Daily Joust – Wk 10: Did We Learn Anything?

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GAINERS OF THE WEEK

Clay Buchholz (+112, $339,000 in Daily JoustSalary)
He’s got a 5.77 ERA and 1.58 WHIP, and the last time he was worth anything in the fantasy game was 2010. Still, the seeds of improvement are here. Over his last three starts he has allowed four runs and four of the last five times out he’s allowed two or fewer runs. A big key? He’s reigned in the walks with only four in his last three starts. Still, I’m not a huge fan. I just don’t like his overall game.

Jonny Gomes (+24, $79K)
The guy has power. He has five homers this year in 107 at-bats, and dating back to last season he has gone deep 19 times in 418 at-bats. At the same time he has hit .211 in that time – he’s hitting .215 this year – though he does have a rather impressive .333 OBP given his lowly average. He’s nothing more than a depth option in AL-only leagues since he’s really not a very good hitter against right-handed pitching.

Ian Kennedy (+97, $329K)
Kennedy has allowed a total of one run in his last two starts as he’s racked up 19 Ks in just 13.2 innings. Kennedy was never going to match his performance from last year (21-4 record). Wasn’t gonna happen. Still, his K/9 rate of 8.44 is up from last season (8.03) while his BB/9 rate is the same at 2.26. Honestly though, he’s pitched pretty similar to what he offered last year (xFIP was 3.50 last year, this year it’s 3.86).

Miguel Montero (+19, $84K)
Montero has two homers and seven RBI over his last five games signaling that perhaps he is finally on the cusp of returning to the hitter everyone thought they were drafting this year. A season after hitting .282 with 18 homers and 86 RBI, Montero’s power is way down (four HR) while his average is also lagging (.249). I still believe he could be the hitter he was last year the rest of the way. Time will tell.

Wei-Yin Chen (+89, $264K)
He’s pitched well in his first 11 big league starts with a 3.49 ERA and 1.30 WHIP. Still, his K/BB is 2.32. His GB/FB is 0.90. His BABIP is .283. His HR/9 is 0.94. The end result? That’s a whole lot of league average numbers isn’t it?

LOSERS OF THE WEEK

Dexter Fowler (-25, $91K)
Hitting .281 with a .382 OBP, people are starting to get a wee bit nervous with Fowler after 9-games without a homer and nine Ks in his last four games. Perspective people. Has he been cold for a week? For sure. Was he insanely hot the week before? You know this. He’s on pace for a 20 homers, 75 RBI, 90 run, 15 SB season. Hold fast.

Mike Moustakas (-19, $75K)
Hitting .273 with a .336 OBP, Moose has been solid but not great. The nine homers and 28 RBI put him on pace to be a top level option at third base in the power department, but he’s also hit only one homer in 10 games, and in 54 at-bats against lefties he has a .583 OPS. Still has a ways to go, but a solid start.

Ivan Nova (-74, $219K)
He’s 8-2 and he has a rather amazing, for him, 69 Ks in 77.2 innings (his 8.00 K/9 mark is more than two an a half batters above his career rate entering the year). He’s also allowed just one run in 15 innings over his last two starts. At the same time he’s got a 4.64 ERA and 1.42 WHIP and he’s allowed five or more earned runs in five of his last nine starts and his ground ball rate is on the decline (52 percent his first two seasons down to 47 percent). Tread carefully.

Bud Norris (-49, $182K)
On May 25th Norris had a 3.14 ERA. Now? That number is 4.65 as he has been blown up for 16 runs over his last three starts (12.1 innings). Obviously he’s struggling to get batters out at the moment, but he’s also struck out 18 batters in that time so he’s still providing some value. He’s likely not a 3.14 ERA guy, but I also don’t think he’s a 4.65 guy either.

Buster Posey (-20, $75K)
Hitting .290 with a .810 OPS, Posey is just about back to the hitter he was in 2010 when he took the Bay Area by storm. Still, that’s if we look at his overall game because after hitting .353 in April he’s hit a mere .256. He’s a legit .290 hitter though, so don’t expect his average to fall much further.

DAILY CONTEST

Today you can sign up for the King Arthur’s $50 Free Roll on DailyJoust. No entry free is required to get a chance to play the game and earn your free chance to take home part of the $50 prize pool. All games that start at 7:05 PM EDT or later are open to add players to your daily fantasy baseball squad. So get over to DailyJoust, put together your one day lineup, and get ready to win some free $.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: May29, 2012

(1) Can Will Middlebrooks keep up that batting average given his approach?

