FanHouse DavidRiske

The Brewers already shallow bullpen could be taking another hit. David Riske, the 32 year-old right-hander may be forced to undergo surgery. If so, it would be the famous, yet dreaded, Tommy John surgery. Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinal reports that Riske will try to strengthen his elbow in the next month via rehab, but if that doesn't work he'll be going under the knife.

Riske was shut down last September with elbow issues and has only appeared in one game this season before being shut down again. The problems in his elbow sound quite unique.

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.

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Team who could easily end up with the best offense in the National League. The potential firepower of this lineup is mind-boggling. They are going to need it, because the pitching staff has a chance to embarrass itself on a regular basis. They weren't good to begin with, but now Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia have departed.

I've always been one for letting my employer decide when I'm no longer capable of doing my job, but Eric Gagne and Jason Isringhausen apparently feel differently, being "honest" enough to let their managers know they're no longer worthy of the closer role. (Update: Gagne can apparently close again!) Either way, not a lot of confidence. What they did is rare in the sense of being voluntary, but it certainly underlies the basic fantasy notion that saves are easy to come by.

In Milwaukee, if you're looking for saves, you actually love Gagne flip-flopping; Ned Yost will probably go back to the well with him, and you'll have an easier time going after the guy who will probably end up getting the saves. Salomon Torres, Guillermo Mota and David Riske are the official closer by committee. (The reality is they shouldn't have let Francisco Cordero walk, but that's neither here nor there at this point). I've been saying that Riske is my guy since early in the season, but in fairness, he hasn't pitched perfectly. Then again, neither has Torres, so I'm sticking by my guns here and saying Riske ends up with the most saves in the Milwaukee pen this year (unless Yost does something cr-r-r-r-azy and puts Carlos Villanueva in the spot).

The Cardinals end of things appears to be a little more cut and dry, in the sense that Ryan Franklin is the new go-to guy from the bullpen in St. Louis. Russ Springer and Randy Flores are apparently in the mix as well to a degree, but when you look at Springer's walk count -- five! -- since Izzy went down, it's hard to imagine Tony La Russa trusts him. Plus, Franklin is actually locking down the ninth. And the guy you want to grab for your fantasy league.

Mark Reynolds is the current MLB leader in home runs (five) and RBI (12), so he probably deserves some dap. Still, things are getting a bit out of control, no? Recently I have heard a few people say things that seem somewhat overaggressive regarding predictions for Reynolds. Various experts have said that he will hit "40 homers" (heard it on Sportscenter today) and "50 homers" (Matt Williams, via CBSSportsline). Bob Melvin apparently even went so far as to refer to him as a young "Mark McGwire" during batting practice.

Personally, I think it's all a little Gumby-esque (read: stretch, not cheap pizza) for my tastes. And I don't want to be the guy who comes along and tells everyone to ease up. Much less do I want to do something like compare Mark Reynolds to Chris Shelton. Because he's better than that. But I don't think he's going to be 40-50 homers good. Still, that's the type of pub he's getting right now, in this, the second week of the season.

He's absolutely not going to continue on this home run pace (if he does, I'll administer the HGH test myself), which means that his value has peaked right now. Even if he does hit 35 home runs, his average is going to drop significantly (he's at a small-sample-sized .348 right now) as is his OBP (currently .400). Maybe he is "making a jump" this season and will end up with 35 jacks. But by the time you end up moving him, he'll probably have already hit eight of those, which detracts from his value for the future (obviously, right? We all get that, I hope.)

For your fantasy assistance, Always Be Closing will occasionally stop in and take a look at some relief gigs that are worth monitoring, should the current closer falter. Finding saves is a cheap and dirty business. And there are always a few jobs that are murky, especially early in the season. Thinking ahead never hurt anyone.

