American League

Updated January 19, 2012

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Baltimore Orioles -  The early word has manager Buck Showalter leaning towards Jim Johnson as his closer to begin the season.  Obviously though, nothing is set in stone.  With Kevin Gregg still on the roster, we could see a battle during spring training.  For now, consider it to be Johnson unless you hear otherwise.

Boston Red Sox -  With a few offseason moves the Red Sox will now be turning over ninth inning duties to former A’s closer Andrew Bailey.  But don’t think that the job is a complete lock just yet.  Sure, he’s been tabbed the closer right now, but given his injury history and the fact that the Sox also signed former Astros closer Mark Melancon, the job is far form safe.

Chicago White Sox -  The South Siders are right back to where they were prior to the start of the 2011 season — Matt Thornton is the team’s closer.  He had his struggles with the job last year and lost the gig after just the first month of the season, so be careful.  Both Addison Reed and Jesse Crain could be vultures circling early on.

Cleveland Indians -  Chris Perez did an admirable job as the team’s closer last season and he gets the nod walking back into the season here in 2012.  Both Tony Sipp and Vinnie Pestano did an excellent job providing support and those would be the guys to look at in case the Tribe needed a change from Perez.

Detroit Tigers -  The job was held onto by Jose Valverde for all of last year and he walks in as the Tigers’ closer yet again.  Joaquin Benoit and Octavio Dotel will handle the primary set up duties and one of them, likely Benoit, would take over if needed.

Kansas City Royals -  After all the trade rumors and all the drama, when the dust settled, it was still Joakim Soria closing out games for the Royals.  The rumors will likely persist and the team brought in Jonathan Broxton, but neither is enough for me to waver here.  Soria should be a top candidate for saves again this season.

Los Angels Angels -  Though it was obvious that he was no one’s first choice, in either fantasy or reality, Jordan Walden managed to hold onto the closer’s job for almost the entire season.  He took over in early May and barely looked back, save for a moment or two when he hit a bump in the road.  With only Scott Downs and Hisanori Takahashi as relievers with closing experience in the pen, Walden should walk into the season with the job being his to lose.  How long he holds it could be up to him.  A recent rumor has them looking at Francisco Cordero.

Minnesota Twins -  After all was said and done this offseason, the job still belongs to Matt Capps.  There doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of competition in the bullpen (I have no faith in Glen Perkins or Joel Zumaya), so the leash shoul dbe plenty long this year.  He could end up as a nice pick up in terms of job security.

New York Yankees -   It could be his last season, but Mariano Rivera will begin and end it as the Yankees closer.

Oakland A’s -   With Bailey gone, the job defers to Grant Balfour as of now.  Brian Fuentes should provide an alternative, but as of today the job is Balfour’s to lose.  As always, Joey Devine remains a dark horse, but his health is always a concern.

Seattle Mariners -  Rumors of a trade could have thrown this bullpen into aan eight man free-for-all, but the Mariners decided not to deal Brandon League and leave him entrenched as the team’s closer.  There may be an opportunity for Chance Ruffin to pick up a chance here or there, but that will only come if League falters.

Tampa Bay Rays -  I was as surprised as anyone that Kyle Farnsworth held the job all last season and is walking into 2012 as the team’s closer once again.  The usual suspects – J.P. Howell, Joel Peralta and Jake McGee — will be waitign in the wings once again, but unless Farsworth falters, all of them will remain in set-up roles.

Texas Rangers -  In an effort to move Neftali Feliz into the rotation, the Rangers brought in Joe Nathan this offseason and have him slated to take over ninth inning duties.  They still have both Mike Adams and Kojii Uehara from last year as quality insurance policies, but the job is Nathan’s to lose.

Toronto Blue Jays – So the Jays did a little cleaning up in their pen and have settled on former White Sox, reliever Sergio Santos as their closer.  They have Jason Frasor and Casey Janssen in set up roles, as well as Carlos Villanueva, so there is a back up plan in play, but hopefully Santos does as well as he did in 2011 and holds down the gig all year.