Is having no closers a good idea?

[AI8818]

I was just taking a look at my team and I realized how bad my closers are, well, that they wont win me the category. Ive tried and tried to upgrade them but nothing has worked. So, Im thinking I can trade both of them and a SP for a really good SP, or both of them and my 1b for an awesome 1b. What do you think? Saves is only one category and I doubt Ill win it, so Ill help out the other categories right?

12 Team, 5x5, H2h

C Ivan Rodriguez
1B Jeff Bagwell
2B Jeff Kent
SS Nomar Garciaparra
3B Hank Blalock
OF Vladimir Guerrero
OF Vernon Wells
OF Torii Hunter
Util Troy Glaus
BN Richard Hidalgo
BN Juan Uribe
BN Chris Burke

SP Roy Halladay
SP Barry Zito
SP C.C. Sabathia
RP Eddie Guardado
RP Bob Wickman
P Mark Buerhle
P Jake Westbrook
P Bronson Arroyo
BN Adam Eaton
BN Tom Gordon

[nikku88]

You can get away with it in H2H, but it puts that much more pressure on your O.
In Roto, it's almost impossible.

[AI8818]

So are you saying it's a good idea and I should try for it, cause it is an H2H league.

[Pogotheostrich]

Punting saves is not a good idea. To punt and win you are going to have to dominate the rest of the categories. And some may disagree but I think it is an even worse idea in H2H because your opponent can see that you are punting saves and change their lineup to better matchup against you.

[Cornbread Maxwell]

yea - because its h2h its a completely viable strategy.

Personally, I wouldnt do it - I would keep it as is and let the season play out a bit, you'll have a much better idea of what your needs are, and remember - the closer position is one of the highest turnover jobs in baseball - the likelyhood that you can pick up cheap closers off the waiver wire is pretty good.

[ensanimal]

i wouldn't punt any category purposely. you have 2 closers now, maybe not the 2 best, but it is 2 closers. every week that still gives you a chance at winning the saves cat. the guy you go up against may get a bad week from his closer, who knows.

i'd stick with your closers, see how that goes first.

[pokerplaya]

Your two closers are adequate. I'd keep them. Saves fluctuate wildly, so you could win a few weeks with those two.

[Dmville]

Plus, what are the chances that someone else is going to want your two closers and give you a good starter for them.

The closer situation is usually drastically different come May than it was on opening day. Give it time.

[Mordraken]

I am one for punting saves. My perspective is this: If one team has (for example) 4 relievers and I have 4 starters, on average my 4 starters will get more opportunities for wins and strikeouts than 4 relievers (which would contribute to Saves). So that's 2 categories to 1. WHIP and ERA are mostly affected by starters even if you have 4 relievers since it's unlikely that relievers will pitch enough to affect your weekly ERA and WHIP numbers (e.g. 20 IP for 4 relievers would be a lot, which equals about 3-4 starters starting once).

I have won once and placed in the top 3 two other times with one or less closers on my team (yes - thanks to good starters and a solid offense). I replaced the closers with very good set-up men who would occasionally get wins, and would also put up in the 100-120 K range.

HOWEVER... that was out of necessity. The closers in my auction went for quite a bit (even the #20-30 closers were going for $10 on a $200 cap). I basically couldn't afford them. If I HAD 2 closers, that's enough to compete in that category. Last year I only had Jose Mesa, and he was enough to win the saves category for me a few times.

Punting saves is a viable strategy, but I would do it out of necessity and would not move closers you have already. Plus you can always look to pick up the "out of nowhere" closers that come every year, giving you 3 closers which is very solid in a 12 team league.

[Mookie4ever]

It's worked wonders for the Blue Jays, D'backs and Indians