Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 5/8/08 Kershaw, Injuries, Young Pitchers, Justin Upton

I want to start tonight with a little warning. I am going to be a dad for the second time any day now. So, if I go for a day or two without an article, or if I don’t get back to an email in my usual speedy fashion, that could be the reason. I’m not going away, and I’ll be back as soon as it is possible. Now without further ado, Beyond the Boxscore, gonna be a little bit of a short one tonight I think.

I know I mentioned the other day that Clayton Kershaw could be coming sooner rather than later, and there have been more rumblings, including in the LA Times that it is possible his first start could be May 17. Now, this is not written in stone by any stretch, but those of you who have been waiting for the next big thing, your wait might not be that much longer.

Justin Upton hit his first home run today since April 12^th. I know some of you might have soured some on the young stud during this power draught, but let’s look at the situation. He is just 20 years old, he is starting everyday for a quality team, and today he hit cleanup. Even with his slump lately, he is still hitting a robust .345. He is still going to make a good impact this year, don’t lose the love for Upton.

Is it time to be concerned about Justin Verlander? As much as I touted him as a guy who would jump to superstar status this year, I am officially worried about this guy. Where have his statistics gone? Granted he has gotten garbage for run support, but he just isn’t performing. Poor run support doesn’t make your ERA 6.43 and he isn’t striking out batters at a good rate. You can’t drop Verlander by any stretch, but I’m starting to worry that something might be wrong.

It had to happen eventually. Ancient Rays’ closer Troy Percival finally blew a save tonight. Percival hadn’t given up a run this season before Vernon Wells took Troy out of the yard tonight. He was seven for seven on save opportunities, and no one is perfect. Percival has far exceeded everyone’s expectations this year, and it looks like he will be a decent second level closer in 2008.

For all of you who went running to the waiver wire when Frank Thomas was released by the Jays, it is time for you to drop Adam Lind now. The trendy pickup a couple of weeks ago, Lind struggled mightily. Lind hit just .059, and was a total bomb in his time in Toronto. As I suspected, I think he is a 4A player, and might never make an impact in the majors.

It happened late last night after I was finished writing, but Twins’ rookie Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle. Gomez hit his second homer, along with the single, double, and triple. Gomez has been shipped to free agency in a lot of leagues, and if you have someone underperforming, he is a good addition. I believe he will hit around .275 with 50+ steals in 2008.

Cardinals OF Ryan Ludwick is on fire. After hitting his fifth homer last night, Ludwick did even better hitting two on Thursday. Ludwick is now hitting .356. He isn’t playing every single day with the Cardinals crowded outfield, but the more he plays like this, the more at bats he will get. Ludwick is looking like a good sleeper this season.

Brandon Webb threw another complete game Thursday, as he ran his record to start the season to 8-0. Webb was his usual sharp self, allowing only six hits, two earned runs, and no walks. News flash! He is one of the top five starters in the majors, perhaps top three.

Jacoby Ellsbury continues his impressive rookie season, and is in the discussion of the AL ROY. He is now hitting .290 with 13 RBI and 13 steals (and hasn’t been caught yet). Ellsbury looks like he could be on pace for 12 HRs and 50 steals.

Matt Cain is still struggling with his consistency. He was having a great outing today, giving up just two runs over six innings, and then in the seventh the wheels fall off. He kept his walks under control, but ended up being charged with all five earned runs, and took the loss. Cain has been pitching better as of late, so stay patient with him.

Danny Cabrera has been a little better this year than most, but I still wouldn’t trust him. He has teased us before with good starts, but always ends up doing the same thing. But he hasn’t given up more than three runs in six straight starts, and went the distance on Thursday and gave up only one run and one walk. He did have an eight walk game recently, but I still recommend staying away from Cabrera.

Royals rookie Luke Hochevar was OK on Thursday. He went seven innings, gave up four runs and struck out five. The rookie has been somewhat inconsistent, but still has a high ceiling and should stay in the rotation for the near future.

Injury News

Michael Young left the game last night with an injured hip flexor. He wasn’t in the game tonight, and is listed as day-to-day. He is off to a pretty good start, and the injury doesn’t appear serious. It looks like you just might have to sit on him for a few days, and hope he might be back by Monday.

