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ANALYSIS: Don't pay for saves... ever! Fantasy baseball experts around the world yell this every season and for good reason. Saves are volatile, closers are unpredictable, and managers for whatever reason don't like to give fantasy owners much insight on who they plan to use in the 9th inning. Well, after Opening Day that information is much tougher to hide and one thing that we found out Monday is that the Dodgers look like they will be using Chris Hatcher to finish games while Kenley Jansen is on the DL with a foot injury. You can see our full MLB closers & saves depth charts updated here.
Oftentimes, when it comes to closers, opportunity is more important than talent. Opportunity is exactly what Hatcher has right now in LA. Jansen is likely down for the month, the Dodgers are potentially one of the best teams in baseball, and Hatcher is getting the nod from manager Don Mattingly in the ninth inning.
Hatcher will lose the job as soon as Jansen is healthy, but who cares. A month worth of save opportunities on one of baseball's best teams is plenty valuable. Hatcher will also provide a high K rate along the way, and his 2.56 FIP from last season indicates he is no slouch. If you missed out on closers in your draft or if you were relying on Jansen, jump on Hatcher before someone else does and ride the save wave for the month. My projection for this month: 12 G, 12 IP, 9 SV, 2.50 ERA, 13 K.
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