Closing Time: We worry about Ryan Madson, we stump for Leonys Martin

Scott Pianowski
·Fantasy analyst
Closing Time: We worry about Ryan Madson, we stump for Leonys Martin

Ryan Madson ended up on a few of my rosters this March, and I feel fortunate through the first quarter of the season. He took control of an uncertain Oakland closing situation, racking up a quick 11 saves. He’s already earned far more than the buy-in cost.

Nonetheless, the save chase being what it is, there’s some blood in the water. It might be a good time to move on from Madson (preferably in a trade), or a good time to speculate on a new Oakland closer in the near future.

Madson’s latest appearance was the messiest one, a blown save at Seattle on Tuesday night. He served up a nothing change to Leonys Martin, and Martin deposited it over the right-field fence. No doubter. Game over. Party in the streets, Funston.

While Madson’s resume still has plenty of selling points —11-for-13 on saves, 2.66 ERA — some of the other numbers don’t look so hot. He’s only struck out 14 men in 20.1 innings, and he’s piled up seven walks. His 1.33 WHIP doesn’t jibe with the tidy ERA, and when an ERA and WHIP don’t match up, I tend to trust the WHIP. Most of the ERA estimators claim Madson really isn’t pitching that well: 4.14 FIP, 4.41 xFIP, 4.25 SIERA.

Perhaps it’s not too late to get out while the selling is good. We are talking about a 35-year-old reliever, after all, and someone with a career ERA of 3.43. Good player, sure. Hardly a rock of gibraltar.

If you’re speculating on future saves here, Fernando Rodriguez and Sean Doolittle have both been throwing the ball well, and certainly miss more bats than Madson. Doolittle was the team’s closer in 2014; last year was marred by injuries. Rodriguez has been the bridge man of late, Doolittle getting more work as a rover.

And before we close the book on Tuesday night’s result, let’s sound the last call for a Martin pickup.

Sure, the game-winning homer he conked came on an absolute meatball, that’s true. Nonetheless, he’s been tremendous at the top of the Seattle lineup. A .259/.337/.483 slash might not make you tingly (especially since we play in a world where we have to care about batting average), but check the pace of his counting stats: 32 home runs, 25 steals, 79 runs, 68 RBIs. Why is this man still unowned in 72 percent of Yahoo leagues? (Maybe it's a pronunciation issue: Mar-TEEN is correct.)

Martin has been fantasy worthy in the past: he was a Top 50 outfielder with Texas in both 2013 and 2014. He's proven himself as a stolen-base contributor before; it's the power that you're probably suspicious of (let's accept one thing: he has altered his approach). The walk rate is solid. And very quietly, Seattle's offense is No. 8 in the majors in runs scored.

If you want to see how I frame Martin against other outfielders, your Shuffle Up is here.

-- It was another #HarveyDay, Mets and Nationals. Ibid. The phanton 15-day DL stint could be coming any time now.

Until the Mets get a red Batphone in the dugout (under a cake cover), there are gonna be problems.

Muppet on the Mound 
Muppet on the Mound

Matt Harvey is far from the only ace struggling these days, of course. Take Michael Wacha in St. Louis. Okay, Wacha entered the year more as a No. 2 or No. 3 in the minds of most, but what he’s been through a quarter of the year is batting practice. The Cubs pounded him for eight runs Tuesday, pushing his ERA over 5.

Wacha’s fastball is down 1.4 ticks from last year, and while his strikeout rate is static, walks and line drives are up. SIERA suggests an ERA over four, while the FIP brothers sell in the high 3s.

Wacha’s ownability largely depends on your league context (and yes, just about every fantasy question comes down to context eventually — you guys know that). From this point forward I’d pay for an ERA in the mid-to-high 3s. A strikeout rate around 7/9 is a killer if your innings are capped, but not a big deal in head-to-head or uncapped formats. He’s still in a good league and park, just keep him away from the Cubs. Washington and San Francisco are up next on the schedule.

-- I feel like we should check in with Byron Buxton every once in a while; sure, he’s been a mess at the major league level, but the payoff still could be great. Rochester held him out for a week due to back spasms, but Buxton has returned to game action.

He’s slashing .316/.375/.526 at Triple-A, with four homers, four steals, eight walks in 23 games. He’s still striking out about once per game, but at least it’s an improvement over what we saw in Minnesota. He’s going to be back sooner or later, probably sooner.