(2) Eric Thames sent down, who takes over in Blue Jays OF?

(3) Gregor Blanco establishes himself as Giants leadoff hitter.

(4) Dexter Fowler has huge night, been impressive for a long while now.

(5) Jonathan Lucroy out 4-6 weeks with broken hand.

(6) Bryan LaHair continues to slump (people are bailing on him over at Fealflicker).

(7) Jered Weaver hurts back – what does it mean?

By Ray Flowers

Tout Wars & The Big Apple

New York. The Big Apple. The center of the universe. Instead of orbiting around New York City from my home in California, I’m off to the middle of it all this weekend. Am I on a mystic quest to save a beautiful maiden or to fight the evil forces that are oppressing humanity? Of course not. I’m going to participate in one of the two biggest fantasy baseball leagues in the world – Tout Wars (the other being LABR which I was also fortunate enough to be invited to). Some thoughts on the upcoming weekend.

Tout Wars has three events: NL-only, AL-only and Mixed. I’ve been invited to participate in the 15 team mixed league (for a list of the of participants click on Tout Wars Mixed League). The 15 team auction is pretty “standard”: 5×5 scoring, 14 hitters, nine pitchers, $260 to fill out the starting lineup. One difference is that the games played limit isn’t the normal 20, it’s been dropped to 15 games this season. That opens up a few guys of note to new positional acceptance: Aubrey Huff (16 games in the outfield), Howie Kendrick (17 games at first base) and Michael Cuddyer (17 games at second base). Unfortunately, Michael Young appeared in just 14 games at second base last season or he’d be able to add that to his first and third base eligibility. This league also says that players positional eligibility, besides being lowered to the 15 game threshold from last season, is only five appearances at a position in season in ordered to be deemed eligible. That means a guy like Miguel Cabrera or Hanley Ramirez will likely be eligible to play third base by the second week of the season. As I always say, you have to know your league rules top take the best advantage of your situation.

Only in New York can you get a hotel room for $220 a night and people are saying that it was a huge bargain. Maybe I’ll be able to get beer and sandwich for lunch for $25. A guy can dream.

I keep hearing people say that third base is really thin. I can’t say I agree. Did you catch my piece titled Third Base, A Wasteland?

After doing a 13 team NL-only league in LABR, doing a 15 team mixed league sounds like a walk in the park. I still like the balanced approach versus Stars and Scrubs, but I’ll be a bit more aggressive this time around than I was in LABR.

Time is starting to run short, the season is quickly approaching, but the BaseballGuys’ Draft Guide could still help you out If you’re interested in bringing home a championship in 2012.

Trying to plan my arrival from the airport to the hotel, and then the hotel to the event. I think I have a better chance of that plan running off without a hitch than I do of drafting the best team in the history of fantasy baseball, but just barely.

Help me out here. I’m looking at ADP numbers over at MockDraftCentral an I just can’t understand why in the world, in a non-keeper league, that Mike Trout is being taken ahead of guys like Brennan Boesch, Delmon Young and Dexter Fowler. Maybe I missed the memo, but what’s going on here? Trout has been slowed all spring by the flu – reports say he lost 10 lbs to the malady – and the expectation is that he will open the year at Triple-A because of the glut of players the Angels have on their big league roster. Given the current setup, an of course it’s subject to change through a trade or injury, it looks like Trout will be lucky to get 450 at-bats this season with the Angels. I know the kid is one of the five best prospects in baseball and his future is luminous, but starting the year in the minors after posting a .220/.281/.390 line in 123 at-bats as a rookie with the big league club is enough to cause him to be taken ahead of Boesch, Young and Fowler? I must be out of my mind, but that makes no sense to me at all.

Which Ray’s Pizza should I visit to get a slice? Be forewarned, I’m a big fan of Chicago style deep dish. I’m off to New York. I’ll let you know how it went next week. Wish me luck.