Milwaukee Brewers -- Currently, Eric Gagne, he of the longest save streak in MLB history and Mitchell Report implications, is the closer. His name is funny for blown saves because it has so many "choke" implications in it. But it's not funny if you're Ned Yost or a fantasy owner dealing with the ERA inflation. The reality is, Gagne has lost something, whether it's an outside boost or an inside-the-head thing; if you witnessed his meltdown against the Cubs, it's obvious. Derrick Turnbow might not be the answer though, because one would think the Brewers wouldn't pay Gagne if they already had him and felt he could close. David Riske is the guy I'd take a cheap run at -- last season in Kansas City he had nearly a 2:1 K:BB ratio and he very quietly hasn't had an ERA over 4.00 since 2003.

This off-season got off to a bad start for the Brewers' bullpen. First Scott Linebrink signed with the White Sox, then Francisco Cordero signed with the division rival Reds. Since then, GM Doug Melvin has been doing everything in his power to strengthen a group that's currently spearheaded by the shaky Derrick Turnbow.

Anyways, the Brewers went out today and inked David Riske to a 3-year/$13 million deal. That strikes me as a pretty solid deal for the Brewers. He's the same age as Linebrink and arguably been better the past couple years, but the Brewers got him for a little less than the White Sox are paying Linebrink. Sounds like advantage: Brewers to me.

They may not be done either. They've talked to the D'Backs about a trade for Jose Valverde, though nothing seems close to happening. They seem to be out of the running for Scott Rolen, which means they're now talking to Tad Iguchi about playing third base and moving Ryan Braun to the outfield. Clearly, the Brewers are not taking this whole "second place" thing sitting down, which is a good thing for anyone that wants to see a competitive NL Central this year.

One of the amazing things about watching the Tigers last season was their ability to turn things around late. I don't remember how many times I saw this team play like zombies for eight innings, and then in the ninth inning come to life and get a win.

It's one of the biggest factors for their American League pennant, and it returned on Sunday afternoon in Kansas City. From the Detroit News:

Through eight innings of their 3-2 victory Sunday afternoon, the Tigers did so little at the plate against the Kansas City Royals it looked like they were going to leave town with two defeats in a ballpark where they won all nine games last year.

They were dead in the water. Scoreless. Until the ninth.

The Tigers came to the plate in the ninth inning down 2-0 and quickly got to work. Magglio Ordoñez led the inning off with a double, and then David Riske walked Carlos Guillen. Ivan Rodriguez then came to the plate, and Riske made a fatal mistake.

"I thought he was going to bunt, so I threw one right down the middle. I was thinking about fielding a bunt and getting the next guy out instead of making a high-quality pitch."

Yeah, Pudge wasn't looking to bunt. Instead he took that first pitch and re-directed it 420 feet over the fence as the Tigers left Kansas City with a 3-2 win.

It was an all too familiar feeling for the Royals, who went 0-9 against the Tigers at home last season but managed to win one game in this series. It was also a reminder to the American League that if you're going to beat the Tigers, you're going to have to fight them tooth and nail for the victory, because they will never quit on themselves.

Octavio Dotel missed all of last season thanks to injury problems, but the Royals took a chance on him this offseason since they needed a closer. Things were working very well for both sides this spring until Dotel started feeling a "pinch" in his left oblique muscle.

The Royals approached the injury with caution, resting Octavio, but after a pregame throwing session on Wednesday he's headed for the disabled list.

Royals closer Octavio Dotel is headed for the disabled list after continuing to feel a pinch in his left oblique Wednesday in a pregame throwing session.

"I'm disappointed," he admitted, "but I don't want to make it worse. I just don't feel real good; not like I want to."

The Royals replaced Dotel by purchasing the contract of right-hander Jason Standridge from Class AAA Omaha. Standridge, 28, was expected to join the club in time for Wednesday's game against the Red Sox at Kauffman Stadium.

"Standridge pitched well enough in spring training to be on our club," manager Buddy Bell said. "He was on his way to Omaha when we stopped him."

In Dotel's place will be setup man David Riske. Riske has only 16 saves in his Major League career, but did close 73 games while in the minors. This is good news for copy writers in Kansas City because they'll be able to use headlines like "Riske Proposition" or "No Riske, No Reward." They love doing things like that.

The good news for KC is that since they were able to back date Dotel's injury, he's eligible to return to action on April 14th.