Following a perfect 2008 season, Philadelphia Phillies closer Brad Lidge went on to put up disastrous numbers in 2009. Fantasy owners suspected a drop-off, but — injuries or not — Lidge’s plummet to a 7.21 ERA and Major League-leading eight blown saves was too much.

Lidge attributed the stats to never feeling quite right physically all season. A knee problem caused him to place excess pressure on his elbow. In addition to problems in the elbow, the bulky knee also caused Lidge to lose command of his fastball. Read more »

The last of the viable closers went off the market this week when Jose Valverde signed a two-year, $14-million deal with the Detroit Tigers. Valverde, who had 25 saves with the Houston Astros last season, solidifies the Tigers’ bullpen after they lost relievers Brandon Lyon and Fernando Rodney to free agency. Valverde also finds a home and essentially trades places Lyon, who signed with the Astros this winter.

Valverde’s signing puts the finishing touches of clarity on the closer landscape in fantasy baseball. Only a couple of situations remain either unresolved or completely undesirable. The Pittsburgh Pirates, who still call Joel Hanrahan their stopper, and the Philadelphia Phillies, whose closer Brad Lidge just underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, are the biggest question marks left. Read more »

We’re all about closers this week. We’ll rank ‘em 1-30 and let fantasy owners know who may or may not be on the chopping block.

As closers get injured or lose their managers’ confidence, doors open for setup men to win jobs and for fantasy owners to score on the waiver wire. Closer is the only position where playing time translates directly into fantasy value, so all it takes is one chance for a no-name player to be worth a roster spot.

Take Oakland A’s new closer Andrew Bailey, for example. No baseball fan or fantasy owner outside of the Bay Area could have told you who this guy was until this season. But, lo and behold, he starts pitching lights-out as a setup man, and suddenly finds himself as the team’s go-to reliever in the ninth inning. Read more »

Last week, we took a look at the pleasant surprises in baseball. “The All-Overachievement Team” featured players in the midst of career seasons; the kinds of guys who step up and make huge differences in their teams’ pennant chases. This week, we go in the opposite direction and make mention of the not-so-hot players who are going in the tank and taking their real-life and fantasy teams with them.

Just as timely late fliers on Raul Ibanez or Mark Reynolds can push fantasy teams to the top of the standings, early picks on Josh Hamilton or Matt Holliday can anchor them to the bottom. Either through injury, ineffectiveness or some combination of both, underachievers put fantasy teams permanently behind the eight-ball.

Fantasy owners often recover from bad draft days, but can rarely bounce back from drafts that feature multiple swings and misses in the early rounds. The following lineup consists of those kinds of players - highly acclaimed busts and sleepers who have yet to wake up. Read more »

The Philadelphia Phillies placed closer Brad Lidge on the 15-day disabled list with a sprained right knee Tuesday, according to the team’s official site. Overwhelming reaction to this news, especially from Phillies faithful, has been cheers and celebration, rather than disappointment and frustration.

Lidge has been, quite simply, awful this season. And while there were signs he was righting the ship, there have been more stumbles along the way and a league-leading six blown saves. He’s the polar opposite of the lights-out closer who went a perfect 41-for-41 in save chances as the Phillies won the World Series last season. Read more »

In the herd of 30 closers in Major League Baseball, there are always a few weak ones in danger. Closing out games is all about performance, the “what have you done for me lately?” So, when struggles and lost confidence rear their ugly heads, a closer has a limited amount of time to straighten things out or lose his job.

Most of our dirty half dozen closers aren’t in immediate danger — injured Troy Percival being the lone exception — but they are guys to monitor. We like to take the opportunity to be pessimists, find all their flaws, and point out the reasons why they COULD lose their jobs.

Enjoy. Read more »

Another look at the state of bullpens across Major League Baseball. About a third of teams in the league are dealing with some sort of upheaval in the late innings, which, of course, opens plenty of doors in fantasy.

The St. Louis Cardinals were quickly scrambling for a ninth-inning solution when rookie Jason Motte blew his first save opportunity. They appear to have found their man, at least for now, with veteran Ryan Franklin. The Toronto Blue Jays enter a two-week stretch with B.J. Ryan on the 15-day disabled list, and Colorado’s Huston Street has been relegated to middle relief in favor of Manny Corpas.

All of those details and more in our Week 3 closer rankings. Previous ranking is in brackets at the end of each player note. Read more »

In a year that saw no player separating himself from the rest of the league, voters had a tough task of electing the National League’s Most Valuable Player. Should the award be given to the player with the most gaudy numbers? Or should it be the best player on the best team? What about players acquired midseason that carried their respective teams to the playoffs? While Ryan Howard, Manny Ramirez and CC Sabathia all garnered consideration, voters decided to go with the numbers and voted Albert Pujols MVP.

Hitting .357 with 37 home runs and 116 RBIs, Pujols posted statistics that are tough to argue with. However, unlike many other worthy candidates, Pujols failed to lead his team to the postseason. Is it fair to give the coveted award to a player who could not even get his team in the playoffs in the weak National League? It can be, especially when Pujols was the lone reason St. Louis remained in contention as late as September. Read more »

All season long, the Tampa Bay Rays won with balance. Hitting in the clutch, strong team defense, and solid pitching led the team to 97 victories. But, in the Game 1 loss to Philadephia in the World Series, the hitting faltered and all sense of balance was off.

Compiling only five team hits, the Rays lineup was stifled by opposing pitcher Cole Hamels all game long. The meat of the Ray’s order - B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Carlos Pena - were held without a hit in 12 at bats.

In attempt to offset the struggles of their teammates, Akinori Iwamura and Carl Crawford gave their best efforts to pick up the slack. Iwamura went 3-for-4, while Crawford added a home run. However, their effots were not enough to carry the team to victory, as the Rays fell into a 1-0 series deficit. Read more »

Who said that the Philadelphia Phillies would have trouble dealing with pop ups and fly balls getting lost in the dome and catwalks of Tropicana Field?

Who said that the Phillies would have difficulty fielding grounders on the terrible artificial turf that the Rays have played on for 88 games to date?

No one must have told this to the NL Champions as they took home field advantage away from the Tampa Bay Rays with a Game 1 victory last night. The Phillies overcame a week-long layoff to put themselves in the driver’s seat for this year’s Fall Classic. Read more »