The Future Is Now

The Orioles appear on the brink of calling up one of their future aces. The Cubs got back their ace after he battled an arm injury for months. The Angels might have found themselves an arm that could be a part of their rotation for the rest of the season. Those are the three stories that will be highlighted today, as well as a dating tip that you fellas can use on your next first date.

KEVIN GAUSMAN TO BE CALLED UP

The Orioles have two of the best pitching prospects in the game. The top guy, Dylan Bundy, is on the shelf right now for another couple of weeks. Shutdown in late April with a forearm/elbow issue, Bundy received the old PRP injection and should be fine without any surgical intervention (they hope). His call to the bigs could come in the second half if he proves to be physically sound. The other Orioles ace-in-waiting is Kevin Gausman, an it appears that we are on the cusp of his major league debut.

The 4th selection in the 2012 draft, Gausman is an elite talent. He throws a fastball that can sit in the mid 90′s with significant movement, has a dominating change up, and that slider of his is pretty darn impressive as well (all of his pitches possesses serious movement, and he’s done a good job keeping all the offerings down in the zone this year with a better than 51 percent ground ball rate). Standing 6’3” and weighing in at about 190 lbs, the 22 year old righty went to Louisiana State and he’s been carving up professional hitters like he was still in school this season with his vaguely Roy Halladay reminiscent delivery. Through eight starts he has a 3.11 ERA with 49 strikeouts and just five walks over 46.1 innings. On the down side he’s thrown a total of 61.1 innings as a professional, and no matter how talented you are, I’d personally like to see more time honing ones craft than that in the minors. Oh well.

Regardless, reports are circulating everywhere that Gausman will be called up to start Thursday for the Orioles (there is an opening in the Orioles’ rotation with Wei-Yen Chen on the DL with a strained right oblique muscle). Therefore, Gausman is a must add in just about every conceivable format based on talent alone. If he continues to keep the ball on the ground, and avoid the free pass like it was a case of bubonic plague, then there is little to stop him from having success at the big league level. Just be careful that you don’t go expecting a Stephen Strasburg like debut from the Orioles righty.

Over at Fleaflicker.com folks are just starting to note that Gausman will be called up. Make sure you beat it over to the waiver-wire and add him immediately.

MATT GARZA SHARP

I’ve been receiving questions about what my thoughts are with Matt Garza for weeks now. My answer has usually been something like ‘I love the guy, he’s as consistent as they come, and I would want him in virtually every format IF he’s healthy. I just don’t know where his health is at right now.’ Well, if we use one start to give us the answer about his health, then he’s good to go.

Garza hit 93 mph in his first start of the season, and he tossed a no-no into the 5th inning against the Pirates. In addition to the velocity, his location was spot an and his breaking balls were sharp and clean. So if you ask me the question again today, what do I think about Garza, my answer is – he’s worth adding in virtually all formats now that he looks healthy.

JEROME WILLIAMS WORTHY OF AN ADD?

Jerome Williams has won his last two decisions for the Angels. He’s gone at least 6.2 innings in his last three starts. He’s allowed a total of four runs while walking just three batters in those three outings. What do you know, he 3-1 with a 2.53 ERA and 1.08 WHIP through 46.1 innings this season. There’s also a growing feeling that he will remain in the starting rotation for the Angels as Joe Blanton just cannot seem to get on track this season (0-7, 6.62 ERA, 1.97 WHIP with an obscenely high .369 BAA) once Jered Weaver returns to action (Weaver could start for the Angels within the week if his appearance in extended Spring Training goes well Wednesday).

The upshot is that Williams is looking like a fantastic AL-only play at the moment, and one that you might consider streaming in mixed leagues as well. But let me offer a dose of reality.

Williams is 36-38 in his career.
His ERA is 4.16.
His WHIP 1.32.
Only once since 2005 has he thrown 50 innings in a big league season.

Even this year he isn’t missing any bats, his 5.63 K/9 marks is spot on his career 5.69 mark, and after 5-straight years with a HR/9 mark over one it’s currently sitting at 0.58.

You can add Williams in a mixed league if you need a boost, he is pitching well right now, but you need to keep your expectations reasonable to avoid being disappointed (it’s what I tell women all the time on our first date… I’m a great guy and you’ll love me, as long as you don’t expect me to be anything special that you’ll want to introduce to your folks).

 

By Ray Flowers

Draft Day Challenge, May 21

BaseballGuys.com. has partnered with DraftDay.com to give all my wonderful followers, that’s you, the chance to play the game on a daily basis. On Tuesday and Thursday’s here at the site, every week, I’ll be giving you some insight into the mind of The Oracle as I will give you some of my best plays for the day – even if I’m willing to admit that daily games are a bit of a crap shoot given the difficulty in predicting how a handful of at-bats will work out.

