Justin Fensterman and Trevor Ray are ready to find out who is the best host on the Fantasy Beat! They discuss the 16 team Mixed 5×5 Head to Head League they are both in and just drafted. Justin and Trevor compare their opening day rosters to see who will have an edge entering the season.
The Baltimore Orioles are, all of a sudden, sporting some viable fantasy options for those of you looking to add a boost to your roster in September. Not only that, the team looks totally reborn under manager Buck Showalter who has led the club to a 20-13 record since he took over managerial duties. “Starting pitching probably is the biggest difference,’ second basemen Brian Roberts said. “I don’t know if you can attribute that to Buck or not.” Maybe it’s all coincidental, but it certainly seems like Buck has pushed all the right buttons. Here are some notes about a few of those Orioles arms that you would be wise to add to your staff down the stretch if you need a little boost.
Brian Matusz is on fire – even if you didn’t notice, and even if you couldn’t pick out his season long stats from a lineup. You can be forgiven for that given that Matusz is 8-12 with a 4.71 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP on the year. However, he has morphed into the pitcher that everyone knew resided in that body despite the early season struggles, you know, the one that AL-only fantasy performers were hoping for when they dropped $10 on him on draft day. After picking up his 8th win on Monday, Matusz is 5-1 over his last seven starts with some sparkling numbers highlighted by a strong 3.33 K/BB mark, a 1.09 WHIP and 2.43 ERA. To compare, Felix Hernandez, an ace if there ever was one, has a 3.48 K/BB mark, a 2.30 ERA an a 1.09 WHIP on the year. I’m clearly not stoned enough to be saying that Matusz is a pitcher on par with the King, but the fact of the matter is that over his last seven starts Brian has been nearly effective as the Mariners’ ace – a shocking statement to make no matter the small sample size.
We don’t have to go very far at all to find another Orioles starting pitcher who has been mighty impressive of late. I know how crazy it is to suggest that there are actually two hurlers in Baltimore that are fantasy must-starts right now, but the fact of the matter is that there are. The second hurler is Jeremy Guthrie who, lo and behold, has once again remade himself into a pitcher to consider in mixed leagues. Guthrie was 3-10 with a 4.77 ERA in the first half looking decidedly like the disappointing hurler from ’09. However, since the All-Star game the guy has looked like a completely different hurler. In addition to turning his won-loss record completely around, he has gone 6-3, Guthrie stopped walking batters to the point that his BB/9 rate dropped to Cliff Lee like levels at 1.51. The lack of free passes has enabled Guthrie to post a wonderful 3.50 K/BB mark in the second half leading to a duo of delightful ratios: 2.51 ERA, 1.00 WHIP. I wouldn’t bet a hundred bucks that he will continue this run through September, but if you need help off waivers there likely aren’t many available who are performing better than Jeremy.
Koji Uehara is the current closer in Baltimore after the early season struggles, an injury, of the man brought into town to do the job – Michael Gonzalez. Alfredo Simon then took over and was far from impressive, and Jim Johnson came down with some arm woes leaving the pen in an almost constant state of turmoil. However, the situation has worked itself out since Showalter took over with Koji asserting himself as the 9th inning option of choice. On Monday he picked up his 7th save of the year as his ratios continue to drop toward the realm of a Mariano Rivera type (Koji has a 2.18 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP). Over the 21 appearances he has made since the All-Star break, Uehara has been a dominating force with 25 strikeouts and a mere walk over 24 innings. It’s really a simple game as he has success because he simply hasn’t beating himself with the free pass. As a result, his WHIP over his last 21 appearances is a superb 0.79, and though his ERA nearly doubles that mark it’s still a stupendous 1.50. As for Gonzalez, he has started to find his groove in a setup role as he has 17 Ks in 15.2 innings since returning from injury while he has produced a 2.87 ERA and a 0.96 WHIP while holding batters to a mere .164 average.
There are more keys to the club’s resurgence as players like Felix Pie, Brian Roberts, Luke Scott and Nick Markakis have done some things, but most of the time when a team is surging it’s because their pitching staff is excelling. That is clearly the case with the Orioles who all of a sudden have a reason to be somewhat optimistic heading to the offseason.
By Ray Flowers
I’m tired, a bit hungry, wondering when/if I will meet the love of my life and generally dealing with an overall malaise as the NFL season gets under way. Now I’m also dealing with a shoulder I strained while lifting weights the other day – I think it was during that grueling set of bench pressing 95 lbs – so yes, I’m in a sad state. Let’s see how that translates to my entry today. I’m betting there will be some biting analysis.
Troy Glaus is now out of action with a sore oblique. Apparently pinch hitting was too much for the guy as Glaus has but three hits in 17 at-bats this season. For a guy who had back-to-back 40-homer seasons in 2000-01, and one who has averaged 34 homers per 550 ABs in his career, this year has been a flippin’ waste of time. Thanks Troy.
Another youngster with a luminous future has been shut down do to workload concerns. Brian Matusz of the Orioles has thrown his last pitch of the season. The 22 year old tossed 157.2 innings this season, deemed by the Orioles as more than enough. Though disappointed, Matusz was still proud that he was able to ascend the minor league ladder to force the club to promote him to the bigs. “It was never in the plan for me to be here this year,” he said. “I’m really proud that I went out and didn’t give them any choice but to bring me up. I really learned a lot and am proud of my progress.” I’m proud of my progress too Brian, but I’m not looking over my shoulder as I’m fairly sure that Fanball won’t shut me down as ownership seems to be operating under the belief that I’ve got the stamina to type articles well into the month of December.
