Fantasy Baseball Closers

How to Win: Saves

Saves are a curious phenomenon. Invented quite recently--for a stat with the weight of tradition--their presence in baseball's statistical pantheon has actually changed the way games are played and millions of dollars are apportioned. If not for this category, you might still be seeing the game's best relievers pitching the seventh and eighth innings of tied ballgames...not waiting until the ninth, only to sit down if a lead disappears or grows over three. See, saves are illogical, and that's just something we all have to accept before we can win this category.

Saves are subject to several factors, only one of which is a pitcher's performance. Since nearly all saves are doled out to just 30 pitchers at any given time, the manager's choice of pitcher matters too. For some teams (like the Braves) the choice is easy. The Tigers are having a tough time with it. What goes into the manager's closer decision? Who knows for sure, but performance, raw ability, reputation, and appearance all seem to go into it. Recent performance matters too: a quality pitcher can go into a rough patch with a closer gig and high fantasy value and leave with neither. Finally, winning games is part of it too...but, so is winning by a little. I like to target good or mediocre teams with better pitching than hitting.

There are, broadly speaking, two ways to win this one: more closers, or more information. 

To help you do either one, our first list is of the 24 closers who have a firm grip on their jobs. Note that this is not the same as last year's leaders, nor is it a ranking. You can check out our RP Rankings, or our Closer Depth Chart for information on each team's backup closers.

Firm Closers*

AL West

Grant Balfour, OAK
Tom Wilhelmsen, SEA
Jose Veras, HOU
Joe Nathan, TEX

NL West

Sergio Romo, SFG
Rafael Betancourt, COL
J.J. Putz, ARI
Huston Street, SDP

AL Central

Greg Holland, KCR
Glen Perkins, MIN
Chris Perez, CLE
Addison Reed, CHW

NL Central

John Axford, MIL
Jason Grilli, PIT
Jonathan Broxton, CIN**
Jason Motte, STL

AL East

Mariano Rivera, NYY
Joel Hanrahan, BOS
Jim Johnson, BAL
Fernando Rodney, TBR

NL East

Steve Cishek, MIA
Jonathan Papelbon, PHI
Rafael Soriano, WAS
Craig Kimbrel, ATL

*I say firm, but you know I don't mean it. These guys might not be fighting for jobs now, but any could lose it during the season to injury, sudden ineffectiveness, or manager's caprice.

**Brox is solidly a closer as long as the "Aroldis Chapman: Starting Pitcher" plan continues. If Chapman returns to the bullpen, expect him to bump Broxton out of the closer's chair.

With only 24 known closers this late into Spring Training, saves are already a rarer draft commodity than they used to be. It's down to two guys per team in a standard league; you could easily be stuck with just one in a deep league. The volatility inherent to closers makes me usually want to avoid them early in drafts (what I really like is snapping up three or four of the last six taken, but that doesn't look like such a good idea this year). This year, more than in others, I'd strongly consider using early and middle picks to get more than one of the top closers.

Closer Cage Matches

Not every save comes from a closer with a solid job. Each division hosts a team that can't seem to make up its mind about their stopper, and you can (with a little luck) profit from taking a chance with pitchers in those situations. Just don't depend on them. I went into a little more detail about these cases on Friday, so I'll keep it brief here.

Angels: Ernesto Frieri v. Ryan Madson

Frieri should start as closer; the plan is that Madson will return to the job when he's healthy.

Dodgers: Brandon League v. Kenley Jansen

League has been dubbed "closer" by the Dodgers...but they've done this before, and Jansen is really, really good. Especially at striking people out.

Tigers: Bruce Rondon v. Joaquin Benoit v. Al Alburquerque v. Phil Coke v. someone they haven't traded for yet.

This one's a mess. If you can spare your last round pick to have a horse in the race, go for it.

Cubs: Carlos Marmol v. Kyuji Fujikawa

Marmol is the closer. Marmol is very available in trade. Don't expect him to close in his new destination.