By Ray Flowers

LABR: An Experts Take

The League of Alternative Baseball Reality, or LABR for short, just completed the 19th draft in the history of the event (12 experts drafted in the American League, and 13 in the National League, this past weekend in Phoenix). I was graciously invited to the NL-only draft, thank you to Steve Gardner for that (you can read Steve’s thoughts on the draft in this piece), and though my team has been roundly lambasted since the drafts completion I still had a great time at the event and look forward to the marathon that is the baseball season. Before I offer some thoughts on the draft, here’s who I was able to roster on my squad (for a look at the entire auction here is a Google Doc with all the selections).

C: Wilin Rosario ($8), David Ross (2)
1B: Garret Jones (10)
2B: Daniel Murphy (17)
3B: Placido Polanco (10)
SS: Rafael Furcal (12)
MI: Chris Nelson (4)
CI: Derrek Lee (3)
OF: Andrew McCutchen (33), Dexter Fowler (19), Chris Young (20), Alfonso Soriano (10), Carlos Quentin (13)
UT: Nate McLouth (4)

PITCHERS: Madison Bumgarner (19), Tommy Hanson (14), Rafael Betancourt (16), Wandy Rodriguez (10), Gio Gonzalez (13), Sergio Romo (6), Luke Gregerson (3), Takashi Saito (2), Jeff Samardzija (1), Erik Surkamp (1)

BENCH: Ross Detwiler, Rick Ankiel, Blake DeWitt, Tom Gorzelanny, Logan Forsythe, J.D. Drew

Some general notes.

In this league trading is allowed. That might be something I will need to explore to bolster some areas of weakness.

There is an odd quirk in LABR. All players that were drafted at the auction table need to be in your active roster. The only want to remove a player from your lineup is if he is placed on the DL or demoted to the minors, or of course you can always just cut a player. However, if Dexter Fowler is hitting .199 in April I can’t just put him on the bench, he has to remain active (Chris Liss of Rotowire.com won the AL-Only league last year despite having to hold on to Adam Dunn all year).

As for my team…

Yes I left money on the table, and yes that was a mistake. I’d pinpoint two areas where I should have spent more. (1) I should have added Aaron Hill up the middle. I backed out at $14 and Wolf/Colton rostered him for $15. If I had gotten Hill the last quarter of my team would have looked different, but I certainly could have used him given my lack of infield strength. (2) I should have gone the extra dollar on either Ryan Dempster or Ricky Nolasco who went for $9. Could have also gone the extra dollar on Chris Volstad who I let go (maybe a few bucks to Roy Oswalt would have been nice too). Everyone who follows my work knows I’m a fan of both. Instead, I ended up with Erik Surkamp as my final starter.

Everyone is bashing me for my weak infield, and I can certainly see why there is concern. A big key for me is obviously what happens with Derrek Lee. If he signs with someone a 20 homer, 70 RBI season would be huge for my club. However, he might retire, he might end up in the AL or he might end up playing as a part timer in the NL. People have also questioned my catchers, and with good reason. But to be fair, catchers were going for some pretty high dollar amounts. Would you have paid $10 for Jonathan Lucroy, $8 for Ryan Hanigan or $5 for Jason Castro? Maybe, maybe not, right? Another key is the health of Rafael Furcal and Placido Polanco. If they play 135 games each then this situation looks a lot better. If they don’t, look out below.

Is the infield weak? Yes it is, but I think some have overlooked the strength of my outfield. For my money, it’s the best group in the league. There might be valid concerns with Alfonso Soriano and Carlos Quentin, but if the both hit 25 homers with 80 RBIs, as my 4th and 5th outfielders in an NL-only league, that’s pretty damn good. Chris Young might hit .240, but he’s also been a 20/20 guy three of the last five years while averaging 91 runs scored a season the past two years. At this point everyone knows I’m on the Dexter Fowler train, I might be the conductor, but I really have high hopes for him putting it all together for a full season. And then there is Andrew McCutchen who is a wonderful foundational building block.

On the hill, I love my top-4 arms: MadBum, Hanson, Wandy and Gonzalez. I took a risk on Hanson, but I thought at $14 it was worth it even with the health concerns. As for Gio, I’m shocked I got him actually. I threw him out there for $13 fully expecting him to go for at least $18. Ten seconds later he was part of my team. Funny thing, after the :10 seconds of silence when no one pushed his bid up I then heard three teams at the table say that he was a great buy.

