Wednesday is always an odd day. Memories of last weekend are fading, and you’re still days away from heading out on the town with your homies to cause some trouble, so you’re basically just laying in wait for something to happen. What I’m saying is that it’s a no-man’s kinda day. As a result, it’s hardly a shock that there is no real theme with the players I’m going to discuss other than the fact that they have all been performing pretty well of late.
Josh Hamilton is a beast. How crazy good has he been? Since the start of June he has hit .434 with 14 homers and 47 RBI in 49 games. Those are numbers that wind up leading you to the MVP award. Sick.
Matt Garza, who has come a long way since he was a Twins’ rookie wearing a My Little Pony backpack (yeah, that’s him in the photo above), tossed the fifth no-hitter of the season on Monday night. Do you know what the record is for one season? In 1884, yeah it was a totally different game back then I know, there where eight no-hitters (the last time there were five no-hitters in a season was 1991). Moreover, since the Rays’ fell in no-hitters twice this season, they became only the third team in baseball history to be involved in three no-hitters in a single season. The other two teams were the White Sox and the St. Louis Browns — in 1917. As for Garza, he has offered a slight up tick in his performance compared to last season. He is 11-5 and that is great, though his ERA is up a smidge from 3.95 last year to 4.06 this season, while his WHIP is a virtual match (1.26 to 1.24). The only real negative in the fantasy game is that he has seen his K-rate dwindle substantially from 8.38 per nine last season down to 6.78 which is below his 7.19 career mark. If he were to pick up the whiffs we could be looking at a top-25 pitcher the rest of the way.
The single season triple record is 36 by Chief Wilson in 1912. No on in baseball even has nine triples this season.
Brandon Morrow – welcome to the world of fantasy relevance. On May 31st he had a 6.00 ERA and was having a devil of a time throwing strikes. Since that point he has made nine starts going just 3-2, but his ratios have improved dramatically. His WHIP has gone down to 1.29, a big step for a guy who had a 1.58 mark over his first 11 appearances, and his ERA has plummeted down to 3.21. Why the success? He’s maintained his K/9 mark mark with an impressive 9.48 mark but his walk rate has tanked – which in this case is obviously a great thing. After walking 34 batters in his first 57 innings – good for a 5.37 BB/9 mark – he has walked a mere 19 hitters in his last 56 innings leading to a 3.05 mark. Basically he has gone from being Oliver Perez to being a better than big league pitcher in terms of his control. The Blue Jays might limit his workload as the season wears on, and his final season numbers likely won’t look that great, but don’t forget about how good Morrow can be when he’s throwing strikes when you do participate in your draft in 2011.
Javier Vazquez has been a massive letdown this season with a 9-7 record, a 4.54 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP. However, should he be viewed that way? He was never going to repeat his performance from last season (15-10, 2.87 ERA, 1.03 WHIP), especially when he went to the AL. Also, his production has been a near match for his work with the Yankees back in 2004 (14-10, 4.91 ERA, 1.29 WHIP). At the same time if you were an astute wheeler and dealer, you may have come out way ahead here. Through six starts this season he was 1-4 with a 8.10 ERA in a truly dreadful start to the year. However, he has been nails since that point going 8-3 with a 3.16 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and a 6.90 K/9 mark. That’s difference making production from the righty. Don’t be afraid to look beyond a player’s season long numbers when you’re trying to figure out his value for the rest of the season.
Day 2 of the major league season has been a bore (OK, it was Day 3, but the first day only had the Yankees and Red Sox playing, so you know what I mean). A day after all that excitement, the Albert Pujols homers, the 6-inning no-hit bid from Shaun Marcum, and the homer in his first major league at-bat from Jason Heyward, everyone was fired up. Roughly 24 hours later, it’s like your dog died. Major league baseball, in it’s unfailing wisdom, scheduled seven games for the second full day of games, but not a single one was scheduled to start before 7:10 PM EST. That’s right. A day after all of that excitement to kick off the campaign, major league baseball didn’t schedule a single day game, not one. I’m all for making a buck, but seriously MLB, how greedy can you be? Schedule a flipping day game. There is no excuse, none, that there should ever be a day in which at least one game is played during the day. I don’t care about TV rights or gate receipts, baseball was meant to be played during the day under the sun. So get with it MLB – some things are more important than the almighty dollar.
