Rounding the Bases: Bell Blows Another, Street Goes Down

Posted by Howard Bender on 05/05/2012 | 0 Comments

Tags: fantasy baseball, closers, saves Heath Bell, Ozzie Guillen, Steve Cishek, Edward mujica, Huston Street, Andrew Cashner, Brad brach, Luke Gregerson, David Price, Jose Altuve, Henderson Alvarez, Josh Johnson, Chipper Jones

I feel like I’m starting to sound like a broken record here, but you go where the action is, and the action is still in the bullpen.  We spent most of Friday listening to how Mariano Rivera vowed to make it back…at least at some point…and how the White Sox were already putting Chris Sale back in the closer’s role in an effort to keep his sore elbow a little more fresh.  You can pick up yesterday’s column if you want to hear again as to why I think that’s a mistake.  But now we’re back in the bullpens again today as Heath Bell blows yet another save and Huston Street goes down with yet another injury.  Raise your hand if you’ve got waiver priority and need another closer….because here they are…  

It was just Friday morning when Ozzie Guillen was sitting at the table talking to the media, explaining how Heath Bell is still his guy and that he only got the night off the day before because he had pitched on three consecutive days.  We didn’t pay him all that money….blah, blah blah.  Well no sooner did the cartoon bubble with those words disappear above Ozzie’s head and Bell chugged his portly physique out to the mound and proceeded to walk two batters and give up two hits and to let the Padres tie up the game.  Sure the Marlins would eventually win the game, but it was Steve Cishek, the likely heir apparent, who bailed out the team, pitching three strong innings of late-game relief.

If you can get through the grammar issues, Ozzie had this to say after the game:

  "Bell continues to struggle," Guillen said. "We will recheck tomorrow what will be that situation, closing. We've got to do something about it. We can't be waiting any more. Then we'll figure out tomorrow. We might talk to him about it.”

I don’t know about you, but it sounds like Ozzie wants a change.  Cishek is the obvious choice, but having him throw three innings last night then puts the Malrins bullpen in a bind.  If Cishek is the long-term solution, who closes in the short-term?  I’m thinking Edward Mujica, but if you’re going to use up your waiver priority here, then Cishek is the way to go.

In that very same game, the padres had their own little bullpen fiasco when Huston Street summoned trainers from the dugout with an apparent arm injury.  He nailed down the first two outs, but then walked Logan Morrison and was apparently bothered by something.  He looked like he was trying to stretch it out, but then called for some help.  The current diagnosis right now is a right posterior shoulder strain.  I’m not a doctor, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night, so I won’t exactly guess as to what that really means.  But the bottom line is that it’s Huston Street and it’s a shoulder issue and it’s not good.  Andrew Cashner is an immediate pick-up right now.  Luke Gregerson and Brad Brach will remain in set-up roles while Cashner gets a crack at the job.  This is, of course, if Street ends up on the shelf, but again…it’s Street and it’s a shoulder issue.

So go run to your league site real quick and make some roster adjustments if you need bullpen help.  I’ll wait right here.  When you come back, we’ll hit the highlights…

For those that want to continue, let’s hit the highs and lows yesterday.  I thought yesterday was my last day of chaos but I was wrong, so we’re going to have to skip the witty repartee and just list them today.  Cut me some slack, will ya?  Life, you know.  Sometimes it gets in the way.  But don’t worry…you’ve got me all season long and we’re only a month into it.  If you do have a real pressing need to discuss something baseball related or you need to run a trade by someone for an opinion, feel free to send me an email.  The link is at the bottom of the article.

Fantasy Beast of the Day

No, he didn't throw the complete game like the guys below did, but 12 Ks?  Much more valuable than the extra inning in the long run.  Unless of course it's a points league and you get credit for complete games in which case...whoops!  Tough break.  But you got 12 Ks!!

Fantasy Stars

Fantasy Scrubs

You see that?  Josh Johnson?  Uh huh.  Not gonna be a good year.

I’ll be back for Sunday morning coffe.  We’ll talk then…

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Howard Bender has been covering fantasy sports for over ten years on a variety of web sites including his own, The Fantasy Baseball Buzz.  You can follow him on Twitter at @rotobuzzguy or email him at rotobuzzguy@gmail.com.