Starting Pitchers to Relief..?
Does anyone have any knowledge of some Starting Pitchers (SP) that are going to be relief pitchers or closers? Trying to stack my lineup with closers. Need some SP's that are not SP's, but are listed in yahoo as SP's. Get my drift. Thanks
Answers:
Why does Dan Johnson only have 54 AB's this year for the A's? He is batting 400, was he hurt ?
Jonathan PapelbonPlease rate my fantasy baseball team and tell me where there's room for improvement...THANKS!?
Johnathan Papelbon from the Boston Red Sox was recently moved to closer.I got the picture - I'll address the flaw in a minute.
Kerry Wood is the only one I know of. Ricky Nolasco had a shot but may return to the rotation with the injury to Josh Johnson.
Now for the flaw in the theory - It may look good to stack the saves category with potential closers but the transition to the position is difficult and pitchers tend to struggle. When teams are that volitile in the closer position it is because they are trying to pick the player that will do the least amount of damage closing a game. When you stack your team with guys like that, they may give you more saves but tend to drive up your ERA and WHIP very fast. If you get a guy that blows up in an inning it may take you two weeks of great pitching to make up for what he just cost you. Remember, saves are just one stat and the pitcher you have in the game to get that stat is scoring on a couple of others. Don't jeopardize 2 categories for the sake of one. All it takes is one time for a closer to enter a game with a 2 run lead and take a loss without recording an out and you'll be pulling SP's off the waiver wire to make up those innings because you just went from #2 in WHIP and ERA to #10.
I don't think there are any this year, honestly. If Joel Pineiro gets traded to the Reds and winds up as their closer, he would be one. But otherwise, I think they all only have RP eligibility. I like what you're doing-- I've done it myself successfully many times.
Here are a couple off the top of my head:
Chad Billingsley (LAD)
Juan Cruz (ARI)
Angel Guzman (CHC)
Kerry Wood (CHC)
Joel Pineiro (BOS)
Byung Hun-Kim (COL)
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