Chasing My Tail in the Ninth

The ugliest and most over drafted fantasy baseball category is saves. After all, in the standard game it is only one out of ten. I know you get help in other places, but is that really enough to give up a single digit draft pick. Every year I watched closers being drafted as early as the fifth round, this year a half dozen were gone before Colby Rasmus. That does not compute.

The secret to a successful season is to inject as much value as possible into your team in the draft. It will give you a foundation to trust and build on. Feeding a single category too early will hurt that. You do have to pay for saves to compete, but can be accomplished on the cheap.

This year I picked Huston Street and Chris Perez in the 11th and 13th, then grabbed Alexi Ogando with my last pick.
I draft in late February in a 14 team league. I already bailed on Ogando, swooping in for Ryan Madson soon after Brad Lidge was hurt. Without saves from Madson, I can still match up with half of the teams in my league.
If he does eventually close, then only two or three teams should have more saves. Combined with the strong starting staff that I have, I can live with that.

If someone implodes, there are there are always new closers that emerge during the season. Jordan Walden and Koji Uehara are prime candidates, plus Matt Capps will pitch in the ninth somewhere. I also have an eye on Tyler Clippard, Jason Motte and perhaps a couple of others later. There is risk in my plan, last year I had to burn too many moves to fill out my bullpen. I did fix it by the playoffs.

If I end up scratching for saves again, so be it. The rest of my team currently has more balance and value than most of the other league members. Unless disaster strikes, I have a real chance to contend. That, is what I really needed from my draft.