Closer Report

The season is here, well we have to wait 2 more days, but you get the gist. One good piece of news is that no one else went to visit Mr. Andrews. This first week is very wonky. Some people counted those games in Japan some didn't. At most you have 4 games to round out your week one schedule. If you wrapping around then you could have as many as 10. See what I said about it being wonky. Next Monday all will return to normal or some shape or form of normalcy. Here are some week 1 extended news and rankings for the guys who don't start the game but will help close it out.

• Andrew Bailey is dealing with a thumb ailment. It would be presumed that Mark Melancon would jump up and grab the reigns, not so fast Mark. Afredo Aceves has been tabbed by some media outlets as the guy most likely to garner save chances should Bailey's hitchhiker tool be DL'd. It is a grab both situation at the moment.
• Frank Francisco has looked very sluggish to date this year, had his knee drained and going for a precautionary MRI. Bobby Parnell is now in the "ooh look at me I can close" category. Jon Rauch's neck tattoo had no comment.
• Drew Storen threw a good bullpen session on Sunday and reported he felt fine. He has only thrown 2 innings in games and will almost certainly start the year on DL. H-Rod and Lidge are end game options here for the Nats.
• Nothing new to report for the Reds. No closer has been named as Dusty Baker's fantasy draft isn't until Tuesday so he has time to screw everything up. Marshall, Chapman, Marge Schott's ghost all should be rostered.

Closer/Holds Rankings after the jump.

Rankings reflect statuses for Week 1:

1. Craig Kimbrel ATL

2. Mariano Rivera NYY

3. Jon Axford MIL

4. Jonathon Papelbon PHI

5. Jose Valverde DET

6. Brian Wilson SF

7. Sergio Santos TOR

8. Joel Hanrahan PIT

9. JJ Putz ARI

10. Heath Bell MIA

11. Jason Motte STL

12. Rafael Betancourt COL

13. Carlos Marmol CHC

14. Huston Street SD

15. Chris Perez CLE

16. Brandon League SEA

17. Joe Nathan TEX

18. Jordan Walden ANA

19. Sean Marshall CIN

20. Javy Guerra LAD

21. Matt Thornton CHW

22. Frank Francisco NYM

23. Kyle Farnsworth TB

24. Andrew Bailey/Alfredo Aceves/Mark Melancon BOS

25. Jim Johnson BAL

26. Henry Rodriguez WAS

27. Jonathon Broxton KC

28. Matt Capps MIN

29. Grant Balfour A's

30. Brett Myers HOU

DL- Drew Storen WAS

Hold Tiers:

Tier 1:

Jonny Venters ATL

Mike Adams TEX

David Robertson NYY

Sergio Romo SF

Eric O'Flaherty ATL

Tyler Clippard WAS

Francisco Rodriguez MIL

Greg Holland KC

Vinnie Pestano CLE

Tier 2:

Glen Perkins MIN

Marc Rzeczypnski STL

Joaquin Benoit DET

Kenley Jansen LAD

David Hernandez ARI

Edward Mujica MIA

Scott Downs ANA

Antonio Bastardo PHI

Addison Reed CHW

Tier 3:

Rafael Soriano NYY

Joel Peralta TB

Tony Sipp CLE

Jesse Crain CHW

Andrew Cashner SD

Luke Gregerson SD

Francisco Cordero TOR

Bobby Parnell NYM

Honorable Mention:

Tom Wilhelmsen Sea, LaTroy Hawkins ANA, Fautino De Los Santos OAK, Alexei Ogando TEX, Casey Janssen TOR, Ernesto Frieri SD, Rafael Dolis CHC, Aroldis Chapman CIN