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Over the past few weeks, I’ve briefly mentioned Santiago Casilla here and once more here. The Oakland A’s reliever is having a fantastic year as he’s got a 0.00 ERA and a 0.69 WHIP in 17.1 innings of work. His strikeout to walk ratio is good at 7.00 (21:3) and he’s got one win and, last night, recorded his first save.

He’s not going to be taking Huston Street’s job, just yet. But now, you have to take notice to Casilla’s fantasy baseball value, as his role has been upgraded to set-up guy and first to fill in for Street when Street needs a breather. This also may give Billy Beane ammunition to pull off one of his favorite moves; trading an established closer for talent and replacing the closer with someone cheaper from within the organization.

Keep an eye on Casilla and the state of the A’s bullpen. I’ve already recommended that you can sign Casilla for help with your ERA and WHIP. Now that he’s getting spot wins and saves he is signable in just about every fantasy format.

Update [5/7/2008 11:12 AM]: Unsung Setup Guy [Fangraphs]