The Year of the Injured or Ineffective Closer

Mariano RiveraSome baseball fans and so-called experts discount the importance of closers, insisting that what they do is just one inning of a game, and act like they are no more important than any other pitcher in the game. However, other fans and fantasy baseball team owners may disagree with that assessment. Not only do saves matter when it comes to fantasy baseball, but what a closer does can help protect starters’ wins.

At any rate, what has happened so far in 2012 has shown just how volatile the position is. As of press time, 14 of the 30 Major League Baseball closers at the start of the season have been replaced in the first five weeks of the season. Injury and ineffectiveness are the two culprits.

Closers Lost to Injury

The injury bug has decimated a slew of closers this season, with some of the biggest names in baseball – Mariano Rivera of the New York Yankees, and Brian Wilson of the San Francisco Giants – getting hurt. The 42-year-old Rivera, considered to be the greatest closer of all time and a big reason for the Yankees’ success over the past fifteen years, tore his ACL and meniscus while shagging … Read more at FryingPanSports