Melvin Reportedly Interested in Fuentes

Apr 06, 2009 - Anaheim, California, USA - MLB Baseball - Angel pitcher BRIAN FUENTES #40 gets a high five from catcher JEFF MATHIS #5 after beating the A's 3-0 during a Opening Night baseball game between the Oakland A's and the Los Angeles of Anaheim at Anaheim Stadium on Monday April 6, 2009 in Anaheim. The Los Angeles Angels Beat Oakland A's 3-0 Photo via Newscom

I don’t know how recent the information is, but Jon Heyman has the Brewers as one of a slew of teams interested in Brian Fuentes, the former Rockies and Angels closer.

while #redsox like fuentes, they have company. others w/some interest: tor, tb, colo, sea, minn, pitt, phil, milw, nyy & nym

Judging by the recent signings of Sean Green and Takashi Saito, I don’t doubt that the Brewers were at one time interested in Fuentes. I just don’t know if the team has the space — both on the roster and in the budget — for a guy like Fuentes now. I’m not sure how wise of an investment Fuentes would be, anyway — he’s always been an extreme flyball pitcher, and while he’s played much of his career in Coors Field, he’s typically gotten very lucky with his ERA. He simply hasn’t been very good since leaving Colorado, posting a combined 0.7 fWAR in the past two seasons. The money could simply be better spent elsewhere, assuming it’s even there.

If the Brewers are in fact still pursuing him and they end up signing him, he would be the third or fourth pitcher with “closing experience” in the bullpen, along with John Axford, Saito, and LaTroy Hawkins (although his experiences closing while with the Cubs weren’t exactly positive). This may be a crazy conspiracy theory, but perhaps Melvin is stockpiling former closers so he can swing a deadline deal, trading one of them for midseason help at shortstop or even using a trade to restock the farm system. Who knows — maybe this time he could be on the right side of a Scott Linebrink-type trade.

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