Blue Jays: Sergio Santos v. Casey Janssen

Janssen is hurt, but was supposed to have the job. Santos was pitching very well, but he was hurt last year and now he might be a little bit hurt.

Mets: Bobby Parnell v. Frank Francisco

Parnell is a pretty good pitcher who isn't hurt. Francisco is a volatile (but underrated) pitcher who is hurt.

Any of these situations could also end up in job shares or committee approaches. I've listed the current frontrunner first in each case (though others might be less bullish on Santos and Parnell), but all of these teams' plans are way up in the air.

Draft More Closers

Now that we've actually found the closers, we can get back into some real strategy. As I said above (long ago, by now), one of the two main ways to win saves is to have the most closers. In some years, you can do this on the cheap, by getting undervalued closers way at the back end of your draft. This year, not so much. You can also spend heavily on the most elite closers, those unlikely to lose their jobs even after blowing two or three saves in a row. (That can happen to anybody.)

I recently tried this strategy out in a Yahoo! mock draft. A standard Yahoo! league is very shallow, and it doesn't contain MI or CI spots, and only runs three OF's. What does this mean for closers? Well, if I only need one player at each premium position, then I can stand to spend a little more on closers. That's what I did. I drafted four closers, and if this were a real league, I would win saves for sure with this crew. Here's my whole team (for context), with relievers in black:

1. Giancarlo Stanton (Mia - OF) 
2. Edwin Encarnacion (Tor - 1B) 
3. Cliff Lee (Phi - SP) 
4. Craig Kimbrel (Atl - RP) 
5. Aramis Ramirez (Mil - 3B) 
6. Shin-Soo Choo (Cin - OF) 
7. Jonathan Papelbon (Phi - RP) 
8. Jose Altuve (Hou - 2B) 
9. Michael Bourn (Cle - OF) 
10. Ian Kennedy (Ari - SP) 
11. Anibal Sanchez (Det - SP) 
12. Nick Swisher (Cle - 1B,OF) 
13. Brian McCann (Atl - C) 
14. John Axford (Mil - RP) 
15. Jason Grilli (Pit - RP) 
16. Alcides Escobar (KC - SS) 
17. Todd Frazier (Cin - 1B,3B,OF) 
18. Wade Miley (Ari - SP) 
19. Hisashi Iwakuma (Sea - SP,RP) 
20. Josh Rutledge (Col - 2B,SS) 
21. James McDonald (Pit - SP) 
22. Bronson Arroyo (Cin - SP) 
23. Jason Hammel (Bal - SP) 

My starting pitching is a little thin, and I don't have much bench, but I think it's a decent team. (If you don't, let me know in the comments, so I don't do this in a real draft...) The important thing, though, is that I will win saves.

Presumably, you can spend extra on saves without going to this extreme. One way to do this is to grab closers that are better than their draft positions. In case you didn't notice, I did a little of that on the team above.

John Axford is the 5th reliever going on MockDraftCentral, and 8th on RotoAuthority's rankings, so there's no value there...except that he's number 13 on Yahoo!

Similarly, Glen Perkins is our 15th ranked closer, and he goes at a fair 14th on MDC, but you can get him 21st on Yahoo!

Jason Grilli is our 10th closer ranked, but he's going 19th on MDC and 17th on Yahoo! Grilli (and his awesome 13.81 K/9) are very underrated.

Rafael Betanourt is our 14th closer, but he's 18th on MDC and 16th on Yahoo!

Addison Reed is our 17th closer, but he's 22nd on MDC and 20th on Yahoo!

Huston Street is our number 16, but he lasts until number 24 on MDC. On Yahoo!, though, he's ranked 12th, so be careful.

Jose Veras is way down everybody's lists, but saves could be extra-hard for him to come by: even at 250 overall on Yahoo! and 303 on MDC, he's probably still the second Houston Astro taken in many drafts. Yeah, that's a bad team.

Any of these pitchers--or any other--could get very underrated in any draft you might do. Even when intending to fill some other position, remember to consider grabbing a value closer if one slips to you. In an auction, of course, this is even easier to see, though your leaguemates might make you pay a premium if they notice you trying to amass an All-Star bullpen.

