Pitchers: Kolb added to list of ousted closers

We go around Fantasy Baseball with our weekly Friday look at pitchers. All stats and notes are through games of Thursday, May 19.

The Braves finally pulled Danny Kolb from the closer's role earlier this week after he butchered John Smoltz's possible fourth win of the season. It was Kolb's third blown save in 13 opportunities this season and his second on Atlanta's recent road trip.

If only Smoltz the closer was around to close out Smoltz's starts...

Now Kolb moves to middle relief while manager Bobby Cox and pitching coach Leo Mazzone start to piece together a closer-by-committee, which evidently won't include Kolb -- at least right away.

"We need to straighten it out before it explodes. That's what we're doing," Cox told the Atlanta Journal-Constitutional. Adam Bernero, Chris Reitsma, Jorge Sosa and lefty John Foster are likely candidates, with Kevin Gryboski (viral) after he returns from the disabled list.

"I pitch the way I pitch," Kolb said of his demotion. "I'm a fastball guy. I'm getting ground balls now. I'm just going to try to keep going [at] guys."

Unfortunately, that's not true.

Kolb's best asset, unlike most major-league closers, is not having the ability to throw balls past hitters for strikeouts. Instead, he relies on his four-seam fastball and a sinking split-fingered fastball that forces hitters into groundouts. But even that's not working. Over his past two seasons as Milwaukee's closer, he has posted a 3.33 and 3.49 groundball-to-flyball ratio. That number has been cut almost in half this year to 1.87 in 16 2/3 innings.

He has already posted the fourth-highest ERA among NL relievers, second-highest walks rate (16 in 16 2/3 innings) and fourth-worst baserunners-per-nine-innings (18.4).

While Bernero seems to be the popular choice as the pitcher to get the most opportunities, he doesn't have closer's stuff and has more potential as a starter down the road.

Sosa, acquired from Tampa Bay in the offseason for utility man Nick Green, has a lot of potential, but as a former outfielder, he still needs polishing -- a perfect project for Mazzone. If the pitching guru can teach Sosa better control of his 97-98 mph heater, he could turn into a very good closer.

For now though, it seems the Braves will play with spare parts, pulled from everywhere in their bullpen. That's not an ideal situation for Fantasy owners, but NL-only teams might want to consider taking a flier on at least one of these possibilities -- just in case.

The windup

• Ugueth Urbina has been stellar replacing Troy Percival (elbow) as the Tigers' closer this month. Since returning to the closer's role, Urbina has four saves while allowing one earned run and only three baserunners in five innings. He has nine strikeouts in that span and is shooting up the closer rankings. Before discussions even begin about how he might retain the job even after Percival comes back, it's important to remember that closers this season have been so unstable that predicting what might happen a month from now would be an act in futility.
• This might be the absolute worst season for closers in Fantasy Baseball history. Francisco Rodriguez will probably miss the first two games of this weekend's series against the Dodgers because of a strained right forearm. Scot Shields will continue to close in his absence, but this injury just further proves how a strong Fantasy bullpen today could mean a crop of middle relievers tomorrow. Rodriguez's status will be reassessed after he throws in the bullpen Friday.
• Octavio Dotel had his aching elbow looked at Thursday by Dr. Lewis Yocum, the Angels' team physician. Dr. Yocum has been quite the busy doctor lately, what with K-Rod's injury and all. The team does not expect to announce any results of the examination until Friday. Huston Street steps in as the A's closer and starts his official audition as the team's closer of the near future (July?). Expect some shakiness initially before he settles down.
• With Brandon Lyon on the 15-day disabled list with tendinitis in his right elbow, the Diamnodbacks will turn to Brian Bruney as their closer for the next two weeks. Baseball America rated Bruney as the team's 13th-best prospect entering spring. He has had control issues in the past and outside of his fastball, he hasn't developed a pitching repertoire solid enough to guarantee success at the major-league level.

• According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, the Mariners will allow Joel Pineiro to return to the rotation Tuesday at Baltimore after he served a 10-day stint working on his mechanics and delivery in Triple-A. Julio Mateo will move back to the bullpen. "If I go back to the bullpen, that's all right," Mateo said. "If I start, that's OK too. I just want to try and do my best. I think I'll be going back to my old job." Manager Mike Hargrove had always maintained that Mateo was only going to get one start in the rotation. He remains one of their best middle relievers.
• The Twins feel they might have discovered why teams are starting to knock around Johan Santana. The St. Paul Pioneer-Press notes that the staff has noticed a difference in his delivery after reviewing videotapes. Despite an 0-1 record with a 8.73 ERA over his past two starts, he remains one of the top players in all of Fantasy Baseball.
• Kyle Davies will likely replace John Thomson (finger) in the Braves' rotation. Thomson saw a hand specialist Wednesday in Atlanta. He'll be examined again on Friday at which time a return date will be estimated. The team does not feel surgery is the next course of action. Davies is rated as the Braves' top pitching prospect according to Baseball America. He has a mid-90s fastball and uses a quality changeup with an improving curve as his off-speed pitches. In the minors last season, he struck out three batters for every one he walked, which shows he has pretty good command. Grab him in NL-only leagues as a spot starter for your rotation.
• The Pirates are going to try to keep Oliver Perez's pitch count down to about 75-80 pitches once he returns to the rotation Saturday against the Rockies. He has gotten knocked around early in his starts this year, but maybe limiting him in the back end of his starts will allow him to concentrate better on his pitch placement. One interesting stat of note: From pitches 91-105 in each of his starts this year, he has a 21.60 ERA. Ouch.

• The Reds are allowing Paul Wilson a few days to regroup from some poor starts recently. He was pushed back in the rotation to start Monday. Aaron Harang, Elizardo Ramirez and Ramon Ortiz will go in the interleague matchups against Cleveland starting Friday. Wilson should only get consideration in NL-only leagues at this point.
• Have the wheels fallen off for Gustavo Chacin? He hasn't won since April 27 against the Devil Rays and has a 7.43 ERA in his past three starts. Don't give up on him just yet, however. He is still pitching well, but he unfortunately seems unable to keep his concentration beyond the first few innings.

Injury notes

• Rich Harden's abdominal injury might be a blessing in disguise for his Fantasy owners. While he might remain out of the rotation up to six weeks, Harden was beginning to slip up in his starts and this could be an opportunity for him to regroup. He had allowed five earned runs in two of his past four starts, which were sandwiched around a complete-game, one-run loss. Hopefully, he can come back with more consistency.
• Carlos Zambrano will start Saturday's game against the White Sox after a brief scare with elbow problems. The Chicago Tribune reports that Zambrano's arm soreness might be from taking too many swings in batting practice, so the team might limit his participation in that manner. He has been the Cubs most reliable pitcher so far this season until the injury.
• Claudio Vargas steps into the rotation Friday at Toronto in place of John Patterson, who will receive treatment on the soreness he is experiencing in his lower back. Fantasy owners should stay away from starting either of these guys over the next week.