Archive for August, 2010

Jay Bruce

Enjoy this one fantasy owners! Jay Bruce crushed three homers as Cincinnati dismantled the Cubs 7-1. Friday night. Bruce’s three bombs all traveled more than 400 feet. Bruce raised his batting average to .270, the highest it has been since July 10. He now has 16 homers and 55 RBI this season, after hitting 21 homers as a rookie and 22 last year. He entered the season with a .240 career batting average.

Bruce batted lead-off for the first time since his rookie year, when he did it 22 times. Second baseman Brandon Phillips, the usual lead-off man, was held out Friday with a wrist injury. He hit three homers for the first time in his career, becoming the 26th player in Reds history to accomplish the feat.

In other fantasy news from Friday…..

• Stephen Strasburg has a significant tear in his ulnar collateral ligament — an injury that is expected to force to the Nationals right-hander to undergo Tommy John surgery. Strasburg is expected to be back at 100 percent in 12-18 months.
• Matt Holliday checked out as OK to play, a night after being removed from the game when he was hit on the left hand by a pitch and went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs.
• Jose Bautista hit one. It was his Major League leading 42nd homer as he went 2-3 with the solo shot.
• Miguel Cabrera hit one. It was his 32nd of the season and he fully remains in the race for AL MVP.
• Dustin Pedroia has had a problem healing his left foot and he plans on getting another CT scan once the team returns to Boston.
• Mike Minor was demoted to the Gulf Coast League, but will make his next start on Tuesday. The move was only made by the Braves to give the Braves another arm in the bullpen.
• Jerry Hairston is sidelined with an elbow strain and will be out ten days.

On Wednesday, I appeared on The Sports Buzz with Julie Buehler and we discussed the Los Angeles Dodgers placing Manny Ramirez on waivers, Stephen Strasburg, and the Padres surge towards an NL West title.

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Jordan Zimmerman

Jordan Zimmermann is coming back for the Nationals just as Stephen Strasburg goes down. It will give Nationals fans and fantasy owners a taste of what 2011 will be like, but just like Nationals fans won’t be printing playoff tickets with Zimmermann’s arrival head to head owners shouldn’t count on Zimmermann to help in fantasy playoffs. He is still fairly young at 24 years old and his numbers from 2009 suggested he was developing. The fact that he is developing and just coming back from Tommy John Surgery gives you two clear cut reasons that Zimmermann is not worth adding. It’s common sense.

Now for keeper leagues and NL Only leagues, he can certainly be useful. He struck out a batter per inning in his MLB and minor league careers before the surgery. In four minor league starts this season, he has an ERA of 1.59 and a WHIP under 1.00. Those numbers are exciting, but I would much rather wait and see than get a Jeff Niemann type start today.

In other fantasy news from Wednesday…..

• The Rockies had one of the best comebacks in recent memory. Carlos Gonzalez had the big hit that tied the game, and if the Rockies can close the gap in the Wild Card race (they have won four in a row) he deserves MVP consideration.
• However, Joey Votto is probably the MVP if the season ended today. He also had the big hit in a game that was just as crazy as the Rockies and Braves game. He has now set career highs in every 5×5 stat.
• Huston Street had saved three straight games for Colorado, so Matt Belisle pitched the 9th, but it is still Street’s job.
• Nick Swisher was in the original lineup for the Yankees, but got scratched when his leg wasn’t up to the task during batting practice.
• Adrian Beltre was thrown out of the night cap of the Red Sox double header against Seattle. Beltre claims that he was talking trash with former teammate Felix Hernandez and the rookie umpire misinterpreted why he was thrown out.
• Adrian Gonzalez hit his 9th home run at Petco this season. He has 17 on the road.
• Brandon Phillips was taken out of the Reds win against the Giants after being hit in the wrist with a pitch. He had x-rays and we’ll see what happens today. It was encouraging that he tried to stay in the game.

Carlos Zambrano

After his best start of the season Tuesday night in a 5-4 victory over the Nationals, Carlos Zambrano left the Cubs and flew back to Venezuela to deal with a family crisis. He had good stuff in a win over the Nationals on Tuesday as he gave up just five hits and one earned run in 7 1/3 innings to improve to 5-6 for the season. Despite pitching with the heavy heart, Zambrano managed to strike out eight. He was able to avoid the wildness that we have seen from him in two of his first three outings upon returning to the rotation.

