Is there anyone out there that thinks Brian Fuentes is doing his job???
He might have the numbers but he didn't get them by himslef. In fact if it wasn't for the other 8 players on his team he doesn't look so good.
Its his teammates that saved his butt. They are the ones that made him look good.
I say get rid of him. And good riddens to Gary Matthews, (Mr. Happy). Does that guy have any emotion??? He's paid enough.
I just hope they make some good deals and stop trying to mend old injuries. Start fresh with new blood.

No he needs to be just a left handed option. We now need to find a closer. Maybe in house the Angels need to keep their options open.

Jepsen.

I agree, I think in watching this post-season it seemed to demonstrate that Jepsen is getting closer to becoming the full time closer. I peg Fuentes as the set-up man for next season, regardless of the 40+ saves he had this year. Maybe saves are an overrated stat anyway

It could be a two-man closer with both Jepsen and Fuentes.

It would depend on the team Angels are facing in the 9th inning. Jepsen brings the heat and Fuentes the curveballs.

I bet Fuentes wouldn't be a big fan of that role. A closer by committee approach hasn't really worked too well over the course of a season. The Angels tried it in 1993 and that didn't really work too well, until they gave the job to Joe Grahe and finally to Lee Smith.

Why not try to get Huston Street?

It seems to me (without actually looking up his stats) that he used to be great at blowing saves with the A's, or was that only during one season?

Street is becoming increasingly injury prone.

Not a good choice IMO.

No thanks to Street when Jeps is right here already.
He is on he brink of becoming an elite closer. He has everything you want in a closer. Now he just needs to grab that job by the balls and own it.

Just for fun I just checked out Jepsen's second half numbers last year against some of the other closers in the league.

Jepsen's post all star break opponent's OPS was .582.

I took the top 5 saves guys in baseball, and their average opponent's OPS was .602.

Of couse, Fuentes poor .720 is in that group because he racked up all those saves. So what if we look at the numbers without Fuentes included?

The other top 4 saves guys in MLB had an average opponent's OPS of .573.

Jepsen's .582 is right there with the best of them!

Papelbon's was .600, mentioned just because he is so highly celebrated. . .

My overall point is that Jepsen showed he WAS a closer for the whole second half of 2009. They just have to use him like one now.

I think Jepsen has the stuff, and whatever happened to Arredondo? He's got the stuff to be a closer, but is it his mental makeup thats being shaky?

anyways, I think we should develop a closer- but definitely have either Shields close or Jepsen and Arredondo compete for it this next season. Just don't bring Fuentes back in that role.

I said the same thing last year before they signed Fuentes. There were way too many in-house options to think that NONE of them would be as good as Fuentes.
The options last year were: Shields, Arredondo, Bulger, Jepsen. I thought even Oliver could be a closer (at least as good as Fuentes anyway) if needed.

They didn't need Fuentes as a closer last year and they don't need him as a closer this year.
The money is spent, so just be smart enough to use him the right way and don't let that contract mistake get in the way of a player like Jepsen. It should be about wins and losses, and the fact is that Jepsen is just flat out better than Fuentes.

Easy.

Trade for Heath Bell.

Arredondo was the one a lot of people thought would be our closer this year. Then the team went out and signed Fuentes instead. I hope that when they hit spring training the closer spot is up for grabs. Let Shields, Fuentes, Arredondo, Jepsen, And any other pitcher we have compete for the spot.

Nice comparison, however I think that K/9 and K/BB ratio are the best stats to look for in assessing the future performance of a relief pitcher.

Jepson looked pretty good post All Star Break, from looking at his stats his K's seem to be around one per inning which is good but not great and his walks are low enough. It seems like hitters may still be able to start adapting to Jepsen so I would be watchful of that for next year. I still think he'll be good though, I just don't know if he will be 'dominant closer' good.
Arredondo might also be ready for another shot by next season. What about Shields..if he's healthy by then why couldn't he finally have his shot at closing out wins
I'm sure Reagins and co. are looking at these and many other bullpen scenarios. Hopefully they can patch together something successful

I'm all for moving Jepsen into the closer spot and parting ways with fuentes, but you could say the same thing about Frankie last year. 63 saves is a great feat, but it was no coincidence in a year where we won 100 games. The D saved Frankie's butt plenty of times then too. We had plenty more definitive wins this year too...who's to say that Fuentes wouldn't have had 55 saves if the Angels had only been up by 3 in the ninth instead of 4 or 5. The offense this year was pretty unstoppable in July and had they scored a few less runs, we would have seen Brian in there a few more times.