In the midst of a historically bad collapse after a ninety-three win season, the Indians had little choice but to trade veteran closer Bob Wickman for a prospect. Wickman is a free agent at the end of the year, and he just might retire. Even if he doesn't, his odds of returning to Cleveland don't change all that much with a trade to a contender.
The problem for the Indians: choosing a successor. The good news about the Indians bullpen is they throw very hard -- six of the seven relievers on the current roster throw at least in the mid nineties. The bad news is that every one of them is either young, inexperienced, or has failed previously as a closer.
The first shot went to Fausto Carmona, a twenty-two year old rookie. Carmona came into the season as the sixth starter, and got called up almost immediately when CC Sabathia got hurt opening night. Carmona had a strong debut against Detroit, then pitched progressively worse in his next two starts. He continued to start when he was sent back down.
He was back three weeks later to help the beleagured bullpen, and he did a fine job, moving quickly into the setup role. He seemed the logical choice. However, there was some underlying cause for concern, beyond simple youth and the fact that he was relieving for the first time. Even as the setup man, Carmona allowed a lot of baserunners. Maybe he learned that from Wickman. More likely, he was getting a little lucky.
He wasn't so lucky in his first two save chances in Boston. Both times, he appeared to get overly excited and lose command. The result: two blown saves, and quite possibly a blown psyche.
So that sends Eric Wedge back to the drawing board. Next up last night was Jason Davis, another very hard thrower. Davis may well have gotten the call purely because of a strong track record against David Ortiz. Whatever the case may be, he got the job done, though he did allow two hope inspiring fly outs from Ortiz and Manny Ramirez.
Chances are that Wedge will mix and match, at least in the short term. He probably wants to get Carmona another shot somewhere a little friendlier than Fenway, to give him some confidence if nothing else.
He might even try to spot Rafael Betancourt and Guillermo Mota, two hard throwers who have done well as middle relievers over the years, but stumbled badly in their chances to close.
Another option is Fernando Cabrera, who may have provided some false hope late last summer when he produced a deceptively low ERA despite a high WHIP. Coming into the season, he was the closer of the future.
The dark horse is Brian Sikorski, acquired off waivers from the Padres a few weeks back. Sikorski is thirty-one, but he throws hard, with a quirky delivery. In a situation as murky as this one, sometimes you get surprising results. That's how Doug Jones became a top closer almost twenty years ago.
Anyway, this situation certainly needs to be watched from a fantasy perspective, because cheap saves may come from an unlikely source.