August 12, 2015

Dillon Borgida analyzes MLB closers (RP) to target for saves and strikeouts as fantasy baseball waiver wire pickups and adds for Week 19 (8/12/2015) of the MLB season.

What's up RotoBallers. Welcome back to the MLB closers watch, where we take a look at interesting closers and saves situations around MLB twice a week, and provide analysis for fantasy baseball.

This week, the first injury to a top tier closer in a long time has occurred. I’ll go into detail of the ramifications from this injury and other news over the past week.

Editor's Note: Bookmark our MLB Closers & Saves Depth Charts for the latest look at all the current closers, setup men, longshots and relief pitcher waiver wire adds.

MLB Closers & Saves Updates for Week 19

Jean Machi (RP, Boston Red Sox)

Huge news this week with Red Sox closer Koji Uehara going down with a broken wrist. He was moved to the disabled list and is expected to miss the remainder of the season. It goes without saying, but if you have Uehara on your team, drop him immediately. I noticed that he is still rostered in 85% of ESPN leagues even after this news has been released.

The man who stands to benefit most from the injury is Jean Machi. The veteran reliever has had a down year but was expected to get the first crack at being the primary closer moving forward. Many people would’ve thought that Junichi Tazawa would get the first nod as the closer, but manager John Farrell mentioned that he may be a bit overused.

In an interesting twist, after these comments by Farrell leaning towards Machi, he pitched in the 8th inning last night and threw a scoreless inning. Tazawa then proceeded to come in for the save opportunity, but ended up blowing the save. While this is all a bit confusing for fantasy owners, it seems that Machi will in fact get his chance as the team's closer and Tazawa may have lost his chance.

Machi doesn’t have overwhelming strikeout stuff, but uses a low-to-mid 90’s fastball and a hard splitter to keep hitters at bay. At only 4% owned Machi can be found on the waiver wire in almost all leagues.

Edward Mujica (Oakland Athletics)

Since trading Tyler Clippard the A’s bullpen has struggled and they’ve had a hard time closing games. Mujica has been getting hit hard recently and manager Bob Melvin mentioned that he may give someone else the closer opportunity in the coming games. Relievers Drew Pomeranz and Fernando Rodriguez have been throwing better than Mujica and could be in line for the next save chance.

Pomeranz is a lefty with starting experience but is prone to giving up runs. It’s possible that he’ll be used in save situations where lefty hitters will be getting plate appearances. He averages almost a strikeout per inning this season and has six in his last three innings.

Rodriguez has 46 strikeouts in just 36 innings, but has allowed 16 earned runs in that same time period. The elite strikeout prowess he has shown could increase the chances of him getting the next nod. Both Pomeranz and Rodriguez are players to keep an eye on in the coming weeks.

Alex Wilson (Detroit Tigers)

I have been talking about Wilson a lot and out of nowhere he was benched in favor of Bruce Rondon because of “shoulder fatigue”.

Rondon is a strikeout threat with six in his last three innings and picked up his first save of the season in his last appearance. He’s only 3.8% owned and would be a good waiver wire option for those who had Uehara or Mujica on their team. I think Wilson and Rondon are both solid waiver wire options even though they may split save chances from here on out.

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