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Not that it matters much in most fantasy circles, but Jonathan Papelbon, Joe Nathan, Huston Street, and Ryan Franklin got rocked in elimination games and cost their teams any chance to move forward in the playoffs. All three closers had great seasons and both blew saves at home by giving up three runs. Papelbon gave up three runs on Sunday as the Red Sox got eliminated by the Angels in a 7-6 win. Overall for the playoffs, Paps pitched 2 innings, giving up 3 runs on 6 hits/walks. He blew his only save chance. He finished with a 13.5 ERA and 3.00 WHIP. Joe Nathan was awful against the Yankees and frankly looked scared. He pitched in two games and two innings. he stat line finished like this: 4 hits, a walk, 2 runs, 9.00 ERA and 3.00 WHIP. He also blew a big save. Ryan Franklin blew the second game of the series. A game the Cardinals needed to win, but they paid the ultimate price not having a real closer or a bullpen for that matter. In both appearances Franklin finished with 1.1 innings, 5 hits/walks, and two unearned runs. While his ERA was 0.00, his WHIP was an abdominal 3.75. Huston Street had a miserable playoff series. He finished 0-2 with one save and a blown save. He pitched 2.2 giving up 4 earned runs on 8 hits/walks. He had an horrendous 13.50 ERA and 3.38 WHIP. I don't think any of these closers were tired or hurt. They all just got beat by good teams that had momentum going into the playoffs. Also, pressure was on these guys big time as they all faced tough experienced playoff teams with little or no room for error. Except for Ryan Franklin, the other three are excellent closers and like Mariano Rivera they just had a bad series. Look forward to using them in 2010.
I've released my final closer ranking for 2009. Don't forget to check out our closer report for 2010 in spring training and the regular season. Next year we plan to have the closer report cover the entire year and we will had more reports. Check out the last Top 20 Closer Ranking here.
 Saves: 6Save Opportunities: 8 Aardsma joins the 30-something club, while Fuentes locks down #36 After a slow day for closers, today was a much more active with lots of big-time action. I'll start with Brian Fuentes, who tied Mariano Rivera for the league lead with 36 saves. He got the save defeating the hot Detroit Tigers 4-2. Fuentes threw a perfect inning for the save, but he did exhibit some wildness before closing out the game. He has had a roller coaster month so far with six saves and two blown saves.  David Aardsma finally joined the 30-something club tonight. He got his 30th save striking out two on two hits for the 5-3 win. Aardsma is also near the top with six saves this month, but like most closers he's hit some rough patches in August. He is currently on pace for 37 saves and over 80 strikeouts. Chad Qualls came in the eighth with runners on, and promptly gave up a 3-run blast to Bengie Molina. This is a terrible turn of events for a closer on the ropes and on waivers. It was his fifth blown save of the season against 23 saves. I haven't liked Qualls all season and I can say without a doubt that he will not be a closer next year. Brian Medders recorded the wrap around save for the Giants. J.P. Howell blew his seventh save of the season in horrible fashion walking three and giving up a home run. He ended up with the lost after giving up two runs. Howell has a fantastic K-rate, but his lack of consistency is killing his owners. Howell has only saved 68% of his chances, which is worse they the Master of blown saves Brad Lidge who currently has saved 73%. Leo Nunez is still the closer in Florida, so hopefully you listened to me and kept him. He looked very sharp tonight, striking out two and giving up a hit. Nunez will be the closer the rest of the season and has been outstanding since getting the job.
Other Appearances:
Kerry Wood (16)- Not sure why the Indians are still closing with Wood, but he did get his 16th.
Ryan Franklin (34) - Franklin pitched a Franklin Save. 1 hit and in .2 innings. Francisco Cordero (27) - recorded #27 with two strikeouts. He is on pace for 31 with four so far this month. Jonathan Broxton - Pitched a clean inning in a 6-1 Dodger win. Trevor Hoffman - Pitched one perfect inning in a non-save situation.
