Need to Trade for a Closer??

Question

I'm in a 10 team H2H non-keeper yahoo league and I'm a little uneasy about my closer situation. I have Mariano Rivera, who is obviously one of the best and Fuentes, who has been surprisingly solid for the past two seasons and Torres, who is the Pirates closer. I feel fine about Rivera and Fuentes but I'm a little worried about Torres.

I'm really wondering whether or not I should trade a starter like Harden or Schilling (I would lean towards Harden because of health issues) for a proven closer. If I did, I would just drop Torres and pick up another starter (almost certainly Anibel Sanchez or Greg Maddux who are both FA's in my league). Am I overreacting about my closer situation or do I really need to trade for a good closer (and thus have 3 capable guys there)?


Here is my current roster:

C: Piazza
1B: Fielder
2B: Roberts
SS: H. Ramirez
3B: D. Wright
OF: Beltran
OF: Holliday
OF: Swisher
Util: T. Hunter
Bench: O. Cabrera
Bench: C. Tracy
Bench: J. Willingham
Bench: H. Kendrick

SP: Lackey
SP: Sabathia
SP: Sheets
SP: Harden
SP: Schilling
SP: J. Patterson
RP: Rivera
RP: Fuentes
RP: Torres


Thanks for the help!

Answer 1

You're definitely overreacting. The season hasn't even started yet. Plus starting pitching is far more valuable in the long run than closers.

Every year at least half a dozen teams have a closer shake-up because of injuries, trades or ineffectiveness. My advice is to sit on the bullpen you've got and if things are shaky later in the season make a move then.

Keep on eye on the closer situation in Pittsburgh (Matt Capps), Atlanta (Mike Gonzalez/Raphael Soriano), San Francisco (Brain Wilson), Los Angeles (Jonathon Broxton), Philadelphia (Antonio Alfonseca/Ryan Madson), Chicago (Mike McDougal), Detroit (Joel Zumaya), Florida (Jorge Julio--just got traded today!), and Texas (Akinori Otsuka) as all of these teams have closers who for one reason or another could lose their jobs and all of the aformentioned players are ready and waiting in the wings to take over.

I hope that helps and good luck this season.

If you have any more fantasy issues feel free to email me. I'm a quasi-fantasy guru.

Answer 2

I would definitely look for another closer. I have been in many baseball leagues and have never seen a team w/ only two decent closers end up as the champ. In addition to that, Rivera has health issues so you should pick up another closer just in case. Your SPs looks strong w/ Lackey, Sabathia and Sheets. Harden and Schilling have good potential, I would deal Schilling considering Harden does not have great value yet, but has looked awesome this spring. I would let Harden pitch about a month or so, get his value really high, then trade him before he gets hurt.

Answer 3

Do not over trade for closers! 3 closers is more then okay. 2 1 solid shut down. one decent and one to pick up a few here and there. If you feel bad you can drop Tracey to pick up a B wilson, Zumaya, R soriano, Dotel, or even Julio(just traded to be Marlins Closer) And one of these are either closers in the wings or Dotel and Julio are closers.

(plus Schilling has more value and wont do as good as harden) keep harden on your staff

Answer 4

I may be a girl, but I follow baseball,

I think your probably ok, since there is always a good closer down the line in the season, but you have to watch or someone else will beat you to him.

Also you might want to look in trading in some of your bench players for closers on low profile teams such as Taylor Tankersly, Seth McClung, and Mike Stanton.

Another good idea is to get the good setup men who are behind shaky or unhealthy closers. They usually get a few chances to get saves and also sometimes win the job.

I also recomend that you trade either Brian Robets or Howie Kendrick and beef up some other needed position since they are both quality players with trade value.

That's my two cents! =D

Answer 5

first off. i am considered an expert so i'll give you my advice and hope you listen just a little bit.

youre playing a h2h...if this was roto i'd say you probably would need a closer. but in h2h you can easily win leagues with no closers..matter of factly don't even wast picks on closers in h2h's...instead go out and get as my starting pitchers who qualify at closer postions as possible. you'll easily win almost if not all of the pitching stats only expection would be ..obviously..saves.

now as for your situation.. no don't go trading away EITHER star pitchers for a reliever. to ad to that..why WOULDNT you trade a 40 year old schilling who hasn't done much of late..over a star (and a guy who at the moment is killing spring training like its nobody business) like harden? if anyone you should drop schilling who's gonna be out of the league pretty soon anyway (i say he'll retire either next year or the year after)

you'd be down right silly if you let go of rich harden and held on to schilling...down right silly.

what you should do is go out and get clay hensely he has a low era..had a pretty nice batting average against..and he plays in a huge field at petco park. he'll win you at least 14 games and help with the whip and some k's. oh he also qualifes at rp...a must for a starter.

if you must..and i mean absolutely just trade for a reliver i'd try to get rid of torres AND fuentes AND schilling or sheets...for joel zumya (by mid june he'll have take then closing job away from jones) either one of the guys i just mentioned you should try to shop for joel.

honestly your whole pitching staff other than harden and say.maaaaaaaaybe sabathia..isn't very good. to many what if's and ..i hope he does well..on your teams

i like sheets only because of his team and its up and coming stats. patterson again..has the talent..but he's a..i hope he does good (that's asking alot from a guy who plays on a very ..i mean very..bad washington team. he'll be lucky to win 10 games) .Lackey is solid..but even with a good team last year he still couldn't win close to 20. i think that speaks for itself. i keep hearing how sabathia is so great and how he keeps getting better...fact is if you look at his numbers THEY KEEP GOING UP...and i don't mean in the win colum either. that's the one spot they keep going down.

best pitchers you have are rivera AND HARDEN. schilling isn't even a lock to win 15 any more and have a sub 3.00 era. so i can't put him into that mix.

what's gonna keep you in the league is your hitting. its good. i like it. but i can guarentee you that by mid july you'll be trying to trade players for pitching help. because you wasted picks on relievers.

Answer 6

your situation depends on the category you need most. you are going to get saves and K's out of rivera and fuentes but probably not out of torres because the pirates suck. i would trade for a middle releif pitcher who will get you K's + IP because your starters dont usually get alot of Complete games and IP

Answer 7

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