I overpaid for Rafael Betancourt at $16. This was another mistake I made – i.e. I waited to long to jump into the closer mix. I incorrectly thought that people would grow weary of paying $15 for every closer that was thrown out for bid. They didn’t. At the point I added Betancourt he was the only legitimate closer left on the board other than a guy like Frank Francisco, so I was forced to overpay to add Rafael who has elite skills but has never shown the ability to work the 9th inning before the last month of 2012. I should have jumped into the closer mix earlier – I might have saved a few bucks.

In the end, the truth is every team in an NL-only league with 13 clubs is going to have holes. Hopefully things break right for me an I’m in contention late. If not, I’ll review all the correct an incorrect decisions I made over the course of the season and come back even more prepared in 2013.

By Ray Flowers

K-BAD: Experts Draft, Part II

For the last few years I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited to participate an experts league with the crew from KFFL.com. The league, called K-BAD (KFFL’s Baseball Analysis Draft), pits 12 experts against one another in a 12 team mixed league draft with 28 man rosters. For a breakdown of who is in the league and how everything shakes out, not to mention who I drafted in rounds 1-14 see K-BAD: Experts Draft, Part I.

In what follows I’ll list my thoughts about my selections from pick 15-28. I’ll then give a quick run down of my squad.

Round 15: Dexter Fowler
He gained some muscle this offseason, and he flat out exploded in the second half of the season: .288 with a .880 OPS, 51 runs, 10 steals in 68 games.

Round 16: Wandy Rodriguez
This is a solid skill set hurler who gets no love because he’s on the Astros. As a 5th starter on my team he’s slotted in the right spot.

Round 17: Kurt Suzuki
I wanted to wait another go round for a backstop, I’d prefer to take a closer here, but I just didn’t have much faith in the remaining backstops.

Round 18: Frank Francisco
Great arm will be given an opportunity to close with Mets. Could have gone OF here, but I really needed to get that second closer arm.

Round 19: Brennan Boesch
It was Boesch, Joyce or Vernon Wells for my 5th outfielder. Couldn’t see any of them being around the next time I made a pick.

Round 20: Vernon Wells
Well color me surprised. Wells was indeed available after I considered taking him in the last round. He makes a solid UT option this late.

Round 21: Ryan Doumit
Of all the remaining backstops Doumit is the one I can see going .275-15-70 if he can stay healthy. Per 450 at-bats in his career: .271-15-61-54-2.

Round 22: Scott Baker
I’ve been staring at Baker for two rounds now. If healthy, there’s little reason to think he won’t be a top-50 hurler at worst, so this is good value this late.

Round 23: Rafael Furcal
I wanted to go with another starting pitcher here, but I looked at the remaining options for my backup at short and Furcal appeared to be well ahead of the remaining options.

Round 24: Ricky Nolasco
Once more into the breach… one of these years it’s going to happen. I’m convinced. I feel like Ahab from Moby Dick chasing my White Whale.

Round 25: Daniel Murphy
To get a guy who could hit .300 while qualifying at first, second and third… sign me up. Big fan of a reserve pick who covers so many positions.

Round 26: Chris Davis
It’s like when you walk into a car dealership intending to buy a sedan and walk out with a sports car. The lure of Davis and his power is too strong for me to break.

Round 27: Sergio Romo
(1) I could use solid ratios with a shot at a few saves. (2) With a short bench of only five guys I felt I needed a hurler over another bat.

Round 28: David Robertson
Went with this great bullpen arm instead of starters Homer Bailey, Aaron Harang, A.J. Burnett and Ryan Vogelsong, Obviously there will be plenty of arms left on the waiver-wire.

My Squad.

C: Kurt Suzuki, Ryan Doumit
1B: Miguel Cabrera
2B: Howie Kendrick
3B: Kevin Youkilis
SS: Derek Jeter
MI: Dustin Ackley
CI: Mark Reynolds
OF: Matt Holliday, B.J. Upton, Shane Victorino, Dexter Fowler, Brennan Boesch
UT: Vernon Wells

Pitchers: Felix Hernandez, Ricky Romero, Josh Beckett, Brandon Morrow, Wandy Rodriguez, Scott Baker, Ricky Nolasco, Sergio Santos, Frank Francisco

Bench: Rafael Furcal, Daniel Murphy, Chris Davis, Sergio Romo, David Robertson

I’ve got a lot of flexibility with the club as Cabrera, Kendrick, Reynolds, Davis and Murphy are all going to be multi position guys. I could be a bit light on steals, but I should still finish middle of the pack there. I like the late add of Daniel Murphy to help offset a guy like Reynolds in the batting average category. On the hill, I think I again showed that you can wait on hurlers and still assemble a strong staff. My top-5 arms could all give me 175 Ks, and Baker/Nolasco could both be near elite if healthy and lucky (that obviously has not been the case the past few years though). I might be light on saves but with this draft happening so early in the year, before training camp even started, I didn’t feel the need to reach on bullpen arms when so many situations are still unsettled.

