More on The Closer Wars The True GURU Vs Cincotta & Melnick

So yesterday I went on The Fantasy Baseball Mafia radio show and hammered it out with Tony Cincotta concerning closers. Tony, at least on the show was in favor of the Melnick position of not necessarily drafting closers. The way he presented this position was to ask me,

"When was Jose Valverde drafted last year?"

"Where did Joe Borowski get picked?"

He even went on to ask me about JJ Putz. I could tell as these questions were being fired at me that Tony was passionate about his position on this subject, but he threw his expertise and his argument out the door when he decided to attack my position with that kind of evidence.

Here's the deal in this argument and it's almost silly. The Melnick supporters will claim you can get a closer later in the draft or in free agency so why draft early at all?

Now let me clarify my position to make sure it's understood because it's clear Tony Cincotta did not understand my position at all. I believe that there is nothing wrong with taking 1 or 2 closers in the top 11 rounds. Then follow that up in the next 15-16 rounds of the draft by taking 2 more closers. So I certainly support taking closers later in the draft, but the difference is I strongly support the need to get a closer who is stable and has a closer pedigree like a Papelbon or Rivera.

So back to Tony's questions on Valverde, etc... His questions were fluff because of the only question I needed to retaliated with was, "Where was Ryan Braun drafted last year?"

AND BINGO WAS HIS NAME.

You see if you want to take the argument that you can find diamonds in the rough for closing, that's a good strategy and a wise one. You must then also admit that you can find diamonds in the rough for hitting. Last year just to name a few rough diamonds Mike Lowell, Ryan Braun, Hunter Pence, Brandon Phillips, and Curtis Granderson.

Then factor in this argument. This whole debate concerns a 5x5 rotisserie league right? So in a 5x5 rotisserie league there are 5 hitting and 5 pitching categories, so at least according to the general numbers its EVEN amongst the impact hitters and pitchers can have on your total score.

Add one more factor into he argument before we form a solution. The save category is a special one. It is the only category that a single specific player can score in. Only the closer can score a save making the closer a special player because no other player on your team scores in single category like a closer does.

So now we've all established that there are closers and hitters out there late in the draft or in free agency. We also established that in the 5x5 league pitchers are just as important as hitters and that closers carry special value with the saves category.

Then what is the issue here? How can you not look at that and say, "Maybe taking reliable proven closers early isn't so bad." But wait there is more. Let's assume you decide to wait, and as we all know when you get into the later rounds, the draft pick choices get slim. All of a sudden starting pitchers and closers seem to jump out at managers looking for a quick pck before their 60 seconds is up and they start vanishing. So if you though you would pick up 3-4 closers in the last 10 rounds think again, you'll be lucky to get 1.

Then consider free agency, will a big name closer develop? Most likely. Will you get said closer in free agency with your high noon draw in free agency, maybe.

So I guess what the Melnick supporters are saying is, "Let's gamble with our team and hope that not only does a dominating closer emerge, but we get him". Let's gamble by ignoring closers and hoping we can right that ship in free agency. LOL.

Sounds like experts to me! Almost like pitch and ditch, does an expert really do that constantly?

Alright, as most of you know I've been running an expert league this season. It is comprised of 12 experts from the industry including Lenny Melnick's partner Paul Greco. Let's examine an expert league and see how the experts have played the closer war.

Statistical evidence from the expert draft:

Number of expert who draft closers in the first 11 rounds: 12 ( 7 of them in the first 9 rounds)

Number of closers drafted in the first 11 rounds: 19

In this league so far the hottest commodity people are looking for in trades in April are CLOSERS. Guess which player is being traded the least and coveted by each team, closers.

So there you have it. the Melnick point of view can work in a perfect world, but in a league of experts where you won't always be the fastest in free agency or the smartest later in the draft its a rookie move and bad advice at best. Maybe Lenny Melnick plays in leagues where he is the far superior manager and can pull off moves like that. None ofthe leagues I play in would let me dominate in that way.

I firmly believe that the foundation of your team is your bullpen and it provides much more than saves. It shortens the big season-long roto match or even the H2H variety by giving you a huge advantage in saves. Great closers save your WHIP and ERA by throwing 10-20 inning's per week (depending on the size of your bullpen). They also add valuable strikeouts. Most closers get 1-2 per outing. Trust me, getting 10-15 strikeouts per week helps a ton in that category.

So take care of your closers because they are taking care of you.