Sunday, January 11, 2009

Name The Player

189.2 innings pitched, 245 strikeouts, 52 walks. Who is this fantasy beast?!?! A healthy Rich Harden? Randy Johnson in his prime? No...Takashi Saito's major league career numbers! I realize it's cheating to compare numbers compiled as a reliever, but it's still pretty impressive. The Red Sox have apparently continued their offseason trend of signing high risk/high reward players to cheap, incentive laden contracts, and signed Saito to a one year deal. When healthy, Saito will be one of the top middle relievers in baseball in 2009. The main fantasy impact of this signing in many formats will be a slight reduction in value for Jonathan Papelbon, as Boston will have another great option to close games when Papelbon has pitched the previous day or two.

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