Posts Tagged ‘Jon Rauch’

2011 Fantasy Baseball Closer Report – Week 10

The Kansas City Royals finally made a move with struggling closer Joakim Soria by removing him from the ninth inning role and replacing him with Aaron Crow. Soria blew his fifth save of the season on Monday against the Los Angeles Angels, giving him three blown saves in the last seven days. With his lack of strikeouts as well as his lack of command, it seems like there has to be an injury lurking for such a drastic drop off in performance. Crow has a 1.33 ERA on the season with a 1.04 WHIP and has struck out 26 in 27 innings.

Jon Rauch and Octavio Dotel should be in line for some save chances this week for the Toronto Blue Jays after Frank Francisco blew two save chances last week, allowing three runs in 1 1/3 innings. Francisco has a 6.59 ERA on the season with a 1.61 WHIP. Rauch picked up a save last Friday against the Chicago White Sox and will likely get the first shot at a save chance this week.

Kevin Gregg looks to be living on borrowed time in Baltimore with a 1.77 WHIP thanks to 18 walks against 15 strikeouts in 20 1/3 innings of work. He has walked six hitters in his last three innings with one strikeout and while he has not blown a save since May 16th, it is going to be hard to prevent that from happening in the future with the current state of his control. I would be looking to grab Koji Uehara if he is still a free agent as he would be next in line for saves. Uehara has a 2.78 ERA with a 0.88 WHIP this season and 28 strikeouts in 22 2/3 innings.

If you anticipate needing another closer later in the season, you should start looking to reserve candidates now on your bench in you have the space. With the San Diego Padres playing sub .500 baseball, Heath Bell will likely be traded before the deadline which puts guys like Mike Adams (1.46 ERA, .73 WHIP), Ernesto Frieri (2.00 ERA, 1.22 WHIP) and Luke Gregerson (2.63 ERA, 1.33 WHIP) in the mix for saves.

The same holds true for the New York Mets where Francisco Rodriguez could be moved if the Mets try to shed payroll, though the options are a little more murky than with the Padres. Taylor Buchholz (3.12 ERA, 1.12 WHIP), Pedro Beato (2.38 ERA, 1.01 WHIP) or even veteran Jason Isringhausen (3.12 ERA, 1.15 WHIP) could see save opportunities if a deal goes down.

Week 9 Closer Stats – American League Saves:

Jordan Walden – 4
Brandon League – 3

Week 9 Closer Stats – National League Saves:

J.J. Putz – 4
Heath Bell – 3
Craig Kimbrel – 3

2011 Fantasy Baseball Closer Report – Week 6

Leave it to manager Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals to wreak havoc on the fantasy baseball waiver wire when it comes to closers. A week after it looked like Mitchell Boggs was the man in St. Louis, the Cardinals used several different relievers to collect saves last week as Fernando Salas, Eduardo Sanchez and Trever Miller all closed out games. Since blowing a save on March 26, Boggs has not received another shot in that role, instead serving as a set up man or early relief pitcher. Given how many options La Russa has to work with and he still has Ryan Franklin they are trying to get back in the groove, this will likely be a rotating situation for the foreseeable future.

As much as manager Don Mattingly says that Jonathan Broxton is the closer for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he looks to be hanging on by a string, despite converting seven of eight saves. His numbers suggest he is far from the dominating closer he was just two years ago with a current 4.38 ERA and 1.78 WHIP. Vicente Padilla looks to be the next best option in the bullpen so far as he has chalked up four holds and a save in five relief outings. Hong-Chih Kuo figures to be in the mix eventually but he struggled in his first outing back allowing four runs in 1/3 of an inning.

The Toronto Blue Jays currently have co-closers in the bullpen with Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco now back from the disabled list. Rauch had been perfect in five saves this season before blowing the win Tuesday night by surrendering a two-run home run to B.J. Upton of the Tampa Bay Rays. Francisco has yet to collect a save since returning to action but has posted good numbers in 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts and a 1.69 ERA to go with a 0.75 WHIP.

Brandon League owners in the American League have to feel pretty good about drafting him late in fantasy baseball leagues this season. League is a perfect 7-for-7 in saves with a 2.45 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP while serving as the closer in Seattle with David Aardsma out with an injury. Aardsma is currently on rehab though he has been shut down for a few days with forearm stiffness and should be back by the middle of the month. I would expect Aardsma to eventually see save chances when he comes back and for the Mariners to look to trade either Aardsma or League at the trade deadline.

Sergio Santos looks to be locked in as closer for the Chicago White Sox as he has collected all of the saves since April 25th and is still unscored upon for the season. Santos is holding hitters to a .159 batting average against after allowing batters to hit .261 against him in 2010.

2010 MLB Trade Deadline – Rising / Falling

With the 2010 MLB trade deadline now over, here is a look at which players are now rising or falling in terms of fantasy baseball value as a result of the moves.

Rising:

Brett Wallace - the trade of Wallace to Houston coupled with the expected trade of Lance Berkman to the New York Yankees should give Wallace value for the remainder of the season at first base. Wallace was hitting .301 in Triple-A with 18 home runs and 61 RBI in 385 at bats.

Daniel Hudson - while most scouts view him as a number four or five starter with decent stuff but no real one dominant pitch, the move to the National League can only help his numbers and strikeout rate going forward.

Adam Kennedy – not a sexy name for fantasy purposes, but the trade of Christian Guzman to Texas gives Kennedy a full-time grip on second base going forward. With 12 stolen bases on the season, he is a good target for the remainder of the year in your fantasy baseball team is looking for steals.

