Guillermo Mota figures to get some save chances in Milwaukee

Allen Fredrickson/Icon SMI

By Greg Ambrosius,  Special to SI.com. http://www.fantasybaseballchampionship.com/

After the most active free agent week of the fantasy season when teams went after hot call-ups such as Max Scherzer, Jeff Clement, Wladimir Balentien and Nick Adenhart, the pickin's are less plentiful this week. In fact, instead of going after the hot prospects, fantasy-leaguers will have to take a chance on old veterans this week.

The biggest hole to fill this week is in the bullpen of two National League contenders. Both the Cardinals and Brewers appear to be looking for new closers as they finish a three-game series in Milwaukee and plenty of saves could be available for the rest of the year. Former closers Jason Isringhausen and Eric Gagne have been removed from their roles and it's time to find new closers for both teams.

In St. Louis, the role could just be temporary as Isringhausen tries to find his old self in a set-up role. Izzy leads the NL with 11 saves, but he's also blown five saves and has a 7.47 ERA, while allowing 19 hits and eight walks in 15.2 innings, with only 11 strikeouts. Manager Tony LaRussa believes a change of scenery will help him get straightened out.

In the meantime, Ryan Franklin and Russ Springer will battle for the closer's job. On Saturday, Springer came into the game in the eighth inning with the Cardinals leading 3-2 and promptly gave up a tying home run to Prince Fielder. After the Cardinals scored two runs in the top of the ninth, Franklin earned his second save of the year. Interestingly, Franklin is available in over 80 percent of our National Fantasy Baseball Championship leagues and Springer is available in every league. Franklin is an 8-year veteran who will likely get the first shot at this job and he deserves to be picked up by fantasy-leaguers. But heading into this season, he was just 1-for-11 in career save opportunities, so temper your bids a bit.

In Milwaukee, even Gagne realizes that he no longer deserves the closer's role and he's begged out of the ninth inning job. He has already blown five saves and yesterday he came in with the scored tied 3-3 and promptly gave up two runs on three hits and a walk. He hasn't had a 1-2-3 inning in any of his last nine appearances and despite the $10 million salary is unworthy of this role. Look for Guillermo Mota and Solomon Torres to battle for the closer's job with Torres looking like the more reliable option. Both pitchers are available in over 70 percent of NFBC leagues, so the bidding should be furious this week.

Each year over 40 percent of teams switch closers and this year seven teams have already had late-inning changes. Along with St. Louis and Milwaukee, changes have been seen in Washington (Jon Rauch over Chad Cordero), Toronto (B.J. Ryan over Jeremy Accardo), Colorado (Brian Fuentes over Manny Corpas), Atlanta (Manny Acosta over Rafael Soriano) and Seattle (Ryan Rowland-Smith and Mark Lowe replacing the injured J.J. Putz). More changes are likely in store for this season, so keep your eye on the bullpens and get ready to react even before those changes are made.

CHANGING PLACES

There are other free agent pickups of note this week, again more of the veteran variety than the hot prospect variety. Due to injuries and slumps, here's the hot pickup list for mid-May:

Ben Francisco, OF, Indians: This 2002 fifth-round pick has steadily shown promise in the minors and now he's ready to stick in the big leagues. He was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo on Tuesday and has hit .333 with three RBIs in five games since his call-up. He's stolen 20+ bases during three of the last four years in the minors and he's a patient hitter with good power. If he can hang onto the left field job, he will be a worthy pickup at this point in the season.

Brandon Boggs, OF, Rangers: Boggs wasn't even on Baseball America's Top 30 prospect list for Texas, but he's found his way to the majors now and may not leave anytime soon. The 2004 fourth-round pick started at Triple-A Oklahoma and was called up two weeks ago after hitting .309 with six RBIs there. Since then, he's hit .357 with two homers and eight RBIs in 12 games for Texas and is starting in left field. It's hard to imagine Boggs doing that for a full season, but in this powerful lineup he's in a great spot right now.

Omar Quintanilla, 2B, Rockies: With Troy Tulowitzki on the DL, Clint Barmes was moved to shortstop and Quintanilla has been starting at second base. During the last week, he's hit .300 with two RBIs and seems to be entrenched at second. He's a light-hitting option with no power and little speed, but he is hitting second in this powerful lineup, so he deserves mention.

Jesus Flores, C, Nationals: With Paul LoDuca and Johnny Estrada both on the DL, the Nationals have turned to Flores, who was hitting just .153 at Triple-A Columbus at the time of his promotion. Flores appeared in 79 games with Washington last year and has some potential, but he was in Class A in 2006 and he's not quite ready for this fulltime job.

Blue Jays' RF job: Vernon Wells broke his wrist this week and will be out 6-8 weeks. The options to replace him aren't promising, but expect a platoon of Kevin Mench and Brad Wilkerson to start out, with Shannon Stewart getting more at-bats in LF and Matt Stairs to get most of the ABs at DH. Wilkerson bombed out in Seattle and Mench started the year at Triple-A Oklahoma before the Jays acquired him, so neither is an ideal pickup. But in AL-only leagues they could be of some help with enough at-bats.

Padres' CF job: The Padres cut ties with CF Jim Edmonds this week and now will fill the spot with a platoon of Jody Gerut and Scott Hairston. Gerut hasn't had a fulltime job in the majors since 2004, but he was hitting .308 with five homers and 18 RBIs at Triple-A Portland before his call-up. The obvious answer would be top prospect Chase Headley, who is currently hitting .292-3-15 at Portland. Headley will get a call-up soon, but the Padres don't want to put too much pressure on him with the team struggling so badly already. Honestly, that's a lame excuse. Call him up now and let the kid learn at the big-league level.

Most of these veterans are likely picked up in your fantasy leagues, but if not make sure to check out the hot starts by St. Louis OF Ryan Ludwick, White Sox Ps Gavin Floyd and John Danks, Dodgers' 3B Blake DeWitt and Tampa P Andy Sonnanstine. All are good candidates to be on your roster if they're still on your league's waiver wire.

DOWN ON THE FARM

It's just a matter of time now before the Reds call up Homer Bailey and the Dodgers call up Clayton Kershaw. Trust me on that. Despite a bad outing this week, Bailey is due to arrive in Cincinnati as Matt Belisle is just getting lit up with each outing. He hasn't been dominant at Triple-A Louisville, but he's been steady and his control has been solid (40 Ks, 14 walks in 50.2 IP). It's time to bring him up and let him sink or swim at the big league level. Kershaw, on the other hand, is dominating at Double-A Jacksonville (1.08 ERA in six starts, 37 Ks and 11 BBs in 33.1 IP) and may skip right to the majors. He will be a major hit once he arrives as he's the top left-handed prospect in the minors.

There are rumors that the Reds are trying to trade Ken Griffey Jr., possibly to Seattle, and if that happens then Jay Bruce will definitely be called up. After a slow start, Bruce has settled down nicely and is now hitting .328-6-27 with seven stolen bases at Louisville. Baseball America's 2007 Minor League Player of the Year will be a major hit once he arrives in Cincinnati and will be a top pickup if he's not already reserved in your fantasy league.

Greg Ambrosius is the director of the National Fantasy Baseball Championship -- the industry's only multi-city high-stakes fantasy baseball event. Send questions to Greg at greg.ambrosius@fwpubs.com.