Mike Gonzalez *UPDATE* Going to see Andrews for 2nd Opinion

[405z06]

why are you guys worried about owning a closer for the worst team in baseball? they might win once a week. Doubt who ever is closing will be useful to ANY fantasy team.

Heath Bell says hi.

every team is gonna win (close to) 60 games, at least. The fallacy that closers for bad teams don't accumulate saves is treated as common knowledge, but even a cursory glance at history shows it to be incorrect.

I addition to Bell last year, Chad Cordero led the NL in '05 for the Nats w/ 47
Alfonseca led the NL in 2000 for a Marlins team that lost 87 games
That same year Todd Jones of the Tigers led the AL for a .500 team

In the 70's it seemed the guys racking up the most saves in the NL were always with bad teams : Sutter/Cubs, Finges/Padres

Trevor Hoffman has accumulated almost 600 saves and how many good seasons did the Padres have in that span? And how many losing seasons?

[Oatsdad]

why are you guys worried about owning a closer for the worst team in baseball? they might win once a week. Doubt who ever is closing will be useful to ANY fantasy team.

Heath Bell says hi.

every team is gonna win (close to) 60 games, at least. The fallacy that closers for bad teams don't accumulate saves is treated as common knowledge, but even a cursory glance at history shows it to be incorrect.

I addition to Bell last year, Chad Cordero led the NL in '05 for the Nats w/ 47

The 2005 Nats DID go .500, though - they were far from being a bad team.

But you're correct that even bad teams can still generate lots of saves. The Os aren't going to play .133 ball all season. At that pace they'd win 22 games! They'll end up at least in the 50+ win category, so that leaves at least another 50 wins for which a closer can get saves.

If they get a closer who holds the spot all year, he should notch at least 25-30 saves...

[Oatsdad]

why are you guys worried about owning a closer for the worst team in baseball? they might win once a week. Doubt who ever is closing will be useful to ANY fantasy team.

My leagues have saves as a category and they aren't easy to come by.

In some of my leagues, saves are a VERY competitive category. I learned this the hard way my first year in the league. I drafted under standard ADP rankings and didn't notice that all the closers were going poof until it was almost too late. I ended up in 4th place but drafted accordingly the next year and won the roto league by 10 points. (Didn't win JUST because of the saves, but it sure helped, especially since good closers help with WHIP.)

This league remains very tight when it comes to closers - guys routinely snap up set-up man in the hopes they'll get the closer job...

[superjags99]

Has anyone heard any recent news? The last I heard was on April 20 when it was announced he would visit Dr. Andrews.

[The Big Train]

Has anyone heard any recent news? The last I heard was on April 20 when it was announced he would visit Dr. Andrews.

I've been watching this myself but haven't heard anything. The Orioles have optioned Mickolio and called up Alfredo Simon. Tremblay says that he won't rule out the option of using Simon in the ninth inning.

[NotAmused]

Has anyone heard any recent news? The last I heard was on April 20 when it was announced he would visit Dr. Andrews.

I've been watching this myself but haven't heard anything. The Orioles have optioned Mickolio and called up Alfredo Simon. Tremblay says that he won't rule out the option of using Simon in the ninth inning.

Just looked up Simon on the cube..do not want

Is there anyone in the O's pen that won't destroy your era?

[The Big Train]

Has anyone heard any recent news? The last I heard was on April 20 when it was announced he would visit Dr. Andrews.

I've been watching this myself but haven't heard anything. The Orioles have optioned Mickolio and called up Alfredo Simon. Tremblay says that he won't rule out the option of using Simon in the ninth inning.

Just looked up Simon on the cube..do not want

Is there anyone in the O's pen that won't destroy your era?

Simon's skillset certainly isn't exciting. Somehow though, he managed to close out the Yankees tonight for a save with a messy ninth inning. Dave Tremblay pulls the revolver away from his head.

[tracklou]

Baltimore RP Alfredo Simon was asked to close out the Yankees on Tuesday night. Closing games has not come easy for the Orioles. Simon got the job done, however, as he struck out two and allowed two base hits in the ninth. Simon earned his first career save and may get more opportunities in the future. Two runs scored but Cesar Izturis made an error at shortstop and the runs were unearned.
(Updated 04/27/2010).
Fantasy Analysis
The Orioles will give the ball to Simon with the game on the line for the shear reason that he didn't screw it up on Tuesday. Until he does begin to blow saves, he could gain some Fantasy value as a fill-in closer for AL-only Fantasy leagues.

[The Big Train]

Still no mention of what the Dr. Andrews visit resulted in, but for anyone who cares, the latest news is that he's expected to begin throwing in the coming week with a 3-week timetable for a return assuming no setbacks.

[jh2031]

Michael Gonzalez should be back by July 2nd.

6/23 8:19 am: Michael Gonzalez, who threw a scoreless inning for the GCL Orioles on Tuesday, will throw another inning for them on Friday, according to MLB.com.