Get More Information

You can succeed in saves without spending more than the competition. In last year's Silver League, the team that won in saves finished at or near the top of the whole league standings. That team didn't break the bank on closers in the draft (though I seem to recall them spending the normal amount). Instead, throughout the year, they consistently snatched up some of the best closers to take over jobs midseason. Helpfully, I believe they started by nabbing Fernando Rodney.

If you think you can succeed this way, I say go for it. All it means is more more work, and it can really pay off. Following our own @CloserNews Twitter feed is a great way to start, but I'd suggest loading up on as many information sources as you can. It helps living on the West Coast, or staying up late to catch the night games and news. Injuries and managerial decisions can happen at any time, and in many leagues, a newly minted closer will have been snatched up by the time you wake up in the morning. 

There's another way to squeeze saves out of your team, and that is to stream setup guys. It takes some seriously careful watching (it was a lot easier for me to do when I was taking night shifts on the @CloserNews feed, I'll tell you that), but when a closer has pitched two or three days in a row, you won't expect him to come in the next day, so you grab his backup and hope for a save opp. For a couple years, I've wanted to try devoting a whole team to this strategy, but I haven't gotten around to it, mostly for time zone related reasons.

A Few Final Words: Different Strategies for Different Leagues

I'm in five different leagues next season, and I'll have at least four different strategies for success in saves. If your league does daily changes and has a lot of open P slots, then either of the strategies above will work well for you. You can leave most of your relievers in on most days (or cycle in your streamers), and sit them when you need to put in extra starters. It's like reliever paradise. I'll probably go for quantity in one, and information in another and see what happens.

But I also play in leagues with weekly lineup changes and waiver wire pickups, and one of them allows only two relievers--but awards them a ton of points. For these, my plan will (probably) be to get at least one high quality reliever, one medium quality guy, and a third or fourth injury backup. Or maybe I'll go for two of the top ten and hope for the best. We'll see how the draft goes.

Some leagues do quite a few categories: 7x7 or even 10x10. The more categories you have, the less you should spend on closers. Similarly, points leagues can have very valuable closers, or make them pretty worthless. On the flip side of things, if you play in a 4x4 league (the original standard), saves just got way more valuable. Ratchet closers up your lists accordingly.

Whether you play in a deep league or a shallow league, with weekly changes or daily, with just two RP slots or more than you can even use, there is a value for saves out there. Whatever it is pay that, and not more. In a head-to-head league, you could even punt the category (but don't, because someone else will and even one closer will beat that team twice next year), but every little bit helps in standard Rotisserie.

There's an old adage floating around in the aether of our cultural consciousness that, "It's better to be lucky than good." Nowhere is this more true than in getting saves for your fantasy baseball team, so: good luck!

By the way, this concludes the standard 5x5 categories, but it doesn't conclude the How to Win series. My plan is to examine OBP next week, since plenty of leagues use the stat and it indirectly affects all leagues. If a bunch of people clamor for something else, though, maybe I'll change the plan....

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2013 Position Rankings: Relief Pitchers

No position comes close to relievers when it comes to unpredictability. With their value tied so intrinsically to saves, and each pitcher throwing only a tiny sample of innings, it shouldn't really be a surprise to anyone when weird things happen: like Fernando Rodney being 2012's best reliever; like John Axford pitching badly enough to lose his job; like anything that happens when Carlos Marmol is on the mound. 

So how do you rank players that come with such an intense level of inherent variance? With caution. Waiting on closers and drafting multiple smei-competent back-enders has always been my plan at this position, and I see little reason to change. Great relievers fall suddenly, and nobodies rise to prominence just as quickly. The rounds into which the closers are tiered reflect my own closer-caution--unfortunately, some drafts won't let you play it so safe if you want to compete in saves, so consider the rounds looser guidelines than usual, even though the player groups stand just fine.

