The RP/SP Eligible Fantasy Baseball Update: Garrett Mock Might Close

As I mentioned in a previous post, RP/SP dual eligible pitchers can help your fantasy baseball team. Here are a few relief pitchers that have SP eligibility that you might want to keep an eye on:

Brandon Morrow - The best SP eligible relief pitcher of the 2009 season. Look for him to put up Joakim Soria type closer numbers this year.

Hong-Chih Kuo - Dodgers coach Joe Torre has been avoiding using Kuo on back-to-back days to protect Kuo's elbow (which has had four (4!) operations), but as a result Kuo has looked out of sorts. Kuo himself has admitted that he is currently lacking in confidence. Don't push the panic button on Kuo just yet, but if he still is struggling by the time May rolls around, you can begin to get worried.

Carlos Villanueva - Villanueva was so bad as a closer that he has, most likely, been banished to 7th inning duties even with Trevor Hoffman still out for at least one more week. Rotoworld claims Villanueva is still worth using, but I'm not so sure.

Garrett Mock (pictured) - With Joel Hanrahnrahan stuggling as the Nats closer, the possibility exists that the RP/SP eligible Mock gets a shot at the closer role. Mock has two saves in five relief appearances in the Minors so far this year. He also had a Chien-Ming Wang-like 31.50 ERA after his first three minor league appearances this year. So it is not like Mock was tearing up Triple-A. Still, given that Mock has had decent control and a solid K/9 ratio throughout his minor league career, I'm cautiously optimistic that he would be useable if he ever were to get the closer role. Not that it is all that likely he'll get a shot to close: I'd say he has a about a 15% chance of ever closing in 2009, as I'd speculate that Joe Beimel gets first crack if Hanrahanrahan continues to falter. UPDATE 4/21: Beimel was just placed on the 15 day DL. So maybe Mock will get a shot. Then again, Joel H. was able to lock down a save last night, so maybe Mock won't get a shot. Mock did, however, retire the only batter he faced to get the last out of the eighth inning--picking up a hold in the process--in his 2009 debut. It appears he'll be Joel Hanny's setup guy for the near-term.

Dan Meyer - Unlike most of the other RP/SP eligible pitchers, Meyer has started out the year strong: 5.1 innings, 2 ER, 4 K, 2 BB, and 3 Holds. This is a very small sample size, but if you are looking for holds from an RP/SP eligible pitcher, you might try riding Meyer's strong start. Just know that he will probably regress to numbers closer to his career averages of a 1.68 WHIP and a 7.19 ERA.

Others: Jeff Bennett, Justin Masterson, Dennis Sarfate, and Sean Marshall each have 1 Hold in 2009.

Other Readables:

The top RP/SP eligible pitchers of 2009

Rotoworld thinks Mock might close.

Suddenly Mock info is cropping up everywhere! Here is a Yahoo post about the Nats closer situation.

Here is Yahoo's team-by-team closer summary. They've even added a nifty RP/SP icon. And they got rid of the horrible yellow color and went with blue. Good work, guys.

UPDATE 4/21: Hanny-rahan is on a roll! He held on for his second save tonight (1 BB, 1 hit, 0 K). Mock didn't pitch.

Who are the top RP/SP eligible players of 2009?

There are two rare breeds of pitcher: The relief pitcher (RP) with starting pitcher (SP) eligibility, and the SP with RP eligibility. These players can provide a ton of pitcher flexibility in daily H2H matchups. They can be especially helpful in those leagues that use holds or saves, as having a holds-getting or save-getting RP that can slide into the SP slot gives you an advantage in those two categories.

Johan Santana had RP/SP eligibility when he broke into the league back in 2004. Two years ago, Brett Myers was a mostly reliable SP/RP guy. Hong-Chih Kuo and Taylor Buchholtz were two of the more solid duel-eligible pitchers last year. Little known Leo Nunez was getting holds and had good ratios early in the season before suffering an injury. Starting pitchers Justin Duchscherer and Chad Billingsley also rocked their dual eligibility in 2008. So the question is, who are the top RP/SP eligible players of 2009?

