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Fun with Numbers: Brian Fuentes

Rumors have Brian Fuentes' eventual demise may not be exaggerated.

On the surface, he's been OK since returning from the DL and blowing a save against the Tigers on Apr. 21. In his last three outings, Fuentes is 2-for-2 in save chances, while picking up a win and maintaining a 4:1 K:BB in three scoreless appearances. Perhaps, his recent work has been enough to get the Fernando Rodney owner in your league to cut ties and look elsewhere for save chances. Looking forward, that could be a mistake.

A quick trip to our good friends over at FanGraphs reveals that Fuentes' average fastball velocity is down again this season, averaging just 88.6 mph after sitting at 90.0 last season. Check out his early 2009 velocity here.

It's not completely out of line with how hard he was throwing his fastball to begin last season, but there are plenty of reds flags here with the AFV dipping from 92.0 in 2008 to 90.0 in 2009 and now 88.6. Unless Fuentes begins to rebound into the low-90s within his next few outings, it looks like he's headed for an implosion -- whether its opposing hitters having that extra fraction of a second to pick up the ball from his unusual delivery and tee off on his fastball, or an underlying injury putting him on the DL again.

Even in a 12-team mixed league with a reasonably-sized bench, you may want to consider holding onto Rodney and keeping an eye on how Fuentes fares over the next couple of weeks. The Angels' bullpen is entirely right-handed, so moving Fuentes into a setup role could be a better matchup-based decision for the rest of the season anyway.