Just last week I wrote, “As bad as a lot of the closers have been so far this year, the majority of them have a pretty secure hold on their jobs right now.  Will that last?  Not a chance.”  And sure enough, two big name closers were stripped of their jobs last week, at least for the time being.  Who’s taking over for them?  Who’s next on the chopping block?  Let’s take a look and see who’s locked-in, who’s looking over their shoulder, and who’s on the “hot seat.”  Statistics are accurate from all games played through Monday, May 12th.

Locked-In

Jonathan Papelbon
It was a rough week for Papelbon owners, as he blew back-to-back saves for the first time since 2006.  Though his numbers usually indicate otherwise, Papelbon is human and blown saves are going to happen every once in a while.  He is 11-for-13 in save opportunities this year, and is still the best closer in baseball.

Joe Nathan
Nathan gave up his first runs of the year in a save situation on Sunday against Boston, but he still was able to settle down and record save number 12 on the season.  With an ERA of 1.93, a WHIP of 1.14, and 14 K’s in 14 IP, he is the main reason why Minnesota is in first place in the AL Central.

Francisco Rodriguez
K-Rod just keeps rolling, as his 15 saves lead all of Major League Baseball.  His 2.93 ERA is almost a full point lower than it was 2 weeks ago, and his 1.30 WHIP is slowly starting to come down to respectability.  His K/BB ratio in 15.1 IP of 11/9 is less than impressive given his “power pitcher” history, but his owners just have to be happy that he’s healthy and throwing the ball well again.

Mariano Rivera
Rivera continues to be the rock on a star-studded Yankees team that seems to be dropping like flies.  He has 10 saves on the year and has yet to be scored upon in 15 innings of work.  He has yet to walk anybody, and opponents are only hitting .122 against him.  While Joba Chamberlin may be the Yankees closer of the future, it appears that Rivera still has plenty left in the tank. 

Joakim Soria
Though he’s limited in his save opportunities because he pitches for Kansas City, Soria continues to “wow” the fantasy world with his amazing peripherals.  In 14.1 IP, he has 16 K’s, a 0.00 ERA, a 0.35 WHIP, a K/BB ratio of 16/1, and opponents are only hitting .085 against him.  Simply put, he’s been absolutely phenomenal this year.

Billy Wagner
Wagner hasn’t had much meaningful action as of late, but he’s yet to allow a run in 14.2 innings this year.  The Mets have a ton of talent and are bound to go on an extended winning streak sooner or later, and when that happens, Wagner will have no problem building on his 7 saves.

Brandon Lyon
Lyon is 10-for-12 in save opportunities this year with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP, and I think even he himself is surprised at how well he’s done in the closer role for the Diamondbacks this season.  He’s solidified himself at the back end of that bullpen, and it’s clear that he doesn’t plan on letting go of his job anytime soon.

Brad Lidge
Lidge has 9 saves in 9 chances, and has yet to allow a run in 17 innings of work.  He’s averaging just over a strikeout an inning, and is showing the Phillies that all he needed was a change of scenery to regain the form that he pitched with in Houston.  Right-handers are only hitting .071 against him on the season.

Troy Percival
The Rays are only ½ game behind Boston for 1st place in the AL East, and Troy Percival is a big reason for that.  He had 3 saves last week, but he also blew his first save by giving up his first 3 earned runs on the year against Toronto.  Even with that bad outing, his ERA and WHIP still sit at 1.93 and 0.50., respectively.  Given his injury history, Percival is a good sell-high candidate at this point in the season.  UPDATE: Troy Percival blew his first save of the year against the Yankees last night, but the Rays came back to win the game in extras to give them sole ownership of 1st place in the AL East.

Matt Capps
Capps is a perfect 9-for-9 in save opportunities so far this year, but his velocity isn’t what it’s been over the past couple of seasons.  He says that he’s fine physically, but he feels that it’s the lack of work that he’s been receiving that has limited his arm strength.  Since the Pirates aren’t going to give him a ton of save chances this year, comments like this from Capps are going to force Pittsburgh to pitch him in more non-save situations.  That’s not the best news in the world for Capps owners to hear, but it’s nothing to worry about at this time.

George Sherrill
Sherrill came back from a blown save against Oakland last Wednesday to record 2 saves against the Royals.  It’s always nice to see “unproven” closers bounce back immediately after they have blown a save, as it says a lot about their psyche and physical make-up.  Though his 4.41 ERA and 1.29 WHIP are on the high side, Sherrill is 2nd in all of baseball with 13 saves and has been very solid for the Orioles this year.

