The bullpen is a strange place.

Isolated at least 350 feet from home plate, seven or eight pitchers sit through the first half of the game until their services are necessary. They carry snacks around in a backpack more appropriate for a seven-year old girl.
It’s a fairly anonymous group, except for the closer. It’s the closer that’s getting the big pay check and usually the only one relevant to any fantasy discussion. But what about the other guys? Those eighth inning setup men that are lights out, do they have any value?

This year’s best setup men are Minnesota’s Matt Guerrier, the Yankee’s Phil Hughes and the White Sox’s Matt Thornton. There are others having fine seasons, but the real question is whether any of these pitchers is worth owning, knowing they probably won’t get a win or a save.

Most leagues have two reliever spots on the roster, meaning that at least 20 closers are owned in any given league, but there’s always one owner that seems to find a way to hold the six best closers on their team.

So those owners left holding Brad Lidge and the recently traded George Sherrill may find it worthwhile to take a flier on Guerrier or Hughes. According to baseballmonster.com, Guerrier is the 15th best reliever even though he has no saves. Now that Hughes is pitching out of the ‘pen he probably has approximately equal value to Guerrier.

Five non-closers rank higher than All-Star Francisco Rodriguez, who recently has struggled. These pitchers can help a team with strikeouts and their low ERAs and WHIPs.

It doesn’t hurt to take a look at these guys even if you don’t intend to add them to your team because it’s never too early to start preparing for next year’s draft. A year before becoming the Twins’ closer and saving 44 games, Joe Nathan went 12-4 with a 2.96 ERA in a setup role in San Francisco. Smart fantasy players took note and stole him the next year.

Old man out: Jamie Moyer’s revival may be over in Philadelphia with Pedro Martinez set to join the World Champions’ rotation. Most people speculated Moyer wouldn’t be able to duplicate his 16-7 performance from last year.

So far most people haven’t been wrong, as the 46-year old’s ERA has grown by two runs. Moyer has somehow found a way to win 10 games, but with Cliff Lee now on the team and rookie J.A. Happ pitching phenomenally, someone has to make way for Martinez.

It’s possible that Lidge could be replaced by Martinez, who curiously has relief incentives in his contract, but unlikely.

I would say that for fantasy owners Martinez has more value as a closer, but if he’s in the starting rotation he could still be worth a look. The former Cy Young award winner has pitched well in the minors and will have plenty of offense behind him. But I’d still advise waiting until after his debut to decide if there’s a spot on your team for Martinez.

Pitcher Pickup of the Week: Aaron Laffey, Indians

It’s really no secret that I absolutely love Aaron Laffey. He’s a great person and sinker-ball pitchers tend to get a lot of love from me anyhow, but I really believe in Laffey’s stuff. This week he draws a home start Tuesday against Texas and then faces Minnesota on the road Sunday.

Since the All-Star break Laffey is 2-1 with a 2.52 ERA and is basically the team’s ace right now. He’s even striking people out, whiffing 17 in 25 innings. As an added bonus, he threw his best game of the year against Minnesota last week, going eight innings without allowing an earned run. He struck out five and walked one. In his career, Laffey is 3-1 with a 3.89 ERA against the Twins.

He has faced Texas only once and pitched terribly in the Ballpark at Arlington, but then so does everyone else. Lifetime at home, Laffey is 8-4 with a 2.57 ERA and that is where he gets to face the Rangers this time.