Saves: 3Save Opportunities: 4 Soria blows big save in night of light action for MLB closers
There wasn't allot of action for closers tonight, but still some appearances worth noting. Jaokim Soria gave up a three run bomb to youngster Luis Valbuena to blow his third save of the season. He entered the eighth inning of a 5-4 game and gave up three runs before recording his second out. Soria has be  en a major disappointment this season and that pain continues for his owners. So far he has only 20 saves and in the month of August he's only recorded two. To make matters worse, his last two appearances have resulted in losses. On the bright-side, David Aardsma recorded his 29th save of the season in another near perfect inning of work. He now sits with the top closers in the league with 29 saves, 66 Ks, a 2.38 ERA, and a somewhat reasonable 1.25 WHIP. If the WHIP was about .20 lower, Aardsma would be amongst the top four closers. He has been a rare find for free agent hunters and turned into the type of player that wins fantasy championships. Brandon Morrow's failure was David Aardsma greatest moment. Joe "The Save Man" Nathan got his 32nd save in a wacky night, 2-1 over the Orioles. Nathan was a bit wild walking two batters and needed 29 pitched to record the three outs. The part that makes this night wacky is he didn't give up a hit and struck out the side in the process. Nathan's you know what simply doesn't stink. Even when he blew a save on Friday, he still came through with a win, and that is magic to some. Tonight he walks two in a one run game and gets the save untouched. August has been a tough month for Nathan with only three saves, but he continues to be one of the best closers in the game. Brad Lidge has been pitching well lately. Tonight he didn't record a save, but he did pitch a perfect inning for the Phillies. He needed 15 pitches to end the game and threw 10 for strikes. Not bad for Lidge. Terry Francona wasn't taking any chances after another wild game tonight. He brought Papelbon into a 12-8 game to close it out and that he did. Paps struck out two and walked one in a quick ninth inning of work. Other Appearances: Fernando Rodney (27) - Rodney looked outstanding tonight. He pitched 1.1 perfect innings and struck out two for the save. Kerry Wood - Pitched an inning with a four run lead. Gave up a hit and a walk.
Huston Street - Pitched one inning with a strikeout in the 14 inning affair. Brian Wilson - Pitched 2.2 innings in the 14 inning game. He gave up four hits and a walk, while striking out 3.
Saves: 10Save Opportunities: 10 Big time closers come out of the bullpens for an ten save day There were plenty of saves to go around tonight in MLB. I haven't seen more than seven saves in one day in over an month, so tonight was special. Not only were there plenty of saves, but most of the big guns came out to play.
Joe Nathan starts off the list. Nathan recorded his 31st save of the season and pitched a perfect inning while doing it. He also st  ruck out two, which got him to over 60 for the season, but this has still been a tough month for him. Tonight was only his second save in August after an incredible nine save month in July. Nathan still has the best WHIP amongst closers at 0.79 and his ERA is at a microscopic 1.54. Bet on him that he will nail down many more saves. Huston Street hasn't been perfect lately, but he is still nailing down saves for the Rockies. He also recorded his 31st save of the season, but not as easy as Nathan did. Street gave up a solo home run to Josh Bard before settling down and saving the 5-4 win. It was Street's third save in four days, but his other numbers have suffered. Over those three saves he's given up four hits, two earned runs, and only two strikeouts. It isn't much better for the overall month. He was the one of the hottest closers coming out of July (with Nathan), but August has been a different story. He has only four saves, while giving up six runs and striking out five in 5.2 innings. His WHIP for the month is 1.76 on nine hits and a walk. In all of July he gave up only two hits. In August his ERA has raised from 2.44 to 3.24, but his WHIP remains low at 1.00. What does all this mean? Street is regressing a bit as I expected, however he is still one of the top closers out there and he's on target to finish with 41-42 saves. Jose Valverde continues his march towards 30 saves with his 17th tonight over the Marlins 6-3. He was extremely wild tonight, walking two on 38 pitches. In the end, he got out of it untouched and with two strikeouts. This is Jose Valverde. He bends, but does not break. His injury was terrible for his owners because he is a much better closer then his numbers show. If he wasn't hurt this year, I'd personally guarantee 40+ saves, but atlas I can only promise 30. So far so good for Valverde. Brian Wilson joined the 30-something club tonight. He closed out a big 1-0 win over Cincinnati tonight, a team that allot of closers are locking down easy saves against. It's been a rough month for Wilson, but he has settled down lately saving two in as many days. After a couple of rough outing and all-around tough month, David Aardsma got his 28th save of the season tonight. He got it on 22 hard fought pitches, striking out two. After two straight rough appearances Aardsma came back for a big save. You can tell that he has been clearly tired and has been over pitching lately. Hopefully he can get some rest. He only have three saves and his ERA has jumped up over a half-point this month. Still with a 2.13 ERA and 65 strikeouts you have to love Aardsma. Jonathan Broxton has had absolutely horrid month, but today his defense failed him. After a very smart Pujols walk, Russell Martin launched an errant snap throw to first base that allowed Pujols to get to third base. Broxton then got the next three batters out, but not before Matt Holiday's sacrifice fly. It was his fourth blown save of the month and eight overall. Ryan Franklin got the wrap around perfect inning save. Baseball genius will write books about this guy someday and the Indian Gods will speak his native name; Dances with effortless saves.
