Neftali Feliz - SP?

[J35J]

but the Rangers already know that he's a great closer so why would they mess with that?

Good Starter >> Great Closer.

[AquaMan2342]

Do not draft Feliz this year. Let somebody else overdraft him. Get him next year after he has a mediocre season as a starter.

[AquaMan2342]

but the Rangers already know that he's a great closer so why would they mess with that?

Closers are a dime a dozen and Texas has arms in their farm system (Scheppers) who are primed to close. Feliz came up as a starter and that's where he'll best be used in the long term.

[BalataGrande]

similar but not identical situation is Adam Wainwright. His first full year in the bigs he was a bullpen guy, not a closer until the postseason. But his next year (1st year as a starter) his stat line was as follows:


202 IP / 14-12 record / 3.70 ERA / 1.40 WHIP / 136 K's

Wainwright was older than Feliz at this point in his career, but Feliz has better "stuff" at this point. I don't believe Feliz will be much better than slightly above average in his first year, but after this year LOOK OUT!!!

[quiksilver]

His innings should be capped or else you have to start wondering if his arm will tire out. Don't know how scientific this is, but I've heard that 50 inning increases from season to season make a pitcher considerably more prone to injury. His last 3 seasons: 130 innings, 110 innings, 70 innings (including majors/minors). I think it's going to take a little more than Spring Training before he is back in starter's shape... and probably a couple of seasons before he's eating up innings with any sort of long-term effectiveness.

[kab21]

Good Starter >> Great Closer. They should have used him as a starter from the beginning, IMO. Hurts his fantasy value for this year though, as there will be a learning curve.

Absolutely correct.

He's got a special arm but he really needed to spend last year as a starter in the minors (or majors) working on his secondary pitches and bumping his innings up to the 140-150 range. He still could have have been called up for August/September in the bullpen (to limit his innings). That would have made him a very interesting SP'er pick this year since he would probably throw about 180 innings this year.

In the end his success as a starting pitcher will depend on how well he is able to develop his secondary pitches and if the Rangers can be patient and not blow up his arm during the transition. Because he was a RP'er he didn't really need to use them (never saw the same batter again in a game) and threw his FB 83% of the time.

[buffalobillsrul2002]

Ugh. I own him in a dynasty (which is good). Problem is that my team in this dynasty is primed to win now. So i dunno what to do, trade him for great value, or keep him for the future. I guess neither is a bad option really....