2023 Fantasy Baseball Week 6 Closer Tracker: Craig Kimbrel, Pierce Johnson, More (5/12/23)
Welcome to the Week 6 Closer Tracker update! It's been a bit of a short week since my last update was on Monday, but (as usual with closers) there's been some shakeup since! Let's get to it...
If you're new to this article, here's a quick primer (if not, skip down to the Closer Tracker and Top Takeaways!):
In the chart below, I’ve created a Closer Tracker that will hopefully stay ahead of the closer curve. I’m going to update this every Friday for the rest of the season, so please feel free to send feedback if there’s anything you’d like to see.
The Closer Tracker is organized in three ways:
- In the left column, you’ll find my closer power rankings. This order is based on a mix of current statistics weighted (in my mind) with how I think these players will perform over the rest of the season.
- In the third column, you’ll see my best attempt at quantifying how stable a closer’s job is. Or said another way, how closely do you have to pay attention to this situation?
- In the right column, you’ll find the player who looks to be next in line. If you see SHAKY in the third column, you should probably grab the player next in line off the waiver wire.
Lastly, keep scrolling all the way to the bottom for my top takeaways. I promise this isn’t a marketing trick – I just don’t want to spoil the Closer Tracker.
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Top Takeaways:
- Jose Alvardo is dealing with an elbow issue. It doesn't sound serious, but elbow issues always scare me so I'm grabbing Craig Kimbrel (who also scares me, to be honest) where I can.
- Pierce Johnson seems to be the guy over Daniel Bard in Colorado. Neither are all that valuable, but grab Johnson if you can.
- Similarly, Zach Jackson isn't all that valuable, but he's been decent lately for the A's.
- Jhoan Duran, Carlos Estevez, Raisel Iglesias, and Paul Sewald all got a bit of a bump this week. All have been performing great last of late and deserve to be in the top-15 (and maybe even the top-10).
- I'm still not sure what to do with Jason Adam because Pete Fairbanks should be back soon. Adam is a top-10 closer right now, but will likely cede his job to Fairbanks once he returns. Think: sell high on Adam.
- Kenley Jansen probably deserves a higher spot, but I had a tough time moving him ahead of others on the list.
- A.J. Puk is technically in a committee, but I'm considering him the closer for our purposes.
- Anyone below 23 or 24 on the chart probably isn't worth having on your fantasy team unless you're in a really deep league where you're scrapping together as many saves as you can find.
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