Thomas Diamond – Diamond gets first shot to replace Ted Lilly in the Chicago Cubs rotation. He was 5-4 with a 3.16 ERA in Triple-A with 104 strikeouts in 108 1/3 innings. It has been a slow climb up the minor league ladder for Diamond who was a first round pick back in 2004. Control problems had him repeating the same level for almost three years with much of 2009 spend in relief. He moved back to the starting rotation this season and his control is better than in years past but it is still not what you would like to see from a pitcher coming to the major leagues, with 46 walks on the season.

Chris Perez – the trade of Kerry Wood to the New York Yankees puts Perez pack into the closer role in Cleveland where he should remain for the rest of the season.

Chris Snyder – Snyder takes over as catcher in Pittsburgh after being traded from Arizona. It looks like Ryan Doumit will rotate between first base and the outfield when he returns from the disabled list.

John Jay – the three-team trade that sent Ryan Ludwick to San Diego moves Jay into a full-time role in the outfield. Jay holds a .301 career average in the minor leagues, with a season high of 12 home runs in 2008 and 20 stolen bases in 2009.

Falling:

Jon Rauch – Rauch looks to be the odd man out in the closer role in Minnesota with the addition of Matt Capps. Rauch has a 3.05 ERA, a 1.36 WHIP with a .283 batting average against and a 84% save percentage on the season. He has struggled in July with a 5.40 ERA and a 2.28 WHIP putting him second in line for saves in the Twins bullpen.

Everth Cabrera – the trade of Miguel Tejada puts Cabrera on the bench from time to time with Tejada at shortstop and Jerry Hairston Jr. moving over to second base with David Eckstein out of action. He could see time against left-handed pitching with Tejada moving to third and Chase Headley sitting since he owns a .194 average against southpaws.

Scott Podsednik – the trade to the Los Angeles Dodgers gives him playing time for now with Manny Ramirez on the disabled list, but in two weeks when Manny returns, Podsednik likely falls into a fourth outfielder role filling in as situations arise.

Jorge Cantu – the trade to the Texas Rangers will cut into Cantu’s value as it looks like he will serve as a platoon role at first base with Mitch Moreland for the time being against left-handed pitching.

Edwin Jackson – the trade to the American League will likely raise his ERA and WHIP ratio unless he is flipped back to the National League in a trade tomorrow.

Octavio Dotel / Kerry Wood - Dotel and Wood were both traded to teams where they go from being a closer to a set up man.

The Daily Dirt from Tuesday

The platoon police were out in full effect on Tuesday as several players got starts based on the pitcher on the mound.

Andres Torres got the start in right field over John Bowker for the San Francisco Giants against the southpaw Wandy Rodriguez.

Chris Johnson got the start at third base for the Houston Astros against lefty Barry Zito with Pedro Feliz sliding over to first base.

Corey Hart started in right field for the Milwaukee Brewers with the lefty Greg Smith on the mound for Colorado.

Eric Byrnes got the start in left field for the Seattle Mariners with Milton Bradley moving to designated hitter which put Ken Griffey Jr. on the bench. Byrnes has some value in AL only leagues and could steal 10+ bases in 200+ at bats

Ian Stewart owners had to be happy to see him in the line up against left-handed starter Randy Wolf. There was some thought that Melvin Mora would get to see time against left-handed pitching but manager Jim Tracy went with Stewart Tuesday night. Stewart responded by crushing a home run to left-center field, his second in two days so it should buy him some more at bats against southpaws.

Hitters:

Victor Martinez went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a home run off A.J. Burnett. I think him in the third hole all year for the Boston Red Sox gives him numbers equal or better to Joe Mauer this season.

Brian Roberts is 0-for-the season so far. I think it takes him a couple of weeks to get his timing down since he missed the majority of spring training so I would not be concerned where is average is at after two to three weeks as long as there is no bad news about his back.

Pitchers:

Barry Zito won his first start with six shutout innings against the Astros. Zito allowed three hits and one walk while fanning five.

Zito’s counterpart Wandy Rodriguez cruised through five innings before unraveling in the sixth. Walking the first two hitters to start the inning led to his downfall.

Randy Wolf allowed four runs in 6 2/3 innings, but picked up his first win as a Milwaukee Brewer with eight strikeouts. Wolf helped his cause by throwing first pitch strikes to 22 of the 29 hitters he faced.

Chris Young of the San Diego Padres worked six scoreless innings, allowing one hit with five strikeouts to pick up the win.

Closers:

First save chance with his new team and Mike Gonzalez blew it for the Baltimore Orioles allowing a two-run single to Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays to lose the game.

New Minnesota Twins closer Jon Rauch had little trouble in his first save opportunity striking out two in a scoreless inning of work.

2010 Minnesota Twins Team Preview

This is the second part our series of 2010 fantasy baseball team previews looking at the American League Central. The team previews will include the projected batting order, projected rotation, rookies that could make an impact in 2010 as well as each players current ADP for a 15 team mixed fantasy baseball league.

2010 Minnesota Twins  Projected Batting Order:

1.  CF Denard Span (ADP 116)
2.  2B Orlando Hudson (ADP 175)
3.  C Joe Mauer (ADP 14)
4.  1B Justin Morneau (ADP 39)
5.  RF Michael Cuddyer (ADP 112)
6.  DH Jason Kubel (ADP 111)
7.  LF Delmon Young (ADP 271)
8.  SS J.J. Hardy (ADP 240)
9.  3B Brendan Harris (ADP ND)

2010 Minnesota Twins Projected Rotation & Bullpen:

1.  Scott Baker (ADP 152)
2.  Kevin Slowey (ADP 219)
3.  Francisco Liriano (ADP 251)
4.  Nick Blackburn (ADP 367)
5.  Carl Pavano (ADP 430)

Closer – Jon Rauch (ADP 321)
Handcuff – Matt Guerrier / Pat Neshek

2010 Minnesota Twins Prospects with potential impact this year:

1.  Danny Valencia – 3B


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