The Oakland Athletics will move to the closer-by-committee approach after ninth inning man Brian Fuentes blew two saves over the course of two weeks. Fuentes has allowed seven runs in his last 3 1/3 innings of work while picking up two losses. Grant Balfour who started the season as closer will be in the mix for saves after allowing one run in his last 9 2/3 innings of work. Also in the mix for saves will be Ryan Cook who has yet to pick up a save this season, but has a 0.69 ERA and 0.85 WHIP in 26 innings of work with 25 strikeouts.
Despite posting the most saves in the American League last week, it looks like the stay of Tom Wilhelmsen in the closer role fort the Seattle Mariners could be a short run. Wilhelmsen picked up three saves in 3 2/3 scoreless innings of work last week, but manager Eric Wedge sounds like he is close to reinstating Brandon League as closer. Of course, that was before league allowed four hits and two runs in his one inning of work yesterday against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Even if League goes back to closing, I would still hold onto Wilhelmsen as I expect the Mariners to try and deal League before the trade deadline.
Closer Watch List:
Given the uncertainty of Oakland’s bullpen, I would keep an eye on recent call up Sean Doolittle. Doolittle is a little bit of an unknown as a pitching prospect since he started his career as hitter after being picked 41st overall in the 2007 draft by the Athletics. Several seasons of injuries led him to throwing a few bullpen sessions where he quickly started hitting the high 90′s on radar guns. Doolittle pitched in college at the University of Virginia as a starting pitcher so it’s not like he picked up a ball for the first time and just turned into a pitcher overnight. It is a little surprising though how fast he shot through the farm system this season already, making it through three levels of the minor leagues where he struck out 48 in 25 innings of work.
Stat Watch:
Often times in fantasy sports it is important to look at trends and to not just focus on the year-to-date totals. Here is a look at some closer data from the past 30 days:
Saves:
Joel Hanrahan – 11
Santiago Casiila – 10
Heath Bell – 9
Chris Perez – 9
Fernando Rodney – 9
Strikeouts:
Aroldis Chapman – 28
Ernesto Frieri – 27
Tom Wilhelmsen – 18
Alfredo Aceves – 16
Tyler Clippard – 16
Batting Average Against:
Craig Kimbrel – .031
Ernesto Frieri – .048
Sergio Romo – .069
Tyler Clippard – .095
Jose Valverde – .111
American League Saves last week:
Chris Perez – 3
Jose Valverde – 3
Tom Wilhelmsen – 3
Rafael Soriano – 2
National League Saves last week:
Tyler Clippard– 4
Jason Motte – 3
Joel Hanrahan – 3
Kenley Jansen – 3
