Update [2007-4-12 21:5:24 by Eric Hz]: From mlb.com:
"We're not very optimistic about when he will be back," Bell said Thursday afternoon....
Soria, a Rule 5 draft pick who picked up his first professional save Tuesday, would be Bell's choice to close in the series opener against the Orioles on Thursday.
"The way Soria's throwing, we'll probably keep him closer to the end than any of the other two."
So it begins. The second-guessing of moves fantasy players make during the season. A couple days ago, I put in a $5 free agent acquistion budget (FAAB) bid on Kansas City's latest closer-in-waiting Joakim Soria. To make room for him, I needed to waive one of the pitchers on my active roster. The choice came down to Indians' set-up man Roberto Hernandez and Twins SP Ramon Ortiz.
Following last night's complete game win against the Yankees by Ortiz, you add that to my regret and conclude I waived Ortiz. To exacerbate my doubts, another team in my league immediately claimed Ortiz off the waiver wire.
These types of second-guessable decisions should be occurring across all of fantasy baseball because teams must adjust on the fly as new developments occur. Snoozing-and-losing is a very real possibility as major league clubs adjust to the realities of the regular season.
The fantasy gamer must also be willing to adjust their own projections of what they would like to happen during the regular season to what is actually occurring. Not that you have to trade Ryan Howard because he is off to a slow start, but you have to recognize that Henry Owens is the closer despite the oddity of his strikeout totals.
Back to my sense of unease. (I'm no longer bothered by the Reyes decision on draft day so it had to be displaced somewhere.) Today's Kansas City Star reports:
Combine that with this nugget from Buster Olney's morning round-up, and I am feeling better: