The baseball season is only a few days old, and we’ve already had major drama in “Closerville,” which is the fictional land I made up where I imagine all closers go after games to discuss their outings. We’ve had established closers getting torched, afterthought relievers looking dominant, and closer committees looking very committee-ish (yeah, I’m going to be making up words, guys. Get on board).
We’ll be updating our closer depth chart here throughout the season, so make sure to bookmark that page if you want to check on the landscape at any given moment. But for now, let’s take a quick dive into the closer pool by ranking the closing situations, and talking about the first week.
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| Team (Closer) | Current Rank | Final Preseason Rank |
| Yankees (Aroldis Chapman) | 1 | 1 |
| Dodgers (Kenley Jansen) | 2 | 2 |
| Orioles (Zach Britton) | 3 | 3 |
| Giants (Mark Melancon) | 4 | 4 |
| Mariners (Edwin Diaz) | 5 | 5 |
| Cardinals (Seung-Hwan Oh) | 6 | 6 |
| Red Sox (Craig Kimbrel) | 7 | 8 |
| Cubs (Wade Davis) | 8 | 9 |
| Rays (Alex Colome) | 9 | 11 |
| Royals (Kelvin Herrera) | 10 | 10 |
| Mets (Jeurys Familia) | 11 | 12 |
| Astros (Ken Giles) | 12 | 15 |
| Blue Jays (Roberto Osuna) | 13 | 7 |
| White Sox (David Robertson) | 14 | 13 |
| Indians (Cody Allen) | 15 | 14 |
| Marlins (A.J. Ramos) | 16 | 16 |
| Rockies (Greg Holland) | 17 | 22 |
| Tigers (Francisco Rodriguez) | 18 | 17 |
| Braves (Jim Johnson) | 19 | 21 |
| Angels (Cam Bedrosian) | 20 | 19 |
| Pirates (Tony Watson) | 21 | 20 |
| Nationals (Blake Treinen) | 22 | 23 |
| Twins (Brandon Kintzler) | 23 | 29 |
| Rangers (Sam Dyson) | 24 | 18 |
| Diamondbacks (Fernando Rodney) | 25 | 25 |
| Brewers (Neftali Feliz) | 26 | 24 |
| Padres (Brandon Maurer) | 27 | 27 |
| Phillies (Jeanmar Gomez) | 28 | 26 |
| Reds (Committee) | 29 | 30 |
| Athletics (Committee) | 30 | 28 |
The Big Movers
Phew, a few days in and we’ve already got some major changes. The Blue Jays situation drops several spots with the surprise announcement that Roberto Osuna would open the season on the disabled list (also, can someone explain to me what a cervical spasm is, because I’ve avoided Googling it out of fear that it’s too painful. You know what, don’t bother). All indications are that Osuna will return from the disabled list for the Blue Jays’ home opener on Tuesday, so that situation takes a significant but not critical fall. To be clear, if Osuna does not return, Jason Grilli and his cohorts would take a MAJOR nosedive into the 20s.
Similarly, Sam Dyson and his all-time disastrous start to the season takes a major drop. Apparently, a 72.00 ERA and a 9.00 WHIP isn’t enough to put you in Jeff Banister’s doghouse, as he publicly backed Dyson after his second rough outing. But everyone knows that Dyson doesn’t have prototypical closer’s “stuff” and the Rangers have two other guys in Matt Bush and Jeremy Jeffress who can handle the role. Either makes a fine pickup if you’re speculating, and Dyson certainly can’t survive another outing or two like the one he’s had. Personally, I’d bet on Bush, who has been pitching in the eighth inning and looks to be next in line.
Ok, enough negativity, how about some risers? Greg Holland and his three near-perfect saves get a major bump. Frankly, he looks like the old Holland, though I refuse to cite velocity stats until they sort out this whole “everyone’s velocity is two MPH faster this year because we changed how we measure velocity” thing. But Adam Ottavino is languishing in the seventh inning, and Holland suddenly has a stranglehold on the job. If he was anywhere other than Colorado, he’d probably be much higher than 17th.
Finally, Brandon Kintzler makes a nice little move this week. Let’s not get too excited here, but this may be the only time I mention Brandon Kintzler in this article so let’s throw him a bone. He got a clean save on Thursday, has the public backing of his manager, has no competition, and he’s competing in these rankings with guys like Fernando Rodney. So, hooray Brandon Kintzler.
Random Musings
No, let’s not overreact to things like Mark Melancon and Seung-Hwan Oh blowing saves. They’ll be just fine.
I know that Jeurys Familia is suspended, but he’s a little more than a week away from returning so he gets listed in the chart, same as Roberto Osuna. Those are my rules, and I will NOT change them. Addison Reed is a fine fill-in for the next 10 days or so.
I do not believe Mike Scioscia when he says that Cam Bedrosian is just part of a committee. Or, to the extent I do, he’s the chair of the committee who will represent the committee at every board meeting.
Over/under on Jeanmar Gomez keeping the closer’s role has been set at 12 1/2 more days. I’m taking the over, but only because I’m not sure that the Phillies will have a save situation to blow before then. When you convert a messy save in your first opportunity and then your manager immediately calls you out, well, it’s not good.
Oakland and Cincinnati look like true committees. Santiago Casilla gets the save one day and then simply isn’t used in the next save chance. Raisel Iglesias looks great locking down a save, only to give way to Drew Storen the next day. Own Iglesias, and hope that the Reds feel confident he can handle back-to-back days soon. I’m not bothering with the A’s until we get some clarity.
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Dan Harris a featured writer for FantasyPros. For more from Dan, check out his archive or follow him on Twitter at @danharris80.
