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One of the guys i stayed away from this season with a known injury was Fuentes. Back injuries are never good. See Helton, Furcal from last year. (with c.gomez bad back injury news surfacing today, he could be sidelined/ineffective a while).



anyways to fuentes...



The Angels’ new closer Brian Fuentes took his 12.27 spring ERA over to the minor-league side today and pitched two innings in the same game against the Cubs’ Triple-A squad as Kelvim Escobar.



Fuentes’ results were less impressive than Escobar’s, though.



Fuentes faced 10 hitters in two innings, throwing 30 pitches (20 strikes) and retiring just five of them. He allowed a leadoff single in his first inning before retiring the side. In his second inning, though, he gave up two runs on a double and two singles and hit a batter before the inning was ‘rolled over’ with two outs.



Fuentes’ velocity has been an issue at times this spring (perhaps attributable to the back stiffness that shut him down for a week earlier this month). He topped out at 88-89 mph today.

almost forgot...the other player with a known back injury was Carlos Guillen. i avoided him as well.

Mark - you're posting this for me right???



Yeah I took Fuentes - but 10th rd was too good to pass on for a second closer to back up Paps - I do wish I had grabbed Arrendondo - but I did get wheeler and Villenueva for closer depth. But yeah - as a Furcal owner from last year I should've probably stayed away. Time will tell.

nay ryan. i had forgotten you drafted him. i have arrendondo, so i'm very interested in this news. gotta be with Lyon as my 2nd closer

Fuentes has been one of the healthiest relievers in baseball since 2005, but he did miss 65 games with a lower back strain in 2004. He was terrible when he eventually returned from the DL as well.



If he misses time--I am not particularly worried at this point, but you never know--I question whether Arredondo is next in line. Even last September with Arredondo having emerged as an elite reliever, Shields handled the only two non-KRod saves. Arredondo set him up both times and did not register a save with the Angels last season. It may not have been pretty with the ups and downs, but Shields finished with a 2.70 ERA last season and a 2.10 ERA after the break, despite his post-break control issues.



Arredondo may eventually become the 8th-inning guy (Shields is probably the proudest 8th-inning reliever in baseball, though), but when evaluating who would take the ball on April 6th, my money is on the veteran who has done it before, rather than the talented youngster who would be leapfrogging full-time 8th-inning duties to do so.

Originally posted by Fudd:

Which is why I was surprised when Shields went completely unnoticed in the drafts I saw? That should be an interesting situation to watch. sorry. shields is the 8th inning guy. fuentes/arrendondo is the closer order.