Fantasy Baseball: Top Set-Up Men in 2011

Every year in fantasy baseball, we draft top-tier closers that either get hurt, like Joakim Soria of the Kansas City Royals in 2009, or fall flat on their faces, like Jonathan Broxton of the L.A. Dodgers in 2010.

When this happens, we usually scramble to find a replacement, and oftentimes that replacement is the setup man on the fallen closer’s team.

However, if you play in a league with weekly waiver wire pickups, then nine other owners might be looking to pick up that setup guy to block you from getting him.

In order to prevent this very scenario from happening, I have compiled a list of the top setup men in the game. These are the guys you want to grab if you draft the closer on that team and have room on your roster.

Think of these guys as the backup running backs in your draft.

Here are the top 12 fantasy setup men heading into the 2011 season...

One note on this list: I didn’t include the Chicago White Sox's tandem of Matt Thornton and Chris Sale because their 2011 roles are still up in the air. Sale might be starting or closing, so we will wait to see what happens with him before we add him to this list.

If Sale closes and Thornton is the setup man, then Thornton will be very high on this list.

We’ll update as spring training and the season progress.

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