MLB Baseball Column: Closer by Committee

We’re just about halfway through the marathon baseball season and there’s enough data available to make some meaningful assessments by looking at some of the most recent statistics – those for June, for instance. 
A quick perusal of the top point scorers for June validates some of our cursory observations and opens our eyes to trends we might not have noticed before.  The following lists include the top scorers for each position for the month of June (through Friday’s games) with the percentage ownership in the Silver game in parentheses.

CATCHER

Miguel Montero (4%) – 90

Buster Posey (11.5%) – 80

Matt Wieters (31%) - 79

Carlos Ruiz (3,5%) – 77

Willin Rosario – (0%) - 76

Yadier Molina (6%) – 70

The most widely owned catchers in the game – Carlos Santana and Mike Napoli, - scored just 41 and 56 points for the month and rank 17^th and 10^th, respectively, in overall scoring among catchers for the year.  If you need to make up ground, this could be a position where you can easily differentiate your squad.  The problem is that catchers tend to wear down as the season progresses and the leading scorer for the year – Molina – has already played in 70 of his team’s first 76 games.

FIRST BASE

Joey Votto (68.5%) – 124

David Ortiz (6.5%) – 115

Mark Trumbo – (3%) – 109

Miguel Cabrera (31%) – 108

Albert Pujols – (42%) – 108

Paul Goldschmidt – (1.5%) - 108

Eric Hosmer is still the most widely owned first baseman – though he is also the one who has been dropped the most often.  More people are benching him (91) than playing him (47) this week so if you’re looking for an upgrade, Ortiz and Trumbo are the second and fifth highest scoring first basemen for the year, respectively.

SECOND BASE

Robinson Cano – (36%) – 120

Aaron Hill – (1.5%) – 115

Ian Kinsler – (76%) – 104

Ben Zobrist – (0.5%) – 102

Neil Walker – (0%) – 98

Brandon Phillips – (0%) – 96

Jason Kipnis (89) was seventh for the month and Dustin Pedoia (55) ranked 16^th.  The Red Sox spark plug hasn’t homered since May 10^th and you have to wonder how badly his thumb injury is impacting him.  He’s still the second most widely owned second baseman in the game behind Kinsler.

SHORTSTOP

Jimmy Rollins – (5.5%) – 123

Trevor Plouffe – (0%) – 111

Asdrubal Cabrera – (9%) - 96

Ian Desmond – (1%) – 93

Funny thing is……………nobody owns these guys!  Plouffe should remain unowned.  Rollins has been on a torrid run the past few weeks and he and Desmond are the second highest scorers in the game behind Elvis Andrus.  Shortstop is a barren wasteland and if you have Jose Reyes (78%), Tulo (75%), Starlin Castro (45%) or Andrus (22%) they are all adequate and I don’t see much efficacy in using a buy at this position.

THIRD BASE

David Wright - (13.5%) – 118

Brett Lawrie – (87.5%) – 98

Edwin Encarnacion – (14.5%) – 94

Adrian Beltre – (45%) – 93

Alex Rodriguez – (7%) – 90

Wright and Encarnacion have been the top scorers at the position for the year.  Hanley Ramirez is 69% owned and with just 66 points this month (good for 16^th place) he has been a major drag on more than a few teams during the month of June.

OUTFIELD

Jose Bautista – (70%) – 146

Mike Trout – (48%) – 140

Andrew McCutchen – (9.5%) – 133

Alex Rios – (0%) – 116

Colby Rasmus – (3%) – 112

Jason Kubel – (0%) – 109

Curtis Granderson – (46.5%) – 91

Hunter Pence – (1%) - 102

Carlos Beltran – (36%) – 101

Alfonso Soriano – (0.5%) – 100

Alex Gordon – (41.5%) – 97

Jay Bruce – (29%) - 97

Josh Hamilton has cooled down considerably following his sizzling start – scoring the same number of points (75) in one week this spring as he has in the entire month of June. Adam Jones (66) and Giancarlo Stanton (72) have also experienced a June swoon after lighting it up in May.  While Mike Trout is now the 6^th most widely owned outfielder, he still makes the cut on fewer than half the rosters in the game.  Trout and McCutchen (4.3) are the outfielders that I’d target.

STARTING PITCHER

Starting pitchers are ranked on a point per game basis (minimum 2 starts) to account for differences in number of starts during the month.

R.A. Dickey – (19%) – 25.56

Stephen Strasburg – (85%) – 24

Clay Buchholz – (1%) – 23.75 (Disabled List)

Madison Bumgarner – (84.5%) – 23.28

Roy Oswalt – (0%) - 22.33

Johnny Cueto – (1%) – 21.93

Matt Cain – (30.5%) – 21.78

A.J. Burnett – (0%) – 21.73

David Price – (23.5%) - 21.39

Ryan Dempster – (0%) – 21.33

Phil Hughes – (0.5%) – 21.13

Yu Darvish – (92%) - 20.93

Jered Weaver – (38.5%) - 20.83

Of the low percentage plays on this list, the most intriguing to me is Dickey.  If you throw out last Sunday’s game against the Yankees, he’s been the most dominant pitcher in baseball the past month and a half – with 81 Ks, 7 wins and a single earned run since the May 17^th.

RELIEF PITCHERS

Rafael Soriano - (3%) – 128.33

Tyler Clippard – (0.5%) – 123.67

Jonathan Broxton – (2%) – 122

Tom Wilhelmsen – (0%) – 111.67

Jason Motte – (51%) – 107.67

Ernesto Frieri – (1%) – 106.33

This particular list is of modest interest because closer situations appear to have stabilized somewhat for the time being and the fact that under normal circumstances I would recommend against replacing a healthy closer.  That being said, I think it’s time to cut bait on Rafael Betancourt.  The Rockies are not just a bad team - they are the epitome of a bad saves team with a high-scoring offense and a porous pitching staff.  Betancourt has had just 6 save opps in the past month and has converted just half of those chances with a 4.66/1.35 ERA/WHIP for the month. 

Soriano (1390) and Clippard (1140) are both capable replacements. Clippard recently got the dreaded vote of confidence from manager Davey Johnson over injured Drew Storen and has been on fire in June with a 0.00/0.69 ERA/WHIP.