Fantasy Baseball Fallout: Francisco Rodriguez to the Milwaukee Brewers

Now that we have had some time to digest the first big trade of the baseball season, it’s time to take a look at the fantasy fallout from the Francisco Rodriguez trade. 

Hurt: Francisco Rodriguez/John Axford

It was originally believed that Rodriguez, because of his games-finished clause in his contract, would set up Axford.

However, Brewers manager Ron Roenicke indicated to MLB.com’s Adam McCalvy that Axford and K-Rod would be sharing saves moving forward.

I am not sure how that is going to work between the two, but if this is the case, then it’s a fantasy killer to Axford owners. Anytime relievers on a team have to share saves and fantasy owners have to play closer roulette, it’s not a good situation.

If you have the roster space, hold on to both relievers just in case:

A. Roenicke changes his mind and goes with the one closer approach, or if

B. One of them gets hurt.

Helped: Bobby Parnell

There’s only one Mets reliever who has the stuff to close, and that is Parnell. Jason Isringhausen, of course, had closer experience and the stuff to close back in the day, but those days for him are long gone.

There’s also a strong possibility as well that Isringhausen could get traded.

Parnell is striking out a career-high 10.9 batters per nine innings and his fastball is back up over 96 mph on average. Parnell has also developed his slider, which is now a plus pitch for him.

If anything, the Mets might let Isringhausen close some games early on to help increase his trade value, but Parnell is the better long-term play here.