Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
It is one week into the 2013 season and the Philadelphia Phillies have a lot of things to work out.
The team is 2-5 right now, but more importantly, they haven’t come close to playing good baseball. Philadelphia’s offense has looked absolutely horrible and are currently ranked 15th in runs scored.
Starting pitchers, Cole Hamels and Roy Halladay, have been just as bad for fantasy baseball owners in the first week. Neither hurler has pitched anything close to a strong inning of baseball and it has affected more than their owners.
Closer Jonathan Papelbon has been practically nonexistent this year due to the team’s struggles and the five-time All-Star has just one save so far. He has also allowed two runs in two innings of work, which has caused his value to plummet even more.
The Phillies are not exactly dominating the NL East anymore, so Papelbon’s fantasy value has been greatly diminished. JP may have been a highly coveted closer during the team’s winning seasons, but he has since seen his fantasy value disappear.
There are currently 11 closers with two saves or more. Additionally, a handful of relievers recently inherited the closer role (Kyujji Fujikawa and Jim Henderson), so these players could also potentially be putting up better numbers than Papelbon in the coming weeks.
There are simply too many other closers out there on winning ball teams to hold on JP. I would trade Papelbon now, before he disappears into the world of useless closers. This is the perfect time to try to pawn Papelbon off to another owner while his name recognition still intrigues people.
After all, Papelbon can’t get a save unless he is saving a win, and it doesn’t look like he will get many chances in 2013.
Adam McGill is the Senior Fantasy Sports Writer at Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @adammcgill83, like him on Facebook, or add him to you networks on Google here or here.
