There have been a few closers and setup guys that haven’t been so successful so far this season. Jorge Julio, the newly acquired closer for the Marlins, has been roughed up really bad. Chris Ray of the Orioles gave up a walk off Grand Slam to A-Rod last week. The Cubs two big set up men, Bob Howry and Scott Eyre, have been horrible this season giving up walks and runs. As I noted in yesterday’s entry, Brad Lidge already lost his spot as closer for the Astros. Octavio Dotel of the Royals, has landed himself back on the DL already. List goes one as well.

On the flipside, Ryan Dempster has been perfect thus far, as has Jonathan Papelbon. The Brewers and Dodgers relievers have been really effective as well. The starting pitchers have generally done their jobs thus far this season; it’s the bullpens that have been giving up a lot of runs.

I’ve gone through the teams, and I’ve compared some stats, and what they are currently doing this season and also how they’ve faired generally in the past. I’ve come up with the top four best setup/closer duos in the league. Please do note that I’m picking specific duos. Some teams have two are three good setup men, but I want that big one-two punch at the end of the game. Some teams like the White Sox have the Flame throwing Corp at the end of their bullpen with several guys that can bring the heat.

1. Scot Shields / Francisco Rodríguez - Los Angeles Angels
These are probably currently the best one-two punch at the end of the bullpen currently. They’ve been strong in the past, and they are continuing to be strong so far this season. Ever since Frankie Rodriguez came up as their closer, they’ve had a lot of good setup guys. Scot Shields has been best out of the group and he’s the only real one left to remain.

2. Derrick Turnbow / Francisco Cordero - Milwaukee Brewers
Derrick Turnbow fell on hard times with the Brewers last year and eventually lost his job after a stellar season as their closer. He was one of the good Angels setup guys a few years ago. Francisco Cordero was closer for the Rangers for a quite a few years, and eventually lost his job last year too, and was eventually traded to the Brewers to fill their vacancy at closer, and finished the season fairly well. So far this season Turnbow has been untouchable. In his 5.0 innings this year he has allowed only 1 hit and struck out 9. Cordero has 3 save with 4.0 innings of work and 7 K’s. It’s looking up for the Brewers this year. I’m tossing them this high because of the promise they are showing this year.

3. Jonathan Broxton / Takashi Saito - Los Angeles Dodgers
The thing to remember about Saito is he’s a 37 year old player only in his sophomore season. He was a rookie last season. Broxton is the closer of the future for the Dodgers. He’s really young, and is well over 9K’s per 9.0 innings in his career so far. He’ll be the Eric Gagne of the future. He’s the exact opposite of Billy Wagner; he’s a huge dude and brings and brings the heat. It’s pretty much a guarantee that you can start covering the field if the Dodgers have a lead and this guy is warming up.

4. Scott Linebrink / Trevor Hoffman - San Diego Padres
Trevor Hoffman has made really good adjustments over his carreer. He cam into the league as a flame thrower, but with age he’s developed one of the best changeups in all baseball. While he’s not overpowering, he’s still getting the job done on a daily basis for the Friars. Linebrink is a solid setup guy, and his name is thrown around quite a bit with trade rumors, because many teams would him to be their setup guy.

5. Brandon Lyon / José Valverde - Arizona Diamondbacks
These two are my dark horses. It’s two really young guys that have closing experience for the Diamondbacks. Valverde fell on hard times last season just like Turnbow, but had a really good start to his closing duties in 2005. He does have a blown save this season, but has since recovered nicely and notched three more saves. When he’s on, he’s hard to hit. Brandon Lyon was the closer in 2005 before he spent the rest of season on the disabled list, paving the way for Valverde. They show a lot of promise, and this is way they snuck in at number 5.

Honorable Mentions:
Akinori Otsuka / Eric Gagne - Texas Rangers
Justin Duchscherer / Huston Street - Oakland A’s