June 25, 2007
Coach Stapes

Akinori Otsuka, RP

Akinori Otsuka (Charles Wenzelberg)Now is the time to pick up Rangers relief pitcher, Akinori Otsuka. With the MLB trading deadline beginning to loom, the Rangers, mired in last place of the difficult AL West, are going to begin unloading their commodities in return for some younger, cheaper players. Gagne remains the current closer for Otsuka, but rumors are abound that the oft-injured shut down man is going to be joining a new club shortly. This will open the door for Otsuka to resume his closing duties after posting 32 saves in 36 opportunities last season for the Rangers.

Otsuka is a real talent from Japan. Last season for the Rangers, he posted 32 saves, a 2.11 ERA and 1.08 WHIP, with 47 K's and only 11 BB's. Not too bad for a closer that you can snatch up off the waiver wire right now for basically nothing. Otsuka throws a mid to low 90's 4-seam fastball that has exceptional lift. Making him even nastier is his late-breaking slider which accounts for his nearly 1K:1IP career ratio. During his days in the Japanese World League, he learned to bring his leg up slowly and quickly fire the ball to home plate making the pitch difficult for hitters to pick up. So far this season he has nailed down a 1.88 ERA, with a 0.99 WHIP, 22K's, and 7BB.

Closers are a hot commodity in fantasy baseball because of the lack of available players. In a standard 12 team league, all teams cannot have 3 closers and many times, teams with only two must deal with a sub-par save artist, resulting in consistently missing save opportunities while absorbing the increased ERA and WHIP resulting from the limited innings pitched. It would be fantastic if you were able to stash away Otsuka and HE ends up being traded! That would mean he goes from taking the closer job in Gagne's departure for the last-place Texas Rangers to moving into a closer spot for a contender! If you have the roster spot available, pick up Otsuka and hope for the best. At the very least, you can use him as trade bait to sure up another position on your team en route to your fantasy championship!