I’ll keep you posted throughout the year on how the club is doing.

Finally, here is my roster, along with all the others from the K-BAD Draft.

By Ray Flowers

Player Profile: Fowler vs. Jackson

I asked a simple question Wednesday on the BaseballGuys’ Twitter Page – for 2012, would you rather have Austin Jackson or Dexter Fowler. To my surprise the answer was Jackson with about 70 percent of the vote. Am I in the wrong in thinking that Fowler will be the better fantasy performer in 2012 (you can find my rankings of both outfielders in the BBGuys 2012 Draft Guide)? Here are my thoughts on this battle royale.

2011 fantasy stats:

Fowler: .266-5-45-84-12 in 481 at-bats

Jackson: .249-10-45-90-22 in 591 at-bats

If we allow Fowler another 110 at-bats to match Jackson’s total, an assume he would continue to perform at the same rate he flashed over 481 at-bats, his line would end up being .266-6-55-103-15. All of a sudden that gap between the two shrinks, it not disappears, does it not? Moreover, by “non-fantasy measures,” Fowler was easily the better performer last season.

Fowler had a .363 OBP, .432 SLG and .796 OPS
Jackson had a .317 OBP, .374 SLG and .690 OPS

So can you see why I was so shocked that Jackson, resoundingly, was the choice amongst my Twitter followers. Fowler bettered Jackson last year in the following categories: doubles, triples, walks, AVG/OBP/SLG. Fowler also tied Jackson in RBI and scored just six fewer runs in 28 fewer games played. So tell me folks, what is the big draw with Jackson? I bet it has more to do with his team than it does with Jackson.

The Tigers will boast the top power hitting duo in baseball in Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder. I don’t think anyone is going to dispute that fact. If those two guys do their normal thing in the #3 and #4 slots in the lineup, whoever on the Tigers is asked to fill the leadoff role and hit in the second hole are bound to score a ton of runs. That’s sound reasoning. It’s also a pretty strong bet that Jackson will hit atop the Tigers’ order, not because he should hit there mind you, but because they don’t really have a better option (their entire starting lineup may not steal more bases than Michael Bourn). Keep this in mind. Jackson is a strikeout machine. You can live with that when a guy is hitting 30 homers, but when he’s batting at the top of the order and has 14 homers in his career that guy shouldn’t be striking out in more than a quarter of all of his at-bats. Due mostly to that K-rate, Jackson will have a very difficult time reaching the .293 batting average he posted in 2010 (that mark was almost entirely the result of his major league leading, an unsustainable, .396 BABIP. Predictably that mark regressed to .340 last season and with it his batting average receded). Not only does the fact that he may struggle to hit .271, his career average, weigh Jackson down, you should also pay attention to what it does to his ability to get on base. Through two seasons Jackson has n OBP of .331 a mere five points above the big league average of .326. Simply put, Jackson doesn’t have the skills to hit at the top of anyone’s batting order.

On the other hand, Fowler does possess the skills to bat leadoff. Not only does he have a substantially better OBP (career .355), Fowler also has ample speed (even though he swiped only 25 bags the last two years he stole 27 bases in 2009). Fowler also showed marked improvement in the second half last season after his demotion to the minors as he hit .288 with a .880 OPS over his last 68 games. Jackson will never post an .880 OPS. Fowler also got on base at a .381 clip in the second half leading to 51 runs scored over 68 games. Add in that he’s in the best shape of his life after training this offseason with Jason Giambi and Troy Tulowitzki, an I’m certainly taking Dexter Fowler over Austin Jackson on draft day.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: April7, 2010

(1) Jim Edmonds continues to play over Corey Hart. For more take a look at By The Numbers – Hitters.

(2) Rockies outfield situation a fantasy landmine. For more read Around the Horn.

(3) Dallas Braden’s hot start.

(4) Edgar Renteria off to blazing start (8-for-11).

(5) Mike Morse to take over RF in Washington?