Zack Greinke hurled two run ball over six innings on Monday against the Tigers but wound up with a no decision when the bullpen blew his lead. That isn’t overly surprising for Greinke who was let down frequently last year. Amazingly, Greinke has allowed one or zero earned runs in 19 of his last 34 starts. That’s 56 percent of his starts since the beginning of the 2009 season.
Scott Kazmir was “very surprised” to learn that some shoulder weakness landed him on the DL to start the year. I’m only surprised that Kazmir still has a shoulder.
Casey Kotchman hitting third for the Mariners? Maybe they should have kept Russell Branyan after all.
Tim Lincecum was questioned about his struggles in camp both with velocity and results. After tossing seven shutout innings in dominating the Astros, no one is saying anything today.
Anyone else hate doing drafts on computers? The other day I was doing an AL-only auction and my computer crashed in the middle. I returned to learn that I missed out on Joba Chamberlain and Magglio Ordonez, two players I had been targeting in the middle rounds to get on the cheap. I did land Matt Guerrier though, and for $4, even though I didn’t have him in my queue, so I have no idea how he ended up on my squad. At least the computer didn’t give me Jason Berken for $4.
Jon Rauch has been named the closer with the Twins. He has some experience in the role and is a decent choice to fill in for the injured Joe Nathan. At the same time, he clearly shouldn’t be looked at as someone who has the job locked down. I just wish Pat Neshek was fully healthy (he is coming back from arm surgery though he has looked good so far).
Jose Reyes is still targeting a return to the Mets this weekend after an extended minor league game on Monday. In related news, the Mets are hoping that Oliver Perez can find the strike zone before then.
You gotta feel for the Giants’ Nate Schierholtz. Thought to be the man in right field after biding his time the past few years, he ended up struggling in spring and lost his starting spot to John Bowker who led the club in homers and RBI. Though you may not think things could get worse for Nate they did on Tuesday when the Giants, facing the Astros’ lefty Wandy Rodriguez, decided to go with Andres Torres in right field essentially meaning that Nate is the third right fielder at the moment. Schierholtz has the highest upside of that trio and still profiles as a decent outfield option in NL-only leagues, though I will admit the start to the 2010 season is certainly distressing.
Huston Street got good news on his injured shoulder. It doesn’t look like it will fly off at any point in the near future according to Dr. James Andrews. Street still hopes to return to the Rockies in early May, though who knows when he will be able to reclaim his ninth inning role from Franklin Morales.
Earlier today I broke down the big deal of the day as the Yankees picked up Javier Vazquez in exchange for Melky Cabrera and a couple of prospects (you can read all about the deal at Breaking Down: Javier Vazquez). Here, I’ll break down “the other deal” dealing with two potentially dominating righties.
Note: You can also read Paul Bruno’s take on the deal at JaysFan.com.
THE DEAL
Mariners receive: RHP Brandon League and minor leaguer (either OF Yohermyn Chavez or C Brian Jeroloman)
Blue Jays receive: Brandon Morrow.
Mariners Haul
We don’t know yet which minor leaguer will be included with Brandon League. Neither option is a top flight, sure fire star at the big league level, but most pundits seem to favor Chavez even though he isn’t amongst the top-10 prospects in the Blues organization (Jeroloman can pick it behind the dish, but his bat is sorely lacking).