To join a daily league remember to visit DraftDay.com by clicking on the link to their site.

One other source for those of you on Twitter.

@MLBDailyLineups – lists all the lineups in one spot so you can make sure you don’t have someone in your lineup that is sitting on the bench that day.

CATCHERS
1. Brian McCann
2. Salvador Perez

McCann loves to see Mike Pelfrey on the hill. In 39 at-bats the slugging catcher has hit .462 with two homers and 10 RBIs. Yowzahs.

Perez is batting .3008 on the year and has pushed that mark to .368 over the past week. He’s also hit .323 against righties this year. So what if he doesn’t have an at-bat against Bud Norris.

FIRST BASE
1. Albert Pujols
2. Jordan Pacheco

What was once a lock now seems like a risk. Pujols has hit .280 with two homers the past week, and he faces Aaron Harang who he hits pretty well (.311 with five homers and 15 RBIs over 74 at-bats).

After going superstar in Pujols (former superstar?), let’s go with a nobody in Pacheco. Jordan has a hit in his last three starts. Jordan is hitting .400 the past week. Jordan has hit .340 at home. He’s hit .500 (18 ABs) against the D’backs in his career. Jordan has four hits in 11 at-bats (.364) against Ian Kennedy.

SECOND BASE
1. Dan Uggla
2. Brandon Phillips

Uggla hammers Pelfrey hitting .406 with 11 RBIs in 32 at-bats which is enough for me to overlook the fact that he has one hit in his last 14 at-bats overall.

Go big or go home with Phillips. Not only has the guy knocked in 38 runners in 43 games this season, he’s also hit .300 with a homer and seven RBIs the past week. He’s gone 5/13 (.385) with two homers against Jonathon Niese.

THIRD BASE
1. Pedro Alvarez
2. Eric Chavez

Alvarez is only hitting .147 at home this season (and .201 overall), but he’s gone deep twice in the past week, is facing Matt Garza in his first start this season, and has gone 5-for-10 with a HR against Garza in their confrontations.

Chavez is hitting .343 on the year and he’s batting an unbelievable .571 with six RBIs the past week. He faces Jhoulys Chacin who he has never seen before on Tuesday.

SHORTSTOP
1. Yunel Escobar
2. Didi Gregorius

Escobar has a hit in eight of his last nine games, and he’s driven in six runs in his last four outings. He faces Ramon Ortiz, you know the old guy who we haven’t consistently seen take a turn in the big league since before Obama was elected President.

Gregorius is hitting like he never has in his life before, but we’re not worried about the fact that he has no chacne to keep that up the rest of the way. Didi has one hit in two at-bats against Chacin in his career but he has six hits in his last two games and has gone 8-for-13 against the Rockies this season.

OUTFIELD
1. Nate McLouth
2. Matt Holliday

How excited would you be about a player if I told you he had seven hits, including four doubles, in nine at-bats against a pitcher? That’s what has happened when McLouth has faced Phil Hughes.

Holliday has hit Edinson Volquez hard with a .412 average, two homers and four RBIs in 17 at-bats. Carlos Beltran has also hit .417 with five RBIs in 12 ABs against the righty.

STARTING PITCHERS
1. Zack Greinke
2. Wandy Rodriguez
3. Jose Fernandez
4. Jerome Williams

Greinke looked sharp in his return from the DL and he gets to return to his former home in Milwaukee. He faces a Brewers team that has, get this, produced two hits against in him 34 at-bats. Two. He also faces Hiram Burgos which doesn’t hurt.

Wandy has been very good this season and in four home starts this season he’s gone 3-1 with a 1.35 ERA. He faces a Cubs team that isn’t very good offensively, and he’s also posted a 2.29 ERA and 1.04 WHIP against them in their last six meetings.

Fernandez has gone at least six innings in each of his last three starts allowing a total of five earned runs for the Marlins. He’s also struck out 21 batters in those 20 innings. He faces a Phillies team that is without Howard and Ruiz.

Williams has pitched well this year, there’s no way he can sustain that 3.05 ERA and 1.10 WHIP, but he faces the Mariners Tuesday. The entire Mariners team has hit .228 with one home run in 114 at-bats against Williams.
By Ray Flowers

Daily Joust: The Weekend Ahead

It’s Friday, and that means a couple of things. First, the weekend is nearly upon us (thank goodness). Second, it’s time to get your drink on. Third, it’s time to get ready for your weekend of fantasy baseball  with DailyJoust.com.

Today, I’ll give some advice on how you might choose to fill out your daily fantasy baseball lineup for Friday or Saturday.

