Juan Rincon

After being one of the top set-up men in baseball most of this decade, Rincon has struggled the last year and a half and his role for 2008 is in doubt. Rincon posted a 4.13 ERA after the 2006 All-Star break as he dealt with a hamstring injury and came out flat at the start of 2007 with just a 27:16 K:BB ratio in the first half. He had a sore elbow in May, but it's not clear if that was a factor in his disappointing season. All of Rincon's peripheral stats are down as he had slightly fewer strikeouts, nearly doubled his walks and allowed far more home runs. He may wind up in middle relief as Matt Guerrier and Pat Neshek have supplanted him as the primary set-up men to closer Joe Nathan.

Rincon will try to re-gain his job as the primary set-up man after an inconsistent season with the Twins. He started strong with a 2.06 ERA before the break, but a nagging hamstring injury caused him to post a 4.11 ERA in the second half. By the end of the season, he’d fallen to the third or fourth option to set-up Joe Nathan. Still, he struck out almost eight batters per nine innings with good control. If he's over his hamstring issues this spring, he should rebound to become a primary set-up man and post a solid ERA.

Rincon will serve as the primary set-up man for the Twins after a strong but tumultuous season that saw him suspended for performance-enhancing drugs. He continued to strike out more than a batter per inning last season with a strong K/BB ratio (84/30 in 77 innings) and didn't see a dropoff in the second half even after the May drug suspension. While Rincon still maintains his innocence, saying he didn't understand what supplement was given to him while training in Venezuela, the incident wasn't a distraction and didn't impact his performance on the mound. He's still one of the best set-up men in the game and will help a fantasy team's ERA and could add five to 10 wins in relief.

Rincon improved in his second full season in the majors and won an amazing 11 games as the primary set-up man for the Twins. He'll reprise that role in 2005 and there's every reason to believe he'll be just as dominant. Rincon improved his strikeout totals, whiffing 43 more batters in three less innings than the 2003 season with an impressive 106/32 K/BB ratio. While 11 relief wins are a hard total to duplicate, he should win five to 10 games with a few saves.

Rincon emerged as one of the primary setup men for the Twins last season and that role should grow amid the uncertainty of the makeup of the Minnesota bullpen this season. He posted a decent 63:38 K:BB ratio last season, and improved as the season went along. While not a likely candidate for saves, he could win several games and have an ERA that will help your team as a middle reliever.

Rincon got a brief trial with the Twins when they were decimated with injuries and didn't show much. Doesn't figure to get much of a shot at cracking a deep Twins staff.