No bull! You can still save your bullpen...

Yes, right now the Chicago White Sox are hitting like they are all named Erstad, not just one of them. You don't win many games hitting .222 (as of April 15th stats). But it has been darned cold, the Sox are only one game under .500, it's not time to panic. Instead, fantasy fans, it is time to focus on the opportunities available in the Chicago bullpen!

Bobby Jenks is the closer on this team, a hero of the 2005 World Championship and the provider of 41 saves to his owners last year. But his somewhat violent delivery has resulted in problems for him this season. He's a handful when he can mix in that big breaking curveball with 99 MPH heat, but he is only cranking it up to the 91-94 range this year and his elbow is sore. Allow me to share what they are saying on Baseball Prospectus:

Bobby Jenks thinks his problem is mechanical. Allow me to bestow a Mr. Obvious Award on Mr. Jenks here. The problem is mechanical, but also has a physical component. When Jenks gets sore, he drops his elbow and puts more pressure on the shoulder through his powerful, violent delivery. When he drops his elbow, he gets sore. Sore or not, this vicious circle is one that has to be broken by either keeping his mechanics solid or by not pitching until he doesn't have the soreness. The Sox would much rather that Jenks could figure out the former option in concert with pitching coach Don Cooper. One suggestion has been that he's actually not pitching enough, and that a temporary move to a non-closing role where he could get a couple innings of work for a week or two would help iron out the problems. The Sox have plenty of power arms to accommodate such a move, and Ozzie Guillen is the type of out-of-the-box thinker to try it, but with the media watching, that's a tough move to make.

Here is the opportunity - Mike MacDougal, former Royal's closer once dubbed "Mac the Ninth"
has been busy racking up "holds" as a caddy for Jenks, but he is certainly capable of closing. He may well be available on your waiver wire, time to think about grabbing him in leagues of 12 or more owners where he is still a free agent. It is a no-brainer if you have a roster spot inhabited by someone you are down on right now (hello, Hensley owners!!!).

But wait, there's more! David Aardsma is pitching lights-out right now, leading all major league bullpenners with 15 strikeouts in 10 innings. Heck, there were only 17 starters with more K's than the 25-year-old Aardsma! Imagine if Jenks gets shut down and MacDougal takes over the closer job? Can you see Aardsma getting those holds Mac used to get, plus the occasional spare save? In deep leagues Aardsma is worth grabbing until AL batters prove they can hit him.

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Once again, the old adage is proving true. Don't overpay for saves on draft day, there will always be shuffling and changes during the season. Now that B J Ryan is off to the disabled list for 4-6 weeks at a minimum, now that Brad Lidge has been banished to middle innings, now that Eric Gagne has come back (for now), now that whoever is closing for Florida right this minute has taken over for whoever was closing for them yesterday, etc....if you are alert you can grab the next candidate and maybe strike gold. The people who ignored rumors of Dustin Hermanson's comeback and grabbed David Weathers at the end of drafts have more saves than the guys who reached and took Chad Cordero in the middle rounds. Both Justin Frasor and Shaun Marcum look like the beneficiaries of save opportunities in Ryan's absence.

The truth is, being an average closer isn't asking for much, just get through one stinking inning without letting the other guy score, or maybe only score once. The great ones, like Rivera, yeah, they are something special. But for every Brian Fuentes there are two more pitching in middle relief who could probably do the same thing, given the chance. Then again, there are also two more Jorge Julio-types who are oil to closing's water and should be kept far from the ninth inning. Some can't take the pressure...

Need a closer? Keep an eye on the current closers by checking the buzz around the league. Striketwo.net is a good source of team blog posts and postings on smart blogs like The Hardball Times. Rumors of lost velocity and sore elbows should send you to the team rosters to figure out who will take over when Joe Closer is demoted/sent to the DL so you are ready to grab the new hero before the other guys in your league. Sometimes a couple of high-profile blown saves are enough to wheel in the Wheelers and edge the Lidges out of the way. Another good source of team and player information, besides the standard sports sites, is SportSpyder.

Did you know that Joakim Soria is closing for Kansas City right now and that Al Reyes is the resident closer in Tampa Bay? How many teams drafted either of those guys before the season? Probably exactly zero. Reyes has as many saves at the moment as Papelbon and Hoffman combined! Yeah, it won't last, but if you were alert and grabbed Reyes when he was first given the job that is four saves more than you had otherwise. If you are on a roto team that is desperate for saves, grabbing Soria gives you a fighting chance at one now and then, since even the Royals win a game sometimes.

The other way to go is to grab somebody else's Aardsma (Broxton, Capps, Zumaya, etc.) and hope that the nominal closer breaks down or begins losing his ability to get guys out. No way does Jim Leyland take Todd Jones out of the closer role, but if something befalls Jones do you really think Leyland is going to trust Fernando Rodney with the job???? Takashi Saito is doing great in LA, but he's also about 370 years old, so Broxton might get his shot sometime soon. There are a few very effective middle relievers out there who have the stuff to get the job done, so ahead of any rumors you just might take one of them, enjoy the low Whips and ERA's they give you and hope against hope they get a chance to close before year's end.

So maybe you don't really need to trade Barry Zito to get Joe Borowski right now. It's not time to panic, yet, just time to be alert and do your research and be ready to pull the trigger when your next opportunity arises.

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Don't Panic! In one of my fantasy leagues, catcher Russell Martin and slugger Adam Dunn have more stolen bases than Brian Roberts, Carl Crawford, Felipe Lopez and Corey Patterson put together! In another league, my double-play tandem of Kinsler and Rollins have out-homered Beltran, Dye, Glaus, Swisher, Atkins, Overbay and Martinez put together! It's early. It's not reasonable to expect ARod to hit seven times as many HR as Ryan Howard over the course of the season, even though that is the case right now (April 15th statistics). I'm not telling you not to drop Oliver Perez after one bad outing, but do it because you believe he'll never find the strike zone and not for just one game. Heck, his first game he didn't walk anybody!

But be decisive! I am guilty of giving up on Clay Hensley after just three starts, but he looks bad and I think he is a DL trip waiting to happen. I saw an opportunity to cash in on an ignored player and dumped Hensley and I betcha someone grabs him based on last year's numbers. I didn't even think he was worth casting out as trade bait. But, if I owned Jason Schmidt I'd be trying real hard to trade him for almost anyone else, I believe that guy is just fried! I'd be doing the same if I owned J J Putz right now, too. I don't think his elbow is going to hold up...and that takes us back to the bullpen discussion again. Is Chris Reitsma the guy Hargrove will trust to take over the closing reins? If you are desperate for saves, maybe you grab the guy and stash him if you can? I'm just saying...

I'm out like Shawon Dunston waving at a breaking ball low-and-outside!!!!!!