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I have Al Holland set as my closer against lefthanders. He is priced over $4 ml. Rich Gossage is my right hand closer at less than $3 ml. Has anyone determined that Holland is worth the dough?

Any positive experience with LH closer?

Steve

Holland can pitch, but gives up the longball sometimes. As many know I don't believe in a closer, or expensive relief. They just don't get enough IP to pay the high price to me. I look for my RP in the 2.50m or less. I have used Al in some theme leagues with good success, but hell, you can get 2 or 3 RP for the same price. But, going with what I just said I have a team with cheap SP and mid-priced RP that is doing OK.


Do you need both Gossage and Holland? Depends on your starters. That's nearly 8m of RP. The price is a top notch SP who will pitch 300 IP, [b:17b6b00c58]But in the end you have to play your game[/b:17b6b00c58] go with both and I wish you great success!

YF

I like to have expensive relievers (sometimes) but I would not designate Goose vs RH and Holland vs LH. I would probably set Holland as setup, because of his 3 inning rating and Goose as closer both ways. Then I would watch to see how they pitch. Watch the .75M guys too, sometimes you get the lucky year and they outpitch the studs.

A lot depends on your park too. If you are in a hitters park, and one of the pitchers is definitely dominating, release the other and upgrade offense or SP.

Of course if your team is winning series after series with both relievers, no need to worry.

YF was probably waiting for me to chime in here, but I have had GREAT success with Holland in our "Back to the 80's" theme league

[b:c7698793cc]1982[/b:c7698793cc]

[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/playoffs/team.html?stats=sim[/url]


and here

[b:c7698793cc]1983[/b:c7698793cc]
[url]http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/playoffs/team.html?stats=sim[/url]

However I agree that spending over $7 mil for two closers hoping to get one good stopper WAAAY TO MUCH.

One good arm and several $1.5- $2.5mil step ups work. You might want to take a chance on a .75 reliever, who knows you might get lucky and get his Golden year which is a REAL BONUS. You will see I have taken this strategy with Lopez, Martinez and Bair with some measure of success.

Anytime you spend 3M or more on a RP, he should be set as a full time closer, UNLESSS you're going to use a pair of 3M's as vs. LH/RH. Personally, I like to splurge on one expensive closer. If he's lights out, great. If not, keeping dumping until you get one who does work.

I was just this morning wondering why Al Holland has been readily available in all four of the leagues I've been in so far. I've snagged him twice, and have no complaints. Here's a year where he went 16-5:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=50543

And here's a year in progress where he and his sub-1.00 WHIP are anchoring a heavily used bullpen:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=60739

I've used him as the setup man to get him as many innings as possible.

Problem with Holland, I think, is that he's only a true closer in 2 of the 5 years (meaning he can get both RH and LH hitters out).

As a part of a relatively expensive BP, he's fine. Those who spend more $ on bp will be happy with him, because he doesn't have a horrible year and the "big spenders" really don't expect him to carry the whole load. But those of us, like me, who cheap out on their bps don't like him b/c he can't close by himself most of the time and is therefore not worth the risk.

Just picked him up in another league a short time ago...had some cash to spare, so I figured what the heck.

I'm checking out Holland's cards, and all of them are pretty good. Highlights:

1980: No HR's anywhere on the card

1981: very tough to hit. HR is on 5-9 (1-5), and a diamond on 4-2 vs. RH's; don't like the 5-6, 6-6, SI**/W combo vs. LH's, but it's still a very good card.

1982: Deceptive 4L, with vs. LH BPHR on 4-6 and HR 1-11 on 4-8 (danger!); two diamonds on RH side, with a HR 1-5 on 5-6 (an out 75% of the time).

1983: A great card; 1.01 WHIP; big bad TRIPLE on 6-8 versus LH's, and few extra base chances, but lots of K's; it's 4R, and the ONLY straight out OB chances on the right side are 6-9 and 4-2 (both walks).

1984: Homers on both sides and his lowest K rate; a 1R, but all the K's are on the LH side (he buries lefties with K's if you hit the 4's); needs a good 2B with this card (5-7=2b(X) on both sides).

In short, he's pretty damned good. I'd use him all alone, unless I were in a prodigious HR park. Even then, you might be able to get by with him, depending on the year. He is definitely NOT a LH specialist.

Here is how Holland pitched with his '80 card at the murph for a bad team:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=54379

Here is the same '80 card at Oakland on another bad team:

http://fantasygames.sportingnews.com/baseball/stratomatic/80s/team/team_other.html?user_id=55199