Fantasy Baseball Digging for Saves: Will Evan Meek Be Fantasy Relevant in 2011?

The Pittsburgh Pirates revealed early on that Joel Hanrahan would open the season as the team’s closer.  For better or worse, fantasy owners had to be happy that the situation had a resolution, as opposed to having to play a guessing game on draft day.

However, does their decision mean that Evan Meek can simply be forgotten at this point?  The quick answer is no, I wouldn’t recommend it. 

Obviously you aren’t going to use a high draft pick on him, but there is a very realistic possibility that he will be fantasy relevant by year’s end.

In more shallow formats it is a different story, but if you play in any type of deep format you are going to want to have Meek on your draft list (or keep a close eye on him off the waiver wire).

The opportunity for Hanrahan to be replaced is actually two-fold:

1. Inability – Is it a real stretch to think that Hanrahan could be poor enough to necessitate him being pulled from closer duties?  I know he has plenty of strikeout potential, but he has a career ERA of 4.45 and WHIP of 1.50.  That alone should be more than enough to convince you.  If it’s not, keep in mind that he’s never shown the type of potential to replicate last season’s 12.92 K/9.  He also has never shown control even close to his 3.36 BB/9 (career mark of 4.68).  There’s a good chance that he doesn’t make it until the end of May with the gig.
2. Trade – The past few seasons the Pirates have taken veterans, watched them flourish and then traded them away for good, young talent.  You don’t have to look past Octavio Dotel in 2010, who was used to acquire James McDonald (potentially the team’s ace).  If he’s pitching well in July, you can rest assured that he’s not going to be a member of the Pirates come August.

However you slice it, there’s a good chance that Meek becomes the team’s closer by August, if not sooner.  He showed tremendous potential in 2010, showing the trio of skills that we want to see:

• Strikeouts – 7.88 K/9 (8.41 over his minor league career)
• Control – 3.49 BB/9
• Groundballs – 56.7% Groundball Rate

As a relief pitcher there is the potential for luck to play significantly greater role.  With that skillset, however, all he needs is a little bit of luck and he can post tremendous numbers.  Last season Meek posted a .224 BABIP and 77.8 percent strand rate led to a 2.14 ERA and 1.05 WHIP.

Will it be replicated?  Probably not, but even a slight regression will probably lead to a 3.00 ERA and 1.20 WHIP.  Is anyone going to complain about that?

Don’t target him early, but in the later rounds he is very much worth looking at.

What are your thoughts on Meek?  Is he worth stashing?  How good do you think he could be?

**** Make sure to order your copy of the Rotoprofessor 2011 Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide, selling for just $5, by clicking here. ****

Make sure to check out our 2011 rankings:

• Top 15 Catchers
• Top 15 First Basemen
• Top 15 Second Basemen
• Top 15 Third Basemen
• Top 15 Shortstops
• Top 30 Outfielders
• Top 30 Starting Pitchers
• Top 15 Closers

THIS ARTICLE IS ALSO FEATURED ON WWW.ROTOPROFESSOR.COM