Tampa Bay Rays Brad Boxberger: Injury Fallout

Brad Boxberger went from elite set-up man, to the league leader in Saves for the Tampa Bay Rays last season. But, after going under the knife today, what is the fantasy fallout?

Spring training can have its fair share of lulls and high points, but one necessary evil is that injuries will always become a factor. For fantasy owners, injuries are simply the biggest things to watch for and we got another reminder of that today with the news that, Brad Boxberger, is going down for the next eight weeks.

Prior to last season, Boxberger had quietly emerged as one of the best setup men in the league, showing off a deadly arsenal of pitches that led to him posting an absurd 14.5 SO/9 in 2014. Last season Boxberger was handed the reins to the full-time closer gig after Jake McGee went down to injury.

In return, all he did was go on to lead the A.L. in Saves, 41, and post another solid 10.6 SO/9. His ERA, 3.71, was high and he did see a rise in his walk rate, but those were inflated by a rough September. Fantasy wise, he was one of the marquee examples of why it can be valuable to wait on selecting RP, and he reminded us that saves can usually be found throughout the draft and even on the waiver wire.

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The news today that he was going down to due to a core muscle injury, certainly comes as a hit for the Rays and the removal of one of the mid-tier fantasy closers this season. But, like Boxberger was able to do last season, could the injury fallout open the door for another guy to step up and run away with the job?

I will concede that more than likely if Boxberger can fully recover he will eventually be their closer again, but core injuries can be troublesome to recover from. It took Justin Verlander nearly a year and a half to recover from the very same type of injury, so there has to be concern about his fantasy value in 2016.

The two in-house options that make the most sense for the Rays to look to are, Alex Colome and Danny Farquhar. Colome was signed as an amateur free agent by the club in 2007, and Farquhar was brought in via trade with the Mariners this offseason.

Fantasy owners should be paying the most attention to Colome, as he has the raw stuff and recent success to warrant getting the first crack at the job. He threw 109 innings for the club last season, posting a, 3.94 ERA/1.30 WHIP/88 SO/7.2 SO/9, line. He was shuttled back and forth between the rotation and bullpen last season, starting 13 games, appearing in 43 games and amassed an 8-5 record.

As you can see above, he carves through the Astros’ hitters with a devastating slider. His fastball sits right around 94 mph, and he rarely throws anything straight. His arsenal plays well in the ninth because he can feature swing and miss stuff, and while he did battle inconsistency last season, a full-time role as the closer could help him focus.

The team will probably continue to say that they will go with a committee, but with the other Rays options at hand and his electric arsenal, fantasy owners should take a flier on him in the latter rounds of drafts this season regardless of his role.

Farquhar is listed as the other sensible option because in 2014, he like Boxberger, was one of the better set-up men in baseball. Going back to 2013, he even notched 16 games for the Mariners while posting solid K numbers.

But last season was rough, as he posted a 5.12 ERA/4.60 FIP and saw his K% drop. He has the stuff to excel as we have seen, but is hard to bank on a guy that was that bad last season and battled elbow tenderness to boot. The Rays will definitely look for him to step up in whatever relief role they assign him, but he lacks the upside that Colome brings.

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If Farquhar gets the nod, he should be left on the waiver wire until he shows that last season was an aberration.

Fantasy owners are always in search of Saves no matter where they come from and the Rays dilemma offers just another situation where they will look to pounce on the eventual replacement. Armed with a potentially solid rotation, the Rays will have plenty of Saves chances, so this will be a competition to monitored closely leading into the season.