For an overview of every team’s closer situation, check out our Fantasy Baseball Closer Depth Charts.

While all fantasy players abhor the idea of a “closer by committee” it can often be the best-laid plan for a “real life” baseball team. Traditionally, a team’s closer pitches with a three, two or one-run lead in the ninth inning of a game. Most managers have started realizing that closers can also be used in the ninth inning of a tie game at home as well. Since there can not possibly be a save situation in that game, regardless of extra innings, then why not?. So the ninth inning with a small lead and the ninth inning of a tie game at home are basically the only two scenarios where recent tradition states a closer can be used. Of course, closers can also “get some work in” if they haven’t had a save opportunity in a while.

This train of thought limits a manager to sometimes not be able to use his best reliever in a critical situation earlier in the game. Granted, some teams do not employ their best relief pitcher as their closer, but many do. Let’s say, a tough situation arises in the eighth inning, and the manager knows that the ninth inning is scheduled to be the bottom of the opposing team’s order. Well, why then should he have to use an inferior pitcher for the eighth just to “save” his closer for the ninth? A closer by committee allows these situations to occur more fluidly, as the manager can plug in whichever pitcher he thinks has the best chance of securing a win for his team, regardless of inning or role.

Some managers have started to do this, and some pitchers don’t like it. Last week, Seattle Mariners manager Lloyd McClendon made a rare good decision. He brought in his closer (and best relief pitcher) Carson Smith into the eighth inning to face Mike Trout and Albert Pujols – the best hitters on the Los Angeles Angels’ roster. This was a pivotal situation in the game, and Smith got the outs needed. Fernando Rodney then came in for the ninth inning and earned the save by retiring the bottom of the order. Watching from the other side, Angels closer Huston Street said, “I’ll retire if that ever happens. If they ever tell me, ‘Oh, we’re gonna start using you in these high-leverage situations.’ … All right, good. You now can go find someone else to do that, because I’m going home.”

Street said that he would rather retire than be used in a way that helps his team. He would rather sit in the dugout and let someone else bring the game to the ninth inning for him to wrap up than do it himself. For now, it doesn’t look like Street will have to retire anytime soon. But his me-first attitude doesn’t bode well, and it isn’t far-fetched to think that more managers will go with moves like McClendon’s (or Joe Maddon’s mess of a bullpen) sooner or later. Fantasy league commissioners may see themselves looking into saves+holds or something similar within a few years.

Closer News Around the League

Boston Red Sox

With the Red Sox struggles, not much has been made about Koji Uehara. He’s had some rough outings, and there were occasional rumors floating around about a change at the back of the Red Sox bullpen for a bit, but he has been solid of late. For the season, Uehara has 18 saves in 20 chances to go with a 2.89 ERA and a 9.64 K/9 rate. The 40-year-old closer is striking guys out and walking very few, as shown by his 30/6 K/BB ratio. While he hasn’t been elite, he has been more than solid and has only allowed runs in five appearances. He had an excellent week and should be in no danger of losing his ninth-inning spot.

Los Angeles Dodgers

Kenley Jansen will always have injury concerns, but when he’s healthy, he is consistently one of the best closers in the game both for fantasy purposes and for real games. This season, he did not walk a batter until his 16th game, the fourth-longest streak to start the 2015 season (Pat Neshek is first with 24). Jansen has 13 saves in 14 chances and plays for a team that should win plenty of games, thereby providing him with plenty of save opportunities. He also sports a 1.53 ERA and a 0.51 WHIP to go with his 30 strikeouts and lone walk. His physics-defying cutter and excellent control make him a top-tier closer as long as he stays on the field.

Houston Astros

The Houston Astros have surprised everyone this season. They sit comfortably in first place in the AL West and look almost unstoppable. One of their strengths has been their bullpen, with guys like Pat Neshek, Josh Fields, Will Harris, and closer Luke Gregerson all posting WHIPs below 1.00. Gregerson has 18 saves in 20 chances and has posted a 3.45 ERA overall. He’s striking out about a batter per inning and has allowed only six walks in 31.1 innings pitched. He has been especially reliable of late, not allowing a run since a June 7th meltdown in which he coughed up three runs while only getting one out. The Astros should continue to win games and surprise the rest of the AL West, and Gregerson should be there celebrating with his catcher at the end of many of them. Don’t let his bloated ERA fool you, Gregerson is a very good closer and a solid buy-low target if his current owner in your league cares too much about ERA.

