Friday, May 7, 2010

Wood returns, but for how long?

Kerry Wood returns to the Cleveland Indians as the team's closer and is officially rumored as trade bait by USA Today. This significantly devalues Chris Perez, who now resumes his role as Wood's primary setup man.

Fantasy Impact: A trade would be good for Wood, who doesn't look to get many save chances for the Indians. A trade would also be good for Perez, who would finally get his shot to close games at the MLB level full-time.

Corpas heads Rockies relief corp

Manny Corpas officially gets the nod as Rockies interim closer over other options including Franklin Morales. This wasn't unexpected considering Corpas' success this season, which includes a 1.66 ERA and 0.88 WHIP. That's great, but Corpas has given up runs in two of his last three outings. He's also not your prototypical closer with career 1.31 WHIP and 6.4 K/9 numbers. His 2010 strikeout total (6.6 K/9) is right on pace with typical Corpas numbers. Remember, this is a guy who both won and lost the Rockies closer job two years ago. He'll be counted on only as long as he is effective.

Fantasy Impact: Huston Street, the Rockies regular closer, is expected back at the MLB level within the next two weeks. Corpas is worth the add, certainly, but he's always a risk to struggle.