Francisco Rodriguez

This is the time during Spring Training that all Major League teams starts to cut down on their rosters, sending some players down to their Minor League affiliates while others are sent on their way right out of the organization.

The funny thing about this process is that there are very few surprises as to who stays and who goes.

According to Yahoo! Sports, All-Star closer Francisco Rodriguez returned to New York Mets camp on Monday after being hampered by conjunctivitis for more than two weeks.

Rodriguez had been told to stay away from the team until the pink eye cleared, but the contagious infection took longer than expected to improve.

He was sick when he reported to New York’s spring facility, but his eye went undiagnosed until just before full-squad workouts began on Feb. 25.

This continues my 2010 MLB preview. I intend to touch every team in the major leagues in installments by division. The lineups I provide will be what I predict will be the most productive for each team for the MAJORITY of the season (e.g., Jason Heyward will be listed as the Braves RF even though he may not begin the season as the starter).

I will also provide the stereotypical letter grade to each team's lineup, rotation, bullpen, and depth/bench. Though it is trite, I think all baseball fans can identify with the letter grade system.

Closers are a volatile bunch.  It’s a fantasy mantra and a good one.  So, for those who participate in dynasty leagues, how do the rankings fall?  How far do you push up a younger closer who has proven capable?  How far do you drop a veteran who may only have a year or two left?  Let’s take a look:

Much has been made about the lack of potential upgrades to the New York Mets rotation this offseason and, by and large, the reason for concern is legitimate.

Every slot in the rotation has a question mark next to its given name. Even Johan Santana, to a lesser extent, could be cause for concern after suffering season ending surgery last season.

While there is still volatility in all of the rankings, I think the closer rankings are the ones with the most potential to change.  Where does Billy Wagner fit in now that he’s going to be a closer?  Should Carlos Marmol, Bobby Jenks, or Trevor Hoffman be considered a top option?  Where do we value 2009 breakouts David Aardsma and Ryan Franklin?

These are all questions that we’ll try to answer as we take a look at how my rankings currently stand (remember, I’m still fine tuning my projections so keep in mind that these are fluid):

For the third consecutive year, the New York Mets have bagged one of the biggest names in the free agent market.

In 2008 they snatched up two-time Cy Young winner Johan Santana, last year it was K-Rod and now, pending a physical, they are set to bring left-fielder Jason Bay to Queens.

But the real question here is, will the acquisition of Bay really matter this year in terms of being the Mets answer to postseason?

All fantasy owners know that closer is one of the most unpredictable positions to draft. Just look at this season, where David Aardsma and Ryan Franklin (just to give two examples) emerged from relative obscurity to help buoy fantasy bullpens. With that said, let’s take a look at an early shot at ranking the Top 15 fantasy closers, though a lot of things will cause this list to change, potentially drastically:

There are going to be a lot of Mets fans that are not going to be too happy with me after they finish this article.

In fact, I'd venture to say that there will be a few who will refuse to finish it because they will say I'm not a true fan, I am being too negative, and that I am giving up the remainder of the 2009 season.

All of the above may be so, but since this is definitely an opinion piece, if you don't mind, allow me to fire away.

Last time around we checked out the American League closers (click here to view), so this week we turn to the National League (all stats given are through Saturday):