Oakland A’s Brian Fuentes Filling in Nicely at Closer

When the Oakland A’s and Billy Beane signed Brian Fuentes this offseason to fill the role of set-up man, the A’s knew they got an All-Star caliber player with closer pedigree. In 2009, he led the major leagues in saves with 48 for the Angels. I’m sure the A’s were plenty glad to be on his side now. What made this signing even more important was that the A’s current All-Star closer, Andrew Bailey, landed on the DL before the season started. This thrust Fuentes into the role as the team’s closer. Since his rough first outing in his first game where he gave up a couple of runs and earned a loss, Fuentes has been fabulous. He has five saves in five opportunities and has posted a 2.70 ERA (much of that was ballooned by his first appearance). And with the A’s offense being a anemic as it has been so far, every win but one has been saved by Brian Fuentes who has been the MVP of the season so far.