Note: The default eligibility setting varies depending on game provider. For example, Y! leagues need three starts to gain SP eligibility and five relief appearances to gain RP eligibility, while for CBS leagues, the default setting is for ten starts and fifteen relief appearances. I decided to cast a wider net and included any pitcher that had at least three starts and five relief appearances. I also included a few pitchers that seem likely to become dual eligible early in the 2009 season.

RPs with SP Eligibility


(Note: Click on image to see version that is readable by human eyes.)

Key:
08 SP / RP: number of starts / relief appearances in the 2008 season
08 HLD / SV: number of holds / saves in the 2008 season
WHIP: walk + hits / innings pitched
K/BB: strikeout to walk ratio
BB/9: walks per nine innings
K/9: strikeouts per nine innings
FB MPH: the speed of the pitcher’s fastball in miles per hour

1. Hong-Chih Kuo: The ultimate goal is to find a duel-eligible pitcher that has a low WHIP (below 1.30), high K/BB (above 2.00), low BB/9 (below 3.00), and high K/9 (above 7.00). The only duel-eligible relief pitcher that checks all those boxes is Kuo. He is the ideal RP/SP candidate, as he has great ratios, gets lots of strikeouts, will get holds, and is probably second in line to Jonathan Broxton for the closer’s role. His injury history is nervous-making, but it is undeniable that he is king of this small pool of potentially useable RP/SP eligible relief pitchers. He is most likely the only dual eligible relief pitcher worth drafting.

2. Carlos Villanueva: Villanueva should continue to pitch mostly relief with a few spot starts. I’ve always found him to be rather uninspiring, but others swear by him. You could do worse. And if you believe that this will be the year Trevor Hoffman implodes, Villanueva might be first in line for the closer job.

3. Boof Bonser: In 2008, Boof got into a bit of a groove once he was moved to the pen, as he had an 11/36 BB/K ratio in 36 innings after the All Star break. UPDATE (2/24/09): Boof is going under the knife and it is possible he will miss the entire 2009 season.

4. Dennis Sarfate: Sarfate played most of the 2008 season with injuries sustained in an April car-door-slamming accident. He throws some real heat, and so perhaps a healthy Sarfate will get his command issues under control and turn some heads in Spring Training. There is a super outside chance he might close. Triva: Sarfate can be typed entirely with the left hand.

5. Justin Masterson: The Red Sox have yet to decide if Masterson will be a starter or a reliever in 2009. My guess is that he will be in the bullpen, as the Red Sox already have seven or eight starting pitchers.

6. Ramon Ramirez: Ramirez (the one on the Reds) pitched well in limited action in 2008. While it is possible that he makes the 2009 starting rotation, my hunch is that he’ll be coming out of the pen. He is not sure thing, but he’s worth adding to your “players to watch” list.

7. Jeff Bennett: Bennett is a fairly boring middle reliever, but he could be worth a roster spot in leagues that have holds as a stat category.

Note: As I mentioned in a prior post, Chris Carpenter might be a closer in 2009.

SPs with RP Eligibility


The first four pitchers on this list (Chamberlain, Morrow, Scherzer, and Price) are head and shoulders above the rest of the players on this list. While it is too early to tell if all four of these guys will begin the season in the starting rotation, my guess is that all four of them pitch exclusively as starting pitchers in 2009.

It is difficult to estimate the value of the players ranked five through eleven, but you should be watching all of them closely in spring training. Many of them are borderline starters that could very well end up in the pen. For example, early indications are that Sean Marshall will be the fifth starter for the Cubs and that Chad Gaudin will start the year in the pen, but that could change if the Cubs trade for, say, Jake Peavy.

I’ll leave you with a list of all the remaining duel-eligible starting pitchers (click on image to have it open in a new window):

Want more draft strategy? Click here for 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, OF, C, SP, and RP position primers.

A RP/SP eligible update can be found by clicking here!