FanHouse BrianFuentes

Latest BrianFuentes Stories

MLB Power Rankings: Week 13


MLB Power Rankings: Where MLB FanHouse's editors, writers and bloggers team up to break down the who's who and the what's what in the baseball world.

It's a funny thing, sometimes, to see how Power Rankings shape up over the course of the season. Just like when we started the year, there are a number of teams from one particular division sitting atop the rankings. Of course, there are plenty of surprises -- WHERE DID THE FREAKING GIANTS AND ROCKIES COME FROM?? -- and some other interesting stuff, like the fact that the Mets and Cubs just haven't been that good, which we discussed on the inaugural BaseCast recently.

Relief in Short Supply for Weary Halos

SAN FRANCISCO -- Angels general manager Tony Reagins said the answers for the Angels' uncharacteristic bullpen struggles are "in-house."

Unfortunately for the Angels, one of those answers, maybe the only one, just went on the disabled list.

Kelvim Escobar, who represents the Angels' best hope to settle their tattered bullpen, went on the disabled list on Monday with a recurrence of the shoulder problem that cost him the first two months of the season.

The Angels' company line is that Escobar had only a mild setback, similar to one he had in April, and he'll be ready to go in a week. Since he hasn't pitched since June 6, he's eligible to come off the DL next Monday. When he does, he'll try to get the Angels bullpen righted.

The Closer Report: Heath Bell Shines as Brad Lidge Declines


It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. The Closer Report will give you that info. And if that wasn't good enough, we'll rank the closers
from top to bottom.

As you'll see, Heath Bell has taken over the top spot on this edition of The Closer Report. A few big-name, top-of-the-charts closers from years past have fallen off quite a bit. How weird is it to see Brad Lidge near the bottom of the closer rankings and Joe Nathan stuck in the middle?

The Closer Report: How Secure Is Your Closer's Job?

It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. Each week The Closer Report will give you that information. And if that wasn't good enough we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.

Here's an interesting statistic. Somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent of the closers who are listed as the the team's official closer will not be in that role by the end of the season. It's the case every year. Whether a closer loses his job due to injury or just plain can't get the job done, you're going to learn that you can find saves on the waiver wire throughout the season. You just have to know where to look.

Problems Mounting for Battered Angels

The tragic death of 22-year-old starter Nick Adenhart is definitely going to be the low point of the Los Angeles Angels' season -- at least let's hope they don't have to deal with another death -- but much less significant problems are continuing to plague the defending AL West Champions. Specifically, they can't escape the injury bug.

While John Lackey, Ervin Santana, and Kelvim Escobar try to fight their way back to the mound, Vladimir Guerrero has joined them on the disabled list and Dustin Moseley left Friday night's start after just three innings with an apparent elbow injury -- an elbow which was surgically repaired in 2007.

Back to Business With Angels

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Manager Mike Scioscia had a "normal" session with the media this morning, with little talk of the tragic loss of Nick Adenhart. Instead it was back to the more mundane topics of closers and injured starting pitchers.

Unfortunately, the Angels' big three injured pitchers -- John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar -- are still weeks away from returning.

"We're still looking at May for those guys," Scioscia said. "If we can get them to a plateau, then we can move forward. We've been encouraged by the last couple days."

Escobar, who is still building up his arm strength after last year's shoulder surgery, has pitched in three exhibition games. He had a setback after pitching last Friday in San Diego, but now he's getting ready to get out again in a minor league rehab assignment within the next week. Scioscia said the Angels will not have him skip his rehab assignment and go directly into the rotation to fill the void left by Adenhart.

Huston Street Wins Rockies' Closer Job

In one of the final closer battles to be determined this spring, the Colorado Rockies today announced that Huston Street would be pitching the ninth inning in save situations and Manny Corpas would be his set-up man.

Huston Street, who came to Colorado in the Matt Holliday trade, started the spring slowly as he suffered from a quadriceps problem. But he caught fire of late and has pitched five scoreless innings in his last six pitched. For the spring, Street has a 5.23 ERA in 10.1 innings with four strikeouts and two walks.

Fanhouse Fantasy Draft: Extra Base Knox


We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.

It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.

Here's the Extra Base Knox team:

Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.

Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.

Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.

Fantasy Baseball Preview: The Angels

Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.

Meet the...
Team about to win about 15 less games this season. Teams in their division have closed the gap on the Angels, who are aging in some spots and not yet developed at others. The biggest factor to consider in fantasy is how many less games their starting pitchers will likely win.

Anaheim Must Be Missing an Angel


FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

When the Angels acquired Mark Teixeira last July, it was thought by many to be a bold move by a team not content to simply be 10,000 games ahead of the Rangers in the West and cruising toward the playoffs. Teixeira was supposed to be the player that was going to push them past the Red Sox and on to the World Series.

Whoops.

Featured Writers

Featured Voices