By Kevin Kleps, Fantasy Baseball Correspondent
It seemed to be a semi-meaningless early May series between National League Central Division rivals that were a combined two games under .500 last season.
It instead produced back-to-back games featuring “embarrassed” closers, frustrated managers and opportunities for desperate fantasy owners to find a closer on the waiver wire.
OK, Eric Gagne and Jason Isringhausen losing their jobs – in Gagne’s case, temporarily – on May 9 and 10 isn’t exactly going to ruin any fantasy team. Both closers are past the dominant stages of their careers, especially Gagne, whose brief, disastrous tenure in Boston last season was a sign of things to come.
But the back-to-back games in Milwaukee did show how volatile a role closing is, and the fact the closers imploded on the same field on consecutive nights and declared themselves unfit for the position afterward certainly was unique.
On May 9, the Cardinals’ Isringhausen entered the game with St. Louis holding a 3-2 lead on Milwaukee and promptly retired the first two batters in the ninth inning. He proceeded to allow two runs on three hits with a walk, blowing his fifth save in 16 chances.
“I’m sick of embarrassing myself and letting my team down,” he told reporters after the game. “They can’t keep sending me out there when I’m pitching the way I’m pitching.”
The next night, Gagne took the gas can from Isringhausen’s locker, entered a tie game in the ninth and gave up – you guessed it – two runs on three hits with a walk.
Like Isringhausen, Gagne said he was “embarrassed.” He also said somebody else should have his job.
"I don’t deserve that ninth inning right now,” he told reporters on May 10. “That’s pretty simple.”
Both managers listened to their closers, removing them from their roles, only Gagne backtracked two days later, saying he wanted his job back.
From a fantasy perspective, Isringhausen’s implosion – he allowed four runs in one-third of an inning on Thursday, letting the Cardinals’ 5-4 lead slip away in the eighth inning against the Pirates – is much more interesting.
The Cardinals entered the weekend on pace to win 90 games, which means plenty of save opportunities for Isringhausen or Ryan Franklin, who is the temporary owner of the position. Despite entering the weekend with five losses, an ERA of 8.00, an opponents’ batting average of .386 and a Barry Zito-like 1.78 WHIP, Isringhausen is still tied for sixth in the majors with 11 saves.
In his place is Franklin, who got the save on May 10, the night Gagne did his best Isringhausen impersonation. The former starter (he was a combined 23-44 with Seattle from 2003-05) has been effective this season. Franklin has a pair of saves and a 1.80 ERA in 20 innings.
The problem: He’s struck out only nine, and he’s averaged just 4.8 strikeouts per nine innings in his big-league career.
In 12-team, points-based leagues, in which a closer who gets a strikeout or two in the ninth inning is a must, Franklin is a reserve at best. In category leagues, in which saves are crucial, he is a serviceable part-time starter.
The caveat: The job might not be his full-time.
Isringhausen, who had 32 saves in 34 chances last season and had 32 saves or more in seven of his previous eight years, should get his job back at some point.
In category leagues, he’s still worth a roster spot. In points-based league, you probably can’t afford to stash him on your bench.
The Brewers’ closing situation isn’t quite so simple.
On Tuesday, Gagne returned to the back end of the bullpen and tossed a scoreless ninth inning against the Dodgers, earning his 10th save in 15 chances.
In category leagues, he’s worth keeping around – which closer isn’t? – but I wouldn’t start him as my second closer unless I had to. Since his incredible 2002-04 stretch, in which he saved 152 games in 158 chances (including a perfect 55-for-55 run in 2003), Gagne has battled injuries and performance-enhancing accusations (he was identified as a user of human growth hormone in the Mitchell Report).
He’s also been pretty mediocre.
Opponents batted .393 against him when he was with the Red Sox last season, and they’re hitting .404 against him during his first season as a Brewer.
If you have no other alternative – translation: Every other closer is on another roster – start Gagne as your No. 2 closer in category leagues.
Just don’t be surprised if his rushed return to his former role doesn’t result in an exit that’s almost as abrupt.
Now for the good news
It’s been a productive week for waiver-wire finds in the bullpen. And this one could be much more effective than Ryan Franklin.
Thursday, Rafael Betancourt was removed from the Indians’ 4-2 win over the Athletics after giving up a run, two hits and a walk while recording only one out. Masa Kobayashi, who saved 227 games for Chiba Lotte in the Japanese Pacific League from 2000 to 2007, replaced Betancourt and struck out a pair to earn his second major-league save.
He also might have taken Betancourt’s job.
Kobayashi is 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA and a 1.09 WHIP in 19 1/3 innings this season. After Thursday’s win, the Indians weren’t saying if he was their new closer, but that would seem to be the case.
If so, Kobayashi is certainly worth starting in category leagues. In deeper, points-based leagues he can also be effective.
As usual with the position, there is a disclaimer: Joe Borowski is expected to return soon from a triceps strain.
Betancourt has been at his best as a setup man, which makes his fantasy impact minimal, and Manager Eric Wedge has said Borowski will return to closing when he’s healthy. It’s worth remembering how awful Borowski was before heading to the disabled list (an ERA of 18.00 in four very eventful innings), but it’s also worth noting that the veteran saved 45 games for the Indians last season and had 36 for the Marlins the year before.
If Borowski returns to the back end of the bullpen, he’s worth a look in category leagues.
Until he does, I’d go with Kobayashi.
Where does your closer stand? Click on to page 2.
