AL West

There was a serious fantasy fallout with Brian Fuentes being traded to the Minnesota Twins on Friday. One player’s stock soared for the final month of the season and one player’s stock went down.

Let’s take a look at the Fuentes trade from a fantasy perspective.

Baltimore Orioles pitcher Kevin Millwood has suffered through a nightmarish season, yet he still takes the ball every fifth day and gives his best effort. On Saturday night, against the Los Angeles Angels, Millwood's best effort turned into into his best start of the season.

Millwood scattered six hits over eight innings, and No. 9 hitter Josh Bell slammed a two-run homer, giving the Orioles a 5-0 victory over the suddenly punchless Angels.

The Minnesota Twins, not satisfied with having the best bullpen ERA in the American League, went out last night and got themselves another bullpen arm.

It’s time to continue our journey around the league, looking at each team’s closer situation.  

The AL West saw a major change in their closing duties, with Brian Fuentes dealt in a waiver wire deal.  Let’s take a look at their updated situation, as well as the other three teams in the division:

Los Angeles Angels

Closer: Fernando Rodney

The Baltimore Orioles don't have much to play for during the remainder of the 2010 regular season, except for the role of spoiler. They may have just crushed the playoff dreams for the Los Angeles Angels.

Brad Bergesen threw eight stellar innings and Luke Scott provided the lead run with a run scoring single in the sixth, giving the Orioles their fourth straight win over the Angels, 3-1.

This week, I went to my first Angels game in almost two months and for a number of reasons, the trip was surprisingly difficult.

First of all, despite the fact that Los Angeles is listed first in its formal name, the team still resides in Anaheim. It's a fun little town in north Orange County, but it is hardly convenient to me in my suburban home in Temecula.

Over the past 10 games, the Oakland A’s are 7-3 and have scored five or more runs five times. They are averaging four runs per game and have Athletics’ fans wondering where the offense has been all year.

The offensive outburst could be related to the fact that the A’s have had games against Toronto and Cleveland, but nevertheless the offense is a welcome sight for Oakland fans.

The month of August has not been kind to the Los Angeles Angels.

Heading into their weekend series with the Baltimore Orioles, the Angels are 10-12 for the month and losers of seven of their last 10 games.

Traditionally, August is the "make or break" month for teams who are still in contention for the postseason.

Tampa Bay Rays star Carl Crawford talks about his All-Star experience with Torii Hunter in his ear about playing in Anaheim.

Who is the best hitter in Major League Baseball?

Well, that depends on several factors:

Are you asking for the most skilled hitter, or the most valuable?

Do you want a guy who can winning batting titles, or home runs titles?

Should hitting be judged by ability, or by production?

All good questions, and depending on your answers, you might conclude that the best hitter in baseball is Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Ryan Howard, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, or Joey Votto.