March 2, 2016
Atlanta Braves – In all likelihood, Arodys Vizcaino will be the Atlanta closer by year’s end. The question is whether he’ll start the year with the role. As you may recall, veteran Jason Grilli was perfectly respectable — good, even — before rupturing his Achillies last summer, and has reported to camp assuming that he’ll be the closer. Pretty much every veteran on the Braves roster will be expendable come summer time, so even if Grilli wins the job, it’s probably a three-month gig, but this battle will be one to watch in Spring Training. Beyond those two, your league would have to be really, really deep for you to be looking at anyone else. If that’s the case, though, Jim Johnson is kicking around and could nab a few holds if he proves he can still pitch, and promising youngster Shae Simmons could return as early as May.
Starting 2016 hierarchy: Grilli | Vizcaino | Johnson.
Holds candidates: Vizcaino, Johnson.
Miami Marlins – News broke Tuesday that Carter Capps was headed for an MRI on his throwing elbow, potentially scuttling what would have been one of the more interesting Spring Training closer battles. If Capps is OK, he has the potential to be something special, regardless of where you stand on his illegal delivery. But elbow MRIs rarely end well, meaning AJ Ramos is likely to start the season as the Miami closer, with Bryan Morris and Mike Dunn behind him. We will monitor Capps closely.
Starting 2016 hierarchy: Ramos | Capps | Morris.
Holds candidates: Capps, Morris, Dunn.
New York Mets – Jeurys Familia came out of nowhere last season to post one of the most dominant seasons in the majors, and he enters 2016 as a top ten closer. His handcuffs are a little unclear, due to Jenrry Mejia becoming the first player to be permanently banned from MLB after testing positive for PEDs for the third time — for those tracking at home, that’s just one fewer than the number of companies that Donald Trump has bankrupted. (**After our Democratic primary joke on Monday, we’ve now fulfilled our obligation to make jokes about both political parties. Please don’t rage-unsubscribe. Thank you.**) But in all likelihood, the 8th inning will be handled by Addison Reed, who recaptured some of his form after joining the Mets late in the year. Antonio Bastardo, Hansel Robles, and Jerry Blevins will be tasked with getting the ball to Reed and Familia.
Starting 2016 hierarchy: Familia | Reed | Bastardo.
Holds candidates: Reed, Bastardo, Robles.
Philadelphia Phillies – The Phillies traded one of their last valuable assets in Ken Giles during the offseason, leaving them with a hodgepodge of washed-up former closers (David Hernandez! Ernesto Frieri! Andrew Bailey! Edward Mujica!) and not-good-enough-yet youngsters vying for the 9th inning role. Though this is one of the most wide-open races in baseball, beat writers have labeled Hernandez the early favorite, as he was the only reliever to sign a guaranteed major league contract with the Phillies in the offseason. Hernandez got off to a strong start yesterday, firing a perfect inning in his first action of the spring. If he wins the job, his handcuff will probably be whichever former closer listed above can make the roster. If none of them do, Luis Garcia and Jeanmar Gomez are both, uh, kind of OK.
Starting 2016 hierarchy: Hernandez | Garcia | Gomez.
Holds candidates: Garcia, Gomez.
Washington Nationals – Jonathan Papelbon’s first act of the spring was to apologize for being the worst, and to his credit, his teammates seem to be enjoying his presence. So we’ll continue to recommend him as a reliable source for saves who will likely fall in your draft just because people don’t like him very much. (He hasn’t averaged a strikeout per inning in three years, but has compensated by mostly keeping the ball in the ballpark and issuing hardly any walks.) Shawn Kelley was signed to a 3-year, $15 million deal in the offseason and is loosely penciled in to the 8th inning role, but the Nationals have a lot of nice depth, also boasting promising youngsters Felipe Rivero, Trevor Gott, and Blake Treinen, along with veterans Yusmeiro Petit and Oliver Perez. We’ll figure on Rivero being the 7th inning man for now.
Starting 2016 hierarchy: Papelbon | Kelley | Rivero.
Holds candidates: Kelley, Rivero, Gott.