League throws a heavy, and I mean power-sinking fastball that has averaged 95.5 mph during his big league career. When you combine that heat with the darting, downward action, it’s hardly a surprise that League has held batters to a .258 batting average in his career (the surprise is that the number is that high). A potentially dominating strikeout arm – he had 76 punchouts in just 74.2 innings last season – League is much, much better than the 3-6 record with a 4.58 ERA that he posted last season. The biggest plus on his side is that he has brought his walk rate down two years running, and last years 2.53 BB/9 mark allowed him to post a strong 3.62 K/BB ratio given his strikeout abilities. And that is just it. If League throws strikes and avoids the walk he could potentially dominate. Don’t forget that this man owns a 3.13 GB/FB ratio in his career, and when you strike out a batter per inning and have a GB/FB mark better than three, well, they usually end up putting your face on the cover of a video game.
Blue Jays Haul
Brandon Morrow was drafted 5th overall out of the University of California at Berkley in 2006. Standing 6′3″ and weighing about 200 lbs, Morrow has one of those arms that scouts simply fall all over themselves to sign. The owner of a 95 mph fastball, batters have little chance to hit him when he is “on,” a fact reflected in his .223 BAA mark through 197.2 career innings. In that time Morrow has posted a solid 3.96 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning with 204, so why would the Mariners consider trading this 25 year old who most scouts think will either be a #2 or #3 starter? The Mariners must have grown tired of his inability to throw strikes. In his brief career, remember batters hit just .223 against him and he owns a 9.29 K/9 mark, Morrow has handed out free passes like Santa gives out hope during the Christmas season. Morrow posted a 5.68 BB/9 mark last season in 69.2 innings and that was an improvement over his career mark of 5.83.
It should also be pointed out that he has spent time as a starter and reliever (the Mariners yanked him around the past two years which certainly hasn’t helped his development). Here are his numbers in both roles.
Reliever: 3.65 ERA, 1.46 WHIP, 10.12 K/9, .217 BAA in 118.1 IP
Starter: 4.42 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 8.05 K/9, .232 BAA in 79.1 IP
The numbers regress a bit when he has starts, hardly a shock given the 100 percent all the time attitude hurlers can take when working only an inning out of the bullpen.
MOVING FORWARD
As nice a power arm as League has, and let’s face the Mariners are certainly wise to be hedging their bets with David Aardsma who had a lot of ninth inning success last year despite some rather odd totals in his pitching line (like a sky-high fly ball rate but a miniscule HR/F mark), I just don’t understand this deal at all. Morrow certainly needs to figure out a way to harness his stuff, but if he does this young man is a potential all-star. Not that he will ever amount to anything remotely like guys such as Randy Johnson, Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax, but the history of the game is littered with plenty of hard throwers who took a few years to get their barrings (it’s also why a guy like Oliver Perez is making $12 million a year). If Aardsma implodes and League goes on to save 30 games than no one will likely be too upset, but if Morrow locates his control and rips off a bunch of 15 victory, 200 K seasons this is going to look like one awful move. You gotta love what the Blue Jays are doing this off-season as their new front office group clearly is bringing in boatloads of talent to vie for major league jobs.
I’m still ticked off that Jim Thome was moved to the Dodgers. Not only does that kill his value for a couple of teams that I have him, the deal also came down after I set my lineups for this week meaning I’ll likely get two or three at-bats out of my UT spot this week. Great. If you want to read some actual analysis of the deal and not just me complaining about it, click on my Around the Horn piece. Make sure you read the part about the monster helmet that David Wright will be wearing now that he is back from a concussion. Good stuff – even if I’m biased cause I wrote it myself. And if you are wondering if it’s bad form to give yourself props about something you have written the answer is certainly yes, but I’m still going to do it anyway.
Good job Ray.
I mentioned it today in my Player Rater piece, but is there anyone out there that knows that Michael Young has an 18-game hitting streak? That guy is flat out money, the Ichiro of the infield if you wish – minus the steals, the cool name and the sweet gliding stroke.
Am I the only one getting whiplash from all of these rookies being called up? I remember back in the day when I didn’t care about who the 33rd guy was on the Giants. Now that it’s my job, man, this is a lot of work.