We're finished with the hitters; you can find Shortstops, Third Basemen, Second Basemen, First Basemen, Catchers, and  Outfielders at these links. Today's rankings come from a team discussion, featuring Tim Dierkes and the entire RotoAuthority staff and they cover all the closers, plus some of the most draftable setup guys. They're divided into groups of similar value, and tiered by where they deserve to be drafted in a standard league. If you're bidding in an auction, consider players in the same tier to be of similar price.

3rd Round

1. Craig Kimbrel, ATL

Kimbrel is so good that even I would consider taking him in the third, and I haven't taken a closer before the 10th in about five years. Those strikeouts pile on value; my only worry is that dominant relievers before him have fallen hard.

7th Round

2. Jonathan Papelbon, PHI

After Kimbrel, there is no one I would take over Papelbon, for the simple reason that he's been good for so long that his sample isn't all that small any more: we can safely conclude that he's a good pitcher. It doesn't hurt that the Phillies are paying him big stacks of cash and won't remove him from the job unless he turns into Heath Bell.

8th-9th Round

3. Mariano Rivera, NYY
4. Joe Nathan, TEX
5. Jason Motte, STL

Rivera's been so good for so long that only his injury keeps him this low on my list. It's not that I think he'll be the best closer out there, it's that I'm very confident that he'll be good--and keep his job. Nathan proved last year that his injuries are behind him; like Rivera, so is a long history of success. Motte is a lot lower on this list than most, but don't get me wrong: he has a higher fantasy ceiling than anyone above him (except Kimbrel), but his relative inexperience also tells me that he has a lower floor. Plus, his team isn't invested in him the way Nathan's, Rivera's, and Papelbon's are.

11th-12th Rounds

6. J.J. Putz, ARI
7. Rafael Soriano, WAS
8. John Axford, MIL
9. Fernando Rodney, TBR

Putz is rock solid--when healthy. Fortunately, David Hernandez is one likely backup, and he's worth rostering in a setup role. Unfortunately, Heath Bell is the other likely backup. Soriano should be great in saves and strikeouts, but his walks will keep his WHIP up and probably lead to the occasional blowup. Axford should rebound from a tough 2012 to be the high-K stopper we'd come to expect. Rodney's last season screams fluke...but what if it wasn't? I'm willing to take that chance, albeit not as early as mock drafters are.

13th-14th

10. Jason Grilli, PIT
11. Sergio Romo, SFG
12. Greg Holland, KCR
13. Tom Wilhelmsen, SEA
14. Rafael Betancourt, COL
15. Glen Perkins, MIN 

Grilli seems like he came out of nowhere, but he's put up two excellent seasons in a row, and has four straight years of increasing strikeout rates--a number that increased to 13.81 K/9 last year. Romo has serious questions about the health of his elbow, and the best-case scenario for him seems to be that other members of his bullpen vulture more saves than average. Holland and Williamsen rake in the strikeouts but play for mediocre teams. Also, their closing tenure has been short, so their leashes will be too. Betancourt would be a tier higher if he didn't play in Colorado. Perkins was excellent last year, but how many leads will the Twins' rotation be able to deliver?

15th-16th

16. Huston Street, SDP
17. Addison Reed, CHW
18. Jonathan Broxton, CIN
19. Jim Johnson, BAL
20. Grant Balfour, OAK
21. Chris Perez, CLE
22. Steve Cishek, MIA 

Street is a very good pitcher--when healthy, which isn't much of the time. Draft him expecting a DL stint. Reed flew under the radar a little, but was quite successful. Broxton didn't impress--especially with the strikeouts, but the Reds should hand him plenty of leads. Johnson was dynamite last year...but he doesn't get many strikeouts and this Orioles fan expects a bit of team regression. Balfour's overall numbers are pretty good, but he bounced in and out of the closer role. Oakland is an organization that isn't afraid to make changes or defy convention, which is great for them, but less than ideal for a fantasy closer. Perez was surprisingly competent last year, but his shaky history keeps our enthusiasm low. Cishek pitched well, but it probably wouldn't take much for the mercurial Marlins to make a change. Also, they might not be too good next year.

