Analyzing Felix Bautista's Potential as Rising Closer

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00:00George, a great call would be Felix Bautista.

00:02He's looked great thus far in spring training,

00:04pumping high 90s.

00:06You know, there's always gonna be an injury concern

00:08with a guy coming off missing a season,

00:11but a lot to like, I think, here in Baltimore.

00:15Agreed. And let's face it, he's only a mid-tier closer

00:18because he's coming off that injury.

00:19Next year at this time, odds are he's gonna be,

00:21you know, a top-tier closer.

00:23One of the guys we want here.

00:25I think at mid-tier, by the way, he's the top of that mid-tier.

00:27I think I would have guys like Clauze, William,

00:29Hayter, Diaz, Mason Miller, probably Ryan Helsley

00:33as my top-tier guys, and then Bautista's that next guy.

00:36You know, so he is that.

00:38And the only reason he's that, by the way,

00:39is that the Orioles have said,

00:41you know, how much they're gonna follow this?

00:43I don't know. You know, teams say things

00:45and, you know, marginally don't follow it

00:47once the season starts here.

00:48But they say, you know, at least in April,

00:50he's not gonna pitch on back-to-back nights.

00:52So, you know, keep that in mind.

00:53You might lose a couple of save opportunities here.

00:55Bottom line is this, I'm not afraid to draft him.

00:58You know, but I think he's gonna go higher

01:00than what you might feel comfortable with.

01:01You know, because it's still Phyllis Bautista

01:04who was great two years ago.

01:05Right? I think he's gonna go higher.

01:06Baltimore, they may not be a great team, but a good team.

01:09Bautista's gonna go probably a little bit higher

01:10than I'll feel comfortable.

01:13Andres Munoz throws super hard.

01:16Can you trust him going into the season?

01:1877 strikeouts with an ERA of two last year.

01:22ADP of 110.

01:25I mean, the numbers are staggering here,

01:27but the more you talk about players like this,

01:28you always have to wonder, can they stay healthy?

01:30George, the guy throws like 105 miles an hour.

01:34Well, you use the word trust.

01:37No. No, I don't trust him.

01:39That's why he's not a top...

01:40I only trust the top-tier closes,

01:42and probably not even all of them.

01:43But I may trust maybe the first three or four guys.

01:45That's about it.

01:47That being said, I mean, if he's my number two,

01:50I'm happy. You know how I go about things.

01:52I want one closer that I feel really good.

01:55Oh, he's my close. He's my anchor.

01:57And then after that, I want one mid-tier guy

01:59where I think he's going to be good,

02:00but I wouldn't be shocked if he loses his job at some point

02:03or suffers an injury.

02:04And then one guy, you know, all right,

02:05we'll see what happens there.

02:07I've said it before.

02:08Used to write the closer report every March

02:10for when we had more writing here

02:12or whatever we were doing.

02:14And my first paragraph

02:15for the first column of the season would always be,

02:17I'm going to list 30 guys here who started for each team.

02:20Half of them won't have this job by the All-Star break.

02:23Hell, probably by June.

02:25You know, and Munoz could be one of those guys.

02:26Yes, I like him to start.

02:28And what I really like about him, Craig,

02:30Seattle's going to play a lot of close games.

02:32They got a great pitching staff,

02:33great starting pitching staff.

02:34Arthur's ain't so good.

02:36Going to be a lot of 3-2, 4-3 games here.

02:38So a lot of save opportunities where I'm going with.

02:40So Munoz, once again,

02:41is probably one of those top second-tier guys

02:43that I'd look at.

02:45Now, the Minnesota Twins have a stable of bullpen arms,

02:48and that's my only concern with Duran.

02:50Yoan Duran on Minnesota.

02:513.64 earned run average, 66 strikeouts, 23 saves.

02:56The guy's a stud,

02:58but does he have the,

03:00you know, shelf life?

03:01Does he have the ability to continue

03:04and be this closer with so many players behind him

03:07ready to step in?

03:08I think he's almost similar to Munoz, right?

03:12Once again, good team.

03:13Maybe not quite the starting staff that Seattle has,

03:15but good.

03:16They'll keep a lot of close games.

03:17The offense is a little bit better,

03:19so you may lose some opportunities there.

03:20But you're right.

03:21It's the fact that there's other guys there,

03:23and maybe Baldelli hasn't really given it to him full-time yet.

03:27And I do worry that, I think, once again,

03:29he's going to be your closest throughout the season.

03:30But one of his struggles,

03:32you know, somewhere in mid-April,

03:33loses a couple of saves here.

03:34Does he lose the job?

03:35That sort of thing.

03:36I don't think his hold, his grip on the job,

03:39is as strong as I would like here.

03:41That being said, as my number two closer,

03:43I'm on board.

03:44And I feel good about it, by the way,

03:45if I got him at a price that I like,

03:47a round that I like to get him in here.

03:49So I'm on board with Duran.

03:50I said, if my close is with Munoz and Duran,

03:53and I didn't have a top guy,

03:54I would still feel pretty good about these two mid-tier closes.

03:57I do like them both.

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