Braves' ace John Smoltz, who is on the 15-day DL with a severely inflamed biceps tendon and inflammation of the rotator cuff of his right shoulder, appears to be headed to the bullpen upon his return.

Their is no immediate return in sight for the 40-year old right-hander, but it appears whenever he does come back it will be as the team's closer.

"It would be great if he could be out there and be part of that bullpen," Braves' manager Bobby Cox said earlier this week. "It may be easier on that shoulder. I can visualize him locking up a lot of games for us."

The veteran is the only pitcher in baseball history with at least 200 wins and 150 saves, but has been back in the rotation since the start of the '05 seasons and averaged 33 starts per year in that span. Smoltz became the 16th pitcher in MLB history to get to 3,000 strikeouts last month, but clearly age is becoming a factor.

Smoltz was 3-2 with a 2.00 ERA in five starts this year, but only has logged 27 innings in the process. His 36 strikeouts (1.3 K per inning) suggest that he can still get it done, but it appears as if going long into games is a concern.

"I know the success that I've had has confused people, but it's only been five innings at a time, and it was getting harder to do that," Smoltz told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. "Pitching an inning, sitting down, pitching an inning, sitting down was getting tougher as I got to the fourth and fifth inning. I feel like one inning at a time might be a little bit better at this point."

Fantasy owners knew when they nabbed Smoltz that he was a high-risk, high-reward type of player. He provided four dazzling starts in limited action during April, but it is pretty clear that the only way he is going to pitch in '08 and perhaps beyond is as a closer. It remains to be seen if Smoltz will be able to go on back-to-back days and with Rafael Soriano, who is trying to come back from an elbow injury himself, still in the mix his action could be limited even after he returns.  If you were counting on Smoltz for innings you will have to look elsewhere, he's worth stashing on the DL or bench if you can afford to so though as he could prove to be a top 10 closer by time everything is said and done in '08.

As for Soriano he only has value in deeper mixed and NL-only leagues and it's minimal at best.

GetSportsRadio.com: Fantasy Fastball - Let J-Fish help you set your line-up!