Once again, most of the changes taking place in major league bullpens has little to do with the top relievers in the game. Rather, murky situations have emerged in Cleveland, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay, and trade talks are compromising the jobs of lefties Brian Fuentes and George Sherrill.

There are more questions than answers in Cleveland after manager Eric Wedge removed struggling Joe Borowski from the closer role. Trusted set-up man Rafael Betancourt has already faltered once in ninth-inning duties, which makes Masa Kobayashi the most likely to pick up saves. One or the other will emerge as a more effective option than Borowski. Read more »

When he’s hitting the ball well and spraying line drives around Wrigley Field, the unorthodox swing of Kosuke Fukudome is, well, unoffensive. But, when he is impatient and slumping it is downright ugly. The latter has been the case for much of the Cubs current road trip, causing Lou Piniella and Cubs Nation to strive for the return of Alfonso Soriano.

Fukudome average dropped to .290 after he went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and three left on base in Chicago’s 8-3 loss to the Giants in San Francisco Thursday. His The Cubs are now 2-5 on the road trip and 18-26 overall away from Wrigley Field, and while the struggling Fukudome is certainly not solely to blame for his team’s slide, his limping leadoff production isn’t helping. Read more »

When he’s hitting the ball well and spraying line drives around Wrigley Field, the unorthodox swing of Kosuke Fukudome is, well, unoffensive. But, when he is impatient and slumping it is downright ugly. The latter has been the case for much of the Cubs current road trip, causing Lou Piniella and Cubs Nation to strive for the return of Alfonso Soriano.

Fukudome average dropped to .290 after he went 1-for-4 with a strikeout and three left on base in Chicago’s 8-3 loss to the Giants in San Francisco Thursday. His The Cubs are now 2-5 on the road trip and 18-26 overall away from Wrigley Field, and while the struggling Fukudome is certainly not solely to blame for his team’s slide, his limping leadoff production isn’t helping. Read more »