the role. The reverse side of that coin is that teams that have a playoff spot locked up and thus little to nothing to play for, may rest their star closer or at the very least, not pitch him on multiple days. Those teams are gearing up for the playoffs and to win a major league championship, not help you win a fantasy championship. It can be very frustrating.

National League

Atlanta Braves: Well that didn’t take long now did it? Mark Melancon has replaced Shane Greene as closer for Atlanta less than two weeks after the team acquired Green via trade to handle the job. Ouch. Maybe Greene gets another shot to claim the job, maybe he doesn’t, but Melancon is the guy you want now. Will he keep the job for the rest of the season? Probably not. Melancon is also a failed closer as he lost the job in San Francisco due to injury and also because he lost several MPH off of his fastball. It’s hard to see him keeping this job ROS. The lack of a genuine closer for Atlanta may eventually prove to be their undoing this season.

Chicago Cubs: Craig Kimbrel will throw a second bullpen session Thursday and assuming he comes out of this in good health, he could be ready to return the bullpen for the Cubs as soon as Saturday. It seems the Cubs don’t believe he will need a rehab stint although another bullpen session wouldn’t be a surprise, which would push his return until next week. Pedro Strop will continue to close in his place, but his days of earning saves are once again coming to an end.

Los Angeles Dodgers: The Dodgers are so worried about the poor play of Kenley Jansen of late that they have announced they will ease up on his workload down the stretch. The Dodgers can afford to do this because they have such a big lead in the National League West (19.5 games). Jansen of late hasn’t been terrible, he just hasn’t been the lockdown reliever we were hoping for. He certainly won’t pitch three days in a row and will likely lose save opportunities to Joe Kelly or Pedro Baez when the Dodgers have save chances on multiple days.

Miami Marlins: We really don’t know who will save games for Miami as neither Jarlin Garcia nor Jose Quijada has recorded a save since the trade deadline. Yeah, it really doesn’t matter as the Marlins aren’t going to win a truckload of games between now and the end of September, but still, some of us need every save we can possibly get and it would be nice to know if the Marlins are going to rely on one reliever should that save situation arise. If you had to pick one, I’d go with Quijada, but this is really not much more than a dartboard throw.

Milwaukee Brewers: There is nothing worse for a closer than to give up home runs. Those one-run leads will disappear in a hurry. Josh Hader is having a lot of trouble with the long ball of late. Hader has given up four HRs in his last six appearances and has allowed 13 on the season. That’s as much as he’s given up the past two seasons combined. If he were to continue giving up HRs, the Brewers may have to look at replacing him. Jeremy Jeffress would be next in line should the Brewers elect to make that change.

New York Mets: Technically Edwin Diaz is still the closer for the Mets, but it’s anyone’s guess as to how many save opportunities he will get from here on out. The pressure is on now. The Mets are back in the playoff hunt and can’t afford to keep blowing leads late in games. Seth Lugo would seem to be next in line, but he had his own blowup Wednesday. The New York media is already all over manager Mickey Callaway for some of the decisions he has made regarding his bullpen, and that scrutiny isn’t going to go away anytime soon.

American League

Boston Red Sox: It looks like Brandon Workman will continue to close for Boston even though the team moved Andrew Cashner out of the rotation and to the bullpen. The Sox are a mess in both the rotation and the bullpen, and it really is a work in progress. Workman is the reliever you want for saves. He’s not a lockdown closer by any means, but he may be the best of what Boston has right now. You can almost bank that Boston won’t go into the 2020 season without a true number one closer.

Toronto Blue Jays: Ken Giles is back once again from his elbow injury. I’d like to say he’s safe to install as your closer once again, but it seems like it will be just a matter of time until he has to miss time again with the injury. Still, when healthy, he’s had a very good season so he should be back in your lineup.