Will Steve Cishek Find Fantasy Relevance In St Louis?

The St. Louis Cardinals acquired relief pitcher Steve Cishek from the Florida Marlins on Friday to help bolster their bullpen for a playoff push. Cishek lost the closer job to A.J. Ramos earlier this season, making him expendable to the Marlins. The full trade looks like this:

Cishek was 2-6 with a 4.50 ERA and 1.59 WHIP and three saves, all before May 5th. He has struck out 28 batters in 32 innings pitched, but that high WHIP makes him hard to own. That said, Cishek has only given up one earned run in 12.2 innings pitched since returning from his exile to the minor leagues on June 14th.

If you are in a league that counts holds, Cishek could be worth adding since he has pitched well lately, and he will see many more opportunities with the Cardinals than he did with the Marlins. As long as Trevor Rosenthal is the in the picture, saves will be impossible to come by. Kevin Siegrist and his 1.42 ERA will likely get any save opportunity when Rosenthal needs a day off. That makes Cishek only worth owning in leagues that count holds.

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For those of you looking to relief pitchers to help lower your ERA and WHIP and pad your strikeout totals in roto leagues, there are better options. Still, keep an eye on the situation. Cishek wouldn’t be the first to resurrect his career in St. Louis (Kyle Lohse, anyone?).

Kyle Barraclough was a 40th round pick of the Minnesota Twins back in 2011. Barraclough elected not to sign with the Twins, and was a 7th round pick of the Cardinals a year later. He has been working as a closer in the minor leagues.

Barraclough had a 0.60 ERA at high A Palm Beach before being promoted to AA Springfield. He is 2-0 with a 3.28 ERA and eight saves for Springfield. There is a chance that he could get a call up to the majors in September, but he will likely not pitch as a closer. A.J. Ramos has been more than capable in the role. If Barraclough becomes a relevant player in fantasy, it will not be this year.

Stay tuned to Fantasy CPR for all the coverage of the 2015 MLB trade deadline, and the impact it will have on your fantasy teams!

Next: Fantasy Impact Of The Scott Kazmir Trade

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