Huston Street
It was a relatively quiet week for Street since my last article, as he only pitched one inning in a non-save situation, though he did strike out 2 of the 3 batters that he faced.  He has 18 strikeouts in 16.1 innings pitched, and is starting to settle in nicely for the surprising Oakland A’s.

Bobby Jenks
Jenks’s save on May 9th against Seattle was his first save try in nearly two weeks, as the White Sox aren’t playing good baseball right now.  After converting his first 6 save chances, Jenks has blown 2 of his last 3.  A lot of that has to do with the fact that he only has 9 K’s in 14.1 IP, and opponents have a .255 batting average against him.  Those aren’t the numbers that you want to see out of your closer, especially when he’s considered to be an elite 9th inning man.

J.J. Putz
Putz has been a huge disappointment to his owners this year, but he has too much potential to be given up on this early in the season.  He’s sporting a 5.63 ERA and a 2.25 WHIP to go along with only 3 saves, so he’s a great buy-low candidate right now while he’s still getting back to full strength after his rib injury.  Talk up the injury as if it’s going to linger all season long, then get him on the cheap.  Most owners will not show patience with their struggling closers.

Kevin Gregg
The Marlins have been the surprise story of the year so far, as they are currently 23-15 and in 1st place in the NL East.  Gregg has been a solid 9th inning man, as he has 7 saves to go along with a 2.89 ERA and a 1.29 WHIP.  However, given his K/BB ratio of 12/10, I would say that his WHIP is more indicative of how he’s been pitching than his ERA is.  Opponents are only hitting .215 against Gregg, so if he starts limiting the free passes he’s going to be even more successful.

Francisco Cordero
It seems as if Cordero is lucky to get one save opportunity a week for the NL Central dwelling Reds.  Of the 15.1 innings that he’s pitched, 9 of them have been in non-save situations.  Because of that, he only has 6 saves on the season, though he’s converted every one of them.  You aren’t going to get full value for him if you look to trade him, so you’re better off holding on to him at this point and hoping that Cincinnati starts winning some games.

C.J. Wilson
Don’t let the 5.40 ERA and the 1.26 WHIP fool you, as Wilson has pitched very well this season.  His ERA went up exactly 3 full points over his last 3.2 innings in which he allowed 9 base runners and gave up 6 earned runs.  Of course, those were non-save situations, where it seems as if almost all closers struggle.  He is still 8-for-9 in save chances, and will be fine going forward.  UPDATE: Eddie Guardado earned a save last night against the Mariners.  I wouldn’t read too much into this, as Wilson had thrown 53 pitches in his previous 2 outings and the Rangers were probably just giving him some rest.

Brian Wilson
Wilson already has 11 saves on the year, and has 17 K’s in 16 IP for a Giants team that hasn’t been nearly as bad as they were expected to be.  While he does have an ERA of 3.38, his 1.44 WHIP needs to continue to decrease steadily if he plans on having this type of success all year. 

Kerry Wood
According to Yahoo!, Wood has included a “backup slider” to his arsenal of pitches, and he thinks that expanding his repertoire will allow him to build on the success that he’s had already this year.  While he’s only 7-for-10 in save chances this year, his 3.79 ERA and his 0.74 WHIP are very encouraging.  He also has a K/BB ratio of 17/3, which shows that Wood has had very good control of his pitches so far this season.  While he’s been solid, it’s important to note that Carlos Marmol has been spectacular as a setup man, as he has 32 K’s in 24 IP while sporting an ERA of 1.12 and a WHIP of 0.67.

Takashi Saito
Saito only picked up one save last week, but he was unavailable for a few days as he was battling a case of the flu.  After a slow start to the season, he hasn’t allowed an earned run in his past 10.1 IP, and the rest of his peripherals are right where they need to be.  As I said last week, just stay patient with Saito.  He’s going to be alright.

Jose Valverde
Valverde’s 4.58 ERA is almost 2 full points lower than what it was at the beginning of May, and he’s converted his last 7 save opportunities.  He hasn’t allowed an earned run in his last 12.1 innings, and is starting to look like the closer that had 47 saves last year.  He’s still going to have his rough patches throughout the season as all closers do, but watching Valverde pitch now doesn’t resemble watching a train wreck, much like it did earlier in the season.

B.J. Ryan
I have been pleasantly surprised with Ryan’s performance coming off of Tommy John surgery, as he has still yet to allow an earned run in 10 innings this year.  He is 5-for-5 in save opportunities, and opponents are only hitting .171 against him.  History suggests that Ryan will probably not stay healthy for the rest of the year, but so far so good.

