Once again this week we find the closing situations in Major League Baseball to be stable.
 
The big bullpen news wraps around a return from injury.
 
Before we get to that however we look to SF where Brian Wilson closed out Monday’s win to collect his first save of the season. The Giant’s closer, Brad Hennessey had closed out three straight games and was unavailable Tuesday night.
 
Wilson has the chops to close, putting up 9+ K rates in two tours of AAA but control is a major issue.  In his 5 appearances since being recalled Brian has walked 3 in 5 IP (5.4/9).
 
In addition to the Ks, Brian throws GBs and his OBA with the Giants in those 5 innings is .124, after holding opponents to a .199 average in 34.1 AAA innings. He has also pitched 42.1 IP at three levels this year without giving up a HR.
 
Brian is a more prototypical closer than Hennessy and the Giants are starting to groom him for that role. His control has to be addressed however, and it is unlikely that Wilson sees more than a few saves opps before the end of this season. He may very well be solidly in the closing mix for the Giants next year however, if they do not address that issue through a trade or signing.
 
Joel Zumaya was activated off the DL on Monday, and saw some game action on Tuesday against the Tribe. His last appearance before that was May 1 as he fell victim to a Guitar Hero injury to his ring finger.
 
If your league rewards the contributions of non-save, strikeout-collecting set up guys, by all means get him back in. Meanwhile we will all get back to our pool about when Zumaya will supplant Todd Jones as the Tigers closer. Unfortunately, this is a situation of “Never be indispensable in the job you are in. You will never get promoted”.
 
Perhaps this stretch without Zumaya has allowed Leyland to live with the idea that the Tigers can be effective in the set up role without Joel. But even at that there is still the matter of Fernando Rodney.
 
James Hoey, one of the potential long-term replacements for Chris Ray in Baltimore got beat up in last nights Rangers/Orioles debacle, allowing 3 runs in a inning of work, for which the organization should give him a bonus considering what the rest of the bullpen did.
 
The 24-year-old right-hander has posted double-digit K rates in AA and AAA for the past two seasons, including 13.5 K/9 in 18 AA IP this year and 13.67 in 27 AAA IP in 2007. Those are heady numbers.
 
This year he posted a 1.93 BB rate in AA, so he knows where the plate is, but he was up to 3.33 BB/9 in AAA. Since he was promoted on August 10^th he has walked 5 in 9 IP (5.0 oddly enough). Other than his 2007 AA tour, James has posted 3.0+ BB rates everywhere he has pitched. That is an area that needs work.
 
It is hard to imagine why he would be afraid of contact. In AA this year opponents hit .198 off him and in AA he held hitters to a .165 OBA.
 
This TJS alum throws high-end heat, touching 100 at times, and he backs it up with a good but sometime inconsistent slider.
 
Hoey becomes a player in the wake of Chris Ray’s TJS. Again if the Orioles choose not to address the closer situation via trade or free agency this winter, and is Danys Baez doesn’t nail down the role with his extended audition this fall, James Hoey could become a major factor. They will take a look at him the remainder of the year to try and get a handle on what his capabilities are.
 
Alan Embree collected his 16^th save of the year on Wednesday spelling Huston Street who had pitched three straight days. Embree’s performance in that role while Street was out will give the A’s license to do this every now and again as they ease Street through the end of the year.