It
is early September and stability reins in major league
bullpens … Ok, perhaps “stability” is
strong … but there have been no major
structural changes this week.
The
biggest bullpen news of the week may be the fact that
the Red Sox will use Clay
Buchholtz
in relief. This does not affect the end of the Red Sox pen of course,
as Jonathan
Papelbon remains
one of
baseball’s best closers.
The
end of the Texas
bullpen is an ongoing point of discussion in my circles. Regular
readers know
that a group of owners in my league plays on Gamedayritual.com, owning
a team
in one of their leagues. It is a chance for us to work together on
something as
opposed to beating each other’s brains in for 12 months a
year over 5 fantasy
sports leagues.
Our
Barking Dogs own both C.J. Wilson and Joaquin
Benoit and the
question of which pitcher to play is a twice-weekly part of
our team meeting. Benoit closed out the Royals 3-run win last night,
spotting
C.J. Wilson who had a rough go of it his last three outings. Wilson
had worked the night before allowing a run to the Royals before closing
out his
third consecutive save. He had allowed 4 runs in his last three outings
over
four days, pitching 2.1 IP.
I
have said a couple of times in the past that C.J. is
working with the help of a very favorable .252 BHIP% and 78.2% strand
percentage, and that things were going to catch up to him. They
haven’t yet, to
a major degree anyway, as he has converted 11- of -11 chances, but his
last
three outings may have given the Royals the reasons to start working
Benoit
into the mix more. Benoit
is the better reliever of the two, he is right-handed,
and the Royals could preempt a meltdown here by allowing him his earned
share
of the save opps. Benoit is also a prime candidate for the primary job
in ‘08 and
wasting this potential break-in time seems unwise. Joaquin
has had a rough 2.1 IP in September (7.71 ERA but a
.143 OBA) but he is coming off a 3-0-1 August without allowing a run in
16 IP
with 22 Ks. C.J. is getting the opps
right now, but in the end, Benoit is the better bet of the two.
Brad
Lidge’s
balky knee has thrust Chad Qualls
into the closer picture in Houston.
The Astros handed Monday’s save opp to Lidge in the 8th but he left
the
game after an uneventful inning due to his sore knee. Qualls finished
out the
win for his 4th save of
the year. This
injury will probably be a factor in Houston for the
duration as the team is on
record as saying that Lidge will need offseason surgery. If you are in
every-save-counts mode at this point in the year, Qualls may be able to
vulture
two three before end of the month.
Likewise,
Casey
Janssen, who closed
out the Jays win on September 2nd has
emerged as the second option in Toronto.
He finished for Jeremy
Accardo who
had pitched the two previous days. Janssen was hit by a line drive
yesterday
however and was seen limping around Fenway pretty badly after the game.
X-rays
were negative but is seems unlikely that Casey would be available for a
day or
two at a minimum. Nothing
much else to report elsewhere … Akinori
Otsuka says he
will make a decision whether to undergo
offseason surgery on his elbow, probably before the end of the season.
There does
not seem to be a surgical scenario that makes him healthy by spring
training,
meaning that he will likely enter the spring as a free agent. Doctors
have not
gone so far as to recommend surgery so it is unclear what specific
procedures
are within his options. It is more likely he will miss the first half
of 2008.
He was transferred to the 60-day DL yesterday but that does not change
his
eligibility status. He can still pitch after September 15th. Otsuka
could throw some innings before the end of the year, but it remains to
be seen
if they will have fantasy impact … Eric
Gagne
(shoulder tendonitis) will throw a side session today. There is
little chance that he would be available by the end of the week however
… Brett Myers gave up 3
runs in 1.1 IP of
work yesterday to help Tom Gordon
blow an 8-2 Phillies lead. The phrase that keeps running through my
mind is “It
couldn’t happen to a nicer guy.”
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