Let me see if I got this right. The Brewers ostensibly sent J.J. Hardy to the minors under the auspices of two main lines of thought. (1) Hardy was hitting only .229 with a .367 SLG so he was hitting terribly. No disputing that fact. (2) The club wanted to give flashy youngster Alcides Escobar a chance to show his wares in the majors which he has done pretty well hitting .286 over 49 at-bats. He has made three errors in 17 games, but overall he has been pretty much as advertised. However, there is a third and more insidious reason that Hardy was sent to the minors; it was to avoid paying him money or in the least to maintain control over him for another season. Turns out that by sending him down for three weeks the Brewers were able to delay his free agency until after the 2011 season. Real classy Brewers.
The Royals did the same thing to their third basemen, Alex Gordon, when they sent him to the minors ostensibly because he was struggling after fighting his way back from hip surgery to return to the field. Gordon was hitting .222 with a .643 OPS in about a month’s worth of games with the Royals, so like Hardy he wasn’t exactly tearing it up, but it appears that this decision was merely undertaken to push Gordon’s free agency back to after the 2013 season. In the Brewers case at least they had a real reason, after all they are super high on Escobar, but the Royals have no one to plug into third if Gordon isn’t there. Not just that, wasn’t Gordon supposed to be their franchise player? I’m almost willing to give the Royals the benefit of the doubt here, after all they did bring in guys like Jose Guillen and Kyle Farnsworth who have contracts that far outpace their on-field work, but even if I do give the club a free pass, I think the way they are handling Gordon is awful. If he wasn’t healthy, wouldn’t it make more sense to give him three more weeks at Triple-A and then recall him to the majors for good versus the other way around? Overall Gordon is hitting .307 with a .985 OPS in 75 minor league at-bats, so it’s not doing him much good spending time on the farm.
Isn’t it fitting that the best lefty in baseball, Johan Santana (elbow) had surgery the same day that his teammate and arguably the biggest left-handed tease in the game, Oliver Perez (knee), also went under for a medical procedure? Both should be fine for the start of 2010, though that means something totally different for both hurlers – one will likely return to excellence, the other will just be trying to avoid hitting batters who are in the on-deck circle.
One last positive note. It likely won’t have any bearing on a single fantasy team, but it’s great news that Aaron Boone has made a miraculous recovery from open heart surgery and he has been added to the Astros roster. Good for you Aaron.
Yet another one of those days here on Wednesday with some oddities around the diamond. I’ll hit on a few things rather quickly before offering yet another diatribe about the stupidity that is being allowed to fester in the City of Brotherly Love.
Jamey Carroll had three hits on Wednesday, and for those of you haven’t bothered to look at his work this season you might be surprised to see that he is hitting .290 with 42 runs scored in just 224 ABs. AL-only leaguers who called his name out for two or three bucks on draft day have certainly gotten their money’s worth.
You don’t hear many people talking about Travis Hafner anymore, and with good reason. The once proud hitter who socked at least 24 home runs with 100 or more RBI in 4-straight seasons (2004-07) was atrocious last season in a year filled with injury (he hit .197 in 198 ABs). This year he has been much better hitting .278 with 13 homers and 38 RBI in 252 ABs, but it just looks like he will never be able to work his way back to the top of the mountain because of continued issues with his shoulder. “I don’t think he’s hurt, but there have been lasting affects from the surgery and the rehab,” manager Eric Wedge said. “I think he needs some down time to be 100 percent.”
Joe Crede remains out of the starting lineup with his back injury. I’m about as shocked to hear that Crede is sidelined by injury as I am that the Nationals have the worst record in baseball. In another shocking development, the Mets placed yet another player on the DL in hurler Oliver Perez. The mercurial lefty will have surgery to repair a patella tendon in his knee that has given him trouble all year, and as a result his season is over. There is not truth to the rumor that Mr. Met will end up on the DL with a strained oblique suffered while tossing peanuts to the fans.