17th-18th

23. Joel Hanrahan, BOS
24. Bobby Parnell, NYM

Hanrahan's underlying numbers were pretty shaky last year, and I don't think Boston will hesitate to make a change if one is needed. They proved with Andrew Bailey that trading for someone doesn't mean he'll get a long leash. Parnell is looking more and more like the Mets' closer in camp. If he starts the season with the job, he'll have to really blow up to lose it to Frank Francisco.

19th-20th

25. Brandon League, LAD
26. Ernesto Frieri, LAA
27. Kenley Jansen, LAD
28. Jose Veras, HOU
29. Sergio Santos, TOR

League and Frieri are both slated to start the season closing for their Los Angeles teams. Both teams are expected to switch closers at some point in the year. For the Angels, that's the plan: switch to Ryan Madson. For the Dodgers, it's what you expect when Jansen is that much better than League. As far as what will really happen...I couldn't say at all. I can say, however, that I prefer to take the guy with the job in hand, because sometimes they don't let it go. Speaking of jobs in hand, that's what Veras has in Houston, and what Santos appears to be grabbing--to start the season--in Toronto.

Should any of these messy closer situations get fully straightened out by Opening Day, Frieri and Jansen would belong in the 13-14th tier, Santos and League in the 15th-16th tier.

21st-22nd

30. Casey Janssen, TOR
31. Ryan Madson, LAA
32. Carlos Marmol, CHC
33. Kyuji Fujikawa, CHC

Janssen and Madson haven't healed as expected and could be seeing their jobs slip away. Should they manage to gain a certain hold on their jobs before Opening Day, both would be worth taking among the 15th-16th tier.

Marmol will have the job as long as he's a Cub--how else to keep his trade value up? The bad news for anyone who drafts him is that the Cubbies might have him traded by Opening Day. If that happens, bump Fujikawa way up this list, as he won't have much competition for saves. I would take him around the 15th or 16th round.

23rd and Beyond

34. Joaquin Benoit, DET
35. Al Alburquerque, DET
36. Bruce Rondon, DET
37. Frank Francisco, NYM 

I don't know what will happen in Detroit's bullpen, but all three of these guys have a chance to close, and a chance to keep the job if they get it. Maybe Francisco will keep his job.

Quality Non-Closers 

38. Vinnie Pestano, CLE
39. David Hernandez, ARI
40. David Robertson, NYY
41. Luke Gregerson, SDP
42. Sean Marshall, CIN
43. Santiago Casilla, SFG
44. Ryan Cook, OAK
45. Andrew Bailey, BOS
46. Drew Storen, WAS
47. Johnny Venters, ATL
48. Mike Adams, PHI
49. Antonio Bastardo, PHI
50. Tyler Clippard, WAS
51. Jacob McGee, TBR
52. Trevor Rosenthal, STL
53. Koji Uehara, BOS 

Some of these guys have a decent shot to close, thanks to a shaky or injury-prone incumbent (Pestano, Hernandez, Robertson, Gregerson, Cook, Bailey, Uehara), while others might vulture some saves along the way (Casilla, Marshall). Some are just worth rostering on their skills alone (Bastardo, Storen). All of these guys are probably best left for deeper leagues.

This year's closer picture is murkier than it has usually been in the recent past. More teams have unresolved questions surrounding the back end of their bullpens: the Angels, Dodgers, Tigers, Mets, Blue Jays, and Cubs are all without a certain closer. Expect to get quite a few saves off the waiver wire, and in the meantime, draft a few backup closers. Your relievers don't have to be the best to get the most saves.

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Closers Updated

I've updated the fantasy baseball closers post.  Let me know if you have any input on the depth charts.

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Fantasy Baseball Closers Post Updated

The fantasy baseball closers post is updated once again. The situation in Texas is the latest for saves vultures to monitor.

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Fantasy Baseball Closers Post Updated

Sorry about slacking on this; I want to keep the fantasy baseball closers post constantly updated.  If you ever go to it and it's out of date, feel free to email me.

Anyway, the post is up to date now.

