Now that the sting of the announcement has passed and fantasy baseball folks have digested the information, let's take a look at the fallout from Houston Astros manager Brad Mills' decision to annoint Brett Myers as his closer. If you drafted before the announcement was made, then Myers is/was likely sitting on your free agent waiver wire. How worthy of a pick-up is he and will he be able to hold down the job?
Right off the bat, Myers gets a boost in overall fantasy value. As a starter, he was barely mediocre coming into this season, having blown his wad in 2010 when he won 14 games for Houston and finished the year with a 3.14 ERA. Last season, Myers finished the year with a reduced K-rate, a WHIP of 1.31, and the opposition was hitting .265 against him. He also started to give up the long ball a bit more again and was inconsistent throughout the year, laboring through the dog days of summer with an ERA over 5.00. Getting him out of a starting role is probably the best thing for him.
Closing isn't something new for Myers who saved 21 games for the Phillies back in 2007. He struggled a bit while adapting to his new role and while his ERA wasn't what you'd like to see in a ninth inning guy, his K/9 went up to 10.88 and he posted a career-best 3.07 K/BB ratio. So why not give him another opportunity to do it? If he struggled with the workload last season, then why not just send him out there and tell him to throw as hard as he can for just one inning? Sure, his fastball struggles to break 89 mph these days, but we could see the velocity tick up a little as it did for him back in '07. Either that or he'll have to incorporate his other pitches more and rely on some veteran savvy to help out-think the hitters.
So yes, if you're in an NL-only league or in a deep mixed league, you should probably pick up Myers if you're looking for bullpen help. He'll be the guy the Astros go to in the ninth for atleast the start of...
2012 Fantasy Baseball Closer Report: The Value of Brett Myers and t... fantasyalarm.comTue 3/6/12 2:05 PM