(6) Brad Lidge doing better since cortisone shot in elbow.

(7) Lance Berkman doing better since cortisone shot in knee.

(8) Brandon Webb in holding pattern after cortisone shot.

(9) Ian Kinsler likely 7-10 days away.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: Jan. 21, 2010

* Bengie Molina re-signs with Giants, leaves Mets in trouble.
* Tim Lincecum asks for record $13 million, Giants submit $8 million.
* Felix Hernandez signs deal with Mariners for 5-years, $78 million (average of $15.6 annually).
* Johnny Damon to retire?
* Ben Sheets hits 91-92, throws some curves in 55 pitch outing for scouts.
* Jim Edmonds to return to active duty?
* Paul Lo Duca signs with Rockies.
* Carl Pavano gets $7 million from Twins.
* Dave Bush to get at least $4 million from Brewers.
* Brad Lidge says he is healthy after two surgeries.
* White Sox: Andrew Jones ($500K) says he is in great shape.
* Octavio Dotel close to signing with Pirates, could close.
* Dexter Fowler hires Scott Boras as agent.
* Robinson Tejada signs with Royals for $950K.

By Ray Flowers

Rangers and Rockies

The Rockies and the Rangers are in my thoughts today as each team has made a series of decisions on Tuesday that could have some rather serious ramifications for fantasy squads across the land as players are going on the DL, others are being recalled and still others being sent to the bench.

Chris Davis is back with the Rangers after the club placed Andruw Jones on the DL with a strained hammy. Davis went down to the minors to work on his stroke and apparently a mechanical change has made all the difference in the world as he has gone on to his .327 with a .939 OPS through 44 games at Triple-A (he was also hitting .353 over his last 10 games). Still, don’t go crazy here. Davis hit all of .202 with an insanely pathetic 44.2 K-rate in 258 at-bats with the Rangers earlier this season. He has talent and can certainly sock the long ball with aplomb, but you have to understand the strike zone and what your skills are within that zone, and Davis clearly hasn’t been able to do that with the big league club this season.

It appears that the Rangers are serious about playing Davis every day the rest of the way to see what they have for next season, and as a result the Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting that the club has informed Hank Blalock that he will be nothing more than a spot starter and a pinch hitter the rest of the way. Blalock has socked 23 long balls and has been healthy for most of the year (404 at-bats), but he is hitting just .238 this season with an OBP of only .274 which includes truly putrid marks of .199 and .213 in 36 games since the All-Star break. Mr. Blalock is likely upset, but with production like that it’s a shock that the Rangers didn’t do something sooner. A name to keep a close eye on is Julio Borbon who figures to see a lot of time against right-handed pitching the rest of the way. Can’t blame the club for wanting to keep his hot bat in the lineup. After all, he is hitting .432 with 10 runs and eight steals in 13 games. It remains to be seen how long he can manage to be even remotely this effective – he has no pop and little strike zone control (10 K, three BB) – but for now he is looking like a fantastic pickup up in deep mixed leagues.

With the Rockies suddenly a bit thin in the outfield with injures to Carlos Gonzalez (he apparently needs lessons on how to handle a steak knife) and Dexter Fowler (on the DL with a bruised knee), the club called up Matt Murton to lend a hand. I’ve always really liked Murton’s approach at the plate and this season at Triple-A he has been tearing it up to the tune of a .321-10-71 line in a mere 327 ABs. In a minor league career of about 1,800 at-bats, Murton has his .309 with a .383 OBP, and though he lacks ideal power for a corner outfielder (only 42 homers in the minors), the man can hit. In fact, in a career in the bigs that spans 945 at-bats, Murton has hit .287 with a .353 OBP, 29 home runs and 112 RBI to go along with 134 runs. To give that some real meaning we are talking about a guy who has hit roughly .290 with 15 home runs, 60 RBI and 70 runs per 500 at-bats. Not great numbers, but there should be a spot on someone’s roster for a bat like that, don’t you think?

Oh, and don’t forget about Eric Young Jr. who was also called up to lend a hand in the outfield. All Young has done at Triple-A this season is hit .299 with a .387 OBP and 118 runs in just 119 games. Blessed with elite speed, Young has also swiped 58 bases and his call to Colorado makes him a must add in NL-only leagues – immediately.

By Ray Flowers

Thursday, Thursday, Thursday

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