Closing Time for Farnsworth

Eric Karabell assumes the Tigers will name Kyle Farnsworth their closer. You know what you do to "u" amd me when you assume. That closer role didn't work for Farnsworth in Detroit once before, and there are those who believe he's only a setup man.

Fantasy Impact: Believe both stories. Farnsworth is probably going to get a shot as Tigers' closer. Don't, however, have a whole lot of faith in him. Maybe he's matured over the last few years, but he floats through portions of seasons. Closers don't do that. They perform at a high level nine times out of ten.

Catching hinges on Inge

The Tigers will make Bradon Inge their starting catcher in the wake of Ivan Rodriguez going to the Yankees for Kyle Farnsworth.

"Brandon Inge is ready to tackle being the everyday catcher. He gives us a quality chance to win on a day-in, day-out basis and this allows us to address the one area of our club that needs to be addressed the most, which is our bullpen,” general manager Dave Dombrowski explained. He also said Inge will be the No. 1 catcher next season.

Fantasy Impact: Inge's fantasy value improves only because he'll be getting more regular at bats. He's a better power option than most catchers, but his .227 batting average is bad no matter where he's playing.

Pudge for Farnsworth

No Jorge Posada, no problem. The Yankees acquired Ivan Rodriguez from Detroit for Kyle Farnsworth.The move certainly helps New York, but Farnsworth's addition in Detroit is interesting. If Fernando Rodney and Joel Zumaya can't hold down closing duties, the Tigers would have the option of going to Farnsworth or back to Todd Jones.

Fantasy Impact: Gut feeling? The Tigers will give Rodney, Zumaya (if he's healthy) and Farnsworth opportunities to close. Jones will be the fall-back option if nobody wins the job. He's at least experienced, and only blew three saves this year, even if he was erratic.

Bombers blast O's

Bobby Abreu is having a good week today. The Yankees' outfielder is 3-3 with four runs scored and two home runs. He's knocked in four RBI as the Yankees pour it on Baltimore, leading 13-2 in the seventh. Alex Rodriguez also homered, hitting his 23rd.

Joba Chamberlain worked six innings, striking out six, and is in line for his fourth win.

Fantasy Impact: Abreu is on pace to hit more homers this year than last (13 now vs. 16 in 2007) but steal fewer bases (13 now vs. 25 in '07) and score fewer runs (63 now vs. 123 in '07). He's a nice all-around outfielder. Chamberlain is emerging as a staff ace, and could become more of one as he gets stretched out as a starter.

Stern recommendation

NBA commissioner David Stern is pumping Mark Cuban to MLB.

Stern has fined the Mavericks' owner more than $1 million for ciriticizing referees. But when Stern was asked by Bloomberg News what he would tell Major League Baseball owners about Cuban, the league boss replied in an e-mail: "They should welcome him."

I like the first comment made after the post, because I had a similar reaction. Does Stern really want Cuban around in the NBA? Is this a backhanded attempt to move Cuban on to divergent interests?

Either way, Cuban looks like a serious contender for purchasing the Cubs.

Jose, can you see?

ESPN reports that Jose Guillen wants out of Kansas City because of manager Eric Hillman, and ESPN reports that Jose Guillen doesn't want out of Kansas City whatsoever.

"Guillen and Hillman are not on speaking terms, they don't talk," said the source. "Guillen is definitely not happy, he's not comfortable and he would do anything he can in economic terms to ease his way out of Kansas City."

Guillen, however, denied he wants out.

"This is completely catching me by surprise," Guillen told The Kansas City Star. "This isn't coming from me. Trey and I are fine right now, and I've never said I wanted out of Kansas City.

"This is the team that is paying me a lot of money, and this is where I want to be. I don't know where all of this stuff is coming from. I hate to be put in this situation, and now I look like a bad guy again."

This strikes me as irresponsible journalism. ESPN reporter Enrique Rojas takes information from a "source" and then asks Guillen about the information. Guillen denies the matter, and Royals general manager Dayton Moore knows nothing of any unhappiness between Guillen and Hillman. So what does ESPN do? ESPN goes ahead and runs a story based on source information which is refuted by the athlete. You run source info when nobody is talking, not when the source, Jose Guillen is telling you the opposite is true. If anything there is no story here, and ESPN should've realized that.

Guillen's been disgruntled before, but he's new to KC, and like he says, he's making good money. Is this digging up dirt just for the sake of digging? If I'm Guillen, I'm peeved about this story and rightly so.

Northsiders consider Ibanez

Ken Rosenthal has the Cubs now interested in Raul Ibanez.

At the moment, the Cubs are set in the outfield with Alfonso Soriano in left, Jim Edmonds and Reed Johnson in center and Kosuke Fukudome in center and right, with center fielder Felix Pie hot at Class AAA.

The addition of Ibanez would force Fukudome to center full-time, leaving the Cubs with below-average defenders, Soriano and Ibanez, in left and right. It also would reduce the playing time of Edmonds and Johnson, both of whom have been productive.

Not sure this makes the Cubs very good defensively in the outfield, but Ibanez' bat is better than Edmonds.