Closer Report - Week 1

It has been a rough spring training for UCL's, but in hind sight Tommy John was trending on twitter so the publicity is prolly a good thing. Our fantasy rosters mourn the losses of Joakim Soria and Ryan Madson, but those fortunate enough to have already drafted their replacements won't have to scramble for roster fillers. For those who don't have that luxury, there are still some sneaky saves to be had here and there. Add in the fact that save situations fluctuate throughout the year in some places, so don't fret. Technically there should only be 2 closers on week ones list due to the games in Japan. No offense to Brandon League as he would be number one, sorry Brandon. Take a gander at the updated closer rankings and let me know what you think. Handcuffs are in Parenthesis.

1. Craig Kimbrel ATL (Venters, Medlen)

2. Mariano Rivera NYY (Robertson, Soriano)

3. Jon Axford MIL (Rodriguez, Veras)

4. Jonathon Papelbon PHI (Bastardo, Stutes)

5. Jose Valverde DET (Benoit, Dotel)

Rest of rankings after the jump.

6. Brian Wilson SF (Romo, Casilla)

7. Sergio Santos TOR (Cordero, Janssen)

8. Joel Hanrahan PIT (Meek, Resop)

9. Andrew Bailey BOS (Melancon, Bard)

10. Drew Storen WAS (Lidge, Hernandez)

11. JJ Putz ARI (Hernandez, Paterson)

12. Heath Bell MIA (Mujica, Chisek)

13. Brandon League SEA (Wilhelmsen, Kelley)

14. Rafael Betancourt COL (Brothers,Reynolds)

15. Carlos Marmol CHC (Wood)

16. Jason Motte STL (Salas, Rzepczynski)

17. Chris Perez CLE (Pestano, Sipp)

18. Joe Nathan TEX (Adams, Ogando)

19. Huston Street SD (Cashner, Frieri, Gregerson)

20. Jordan Walden ANA (Hawkins, Downs)

21. Javy Guerra LAD (Jansen)

22. Matt Thornton CHW (Reed, Santiago, Crain)

23. Sean Marshall CIN (Chapman, Masset)

24. Frank Francisco NYM (Ramirez, Parnell)

25. Jim Johnson BAL (Gregg, Lindstrom)

26. Kyle Farnsworth TB (Peralta, McGee)

27. Jonathon Broxton KC (Holland, Crow, Herrera)

28. Matt Capps MIN (Perkins)

29. Grant Balfour A's (De Los Santos, Fuentes)

30. Brett Myers HOU (Abreu, Lyon, Carpenter)

• The Reds closing situation still is in wait and see mode. Sean Marshall for all intents and purposes should be given the keys, but the whole adage of why make 2 areas weaker comes into play. I can see him taking the role and ending up in the top 15 by week 2.
• The White Sox job is still up in the air as 4 guys look to be vying for the role. Still give the advantage to Thornton, with Reed and newcomer and a great deep league stash Hector Santiago making some noise.
• The Royals are in the same spot as the Reds as they have not named the closer as of yet. I am going to say it's Broxton for now, and Holland is on alert. Once Holland takes over he won't relinquish the job.
• The National's closing situation is on notice as Storen has been dealing with a cranky elbow. Don't sleep on dark horse Henry Rodriguez. Guy throws gas and has seemed to control his walks so far in spring. Storen has dropped out of the top 5 for now and the free-fall may continue if elbow keeps yapping. Lidge will probably garner the save situations for week 1/2.
• Chris Perez seems like he is good to go, until he implodes. Uncle Vinnie is in the kitchen making Sunday gravy. Pestano is the better pitcher, but I don't think the Indians know this.