Oakland Closer Update

Sorry I didn’t post yesterday guys; things were crazy around here.

Anyway, Justin Duchscherer joined Huston Street on Oakland’s DL today. It’s safe to drop Duke in leagues where setup men are worthless. So who is the guy to own in Oakland?

It seems that Alan Embree is the guy to own, as Manager Bob Geren said that he will be used in “more cases than not.” Kiko Calero and crew might steal a save here or there, but it seems Embree will get the majority of them while Street is out. So what should we expect out of Embree?

Strangely, his K rate has been quite unstable, but I think his current 6.87 K/9 seems about right. His 2.45 BB/9 also seems about right, giving Embree a K/BB of 2.80. Very solid. His 31.1% GB rate is down 10 percentage points from his average since 2002, and if he can’t get it back up he’ll blow some saves by giving up the longball. I expect it to increase though, so no worries there. Overall, Embree is a solid option as long as Street is out. He should be owned in all leagues.

This post originally appeared at http://saberoticians.blogspot.com/2007/05/oakland-closer-update.html