The Braves’ closer situation after the surprise jettison of Wickman.

Who knew Bob Wickman was such a bad clubhouse influence? I was genuinely surprised by this move, as I didn’t really hear any chatter. After the fact I heard that he was complaining about not pitching is save situations, so I can’t fault the Braves. On performance Wickman is no great closer, more in the Todd Jones and Joe Borowski class. To be fair, Schuerholz knows what he is doing and the fact is that guys who can pitch like Wickman are available virtually for free.

Sadly, we are still in the Dark Ages in many ways when it comes to bullpen usage. It didn’t used to be that way until that alleged genius Tony La Russa came up with the bullpen strategy to maximize saves rather than wins. He is a genius like Wile E. Coyote is a genius, and I would have sworn I saw an “Acme” logo on LaRussa’s uniform. So I am glad to see that Schuerholz was willing to get rid of Wickman despite his “Proven Closer Status.”

From a fantasy perspective, there is some feeling out there that the Braves will go with a committee. Let’s see what they have to work with.

Rafael Soriano: This is the obvious choice. He has elite skills and stuff. His WHIP is a scant 0.95, and he has a 51-12 K/BB ratio in 57 IP. Baseball HQ has a metric called BPV which is a single number that measures the overall skill/performance of a player. It is no perfect metric of course, but it is a useful guide. Soriano simply towers over the rest of the pen. His BPV is 114, after Dotel the next in line is an 81 BPV.

Peter Moylan: He has been a bit lucky this year with a 1.95 ERA but a 3.70 xERA. This is the kind of guy that is available for free and all he does is get people out, luck or not. But he is not a high leverage pitcher. His skills show us a 49-27 K/BB ratio in 73 IP. He has been very lucky in stranding runners with an 85% strand rate, and a mere 22% hit rate. He may be able to keep it up, but the skills don’t support his current level of success. I have heard Braves’ fans touting him but the skill is not there; he is their third best option after Soriano and…

Oscar Villareal: I like him and his big fastball. I like his 81 BPV which is well above average and is good enough for a closer. He isn’t Soriano, but if I were Cox I would have Soriano set up and pitch the higher leverage innings and Villareal close. Using some combination of Villareal and Soriano as the closer and setup man is close enough though. There is no reason to toy around with Moylan and Yates when you have Villareal and Soriano.

Villareal is one guy who hasn’t been lucky at all. He has a 30% hit rate and a 70% strand rate. He has a 57-29 K/BB ratio in 73 IP. Again, this isn’t as good as Soriano, but is nothing to sneeze at. The Braves could do a lot worse.

Tyler Yates: Here is another guy about whom there is some chatter. looking at his K rate of 9.5 this is no surprise. But he doesn’t have the control, walking 4.4 batters per nine innings. He has actually been unlucky with a 33% hit rate and a 66% strand rate. I would go with him before Moylan, but it is a close call.

I don’t think anyone else has a real shot, though feel free to speculate on Ron Mahay or Jo-Jo Reyes if you are in one of my leagues. The way I see it a committee would be a mistake. They have two guys who are clearly better than the other two. A good strategy doesn’t try to make unequal commodities equal ones.

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