Add Chris Hatcher and Jeurys Familia for Saves

Aug 16, 2014; New York, NY, USA; New York Mets relief pitcher Jeurys Familia (27) delivers a pitch during the eighth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

With Kenley Jansen out, it was expected that Chris Hatcher would open the season as the closer of the Los Dodgers, but today’s game helped confirm that suspicion.  Hatcher had a really nice year in the bullpen of the Miami Marlins in 2014 with a 3.38 ERA, 2.56 FIP, and 5.00 K/BB.  He induced groundballs 47.5% of the time in his 56 innings pitched last year.

While Chris Hatcher’s stats were pretty solid in his first full season as an MLB reliever, it would be hard to say if those numbers are sustainable.  Data can be pretty noisy with a small sample size, but I feel confident enough between what I saw today and the fact that the competition is pretty thin right now.  Chris Hatcher could easily notch about eight saves or so while we wait for Kenley Jansen to return.

Jenrry Mejia suffered some sort of elbow injury today, and I truly hope that was very minor.  However, I am quite nervous about his outlook now, and it means that Jeurys Familia will take over the closer role for the Mets.  While Chris Hatcher will give way to Jansen as soon as he returns, Familia has a better chance to run away with the job.

Bobby Parnell will supposedly be the full-time closer once he returns from the DL, but I would not even be the slightest bit surprised if he misses a month or more.  This could really open up the door for Jeurys Familia to run away with the job because Parnell is not exactly Kenley Jansen where he is the obvious choice.  If all of the relievers on the Mets are healthy, then I would take Parnell as the closer, but it could be a fluid situation.

Ultimately, I would use your first pickup on Jeurys Familia because he could have a longer window as the Mets’ closer and even win the job for good.  Nonetheless, I would definitely add Chris Hatcher simply because closers are must own players in any fantasy baseball league.  I would absolutely add both of these temporary closers over any option in your free agent pool unless your league is crazy shallow.