Back Around the Horn

Tyler Walker Closing in San Francisco

It appears that the Giants have settled on Tyler Walker as their replacement for Armando Benitez in the ninth. SFgate.com notes that while Walker had control problems earlier in the year, walking 11 men in his first 14 2/3 innings, he's settled down enough to pick up saves in his last two appearances.

Royals Make it Official - "No One" is their Closer

The Royals finally made it official this week - they have no closer. Ambiorix Burgos has been flat-out rocked in his last three appearances, Jeremy Affeldt is still nursing a strained groin (eww, I need an editor), and fireballers Andrew Sisco and Mike MacDougal haven't stepped up, either. Interim Royals manager Bob Schaefer has used the soft-throwing Mike Wood to close out the Royals two most recent saves, after initially tabbing Burgos and Sisco to start the ninth, and watching them struggle.

Schaefer hinted that MacDougal might get another shot to close, noting that "MacDougal is getting closer to getting his job back. We just need consistency out of him. Last time he came in, got two strikeouts and threw some real quality pitches with command."

Fuentes Closing in Colorado - Tsao May Miss Season

Chin-Hui Tsao is back on the DL with trouble in the same shoulder that sidelined him during April. In fact, there is speculation that he's torn his labrum, which would end his season. For the moment, Brian Fuentes will be the Rockies' closer. He's been tough this season - 2.65 ERA, .170 batting-average against - but his K/9 rate is down in the early going. He has 12 strikeouts in 17 innings, while he's struck out more than a batter per inning during his career.

Still, as we noted during the preseason, Fuentes is the best reliever that the Rocks have. Given an opportunity to close, he could be productive.