It’s either the top or bottom of the 9th inning, either Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, Dropkick Murphy’s “I’m Shipping Up to Boston”, and/or Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” are blaring over the sound systems, you know that Mariano Rivera, Jonathan Papelbon, and Jonathan Broxton are out there to save the day for their respective team, however, there is a considerable drop-off beyond that lethal trio of closers.

On Draft Day, those three were the highest ranked on every draft board, so it had to take a considerable amount of due diligence on every owner’s part to find out to see who will provide stability to their team’s bullpen. Several might have played it safe and drafted other proven closers such as a Trevor Hoffman or a Jose Valverde, selected those who have shown some promise in that role which would consists of the likes of Andrew Bailey, Joakim Soria, and a Chad Qualls, or in the other category targeted who could be classified as flavors of the year, Jon Rauch, Ryan Madson, and Franklin Morales. Those pitchers in most drafts went anywhere between the 5th-14 rounds and quite honestly they could have been drafted in any order since there’s not a major difference between them.

One of the most reoccurring themes of the first couple weeks of the 2010 seasons is that several closers have continued to sustain severe injuries at a staggering rate, have lost their closer role due to immense struggles, or on the verge of relinquishing their spot.

So far, we have witnessed Neftali Feliz oust Frank Francisco out as the Rangers closer, Chad Qualls blowing 2-saves for the Diamondbacks last week and now is among the closer-by-committee in Arizona that it seems no one wants to take the lead in, and then the Angels Fernando Rodney and Orioles Jim Johnson inheriting the closer job due to recent injuries.

Currently there is a relatively huge crop of closers who are available in 30%+ of any league and should be immediately claimed:

Chris Perez: Cleveland Indians

Matt Capps: Washington Nationals

Jason Frasor: Toronto Blue Jays

Octavio Dotel: Pittsburgh Pirates

Kevin Gregg: Toronto Blue Jays

Bobby Jenks: Chicago White Sox

Matt Lindstrom: Houston Astros

Franklin Morales: Colorado Rockies

Morales, Jenks, and Perez should be the three most highly sought since they are all playing for contending ball clubs, so they will reap high reward. The others are decent complementary closers if you already have 1-2 upper level ones on your roster.

Currently, the newer wave of elite closers that will provide stability are Carlos Mármol, Brian Wilson, Heath Bell, Rafael Soriano, Ryan Franklin, and Francisco Cordero. Then, the 2nd ranked class are David Aardsma and Leo Núñez who are new to their roles and still have a lot to prove before counting on them for guaranteed saves on a consistent basis, but no one can go wrong with them since they have such an amazing upside.

The question is that does your team need a Rivera, Papelbon, and/or Broxton to capture the save categories on weekly basis? Not necessarily…If you can combine closers in each tier category you do have shot to dominate in that area even if your closer’s entry song is “Wild Thing” Ricky Vaughn style.