As of 7 PM ET last night, the Anaheim Angels sit just a half game back of a wild card spot. Bud Norris gave them stability in the 9th inning up until the early days of August, but now has left the team scrambling for answers at the back-end of ball games. It would be a borderline miracle if they win that final playoff spot, given Mike Scioscia's reluctance to trust in any of his relievers right now. I'm a clear believer that players will perform better, relief pitchers in particular, when they have a clear set role for their specific team. Instead, they have now used 4 different closers during their past 7 save chances. It's not like the options at their disposable have pitched all that poorly either. They actually do have talent back there, enough so that they should be fine from the 7th inning on at the very least. We'll see how it plays out for the rest of the season, and if Scioscia can make it work somehow and they make the wild card game, he probably becomes a likely Manager of the Year candidate. But for now, all things considered, there is no one reliever that is trustworthy or worth owning for fantasy purposes here.
TIER 1: Nothing Compares 2 U
1. Kenley Jansen (Los Angeles Dodgers)—Pedro Baez, Tony Watson
2. Craig Kimbrel (Boston Red Sox)—Addison Reed, Heath Hembree
Where did you get the intel that Ramos might keep the job? I’m currently holding Rivero, Greene, Ramos, Ziegler for 3 RP spots and just trying to rotate them in based on off days and usage (we have daily moves). But I might be able to use that roster spot if I could cut one. Greene’s had 3 SV chances in a month and both Ramos/Ziegler in jeopardy is the way I see it. So I’m forced to hold them all.
What do you think?
There is some talk out there that the Mets priority with Familia is to make sure he is healthy going in to the offseason. I take that as the team doesn’t want to use him often and probably would like to keep him out of high leverage situations. I’d keep all 4 for another week if possible.