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Keep An Eye On Riske

FOX's Ken Rosenthal has some Opening Day musings in today's column.  He compares the blowups of closers Kerry Wood and Eric Gagne at Wrigley yesterday, noting that it's the Brewers who should be concerned.

I watched the game, and I agree.  Gagne looked very hittable.  His goggles kept fogging up, but I'm not buying that excuse.  He looked pretty lousy - tentative and throwing very straight fastballs.  When was the last time he looked decent?  July of last year?

Given his $10MM salary, Gagne will have a mighty long leash with the Brewers.  But he's also fragile, so they could easily cook up some reason to toss him on the DL if they don't want to embarrass him or themselves.  In that case David Riske would probably become the closer.  Riske makes $4MM this year but has a bunch of incentives for games finished.  He's the logical choice, and if you have bench room and fierce closer competition in your league a pre-emptive pickup might be wise. 

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Fukumori Leading Save Candidate In Texas

It's officially time to bump the Rangers' Kazuo Fukumori up on your cheatsheets.  C.J. Wilson and Joaquin Benoit are both questionable for Opening Day, leaving an opportunity for Fukumori to beat out Eddie Guardado for save chances.  Fukumori has six scoreless innings this spring.  Kind of meaningless, but managers like that.

Granted, I have Fukumori posting a 4.82 ERA and 1.66 WHIP this year.  But how many times have we seen a Japanese reliever blow away his projections?  You can't be too picky with waiver wire closers. 

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Fantasy Baseball Closers

Fantasy baseball closers are ever-changing, and require constant vigilance.  You'll need to be lightning quick to pounce on the latest closers.  Changes can occur due to injury, ineffectiveness, or even salary.  RotoAuthority.com will constantly monitor and update this post so that you always know who has the closing gig for every team.  The first pitcher listed is the current closer; the second/third are the next in line for saves.

If you have closer info or corrections, leave them in the comments with a link and I'll update the post.  Or, email me.

Updated 9-3-08 at 10:30am CST. Most recent changes in red.

American League

Baltimore Orioles - George Sherrill (if healthy), Jim Johnson (if healthy), Alberto Castillo, Jamie Walker.  Sherrill is on the DL with shoulder inflammation, and Johnson is also having shoulder issues.  Tough to find an Orioles reliever who had a decent August, so pursue saves here at your own risk.

Boston Red Sox - Jonathan Papelbon, Hideki Okajima, Manny Delcarmen, Justin Masterson.  The Sox weren't able to add a reliever at the deadline.

Chicago White Sox - Bobby Jenks, Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton, Scott Linebrink (if healthy).   Linebrink is on the shelf with shoulder inflammation.

Cleveland Indians - Jensen Lewis, Rafael Perez, Masa Kobayashi, Ed Mujica, Rafael Betancourt.  Lewis has jumped to the front of the line.

Detroit Tigers - Joel Zumaya (if healthy), Fernando Rodney, Kyle Farnsworth, Todd Jones (if healthy).  Zumaya is injured again and out of the picture, so look to Rodney for saves in Detroit.  Jones may be out for the season.

Kansas City Royals - Joakim Soria, Ron Mahay, Ramon Ramirez, Leo Nunez.  Soria and Mahay have both been elite this year.

Minnesota Twins - Joe Nathan, Eddie Guardado, Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier.  Pat Neshek is out for the season.  Everyday Eddie is back in the fold, this time as a setup man.

New York Yankees - Mariano Rivera, Damaso Marte, Edwar Ramirez, Jose Veras.  New acquisition Marte has struggled.

Los Angeles Angels - Francisco Rodriguez, Scot Shields, Jose Arredondo, Justin Speier.  K-Rod is challenging the saves record.  Shields has regained his eighth inning job.  Speier has had a rough go of it.

Oakland Athletics - Brad Ziegler, Joey Devine, Huston Street.  Ziegler has been incredible, and has supplanted Street in the short term.  Devine is also in the mix.