Brad Lidge blew yet another game on Tuesday night, yet brain-dead manager Charlie Manuel says he is sticking with his beleaguered hurler. “He’s got to stay with it,” Manuel said. “He’s got to keep going. I mean, what the hell? That’s all we can do. … That’s where we’re at. That’s our closer. I’ve said that all along. That’s the guy we give the ball to in the ninth inning.” Look Mr. Manuel, you are turning into a laughing stock with your inability to make the move that should have been made months ago. In fact, way back on May 24th in A Change is Needed I suggested the obvious, turning to Ryan Madson, and I hit on that situation yet again about a week and a half ago in Philly Flop. Yet despite all of the data Manuel continues to run Lidge out there in the ninth inning, and it seems like he is pretty steadfast in his position despite an utter avalanche of information suggesting that this decision could preclude the team from once again reaching the World Series. If Tuesday night’s outing isn’t the straw that breaks the camels back – Lidge needed just seven pitches to allow three runs on his way to his sixth loss and ninth blown save – then there simply isn’t ever going to be a reason deemed worthy enough by Mr. Manuel to do the prudent thing and replace Lidge with Madson.
The Rockies continue to win, and they are just two games behind the Dodgers for the NL West lead heading into action on Wednesday night. No team in baseball history has ever come back from a 15.5 game deficit in season to capture a division title (the 1914 Braves came back from a 15 game deficit), but the Rockies could be the first. Since June 3rd, when they were a season worst 12 games under .500, the club has gone 52-22, good enough for a .703 winning percentage. Some truly amazingly things are happening on Colorado.
By Ray Flowers
Photo Credit: Mr. Met and the esteemed Ryan Houston.
After a one day hiatus to discuss that quarterback who I shall never mention again, you know the one who has retired about 13 times over the past two years only to return to action, let’s get back to what I know best, and that is the game that is played on the diamond.
Johnny Cueto will be placed on the DL with shoulder inflammation. I wonder what genius it took to figure out that he wasn’t physically “right” as his ERA has gone from 2.69 on July 1st to 4.61. That’s right, over his last nine appearances he has gone 1-6 with a 9.00 ERA and a 1.97 WHIP. Unless he suddenly morphed into a 66 year old version of Jamie Moyer, it’s pretty flipping clear he just hasn’t been right.
Zack Greinke lost his eighth game of the year on Wednesday after allowing four runs over seven innings. Greinke has been great this season with a 2.44 ERA and a 1.14 WHIP over 25 starts, but the man has only one victory in his last nine times on the hill while he has accrued five loses in that time. If you ask me, his shot at the Cy Young Award is pretty much non-existent at this point as I think he is no better than third on the list behind Roy Halladay (13-5, 2.65 ERA, 1.08 WHIP) and Felix Hernandez (12-4, 2.66 ERA, 167 Ks, 1.18 WHIP). You could also make a valid argument for Justin Verlander (13-6, 3.28 ERA, 194 Ks, 1.16 WHIP) or even C.C. Sabathia (14-7, 3.58 ERA, 1.13 WHIP) could have moved ahead of the Royals’ hurler, so maybe Greinke is on danger of not only falling out of the top-3, but possibly the top-5.
Mets Injury Update
* David Wright (concussion) – Hopes to be cleared for action on Thursday and is eyeing a return near the end of August.
* Carlos Beltran – Running in the outfield and also took batting practice on Wednesday. Hopes to return sometime in September.
* Oliver Perez – May not make his next start as his knee is still bothering him. Maybe his sore knee threw him off balance in his last start leading to just a single walk. Hey, what else explains a measly walk for a guy who has averaged 4.31 walks per start? Maybe he should pitch hurt more often.
* Billy Wagner – Should be activated by the weekend after proving that his elbow is sound. Could be valuable down the stretch in NL-only leagues.
There are of course more Mets options I could discuss here, but I’m falling asleep typing name after name from this club so I’m gonna just leave it where it is and move on.