Magglio Ordonez will make $18 million next season – $18,000,000 – when he picks up a handful of plate appearances to trigger next seasons extension. What did he do for that dough? He has hit all of .294, just slightly off his .311 career mark, and his .365 OBP is also barely off his career mark as well (.371). Still, the guy has undershot his OPS by more than .100 points (.769 compared to .883) and with seven home runs and 40 RBI in 401 ABs he will end up with the worst numbers of his career in a season of at least 400-plate appearances. Goodness gracious, the man averaged 24 home runs and 115 RBI the past three years meaning he hasn’t even offered 50 percent of his “normal” production this year, yet he will still make more money next year than the total 2009 salaries of everyone who will read this article in the first hour after it is posted. Only in America, isn’t that what Don King says?
Apparently Jose Valverde is worse off than me right now. He has a 101 degree fever which has him unavailable to pitch leaving closing duties to LaTroy Hawkins. The veteran righty has 11 saves on the season, with four blown ones, and has also picked up 17 holds in what has been a rather fine season.
Delwyn Young was hitting .312 as recently as August 19th. Alas, the man has forgotten how to hit, and no, that isn’t hyperbole I’m using – he literally has forgotten how to hit. Young hasn’t produced a hit in 10 games during which time he is 0-for-24, and going back a bit further he has produced just five hits in 59 at-bats (.085) to drop his overall average down to .268. Think of this: if we quadruple his batting average the past couple weeks, quadruple it, we are left with a batting average of .340 which is still some .021 points behind the NL leading .361 batting average of Hanley Ramirez. That’s a frightening statement to make with Halloween still a month and a half away.
By Ray Flowers
I was glancing at the box scores of some of the “early” games from Thursday and thought I would point out a few of the players that stood out to me for one reason or another. After that, I’ll touch on the worst starting rotation in baseball that can’t get enough of what they are doing so they will be adding a sixth guy into the mix for even more fun.
The Neftali Feliz watch is up to 13 – that is the number of strikeouts he has racked up in 6.2 innings of work this season. Put it this way, Feliz has gotten outs via the strikeout 65% of the time. He also hasn’t walked a single batter on the year.
Just when you were starting to panic a bit that an injury to Dexter Fowler’s knee, combined with the recent hot hitting of Carlos Gonzalez (16-for-38, .421 the past three weeks) might lead to reduction in playing time for Fowler – stop worrying. Fowler had a monster game on Thursday going 4-for-5 with three doubles leading to three runs scored. Lo and behold Fowler is now hitting .271 overall, the highest his average has been since May 25th, as he has hit a scintillating .455 in nine games in August during which time he has scored 10 runs. He still has a lot of room for growth at the dish, but the youngster seems to be grabbing his second wind right now and that is great news for those who have held on to the youngster.
Garret Jones meet regression. Jones blasted an amazing 10 home runs in his first 19 games this season as everyone scrambled to add the next Babe Ruth to their roster. Well, that pace predictably slowed as Jones has gone deep just two times in his last 17 games, but even worse, his average has plummeted. On Thursday Jones was 0-for-4 with the “golden sombrero, aka four strikeouts, to drop his average to a still sold .288. However, it has been a rough ride in August as he is hitting just .239 on the month. All good things come to an end, and it looks like that time is now for Mr. Jones.
I know it’s a total mirage, akin to my ever being able to convince a beautiful woman to keep me around, but did you get a load out of the series that Kevin Kouzmanoff had against the Brewers? The man went 11-for-13, something you probably couldn’t do in your local softball league, as his season long average went up a full .018 points to a respectable .264.
Cliff Lee has won six straight starts and is now 3-0 with a 1.12 ERA and a 0.92 WHIP in three appearances with the Phillies. In those three starts he has also thrown 24 out of 27 innings. You think the Phils are happy with their trade deadline acquisition?
You will be forgiven if you don’t know who Mike Rivera is. Who is he? He is the Brewers’ backup backstop who rarely plays given that he plays behind iron man Jason Kendall. This season has been another disappointing campaign at the dish for Kendall who is hitting just .232 with a sickly .318 OBP and 29 RBI in his 332 ABs this season. As for Rivera, he is hitting just a bit better at .239, but after a two home run, five RBI effort on Thursday he now has one more homer than Kendall (one) and just 18 RBI less despite 265 fewer at-bats. Yeah, pretty striking isn’t it?
I touched on my concern over how pathetic the Orioles rotation is at this point yesterday in Frustration All Around (how upset does that mascot look by the way?). Now comes word that the Orioles will go with a 6-man rotation for the rest of the year, and we all know how successful that has been through the years. Who are those arms? Are you sitting down? Chris Tillman, Brian Matusz, Jeremy Guthrie, David Hernandez and Brad Bergesen. One day we might say we knew them when, but for 2009 that looks like an awfully spotty group of major league hurlers.
By Ray Flowers
The FSWA winner of the Best Baseball Series of 2011, BaseballGuys.com is the only source you will need for your fantasy baseball knowledge. OK, you might need other sources, but BaseballGuys.com should be on your daily list of must reads for the insights an analysis it provides on the world of baseball.
The co-host of The Drive on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Sirius 210, XM 87: M-F at 5-8 PM EDT), Ray has spent years squirreled away studying the inner workings of the fantasy game to the detriment of his personal life. Specializing in baseball, football and hockey, some consider him an expert in all three. Ray's work can also be found as feature writer for: Fantasy Alarm, Rotoinfo, Rotowire and Sports Illustrated.
You can contact Ray through e-mail at fantasyfandom@yahoo(dot)com or on Twitter.