Injury Updates

While not exactly an injury, Colorado Rockies closer John Axford was placed on the 7-Day Family Emergency List. Manager Walt Weiss noted that Axford “just has things to take care of at home” and mentioned that it is unclear just how long Axford will be away from the team. The Rockies will go with a committee in his absence, with LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Oberg and Tommy Kahnle likely in the mix for save chances.

Interesting Tidbit

Houston Astros closer Luke Gregerson was credited with a win on Wednesday despite pitching the ninth inning of a 6-5 game. The Astros took the lead in the bottom of the seventh and never looked back, calling on Joe Thatcher and Pat Neshek to hold the lead in the eighth and then on their closer Gregerson for the ninth. Thatcher and Neshek each earned holds for their work, so logic would follow that Gregerson would then earn the save. The official scorer instead gave Gregerson the win, and there was no save recorded in the game. Starter Vincent Velasquez allowed four runs and left with a lead, but reliever Josh Fields allowed a run and gave up the lead. The Astros took the lead for good in the bottom of the seventh. However, the official scorer must have thought that Fields’ two hit, one run performance along with allowing an inherited runner to score in 2/3 innings pitched wasn’t worth a win. The win was instead awarded to Gregerson.

Scoring decisions like this happen occasionally, but this one was interesting because it took a save away from a closer and instead gave him a win. With many fantasy leagues now going with quality starts instead of wins, owners would have much preferred to have seen Gregerson credited with the save.

Top Performers 6/25-7/2/2015

Koji Uehara- 4 IP, 4 SV, 3 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.25 WHIP

Zach Britton– 4 IP, 3 SV, 6 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.50 WHIP

Dellin Betances– 4 IP, 3 SV, 5 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.82 WHIP

These three closers were the only pitchers this week to record at least three saves without allowing a run to cross the plate.

Uehara seems to have recovered from his struggles from earlier this season and allowed only one base runner in his four innings while recording four saves and striking out three. He’s a decent buy-low target although that window is certainly closing fast.

Britton continues his elite season and has now posted 23 saves to go with a 1.82 ERA and 1.01 WHIP. More impressively, he has allowed the same number of walks as runs (7) this year. He has 41 strikeouts and has served up only 28 hits in 34.2 innings.

Betances finally had a bad outing last week but made up for it this week by closing out three games for the Yankees without allowing a run. With Andrew Miller rehabbing from his injury and likely coming back sometime soon, it will be interesting to see how manager Joe Girardi sees his closer role develop. Both Betances and Miller can be elite, top tier closers, but only one will be. With the Yankees having a somewhat lefty-heavy bullpen, it may be more effective for Miller to have the ninth inning reserved so that Betances can come in for earlier crucial situations. This will be an interesting situation to keep an eye on.

Spec Picks for the Upcoming Schedule

Jason Grilli vs. Philadelphia Phillies (Friday, July 3rd-Sunday, July 5th) – The Phillies are in the midst of a rough season and the Braves are starting to come back down to Earth and struggle. Regardless, the Braves are the better of the two teams and shouldn’t have much issue having a lead going into the ninth inning. Grilli has been far from spectacular this year, but he’s been solidly getting his job done and saving games for Atlanta. The Braves should come away with at least two of these games and they’ll likely be close enough to require a save.

Tyler Clippard vs. Seattle Mariners (Thursday, July 2nd-Sunday, July 5th) – It’s another series between struggling teams. The A’s should benefit from being at home and should be able to at least split the series. With the Mariners’ closer situation remaining “fluid” per manager Lloyd McClendon, A’s closer Tyler Clippard is the safer bet to come away with a couple of saves in this series.

We welcome any comments and suggestions you have to make the report as useful as possible for your fantasy team’s needs.

David A Marcillo is a correspondent at FantasyPros. To read more from David, check out his archive and follow him @DavidMarcillo77.