Jake Peavy likely won’t make that start on August 28th as the White Sox hoped – what a shock. The best case scenario is that he will return on September 2nd, or possibly in the following series against the Red Sox. This guy could turn out to be a difference maker for the Sox, but I gotta tell ya he hasn’t sold me on the idea that he will be able to contribute this season.
Willy Taveras was placed on the DL today with a strained left quadriceps muscle, and while this is bad news personally, and for those of you counting on his speed in NL-only leagues, it is likely great news for the Reds. Why do I say that? Let me count the ways. First, the man is hitting .238 with one home run, and those numbers are only acceptable if you take the hill once every five days. Second, though he has 25 steals and was on pace for a fifth straight season of 33 steals, he has seen his steal total drastically reduced from his career best total of 68 from last season disappointing all involved. Third, the man owns a .273 OBP this season. Since the league average is .334 Taveras can be said to be only 82 percent of “average” in this respect, and that is flat out awful for a man who has spent 390 of his 395 at-bats in the first or second hole in the order. I wouldn’t be worried about how Dusty Baker uses pitchers as much as I would question how the man puts together his batting order. Clearly Taveras has world class speed, but with a complete inability to get on base this season he should have been holding down court in the eighth slot all season.
Besides me, who else is counting on Oliver Perez to have a big second half? From time to time I write about my National Fantasy Baseball Championship (NFBC) team, and that league consists of 15-teams with 30 players per roster. Given the depth of the penetration into the player pool, there are always a handful of players on each roster that might cause someone to pause if they are used to traditional 10-12 team leagues. So before you think – Ray is a doofus – realize we are talking about some pretty deep rosters here. Back to Oliver Perez.
Perez is one of the names that I picked up off waivers this season. A risky play? For sure as the man walks more batters per nine than just about any starter in the game, but oh does he look dominating when he is on. Problem is, that rarely occurs. Here’s to hoping it occurs, more often than not, the rest of way. That might be a fairly large wish though — perhaps I’ll leave that wish for the tooth fairy.
Why did I grab Perez? Well, after Andy Sonnanstine seemed to forget that the name of the game wasn’t to allow a run per inning (he has a 6.61 ERA), and Ian Snell thought he would try to pitch his way out of Pittsburgh with some awful work (5.36 ERA, 1.62 WHIP), I realized I needed something other than a staff consisting of names like Jamie Moyer. So I took a shot an picked up Perez, weeks ago, in the hope that he would come through. What other waiver-wire guy in a 15 team league has k-per-inning potential?
Another hurler with a similar skill set down to the potentially prolific K-rate as well as the atrocious walk rate is Brandon Morrow of the Mariners who we also picked up on the cheap off the waiver-wire (by the way, isn’t the picture above one of the best you have ever seen? For those of you that don’t know – a form of rookie hazing in baseball is having the youngsters carry the veterans gear, often in things like little girls backpacks). Possibly the only pitcher in baseball who has a more difficult time throwing strikes than Perez, Morrow has thrown 174 innings in his career while waling 115 batters leading to an embarrassing average of 5.95 walks per nine innings pitched in his brief career. Of course, his stuff is untouchable as his K/9 mark of 9.62 is superb. Obviously the kid has talent to burn, but until he starts throwing strikes more consistently he will be maddening to own (he should return from the minors to make a start of July 25th if everything goes according to plan).
The third arm in our Trifecta of Terror is Joba Chamberlain (and yes I’m still not sure if the terror will be most acutely directed toward opposing batters or my blood pressure). Joba clearly hasn’t performed as hoped for in his transition to the starting rotation as he has only four victories, a 4.25 ERA and a 1.56 WHIP through 17 starts this year. Still, his K/9 rate is 7.89 which is a strong mark, and if you add in his work out of the bullpen he has a 9.70 K/9 mark over 213.1 career innings. However, like the other two mentioned above, he is walking far too many batters, though by comparison his 4.25 BB/9 mark actually isn’t that awful.
