Key Stats: In 2007, J.J. Putz was the best closer in fantasy baseball, a top twenty overall player, and a repeat top fifty player according to Yahoo rankings. He pretty much was the same player as Craig Kimbrel last year. Then 2008 happened. Putz pitched through a rib injury and had a career worse walk rate (essentially giving up 3 times the walks per 9 innings he did in 2007 and 2011). He continued the poor walk rate into 2009 with the Mets before he was finally shut down in June. After elbow surgery, it took him a month but he was as dominant as ever in May, June, and July with the White Sox. Dominant enough for the Diamondbacks to take a chance on him last season.
Skeptics Say: Putz had a great year by the numbers for the second straight season and appears to still have great stuff after elbow surgery in 2009. The problem wasn’t the numbers, but the fact that he still missed time as a result of his elbow in the month of July. Putz could have had over 50 saves (David Hernandez ...
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