Generally, there are three main things fantasy baseball owners start looking for once all the big studs are off the board: cheap home runs, cheap steals and cheap saves.
Saves are oftentimes the hardest thing to come by.
Closers are finicky creatures, and there are only three or four guys that you know you can rely on in a given year. With everyone else, it's a total crap shoot.
I recommend picking up at least one reliable guy (i.e. Mariano Rivera, Heath Bell, Jonathan Papelbon, etc.), but there are five intriguing closer options that are going to be overlooked once the draft starts to get into every-man-for-himself territory.
The guys listed below aren't complete unknowns, mind you, but we know two key things about them.
First, we know they're going to close.
Second, we know nobody's going to be in a hurry to draft any of them.
Rafael Betancourt, Colorado Rockies
Rafael Betancourt has never been used as a full-time closer, but the Rockies are planning on changing that this year.
When Betancourt re-upped with the Rockies earlier this offseason, he did so with the understanding that he will be cleaning up in the ninth.
"I treat it the same whether it's the seventh, eighth or ninth," Betancourt said, according to the Associated Press. "It's fun because now I just have to get three outs for the team to have a chance to win the game."
Betancourt has closer's stuff. His fastball is fast enough, and it's a tough pitch to hit because of Betancourt's delivery.
It's subtly deceptive.
The best thing about Betancourt is that he's not going to walk anybody. He had just eight walks in 62 innings in 2011, and he had just eight walks in 62 innings in 2010. Low walk totals have become par for the course.
Hopefully, so will high save totals.
Javy Guerra, Los Angeles Dodgers
Javy Guerra stepped in and saved 21 games for the Dodgers last season after Jonathan Broxton lost the closer's job due to injuries and ineffectiveness.
Guerra did quite well overall, posting a 2.31 ERA and a WHIP of 1.18. He struck out 38 batters in 46.2 innings.
Guerra is not a stone-cold lock to be LA's closer, but ESPN's Buster Olney tweeted on Monday that Guerra is the frontrunner. It helps that he has experience closing games, which is something that should not be underestimated in any closer search.
The Dodgers may not win many games this season, but there will be opportunities for Guerra.
The Dodgers are not going get great starting pitching, nor are they going to score a ton of runs.
Kyle Farnsworth, Tampa Bay Rays
There were surprisingly few save opportunities to go around for the Rays in 2011, but Kyle Farnsworth did pretty well when he was trusted with nailing down a win.
He converted 25 of 31 save chances.
I won't deny that Farnsworth is the shakiest option on this list. He's been trusted with closer duties before, and it's saying something that he just reached a career-high of 25 after more than a dozen big-league seasons.
He just hasn't been cut out for the ninth inning.
But Farnsworth still has an electric fastball to go along with a nasty slider, so it won't be his stuff that knocks him from the closer's role in Tampa Bay.
It's going to be his job to lose, and the opportunities will be there.
Jason Motte, St. Louis Cardinals
Courtesy of Kary Booher of the Springfield News-Leader, we know that new Cardinals manager Mike Matheny has endorsed Jason Motte to be his closer.
Makes sense.
Motte has an explosive fastball, and we last saw him locking down five saves during the Cardinals' run to the World Series.
He had only nine in the regular season.
Motte has the ability to dominate as a closer. He's typically good for a strikeout every inning, and he posted an impressive WHIP of 0.96 in 2011. Not many hitters got the better of Motte.
Ideally, that will translate to a bunch of saves.
Sergio Santos, Toronto Blue Jays
Very quietly, Sergio Santos saved 30 games for the Chicago White Sox in 2011. The Blue Jays clearly liked what they saw.
The Jays had a bit of an issue closing out games in 2011.
They blew a total of 25 saves, tying the Los Angeles Angels for the most in the American League. The opportunities were there, but they just didn't have anybody who could get the job done on a consistent basis.
They're hoping that Santos will be that guy. If he is, Santos could very well push the 40-save mark.
Don't let somebody else in your league end up with him.
Mike Stanton Josh Bailey Mark Eaton Trent Hunter Andy Hilbert Bruno Gervais
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