Fantasy Baseball: NL Closers Projections For 2009

by Ray Guilfoyle on Feb 3, 2009 3:00 PM EST in Baseball

Here are the Bill James projections for the NL closers I wrote about on Sunday afternoon.

Player	INN	S	ERA	WHIP	K/9	BB/9	CMD
Lidge Brad RP PHI	70	39	3.26	1.14	12.34	3.99	8.36
Broxton Jonathan RP LA	70	30	3.03	1.09	11.19	3.47	7.71
Rodriguez Francisco RP NYM	66	43	2.9	1.06	11.59	4.09	7.5
Valverde Jose RP HOU	72	43	3.42	1.11	10.88	3.63	7.25
Bell Heath RP SD	72	0	3.16	1.09	9.25	2.75	6.5
Street Huston RP COL	70	28	2.9	1	9.13	2.7	6.43
Cordero Francisco RP CIN	68	34	3.53	1.2	10.19	3.84	6.35
Gonzalez Mike RP ATL	45	26	3.19	1.14	10.4	4.2	6.2
Hoffman Trevor RP Mil	42	41	2.94	0.96	8.14	2.14	6
Capps Matt RP PIT	47	29	3.2	1.01	6.89	1.15	5.74
Marmol Carlos RP CHC	87	8	3.55	1.22	10.03	4.76	5.27
Qualls Chad RP ARI	77	30	3.52	1.15	7.36	2.57	4.79
Hanrahan Joel SP WAS	77	25	4	1.29	8.18	3.51	4.67
Perez Chris RP STL	48	8	3.9	1.37	10.5	6.19	4.31
Wilson Brian RP SF	63	46	3.74	1.3	8.86	4.57	4.29
Lindstrom Matt RP FLA	61	27	4.51	1.43	7.97	4.43	3.54

It is obvious from the table above that James calculated his projections prior to Kerry Wood and Trevor Hoffman leaving the Cubs and Padres. The projections for Heath Bell and Carlos Marmol are incomplete, but you can safely assume, they will save close to 30 games apiece, barring injury or losing the closer job. Then again, with the volatility with closers performances from year to year, it wouldn't surprise me to see either lose the closer job in 2009.

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