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Trade Deadline Special: Ranking Potential Closers (Fantasy Baseball)

Trade Deadline Special: Ranking Potential Closers (Fantasy Baseball)

We’ve already seen plenty of trade activity in baseball over the past couple weeks and even more is expected to come with the trade deadline four days away. As far as bullpens are concerned, we’ve already seen the White Sox and Padres send away their closers to contending teams  (and in the case of the White Sox, every other relief pitcher who could even be considered a closer). For those still scrambling for saves, the idea is to grab these potential closers before their team’s current closer gets sent off. Of course, that’s much easier said than done. Let’s take a look at some non-closers to pick up NOW that may be handling save opportunities very soon.

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1. Arodys Vizcaino (ATL)
There’s a possibility he’s already owned in your league. The trade speculation regarding current Braves closer Jim Johnson is no secret, and Vizcaino has long been considered the Braves closer of the future. However, he’s still vastly under-owned in fantasy leagues, and he will undoubtedly get the first crack at save opportunities if Johnson is traded. There’s also the added bonus that the Braves aren’t nearly as bad as some of these other teams trading away bullpen pieces, so save opportunities shouldn’t be as hard to come by. Vizcaino would be the first non-closer I would take a chance on if available.

ESPN: 8% owned
Yahoo: 15% owned

2. Kirby Yates (SDP)
Closer Brandon Maurer has already been sent off by the Padres to the Royals which has left Brand Hand in charge of closing duties. However, there’s always a market out there for effective left-handed specialists out of the pen so expect Hand to be the next Padre headed to a contender. That will leave a couple of options for the Padres to close games. Kirby Yates will likely be the guy to get the first look. He has an outstanding 38% strikeout rate and only a 6.6% walk rate to go along with a 2.36 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 34.1 innings for the Angels and Padres this season. Yates has never served as a closer before in his four-year MLB career so there is some reason to be skeptical about his closing prospects. 24-year-old rookie Phil Maton has also performed well for the Padres, and it would be wise to stash him along with Yates if you have the available roster space. Maton has a 3.38 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, and 26.4% strikeout rate in his first taste of big-league action.

ESPN: 2% owned
Yahoo: 4% owned

3. Blake Treinen (OAK)
This really has nothing to do with the trade deadline as the A’s have already traded their desirable relievers but much more to do with the fact that current closer Santiago Casilla is really bad. Casilla blew another save for the A’s in Toronto on Wednesday night in epic fashion as he walked Josh Donaldson, let up a 2-run homer to Justin Smoak to tie the game, and then let up a solo shot to Kendrys Morales immediately after to complete the meltdown. Casilla has been the A’s closer all season, but the 37-year old has been awful despite 16 saves. His ERA now sits at 4.66, he only strikes out 20.7% of the batters he faces, and hitters are batting .264 against him. Simply put, Santiago Casilla is not a closer.

Neither is Blake Treinen, who failed miserably for the Nationals in his attempt to close games earlier this season and has an unimpressive 4.95 ERA and sub-20% strikeout rate. He’s currently serving as the A’s set-up man, though, after coming over from the Nats in the Doolittle/Madson trade. He hasn’t let up an earned run in six innings, and Casilla now has six blown saves to his name after Thursday’s meltdown. It’s possible Treinen gets the next opportunity to close out a game for the A’s. Changing leagues does help sometimes — Sam Dyson is now closing games for the Giants just a couple months after letting up about 95 runs for the Rangers as their closer in April.

ESPN: 2% owned
Yahoo: 6% owned

4. Tyler Clippard (CWS)
So the White Sox will need somebody to close games for them in the rare case they actually have a chance to win a game. Since trading closer David Robertson to the Yankees, there has only been one save opportunity, and Anthony Swarzak picked it up. He is now a Milwaukee Brewer. The guy who was expected to take the closer role in the event of a David Robertson trade, Tommy Kahnle, is also gone. Left-handed reliever Dan Jennings was just traded by the Sox to the Rays for another prospect, so he’s out of the picture.

The Sox received Tyler Clippard in the Robertson/Kahnle/Frazier trade with the Yanks, and he seems to be the only option to close games for the Sox on the active roster. The good news is that Clippard has been a closer before. The bad news is that he’s been really bad this season with a 5.26 ERA. He hasn’t gotten off to a good start with the Sox taking a loss and allowing two earned runs in only 1.1 innings. The four hits and two walks are pretty ugly as well. However, the reports indicate that he’s going to be getting the save opportunities for the Sox moving forward which makes sense because there’s legitimately nobody else.

ESPN: 7% owned
Yahoo: 16% owned

5. Keone Kela (TEX)
The Rangers bullpen has been up in the air all season. Matt Bush has been deposed and Alex Claudio is now getting save opportunities. He may have already been scooped up in your league, but the left-handed Claudio hardly projects as an effective closer with a strikeout rate of only 16.6%. Keone Kela was recently activated from the DL by the Rangers and projects much more as a closer with a 34.7% strikeout rate. He will probably get the next chance to close in the event Claudio falters.

ESPN: 11% owned
Yahoo: 16% owned

6. Shane Greene (DET)
It really looks like current closer Justin Wilson is headed elsewhere, and why not as the Tigers are in complete rebuild mode. The Tigers bullpen is horrific and they don’t have any truly viable closer options beyond Wilson. The most viable option appears to be Shane Greene who has a 2.82 ERA and a 26.2% strikeout rate in 44.2 innings for the Tigers this season. He’s a worthy flier.

ESPN: 2% owned
Yahoo: 4% owned

7. Mychal Givens (BAL)
Givens is the biggest longshot on this list because he’s going to need both Zach Britton and Brad Brach to get traded. However, the Orioles aren’t anywhere near contention and are said to be shopping both of them. Givens would appear to be the default closer in the event that they are traded and he’s been really effective this year with a 26.8% strikeout rate and 1.97 ERA. Give him a look if you’re desperate. You can cut him in four days if Britton and/or Brach are still hanging around after the deadline.

ESPN: 10% owned
Yahoo: 22% owned


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Joey Korman is a featured writer at FantasyPros. For more from Joey, check out his archive and follow him @leaveit2divac.

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