Seattle Mariners - J.J. Putz, Roy Corcoran, Sean Green, Mark Lowe.  Morrow has returned to Triple A to work his way back as a starter.  Putz has his job back, but he's being babied for the season's final month.

Tampa Bay Rays - Troy Percival, Dan Wheeler, Grant Balfour, J.P. Howell, Chad Bradford.  Percival is off the DL and presumably back in the closer role.

Texas Rangers - C.J. Wilson (if healthy), Frank Francisco, Jamey Wright, Joaquin Benoit.  Wilson is out for the season with elbow surgery, and Guardado was traded.  Francisco has a huge strikeout rate and gets first crack.

Toronto Blue Jays - B.J. Ryan, Scott Downs (if healthy), Jeremy Accardo (if healthy), Jesse Carlson.  Downs is clearly second in line, though he is playing through a twisted ankle.

National League

Arizona Diamondbacks - Brandon Lyon, Jon Rauch, Tony Pena, Chad Qualls, Juan Cruz.  Rauch could step if Lyon continues to struggle.  Pena could be next if both fail.

Atlanta Braves - Mike Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano (if healthy), Blaine Boyer, Manny Acosta, Will Ohman.  John Smoltz is out for the season.  Gonzalez is the one to own, with Soriano's elbow acting up once again.

Chicago Cubs - Kerry Wood, Carlos Marmol, Jeff Samardzija.  Wood is back from his blister problem, and has the ninth inning back.  Marmol has been looking good since the break, while rookie Samardzija has entered the mix with a mid-90s heater. 

Cincinnati Reds - Francisco Cordero, Jared Burton, David Weathers.  Burton deserves first crack if Cordero goes down; he was just activated from the DL.

Colorado Rockies - Brian Fuentes, Manny Corpas, Taylor Buchholz, Matt Herges.  Corpas lost his job to Fuentes due to a terrible April.  Corpas has been better lately, but Fuentes will keep the job until season's end.

Florida Marlins - Kevin Gregg (if healthy),  Matt Lindstrom, Joe Nelson,  Arthur Rhodes, Doug Waechter, Renyel Pinto.  Gregg has a knee injury, so Lindstrom and Nelson will handle closing duties.

Houston Astros - Jose Valverde, Doug Brocail, Chris Sampson, LaTroy Hawkins.  Valverde has struggled, but he'll keep his job.

Los Angeles Dodgers - Takashi Saito (if healthy), Jonathan Broxton, Chan Ho Park, Hong-Chih Kuo, Joe Beimel.  Broxton will take closing duties with Saito out for most of the remaining season.  Kuo has been lights out and makes a great source of Ks.

Milwaukee Brewers - Salomon Torres, Eric Gagne, David Riske.  Torres has a hold on the ninth inning.  Who would've thought all three of these guys would be healthy and he'd be closing?

New York Mets - Billy Wagner (if healthy), Luis Ayala, Al Reyes, Scott Schoeneweis, Aaron Heilman.  Ugly situation, but new guys Ayala and Reyes should get a shot.

Philadelphia Phillies - Brad Lidge, Chad Durbin, Tom Gordon (if healthy), Rudy Seanez, J.C. Romero.  Gordon may be out for the season.  Lidge is back after a minor injury.

Pittsburgh Pirates - Matt Capps, John Grabow, Tyler Yates, Craig Hansen.  Capps is off the DL, and should get his job back shortly.

San Diego Padres - Trevor Hoffman, Heath Bell.  Definitely an erratic '07 for Hoffman, but he seems safe for now.

San Francisco Giants - Brian Wilson, Keiichi Yabu, Tyler Walker, Merkin Valdez (if healthy). Wilson's job is safe, though control has been an issue.

St. Louis Cardinals - Chris Perez, Kyle McClellan, Jason Isringhausen (if healthy), Ryan Franklin.  Perez seems to have a lock on the job, after Izzy and Franklin failed.

Washington Nationals - Joel Hanrahan, Saul Rivera.  Rauch was traded and Chad Cordero is out for the season, so Hanrahan gets a look.  He's got a strong K rate but questionable control.

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