FanHouse Mike Gonzalez

Footprints in the Snow is FanHouse's look at the paths to be forged by MLB teams this winter as they look ahead to 2010.

The Atlanta Braves were alive in the wild-card race late in the season due to a powerful pitching rotation that featured six viable starting candidates (at least there were six at the end of the season). The Braves ranked third in the National League in team ERA with a 3.57 mark and had two 15-game winners in Derek Lowe and Javier Vazquez. They also ranked fourth in team batting average and sixth in runs scored even without a true cleanup hitter in the lineup.

If you examine their bullpen you'll also find two relievers who were in the top five in strikeouts among relief pitchers -- Mike Gonzalez with 90 and Rafael Soriano with 102. These relievers shared the closing duties for most of the season and each had ERA's below three to finish the year.

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ATLANTA -- Nobody has ever argued the fact that Bobby Cox is a smart baseball guy. But how could he have known that the Braves bats would come alive like this?

Sitting in his office after Thursday night's game, a game which marked the return of baseball from the All-Star break and the return of Jeff Francoeur to Atlanta, in a Mets uniform, Cox said, "I think the hitting you're going to see in the second half is a lot better than the first half."

If you include Thursday's game, the Braves have scored 24 runs in their four games since the break, all against the Mets. They've also averaged 10.25 hits per game and hit six home runs in their three victories (and one loss) against New York.

"I looked at the schedule and I think we have 35 games in the second half between the Mets, Phillies and the Marlins." said Derek Lowe who pitched in Thursday's 5-3 win.

In what is most likely music to many fantasy owners' ears, Jose Valverde is back from the disabled list and ready to close out games for the Astros. He's thrown in two games since his return and has struck out three batters and hasn't allowed a hit in 1.1 innings of work. It's likely that he'll re-assume the role of closer for the Astros upon their next save opportunity.

Manny Ramirez still gets all of the press in Los Angeles, even when he's not on the field. That's a shame because Jonathan Broxton has become a dominant force on the mound, and one of the games top closers. He's closed out his last eight save opportunities and leads all closers in strikeouts with 53. He also frustrates hitters more than other closers as hitters only have been able to muster a .103 batting average against Broxton.

It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. The Closer Report will give you that info. And if that wasn't good enough, we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.

As you'll see, Heath Bell has taken over the top spot on this edition of The Closer Report. A few big-name, top-of-the-charts closers from years past have fallen off quite a bit. How weird is it to see Brad Lidge near the bottom of the closer rankings and Joe Nathan stuck in the middle?

It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. Each week The Closer Report will give you that information. And if that wasn't good enough we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.

Here's an interesting statistic. Somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent of the closers who are listed as the the team's official closer will not be in that role by the end of the season. It's the case every year. Whether a closer loses his job due to injury or just plain can't get the job done, you're going to learn that you can find saves on the waiver wire throughout the season. You just have to know where to look.

I got my start in this industry at a now-defunct site called The Talented Mr. Roto. The namesake for the site, Matthew Berry, now does his thing over at ESPN. One hard and fast rule he always lived by -- and I'm sure he still does -- was this mantra: Never pay for saves.

It's just as simple as it sounds. If you play in an auction league, let everyone else bid on Francisco Rodriguez. Your money can be better spent elsewhere. If you draft, just find your relievers in the last few rounds. I'm not as hardcore into the theory, but it certainly has merit.

When drafting in fantasy baseball, I often find rankings are a lot less useful than using the tier system. Simply group guys together with others who will perform similarly, and you won't focus on single players. Being frazzled when that single player is taken immediately before your pick is a good way to ruin your draft.

We're definitely not proponents of drafting closers high, but getting the last member of a tier at good value could work in the right situations.

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the ...

Biggest offseason losers. At least that's what pessimists will try and tell you, anyway. The Braves -- and new GM Frank Wren -- seemingly made blunder after blunder in 2009, losing Rafael Furcal at the last minute, whiffing on A.J. Burnett, letting John Smoltz walk and failing to land Jake Peavy. But the reality is that Wren actually did a pretty darn good job assembling a talented squad that can certainly compete in the NL East in 2009. Oh, and they'll provide some nice fantasy value as well.

I won't go over the dead horse that is the injury-riddled Atlanta Braves bullpen. I will, however, point out that Mike Gonzalez is returning tonight for the first time in over a full calendar year, after a lengthy bbq eating stint, to pitch for the Braves.

It seems pretty, pretty likely, given that John Smoltz and Rafael Soriano are both currently disabled, that Gonzo could be the closer until he gets hurt too for the remainder of the season.

'He's throwing good, they say,' said Cox, who envisions using him in key situations late in games from the get-go. 'Hopefully we can count on him for the very end - eighth and ninth. If he's back to his old form, it's a huge plus.'

The news is finally positive for a Braves team that has endured watching Rafael Soriano return to the disabled list this week with the same elbow problems that kept him out for the first two months and John Smoltz's attempt to return as closer end in season-ending shoulder surgery.

See? Gonzo could close out of the gate. Or simply tear his rotator cuff on the first pitch. The latter is the most likely scenario if you have followed the Braves at all this year.

Fantasy Spin: Grab Gonzalez now -- the Braves are somehow still potent despite dealing with tons of injuries, and he could provide nice saves totals, if he can stay healthy. Soriano might still nab the gig when he comes back, but if Gonzo deals immediately, there's no guarantee.

Deep breaths are necessary to ensure the absence of obscenities. That's what the "serenity now" voice in my head keeps telling me as I scramble to withdraw fantasy league trade offers and to keep hitting refresh on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's webpage, hoping they screwed up and John Smoltz really isn't out for the season.

Obviously I know that's all delusion and the longest tenured Brave on the roster (and my favorite baseball player in the history of my reasonably short life, for whatever that's worth) is done for the season and maybe for his career.

The repercussions on this are varying, and while tacking on "vast" to that might be a stretch, for a Braves fan, it is pretty painful to come to the realization of how this season -- which still has a lot of promise -- could quickly be unfolding into a freefalling nightmare.

We are -- to play the schizophrenic optimist here -- just three and a half games back of the surging Phils in the NL East. We have the second best home record in the bigs (despite the worst road record). Our pitching staff has allowed, as Jon Bois points out, the least runs in the bigs, despite being classified, at best, as patchwork. (No offense to the guys who have stepped up this year. Acting like injuries haven't ravaged this staff would be denial though.)

But losing Smoltz changes everything. Maybe I'm insane, but he seems like the string that holds everything together through some combination of talent and leadership. And frankly, I'm blanking terrified that it's all going to really unravel now that he's gone.