Other Appearances:
Mariano Rivera (36) - He is unstoppable and so are the Yankees. Got the perfect save again tonight.
J.P. Howell (14) - Quietly recorded his 14th save in a perfect inning of work. Matt Capps (22) - The 22 saves look nice, but Capps has yet save two games in a row without giving up runs since June 11 & 14. The Sabermetric formula for that stat Xz * (4X + (xy - yx)) = He's terrible x2. Bobbie Jenks (26) - His comeback tour continued today with a save over the helpless Royals. Since he nearly lost his closer job he has four saves in a row with a loss in between. He faced two batters today and struck out both. Mike MacDougal - Pitched an inning and gave up a hit in a non-save situation.
We all knew it would happen and it has. Kevin Gregg finally lost the job he never really had. Lou Pinella said that Carlos Marmol will take over has closer for the cubs and Gregg will be the setup man. This is bad news and more bad news. First off, Marmol has been terrible this season. He has a 3.51 ERA so far in 2009 and an even worse 1.47 WHIP. The reason he makes a bad choice for Pinella is his walk count. Marmol has walked 52 batters in 56 innings. You just can't walk that many guys and expect to close out games effectively and be considered a fantasy relevant closer. Keep an eye on Angel Guzman and John Grabow. Grabow is a lefty will closing experience back in his days with the Pirates. Guzman has had a solid season, but lacks experience. Get Marmol if you can, but you are playing with fire. Frankly, I'd let this one go if you have the chance to get Marmol. I carried him most of the first half and he was a ERA and WHIP killer. Let someone else rush to grab him and join the closer circus. This is where you show your strength as a manager. The new closer isn't always the best option.
Saves: 5Save Opportunities: 6 Frank Francisco heats up along with Fuentes on slow night
After having one of the worse outings of his career, Frank Francisco has rebounded for two straight saves. Tonight he recorded his 18th save of the season, defeating the Twins 8-5. He looked strong for the second night in a row, striking out two on only ten pitches. I'd still be concerned about Francisco, but at this point you have to ride him out.  Ryan Franklin closed out the Dodgers tonight and only needed two outs. Franklin was perfect again and only needed two pitches to end the game. Franklin joined the 30-something club with save number 30 and is still pitching out of his mind. I can't say the same for Kevin Gregg. Gregg blew his sixth save of the season and his third of the month by giving up four runs in the ninth inning. The big blast was Kyle Blanks three run home run which ended the game. Gregg has been terrible in the month of August. His ERA has ballooned from 3.83 to 4.47 and his WHIP has shot up to 1.30. In the game, Heath Bell pitched a near perfect ninth for the win. He struck out two in the 19-pitch effort. Brian Fuentes got a BS save today. I guess the rule applies that if the tying run is on deck it's a save, but this is ridiculous. Fuentes entered a 8-5 game with two outs and a runner on third. He got Brian Roberts to pop out on three pitches and recorded his 34th save of the season. Fuentes rebounded nicely after his blown save last night against the same team.
Other Appearances:
Andrew Bailey (18) - Continues to be one of the hottest pitchers in the league. Pitched a perfect inning against the Yankees on ten pitches. His season ERA is down to 2.01.
Bobbie Jenks (25) - Jenks pitched one of his best outings of the season tonight. In defeating the Royals 8-7, Jenks only needed eight pitches for the save and seven were strikes. Jonathan Broxton - Pitched a quite inning against the Cardinals, striking out two. Matt Capps - Pitched a perfect innings in a non-save situation.
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