Saturday, April 01, 2006

Joey Devine & Chad Orvella

After an off-season of mega-touting, both "future" closers have been sent to the minors.

I was very much surprised by both moves. In Devine's case, it was because he was great this spring and the Braves bullpen is shaky. Those two factors would seem to be good predictors of who makes the roster.

Obviously not.

In Orvella's case, my surprise was based on Orvella's success last season combined with the weakness of the Rays' bullpen. Those two factors would seem to be good predictors of who makes the roster.

Obviously not. Again.

In both cases, each could conceivably be protected, and both could conceivably be recalled prior to league draft's occurring next weekend.

John Thomson has a sore elbow. If he is DL-ed, Devine would be the obvious call-up. If Devine were unprotected, then he'd be in the pool. In this case, $10-$12 seems about right based on his expected closing duties.

Orvella does not have an obvious path on to the roster, but can Dan Micelli really be good for 7 days?

The beneficiary in each bullpen is Oscar Villareal with the Braves and Jesus Colome with the DRays (who I flagged here.)

A handful of dollars on each would not be a waste.

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