How many closers to carry?

[steamer33]

I'm not sure what a good number of closers is. I am playing in a H2H - 5x5 league & I've lost each week in saves. I originally carried 2 closers (Broxton & Francisco), but have picked up Ryan & Corpas on the WW. So now I'm carrying 4 closers. There are some decent SP on the the WW (C. Young, Maholm, Davies, Washburn) that have good match ups this week, so I'm temped to spot start as I only have 7 SP going this week (12 max).

I appreciate some advice on roster management with respect to pitching.

Thanks

[h2wm]

It seems like the average is 3 to 4, but some teams just carry two. Are all closers owned in your league? If not you could spot start with one dropped. But you wouldn't want to drop a player that has some value.

[djack909]

I carry 2 bench hitters, 5 or 6 SPs and all the closers a can get. (4 or 5) Closers are constantly going down. What happens if you have K-Rod and Nathan, and one of them goes down? You get beat by the guy the has Bell, Corpus, Ziegler, and Franklin.

[foeplay]

I carry 5 closers and one Holds guy in a 25 man roster.

[MentalPowerHouse]

Enough to play all RP and P slots, which is typically 4 or 5. And yes I am the guy that beats your Nathan and Krod with closers picked after the 10th round of the draft, and since you used 2 of your first 10 picks on them, and most likely 2 SP also, I will also crush your hitters.

[TomBrooklyn]

I carry 7.

I'd rather have an RP who might do something than a batter doing nothing on the bench. They can get SVs, Ws, and Ks and they usually have better ERAs and WHIPs than starters so they help there.

There are no SPs on the wire worth giving a bench spot to.

I am 2nd in my league in SVs.

I am also last in Ws, Ks, WHIP and just recently got out of last in ERA to 9th of 10. But I don't think that's because I have too many RPs.

I have only 36 starts to date, far less than any other team. If I extrapolate Ks to number of starts, I will finish the season 1st or 2nd in Ks. That may depend if I can find enough quality starts. I've had 2 SPs on the DL that just came off, though now Volquez just went on.

ESPN 10 Tm Std Roto 5x5
C Russell Martin, LAD
1B Youkilis, Bos 1B, 3B
2B Pedroia, Bos, 2B
3B Marco Scataro, Tor, 2B, 3B, SS
SS H. Ramirez, Fla, SS
2B/SS D Uggla, Fla, 2B
1B/3B Chipper Jones, Atl, 3B
OF Alfonso Soriano, ChC, OF
OF Adam Dunn, Was, OF
OF J Dye, CWS, OF
OF Torii Hunter, LAA, OF
OF Jay Bruce, Cin, OF
UTIL Mark DeRosa

DL A. Ramirez, ChC 3B

P Cliff Lee, Cle
P Edison Volquez DL15 May21
P Ervin Santana, LAA
P Max Scherzer, Ari
P Dice-K, Bos

RP B. Wilson
RP Rafael Soriano
RP George Sherrill
RP Fern. Rodney
RP Carlos Marmol
RP Kevin Gregg
RP Michael Wuertz

[Motown Blues]

I carry 2 bench hitters, 5 or 6 SPs and all the closers a can get. (4 or 5) Closers are constantly going down. What happens if you have K-Rod and Nathan, and one of them goes down? You get beat by the guy the has Bell, Corpus, Ziegler, and Franklin.

Agreed, though I don't bother with bench bats unless I am protecting a slumping star that I am unwillingly to part with. Wasted, useful spots.

[Motown Blues]

Enough to play all RP and P slots, which is typically 4 or 5. And yes I am the guy that beats your Nathan and Krod with closers picked after the 10th round of the draft, and since you used 2 of your first 10 picks on them, and most likely 2 SP also, I will also crush your hitters.

And this, too. Sometimes a nice gem of a closer (e.g., Trevor Hoffman) falls to the late rounds of a draft and ends up being much better than a Joe Nathan. Pick those deep closers while everyone else is drafting Pat Burrell or Alex Gordon or Jose Lopez.

[RDD15]

Enough to play all RP and P slots, which is typically 4 or 5. And yes I am the guy that beats your Nathan and Krod with closers picked after the 10th round of the draft, and since you used 2 of your first 10 picks on them, and most likely 2 SP also, I will also crush your hitters.

This guy has it exactly right. I know this is an old thread, but this is a tactic that wins.

[meotraix]

I never draft elite closers but I try to get two semi-reliable closer (Jenks, Qualls, etc. were guys I was targeting in drafts) and then fish for two more later in the draft or off waivers.