HITTERS – FRIDAY

Phillies vs. Kyle Lohse: Look at the numbers some of the Phillies’ batters have put up against Lohse, they are pretty staggering – Juan Pierre (.500), Ty Wigginton (.533), Brian Schneider (.308), Hunter Pence (.317) and Placido Polanco (.357). All of that doesn’t include Ryan Howard (.500) and Jim Thome (.400) who aren’t active. Moreover, the entire Phillies roster has hit .299 against Lohse.

Carlos Pena vs. Jon Lester: In two games as a leadoff man Pena is hitting .375 with a homer, three runs an a .545 OBP. He’ll look to keep the good times rolling Friday when he takes on Jon Lester, a pitcher that he has hit hard to the tune of five homers, 13 RBI an a 1.086 OPS in 37 at-bats.

Ichiro Suzuki vs. Ervin Santana: Hitting just .283 on the season, Ichiro is no longer the dominating force he once was. Still, the guy is no stranger to the base hit and given that he faces Santana, who he is hitting .350 against in 80 at-bats (big time sample size), you have to feel pretty good about his odds. Speaking of something having to do with odds, how about this oddity – Ichiro has tried to steal off Santana nine times and he’s never been successful.

PITCHERS – FRIDAY

Anthony Bass vs. Mets: The Metropolitans are hitting .259 with a mere 26 homers and  187 runs scored (the homer total is second lowest in the NL and they’ve scored three runs more than the Giants which should tell you how potent their offense isn’t). Bass has a 2.89 ERA and 1.15 WHIP on the season which includes a total of four runs allowed in his last three starts.

Yovani Gallardo vs. D’backs: Gallardo is on a roll having gone 3-straight outings of six innings while allowing two or fewer runs. He’s also scaled back the long ball having allowed just one in eight starts.  Friday he faces a D’backs club that he has owned in his career going 5-0 with a 1.20 ERA, 0.93 WHIP and 32 Ks in 30 innings.

Tim Hudson vs Nationals: Since returning to the field all that Hudson has done is pitch like, Tim Hudson. In five starts he is 3-1 with a 3.03 ERA and 1.19 WHIP, an in four of his outings he’s allowed two or fewer runs. He faces a Washington club that used to be the Expos (remember that?) Friday. In 23 starts against the franchise he has been phenomenal going 14-3 with a 2.05 ERA an a 1.09 WHIP.

HITTERS – SATURDAY

Melky Cabrera vs. Mark Buehrle: I admit it. I was apparently wrong about Melky Cabrera. Watching him on a daily basis, all the guy does is hit. Currently batting .362 on his way to leading baseball in hits (67) there is virtually no way he won’t go off Saturday. Cabrera is 17-for-27 against Buehrle for a .630 average. Flipping amazing.

Alex Rodriguez vs. Bartolo Colon: Flipping amazing #2. A-Rod is hitting .468 against Colon over 47 at-bats. He’s not rapping out singles either as his 22 hits have produced six doubles, a triple an eight homers leading to 17 RBI. The guy has a 1.149, not OPS but SLG mark, against Colon (his OPS is 1.630).

Luke Scott vs. Josh Beckett: Scott is having a strong power season with eight homers and 31 RBI, though his average is languishing down at .243. Perhaps seeing Beckett on the hill will help him to continue his productive efforts as he has 10 hits in 24 at-bats (.417) including three homers and seven RBI.

PITCHERS – SATURDAY

Mike Minor vs. Nationals: This one is as much a hunch as anything else. Look, I know his ERA is 6.96 and his WHIP 1.45, but I’m telling you, the parts are far greater than the sum here. In 53 innings this season he has 48 Ks. In 15.2 innings against the Nats in his career he has 16 Ks, has issued just five walks, and has a 1.28 WHIP. Risky as all hell, but sooner or later he is going to have a gem.

Bud Norris vs. Dodgers: Over his last four starts Norris is 4-0 with a 0.35 ERA and 0.92 WHIP while he’s racked up 29 Ks in 26 innings as perhaps the hottest pitcher in baseball (people might be a bit slow to wake up to that fact if we can judge by the numbers over at Fleaflicker). The Saturday matchup affords him a Dodgers club that he has faced five times leading to some dominating numbers as well (2.67 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 28 Ks in 30.1 innings with a .183 BAA). Lock and load.

Jerome Williams vs. Mariners: It’s almost as simple as – if a guy is facing the Mariners you can have confidence starting him. Williams has had success in two starts against the Mariners with a 3.00 ERA and 0,73 WHIP over 15 innings, and there’s no reason to think he won’t keep the good times rolling with another solid effort.

CONTESTS

I just gave you some rather substantial advice on how you could have success this weekend, right? Sign up for the Beat Ray Promotion – it will be on the $50 freeroll this week. Go to the BaseballGuys/DailyJoust landing page, sign up for the $50 Free Roll, and have at it.