It appears that the good Zambrano is starting to appear for the Cubs and fantasy owners. In four starts since being returning from the bullpen, Zambrano is 2-0 with a 2.84 ERA. He should be safe to start in all formats when he faces the Pirates in his next outing.

In other fantasy news from Tuesday…..

• Rick Porcello had his best start for the Tigers this season allowing only 2 hits in 7 innings. He also had a game at AAA where he only allowed one hit in 8 innings. Porcello is young, so this season doesn’t paint an accurate picture of what will be, but it is starting to look like he will never develop into a high strikeout pitcher. In my book that makes him virtually undraftable again next season in deep leagues.
• Hanley Ramirez stole two bases off R.A. Dickey. It is a little surprising that Dickey has only had 8 steals against him this year. Dickey had Hanley picked off in the 7th, but the call was blown by the umpire. That would have ended the inning instead Gaby Sanchez hit a three run home run a few pitches later.
• Despite all the success Gio Gonzalez has had in the second half (2.17 ERA, 1.06 WHIP) his K:BB is only 2.5 during that time.
• David Wright looked excellent last night. His triple in the first inning was taken the other way and the replay confirmed that he was turning his wrist at the exact right time to drive the ball. Even in his strikeout, he battled for 8 pitches and made solid contact only to hit the ball foul on a couple occasions. He appeared locked in.
• Ryan Raburn has 16 RBI in his last 18 games and homered again yesterday while hitting behind Cabrera.
• Chris Johnson went 4-6 with an RBI to snap out of a 2-28 slump. Johnson is now hitting .340 with 36 RBI in 60 games with the Astros, but continues to be hitting 6th in the lineup. Yes, Hunter Pence and Carlos Lee can stay where they are, but Jason Michaels is hitting fifth?
• Jorge De La Rosa had three double plays turned behind him. Only one hitter reached second base in the first 6 innings. In the 7th, De La appeared to injure his hand after getting the second out. After that he allowed a hit, a wild pitch, another hit (scoring a run) and finally an out.

Ichiro Suzuki scored his 56th run of the season last night and is now on pace to score only 73 runs for the season. Until last year, Ichiro had scored at least 100 in his first eight big league seasons. His on base percentage has been normal relative to the rest of his career and he has perfect attendance this year, so the problem really comes down to one thing – his teammates. Here are the on base plus slugging numbers of the hitters one through nine of the Mariners on the season courtesy of Baseball Reference:

1st – .755
2nd – .621
3rd – .680
4th – .684
5th – .558
6th – .682
7th – .582
8th – .638
9th – .601

Ichiro should be hitting third based on these numbers. How in the world can a team spend $77 million and have the whole team aside from Ichiro have a lower OPS than Omar Vizquel? What about a number five hitter having a .558 OPS on average this season? The Mariners have some guys in Justin Smoak and Dustin Ackley that should eventually be pretty good, but who knows how much longer Ichiro will be around. His contract runs until 2012, but given that he’s their highest paid player if the M’s have a chance to deal him next year, they probably will. Their team could get better in the offseason, but they have too many holes to compete.

In other fantasy news from Monday…..

• Rich Harden teased the world again yesterday by not allowing a hit in 6.2 innings. The five walks spoiled any hope that Harden had of giving up the hit himself rather than Neftali Feliz. Please don’t pick up Harden. It might seem innocent, but you’ll only get hurt in the end.
• The Braves are treating Mike Minor with kid gloves and are justified in doing so. He will pitch on seven days rest rather than four days rest after striking out twelve in his last outing.
• Edinson Volquez looked awful against the Giants in 0.2 innings. He walked the first batter of the game and couldn’t settle down after Buster Posey had a swinging bat in the second at-bat of the game. After that at-bat everything hit off of Volquez was hit well.
• Johnny Damon appears more likely to stay in Detroit, but let’s see what he says now that he has slept on the possibility of a return to the place that made him famous.
• Jose Bautista has a chance of hitting 50 home runs for the season. If he keeps hitting them at the pace he has all season, he will get there. Playing the Yankees more will help – Bautista has 6 home runs in 37 at-bats against the defending champs.
• Orlando Cabrera keeps getting his return to the Cincinnati lineup pushed back. He will most likely return on Friday.
• Scott Kazmir faced his former team last night and didn’t do all that well. Interesting story about why Kazmir is no longer with the Rays on Rays Index.

