I have had multiple reasons to watch the waiver wire closely this season. Josh Reddick certainly flew off the boards this week with his recent hot hitting… Now that Andy Dirks is getting healthy, there seems to be growing interest in adding him… When there’s a new closer in town, most people will reach out quickly. That is indeed the case regarding Brian Fuentes. He may be injury prone and have the occasional bad game, but he’s a closer just the same… It looks like Rafael Soriano inherited the fireman job for the Yankees. He deserves a flier as well… I wish I had gotten to Allen Craig before everyone else. He is staying productive… If you need to patch up your lineup, AJ Ellis is a good plug-in at catcher right now… Not to mention Ryan Doumit, who is playing outfield while holding on to his backstop eligibility.

Two grand slam homers in a week makes A’s Brandon Inge a definite pick-up candidate right now… There certainly are a lot of closers falling by the wayside this season. Be it physical issues or the mental pressure involved in being a fireman, closing games is indeed a specialty… It’s a huge setback if you own Brett Gardner, as he re-injured his elbow and could miss another couple of weeks because of it… I hate Jose Bautista this season, and I am sure I am not alone. I have to wonder what the hell happened here… I would hate to see Kyle Lohse have injury issues right now. What a nice season he has had so far… OK, guys. It is time for a Lance Berkman sighting tonight. See him while you can.

Mariano Rivera tore his ACL and meniscus, thusly putting an end, most probably, to an otherwise successful, elegant career. Taken early in many drafts this season, expected to have another successful campaign, Rivera leaves his owners stuck for a solution. Yankees manager Joe Girardi will most probably turn to Rafael Soriano or David Robertson as interim solutions to the closer problem. Both should be grabbed up off the waiver wire immediately… Lance Berkman is not ready to come back off the DL, folks. Stand by… Another closer going rapidly down the drain is Cubs’ RP Carlos Marmol. He used to be good, right? Stay tuned for his replacement to be named, but it most probably won’t be Kerry Wood. Who wants to go through that ordeal, huh?