So is rostering these three guys a risk worth taking? My club need wins and strikeouts, and these three could bring that. In fact, I can pretty easily dream up a scenario with the trio striking out nearly a batter per inning the rest of the way, but the key is will they be able to locate their pitches better, because without that, there ratios could be outright destructive. I know it’s a risk, but sometimes you have to take that leap of faith when the alternatives are guys like Vincente Padilla, Jeff Suppan and Micah Owings. I’m going to close my eyes, pray really hard, and hope these three potentially dominating arms are in fact dominating and not destructive to my fantasy squad. One can hope can’t he?
Rambling – seems to be one of my talents anymore. I counted up all the words I have typed over the first half of the 2009 calendar year and the number falls somewhere between 750,000 and 1.5 billion. I didn’t get an exact count because I fell asleep and hit my head on the keyboard before I woke up. When I was able to focus my eyes, there was a really long number with a bunch of numbers that I didn’t recognize, something like 543,575,345. Rather than recount, I thought I would go with a rough guess, kind of like the United States when we do a census report.
Which D’backs starter has had worse luck so far this season, Dan Haren or Doug Davis?
Haren has certainly been vastly superior, but it’s not like Davis remotely deserves that atrocious record that he is saddled with.
What’s the deal with all these struggling guys getting a “mental” day off? I know it’s happened for years, after all it is pretty difficult to hit a 95 mph fastball or an 86 mph slider. Guess I’m just jealous as I get no love from my bosses who tell me ‘tough titty’ when I claim that I need a mental break. OK, they don’t say that, in fact they tell me that it wouldn’t hurt to take some time off from time to time, but it’s always fun to complain isn’t it? Regardless, it’s not like I have a girlfriend to occupy my time, and what other reason is there to avoid talking sports?
Paul Maholm has seen his ERA go up over a full run in less than a month from 3.61 on June 11th to 4.69 after getting blasted for six runs in 4.1 innings on Thursday. Hopefully you sold high on him when I suggested doing so. I’d give you the link where I wrote that, but you are just going to have to take my word for it since I write so much on a weekly basis (see above) that I have a hard time keeping things straight. OK, not true, I keep everything straight, though sometimes I do forget where my thoughts are listed amidst the fury of postings that I crank out everyday.
Anyone out there care about what “John and Kate Plus 8″ do with their lives? I swear, there has been more media coverage over the impending divorce of those two and how it will effect their eight children than there has been coverage over the passing of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. Anyone can have a doctor put a bunch of embryos in their belly, but it takes some true talent to do what Jackson did. Why don’t we, and I include myself in this since I just mentioned them, let John and Kate just go back to their miserable lives and cover something truly newsworthy with our time?
Further proof that the Mets are having problems. Tim Redding was hit hard on Thursday to the tune of five runs while recording just seven outs. Redding now sports a 6.99 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP through eight starts. So tell me again, why is Oliver Perez being looked at as a bullpen option and not a starter? I know Oliver has all kinds of issues, chief among them locating his pitches, but if the team is going to go with the vanilla Redding on the hill, and that experiment will almost certainly end after this outing, doesn’t it make more sense to go with the guy who could throw a no-hitter any time he takes the hill in Perez? I’m just saying.
That Joey Votto kid continues to flat out rake. He had four more hits on Thursday to push his average up to .366 on the year thanks to 15 hits in 38 at-bats (.395) since returning from his DL stint because of depression.
Did you all see the flurry of NHL deals that occurred the first day of free agency. Crazy busy with some rather huge names switching teams. If you want to read my thoughts on those moves I can remember where I wrote them since I just finished putting the piece together. To read those thoughts give Frozen Pucks – Free Agent Edition, Part I a run through.
Today I’m feeling a bit sick, so I thought it would be appropriate to spend my column discussing guys who are currently on the DL or on the verge of coming off it. So, let’s get to it.
