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Week 2 of baseball is in the books and injuries and performance have led to changes in bullpens. It’s time for the Closer Report.

• Cito Gaston made a change this past week saying Jason Frasor would pitch the 8th inning with Kevin Gregg as the closer. Honestly I don’t really think this makes a difference for Toronto, but it makes all the difference in fantasy leagues. While Gregg has the potential to blow-up and lose the job down the line, he looks very good thus far. The big change appears to be a cutter that he is throwing nearly 18% of the time compared to just 2% of the time before this season. Gregg has yet to walk a batter and is generating more ground balls than in the past. He looks like a safe bet for 25+ saves.

• Brian Fuentes should be ready to come off the DL by Wednesday or Thursday. Rodney is still worth owning since he is the clear back-up, and Fuentes isn’t the safest closer now that the Angels have another bullpen option.

• The situation in Arizona does not look good. Chad Qualls has blown two of three save chances and has allowed runs in four of his six appearances. Juan Gutierrez got a chance on 4/16 (Qualls had pitched the 2 days prior) and was a disaster allowing 2 walks, a double, and a home run resulting in 4 runs. Qualls still gets the next chance, but if he continues to falter there aren’t a lot of other options currently on the roster. The Diamondbacks might need to make a move soon. Their entire bullpen is not performing.

• Jon Rauch continues to sail along with a MLB-leading 6 saves.

• The other unlikely leader in saves is Matt Capps, also with 6. Capps walked 5 batters and allowed 3 hits in his first 3 innings. Since then he’s gone 4.1 IP with 0 BB and 4 hits allowed. It won’t ever be pretty, but Capps will probably keep getting you saves as along as he stays healthy.

• Chris Perez blew up on 4/11 walking 3 and blowing a save followed by another poor outing (0 IP, 1 BB, 1 H). He has since made an adjustment and closed out his last two games without incident. Kerry Wood still needs to throw in a simulated game and then a rehab assignment so Perez will keep the job probably through the end of the month.

• There were no rogue saves the past 7 days in the majors, but a couple relievers are emerging to join Matt Thornton as dominant set-up I would possible own even in standard mixed leagues. Randy Williams (CWS) has 8 Ks in 6.1 IP and Edward Mujica (SD) has 11 K in 9.1 IP. Both come with some risk as Williams already has 7 BB and Mujica has allowed 2 HR. I would continue to watch both as they should be free agents in all but the deepest leagues.

Julius Peppers has had a good career and with the exception of 2007, he has consistently delivered 10 to 12 sacks a year.  However, he is not a dominant pass rusher that elevates the defense into elite status when you look at Carolina’s sub-par defensive stats in 2009 (allowed 4.4 ypc, just 31 team sacks, allowed 62% completion percentage).   Chester Taylor is a solid runner and receiver at RB and he was more productive per touch than the disappointing Matt Forte.  He should help the Bears, who averaged just 4.0 ypc as a team, improve offensively. 

The Bears should improve by adding these two players, but it is highly debatable whether the Bears spent their money wisely.  AccuScore re-simulated the 2009 Season.  The Bears only won 7 games, but in these re-simulations they averaged 8.2 wins with the addition of Peppers and Taylor.  Without Peppers and Taylor they averaged just 7.6 wins.  These additions improved their playoff chances by +7.8 percentage points.    

This is a significant improvement, but is it worth the money?

Taylor is 31 and while he may be more productive that Matt Forte we’re not sure he was worth a guaranteed $7 Million.  The addition of Peppers and a healthy return of Brian Urlacher could make an average Bears defense a Top 10 unit in 2010, but at a guaranteed $42 Million, was it really worth it?  Washington acquired a dominant defensive player in Albert Haynesworth last year and did not have a good season.  There are some talented pass rushers in the 2010 draft.  I’m not a GM, but it seems like the Bears could have figured out a way to acquire a first round pick that would have secured a highly rated pass rusher for a fraction of the $42 million guaranteed.

The Ravens had a weakness in 2009 and that was a lack of a true #1 WR.  They got Anquan Boldin for a 3rd and 4th round pick and a fair $28 Million over 4 years.  The Ravens saw their playoff chances improve by nearly as much as the Bears did but the Bears spent 4 times as much money on Taylor and Peppers.  The Bears had a disappointing 2009 because they lacked a true #1 WR and Jay Cutler threw way to many horrifically timed interceptions.  Unlike Baltimore, who tackled their Achilles’ Heel head-on the addition of Taylor and Peppers did not directly address Chicago’s weaknesses. 

Perhaps Bears management assumed that Cutler will ‘automatically’ throw fewer interceptions in 2010 and WR Devin Aromashodu is capable of being a #1 WR.  So they looked to improve their running game and pass rush.  These are fair assumptions, but not ones that I would bet the farm on.