Jon Rauch
Rauch hasn’t had a save opportunity since May 3rd, but his overall numbers are impressive: 18.1 IP, 2 W, 7 S, 16 K, 2.95 ERA, and a 1.04 WHIP.  As I said in my previous article, I don’t see Chad Cordero getting his job back at all this year.  That is, however, unless Washington decides to trade Rauch to a contender at the trade deadline.  It’s a little too early to worry about that now, but keep your ears open to any rumors that are being whispered.

Todd Jones
The last time Jones had a save chance was way back on April 29th, as the Tigers just can’t seem to put together any type of extended winning streak.  Jones has given up 4 earned runs in his last 3 innings (non-save situations), which has vaulted his ERA to 4.50 and his WHIP to 1.50.  He only has 5 saves on the year, and at his age, you shouldn’t be expecting much from him at this point.

Trevor Hoffman
Hoffman recorded one save last week, increasing his total to 6 on the season.  His ERA and WHIP are steadily decreasing, but he still has a long way to go to be counted on as a dependable closer this season.  He does have 10 K’s in 10.2 IP, but his BAA is still a whopping .262.  I haven’t heard any whispers of him losing his job, but his amazing run as an elite closer appears to be coming to an end.

Looking Over Their Shoulder

Brian Fuentes
Fuentes has converted 2 straight saves since his loss on May 5th against St. Louis, and is now 4-for-4 in save opportunities since taking the closer role away from Manny Corpas. Opponents are only hitting .183 off of Fuentes, and if you combine that with a 2.65 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP, he’s very close to solidifying his role as Colorado’s closer for the rest of the season.

The “Hot Seat”

Guillermo Mota / Salomon Torres / Brian Shouse
The Milwaukee Brewers bullpen is a complete mess right now, which has led manager Ned Yost to utter those 3 words that really drive fantasy geeks like us nuts: “bullpen by committee.”  After his latest bullpen disaster on Saturday, Eric Gagne told the media that he didn’t deserve the 9th inning duties the way that he was pitching, and his problem was more mental than it was physical.  Brian Shouse and Guillermo Mota each earned 0.1 inning saves while Gagne watched from the bullpen bench, and now only a few days later, he is changing his tune.  “I had my mental break on Sunday and I’m good to go now.  I know I’m a great closer.  I know I’m going to work out of it.  It’s just a confidence thing.”  It’s clear that Gagne will get his job back sometime in the relatively near future, but Ned Yost hasn’t set a timetable on when that will be.  If you own Gagne, stash him on your bench for the time being.  If you have to pick one of the 3 guys listed above, I would go with Guillermo Mota as the best bet to pick up a few saves in Gagne’s absence.  UPDATE:  It appears as if Eric Gagne has already been given the closer role back, as he earned his 10th save last night against the Dodgers.  He did allow 2 base runners, but he was able to close the door. 

Ryan Franklin
Much like Eric Gagne, Jason Isringhausen was relieved of the closer role by manager Tony LaRussa because of confidence issues, not a physical problem.  One of the more dependable closers in the game over the past few years, Izzy had already blown 5 saves and it was obvious that he needed a “mental break” to get his head straight.  Ryan Franklin will be called upon to take over as closer until Isringhausen is right again, and though he’s not the answer, he can provide fantasy owners with some cheap saves.  Isringhausen will be closing again this season, so make sure to stash him on your bench for the time being.

Injury Updates

Joe Borowski (15-day DL as of April 15th – Strained right triceps)
Borowski threw a 25-pitch bullpen session last week, and he says that he’s noticed a difference in his arm speed now that he’s almost fully healed from his triceps injury.  I’m not so sure that his injury is the only reason that his velocity was down this year, but it obviously didn’t help his cause.  If everything goes according to schedule, it’s possible that he could be closing for Cleveland in a couple of weeks.  Normally I would shudder at that thought, but Rafael Betancourt is sporting a 6.89 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP himself, and he just hasn’t been the shut down closer in the interim that I thought he would be.  If you’re in need of saves and Borowski is on your waiver-wire, go ahead and pick him up and stash him on the DL until he returns.

John Smoltz (15-day DL as of April 28th – Right shoulder inflammation)
Smoltz threw for the first time over the weekend, and reported no pain in his right shoulder.  He’s hoping to come off of the DL by the end of the month, which is not good news if you’re a Manny Acosta and/or a Rafael Soriano owner.  Acosta has been solid yet unspectacular filling in as the Braves closer, and Soriano has said that his elbow is feeling much better and he hopes to be activated from the DL within the next couple of weeks.  Needless to say, Smoltz will have the closer job when he returns.