Joba Chamberlain, Bill Wagner and Closer Strategy

For New York Yankees and Mets fans looking for information on Joba Chamberlain and/or closer Billy Wagner, Baseball Prospectus has kindly included those updates in the non-subscriber portion of Will Carroll's Under The Knife column.  It's fingers-crossed for both pitchers.  Click through to see why a trip to Pensacola may be as alarming as a trip to Birmingham used to be for baseball fans.

Will follows-up on the news that Texas Rangers' closer, C.J. Wilson, will undergo elbow surgery to remove bone spurs.  The Rangers' closer job looks wide open for the rest of the season.  With Eddie Guardado getting the first shot, he appears to be the early favorite but don't discount Frankie Francisco getting a look either.

With Wilson out, I was reminded why I traded him earlier this season.  At the time, I was derided for dealing a $7 closer for a $35 Paul Konerko in this 4x4 AL-Only keeper league.  The gamble I took was akin to dealing too early rather than waiting until it was too late. 

With the turnover in closers, I decided to bank the two "seasons" of Saves I got from Wilson and sell him high.  Unfortunately, the White Sox disclosed Konerko had a hurt hand the day after I acquired him, and the Rangers stuck with Wilson in the role despite his 1.60+ WHIP.

Hindsight has made the deal an awful one for me, but the rationalization behind the deal is still solid.  Dealing closers after a season plus of success will generally work in your favor.  I did the same with Takashi Saito and used him to land Lastings Milledge and Jordan Schafer in the pre-season (NL-Only 4x4 keeper).  But It has not worked out as well when I dealt Joakim "The Mexicutioner" Soria for Melky Cabrera, Brian Bannister and Matt Wieters.

Two out of three ain't bad, right?