Just how bad is that injury to the knee of Carlos Beltran? Well it isn’t catastrophic and doesn’t appear like he will need surgery, but at the same time the team is bracing to be without their star for more than just 15 days. “I can also tell you that I’m not gonna tell you that he’s gonna be back within the 15 days,” GM Omar Minaya said. “I said to myself … if we get him back for the second half, after the All-Star Break, I’d sign up for that right now.” Wow. The Mets are only 1.5 games back of the Phillies, but if they are without Beltran for three weeks in addition to the other injuries they have suffered (Jose Reyes is likely out until after the All-Star break with his hamstring injury and Carlos Delgado is likely out until August because of his hip surgery), do they really have much of a shot at the playoffs?
I’ve written it before, but here is it again. Oliver Perez as a reliever makes zero sense. The guys takes forever to “find” himself and locate the strike zone, so I cannot see how bringing him into a game in the 7th inning makes any sense at all since he won’t have time to see what is working etc. Maybe I’m wrong, but if I’m the Mets I start him or leave him in the minors starting until he figures out whatever that ails him with his knee and or mechanics. Nothing else makes sense. Oh maybe one thing does – the Mets could trade him to the Giants for Jonathan Sanchez.
I don’t get something. OK, I don’t get a lot of things, but I really don’t get how the Indians appear to be handling the case of Grady Sizemore. First off, they let him play far too long with that injured elbow when he clearly wasn’t able to do the things we have been used to seeing from him the past four years since when he finally found his way to the DL he was hitting .223 with a .417 SLG, well below his established baselines of .275 and .486. Then they shut him down for roughly three weeks during which time he basically did nothing to allow the inflammation in his elbow to subside (that makes sense). Then, they had the bright idea of simply activating him without a single game in the minors. “I just want to get back on the field,” said Sizemore. Yeah, we all do Grady, but doesn’t it sound like a bad idea to do nothing for three weeks and then immediately return to major league action? Now we get the following trifecta right before game time on Tuesday night from manager Eric Wedge – Sizemore (a) will not be in the lineup every day, at least for the remainder of this week, (b) might spend some time at DH moving forward and (c) will return to hitting second in the order when Asdrubal Cabrera is ready to return from his shoulder injury, likely later this week. Don’t know about you, but seems like some oddness going on in Cleveland to me.
Joey Votto broke his silence and told the media that the reason that he missed time this season was that he was clinically depressed at the loss of his father last August. I wish you all the best Joey, no more jokes about your condition from this corner now that we know the details.
Does everyone know that Kyle Elfrink and I co-host the Fantasy Buffet Mon., Tues., Thurs. and Fri.? The podcast can be heard at Fanball.com each morning from 8-9 AM, PST. Oh yeah, it’s everyday during the week as Wednesday’s when I’m not there the Godfather of fantasy sports, Charlie Wiegert, steps in to take up my co-hosting chair. Each day we talk about everything sports related, obviously with a fantasy slant, as we break down the latest performances and injuries. Come give the show a listen – it’s not just Kyle and me every day, we also bring in a handful of our other correspondents to allow them to given their views on a myriad of topics. It’s good fun, and if I do say so myself, the show usually comes off without a hitch.
This is the only source you will need for your fantasy sports knowledge! OK, you might need other sources, but BaseballGuys should still be on your daily list of must reads for the insights and analysis that you will find here.
Author
The Managing Editor of Fanball, Ray Flowers has spent years squirreled away studying the inner workings of the fantasy game to the detriment of his personal life (yep ladies, that means he is still single if you are interested). Specializing in baseball and hockey where some consider him an expert, Ray also dabbles in the NFL and the NBA with enough knowledge in those areas to get himself into considerable trouble. Ray loves the S.F. Giants, has a man-crush on the Sharks, and fancies himself quite the chef with an extensive collection of microwave cookbooks.
You can contact Ray through e-mail at RFlowers@fanball(dot)com or on Twitter.