Barry Enright

Barry Enright did his usual thing Saturday night – 6 2/3 innings, one run – as he out dueled Ubaldo Jimenez in the Diamondbacks 3-1 win over Colorado. Ten starts into his big-league career, Enright has a 2.73 ERA. Not bad for a guy most scouts had pegged as a No. 5 starter at best. Enright improved to 4-2 for the season and continued his streak of not allowing more than 3 runs in any of his ten starts. Enright has only 35 strikeouts in 59.1 innings, and what is more alarming is the high walk numbers that accompany them. He has issued 50 walks in those 59.1 innings – which is concerning trend. But, he remains a solid option in NL-Only leagues at this time.

In other fantasy news from Saturday…..

• Stephen Strasburg was rolling and then he felt something in his arm, and his night was done. It could be his season too, but time will tell.
• Koji Uehara got the first save of his career yesterday, and has an excellent chance to be a top ten quality closer from here on out assuming Buck Showalter stays with the hot hand.
• Ryan Howard was back for the Phillies in a bit of a surprising move since he had only one rehab game. He had a hit off Strasburg and almost homered in his last at-bat.
• Carlos Gonzalez made his first appearance in a game since making a spectacular catch against the wall on Wednesday. He pinch hit in the 7th inning and worked a walk.
• Russell Branyan has 3 homers in his last 10 at-bats, and 5 in the last week. It will be hard for that to continue today since Branyan is 1 for 10 with 6 strikeouts against C.C. Sabathia.
• Jim Leyland says it is unlikely that Magglio Ordonez will play again this season.
• Tim Lincecum’s line last night didn’t look good, but his game was a lot better than that line showed. Lincecum had two walks – one to Matt Holliday in which replays confirmed Holliday looked at strike 3, but the pitch was ruled a ball. Lincecum also wasn’t helped when Buster Posey threw a ball to center field when Albert Pujols stole second. Pujols eventually scored when the infield was drawn in on a ball that probably wouldn’t have scored him if he was on second and the infield was at normal depth.
• Matt Holliday has not hit a home run since July 28th against the Mets. And, he has only one game in August with more than one RBI in a game. We won’t call it a slump, but fantasy owners expect more production from him.
• Orlando Cabrera is feeling well and should be back on Monday for the Reds.
• Aramis Ramirez’ average, homers, and RBIs in his last 18 games against the Atlanta Braves are huge – .437-5-16.
• John Axford is 7 for 7 when he needs to get three more outs for a save this season. He is tied with Brian Wilson for the most saves of more than three outs.

Ted Lilly

In his first start with the Dodgers, Ted Lilly retired 20 Padres in a row. Last night he retired 19 in a row against the Rockies. He has made four starts since joining the Dodgers and all of them have been quality starts and have resulted in four wins. The most important stat to look at with Lilly has been the number of 1-2-3 innings he has produced over the four starts. He has 15 of them in 25 innings.

The Angels made the move to add Dan Haren, the Rangers added Cliff Lee, and the Phillies added Roy Oswalt. None of them have done what Ted Lilly has done for the Dodgers. Oswalt and Haren haven’t come close to what Lilly has been able to do. Lee has 30 1-2-3 innings in 8 starts with his newest team, and has perhaps been more valuable from a pure baseball standpoint with the innings he has given a bullpen that is on the edge of being overworked this year. Nonetheless, Lee’s record is just 2-3 and he has only had a quality start in four of the eight starts he has made. Could life be different if Lee was dealt to an NL team in a pitcher’s park? Sure, but he wasn’t and as a result Lilly has been the best fantasy pitcher traded this season. And while I wouldn’t trade Lee for Lilly straight up, the way Lilly is pitching right now I would trade almost any other pitcher.

In other fantasy news from Thursday…..

• Mat Latos struck out a career high 10 yesterday. The Padres have slowed him down between starts to try to preserve him this year knowing that he could be pitching well into October. He only needed 91 pitches to get the 10 strikeouts.
• John Lannan went 5 1/3 innings, giving up two earned runs on seven hits and striking out five in a win over the Braves. He is now 3-0 since returning from
• Paul Konerko is having the best year of his career at 34. He went 5 for 5 yesterday and hit his 31st home run.
• Josh Willingham is officially done for the season.
• Ryan Howard will officially begin his rehab assignment today and is expected back with the Phillies on Monday.
• Josh Beckett gave up 6 earned in 6.1 innings. A third consecutive awful start.
• Jose Tabata has hit safely in 23 of his last 28 games. In 60 games with the Pirates, Tabata is batting an even .300 with 37 runs scored and 12 stolen bases.
• Jonathan Sanchez threw eight innings of one-run ball  to a victory in Philadelphia. Sanchez allowed just two hits, two walks, and striking out seven.

On Wednesday, I joined Julie Buehler on The Sports Buzz and we discussed the San Diego Padres success in 201o. We also discussed the Angels, Dodgers, and Padres first round draft picks and the situation with Francisco Rodriguez (KROD) contract situation with the Mets.

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Mike Minor

Mike Minor worked six strong innings for the win in his second big league start vs. the Nationals on Tuesday. Minor gave up five hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts. It was an impressive showing from Minor, who in two starts since being promoted from Triple-A Gwinnett, the 22-year-old has posted a 3.75 ERA while walking only three in 12 innings.

When the Braves announced that Kris Medlen will be out for the next twelve months with Tommy John surgery, Minor was given the rotation spot. It is his spot to lose moving forward, but to this point all Minor has done is prove that he deserves it. Fantasy owners in NL-Only leagues and deep mixed leagues needing to fill out their rotations should consider Minor, who’s set to face the Cubs at Wrigley Field in his next start.

In other fantasy news from Tuesday…..

• Martin Prado returned to the Braves lineup and did not look like he had any rust. Prado had three hits and two RBI and scored three runs after missing two weeks with a fracture in his pinky finger.
• Clay Buchholz threw seven shut out innings for Boston and improved his AL best ERA to 2.36.
• Tommy Hunter has lasted only 3 innings in 3 of his last 4 starts. Yesterday he gave up three extra base hits, but no home runs. Overall in this stretch he has allowed six home runs.
• Mike Leake is out of the Reds rotation. Travis Wood is in.
• Dustin Pedroia and Chase Utley returned to action. Neither had a hit in their first game back. Both are vital to their teams and will get it going soon enough.
• Pat Burrell hit one. In his first game back in Philadelphia, he hit his 4th home run in the last six games.
• Jon Garland threw seven shutout innings against the Cubs. He gave up just four hits and walked three. In his last two outings, Garland has thrown 13 IP and given up just four hits and no runs.

Hisanori Takahasi

Hisanori Takahashi retired the Astros 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 9th for the first save of his career. Francisco Rodriguez is expected to miss the rest of the year, so if you are desperate for saves, Takahashi is one to acquire. He has been used as a middle reliever and a starter already in 2010, and is now apparently will take over for Francisco Rodriguez for the rest of this season. Mets manager Jerry Manuel may not use Takahasi every night, but Pedro Feliciano and Bobby Parnell are not trustworthy.

The season of unusual season-ending injuries which includes Chris Coghlan and Kendry Morales, K-Rod has his season cut short as a result of punching his father-in-law. As a result, the Mets might try to void K-Rods option in 2012, but the chances of that happening are slim.

In other fantasy news from Monday…..

• Hong Chih-Kuo has been brilliant in the Dodgers bullpen all season, but not Monday night. Kuo pitched a perfect 8th inning and Dodgers manager Joe Torre called on him for the ninth inning since he threw only 9 pitches in the eighth inning. Kuo blew up in the ninth and Octavio Dotel was unable to put out the fire as the Braves rallied for three runs to win 4-3. Kuo and Dotel blew a stellar performance by Chad Billingsley who gave up five hits and one earned run with eight strikeouts over seven innings.
• James McDonald improved his record to 2-1 in three starts with the Pirates since being traded to Pittsburgh. He had it all working in a win over the Marlins. McDonald surrendered three hits and one earned run with six Ks over seven innings.
• Jose Bautista hit one. It was his 37th for the season and he leads all the majors in home runs.
• Jose Guillen will be the everyday right fielder for the Giants. With the addition of Guillen, Aubrey Huff will move to first base.
• The Braves will likely call up Freddie Freeman by September 1st.