Braves starter Jo-Jo Reyes left his start today with a blister on his left index finger. No word on how long he might miss, but if it is any length of time, you might have to think about cutting him. He is still showing signs of inconsistency, although in keeper leagues, you might want to wait on him.

Kevin Slowey made his return to the majors, but to unimpressive results. Slowey lasted five innings, but gave up three runs and struck out four. That isn’t terrible, but the Twins weren’t scoring runs. Leave him a free agent right now, but watch his next start to see if it improves. He will be roster worthy at some point this year.

As always, your questions (adds, drops, trades) and comments are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Don’t forget to check me out at mlbfrontoffice.com on Tuesdays under In The News. Also go to fantasybaseballsearch.com to find me in the Gurus Blog.

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–> <!–[endif]–>

Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 5/2/08

The Reds had two rookie starters going into this season, and it looks like the one with less hype will make the bigger fantasy impact this year. While Johnny Cueto has begun to struggle some now, Edinson Volquez is not. He will take the loss tonight, but it wasn’t all his fault. He was the victim of a horrible drop in the outfield by Corey Patterson (I’m talking right in his glove!), and then gave up a bomb to Brian McCann. And that was it. Volquez final line was six innings, one earned run, and struck out nine in his first loss. Continue to start him with supreme confidence as we keep waiting for him to come back to life, and he keeps mowing down hitters. He obviously can’t keep up the 1.27 ERA, but you can expect him to have a tremendous season as he will be one of the fantasy gems of 2008.

And speaking of Corey Patterson, CAN WE CALL UP JAY BRUCE YET?!?!!???!? PLEASE!!!!!!! Patterson is a bum, and needs to be replaced. He has four home runs, sure, but they all came in a seven day stretch. After an 0 for 4 tonight, he is hitting a lofty .205 while Bruce is making the minor leagues his bitch again. Bruce is now hitting .307 with five homer, 21 ribbies and has stolen six bases. C’mon Cincy, don’t you ever think about us fantasy players?????

Who was that pitching for the Braves tonight in Tim Hudson’s jersey, because it certainly wasn’t him. Hudson went the distance against the Reds while striking out 10. Now no one is going to name the Reds the team with the best plate discipline, but this was the first time since last April. I view Hudson as a low end fantasy starter due to his low strikeout rate, but I might be the minority in that opinion.

I am scouring a bunch of websites to see if there is any reason besides he was sucking, why Rich Hill was pulled in the first inning tonight in St. Louis. Hill only lasted 2/3 of an inning and gave up a run on four walks. There is no doubt that the Cubs have lost confidence in him, and he is apparently on the shortest leash in history. If there is a decent option in free agency, it may be time to consider cutting ties with the guy.

Update:  Rich Hill has been pulled from the rotation, although not sure if he is being sent down or going to the pen.  Pinella says Shawn Marshall will most likely take his spot.  Time to cut ties with Mr. Hill.

The Reds have changed their minds again on how their rotation will be set this coming week. Johnny Cueto will now pitch Monday and Aaron Harang is moved back a day to Tuesday. “We saw an opportunity to get Harang an extra day’s rest, so we are going to take advantage of it, that’s why they call them probable pitchers” was the quote from Reds pitching coach Dick Pole. Ok, I gotta stop there because that is the only reason I included this. If your name is Richard Pole, why would you let people call you Dick? Especially if you will have a public-type job like pitching coach of a major league team. Can anyone explain this to me?

The Yankees inched closer to the .500 mark as the Mariners couldn’t handle Wang. Ok, ok, I’m done with the dirty stuff tonight. Chien-Ming did go to 6-0, however, and continues to be one of the more underrated pitchers in fantasy baseball.

When Frank Thomas was released by the Blue Jays, fantasy players went running to the waiver wire for Adam Lind. And why not, Lind has had a fairly successful minor league career. But for some reason his bandwagon has passed me by. Lind may be what is known as a 4A player, too good for Triple A, but doesn’t make it in the big leagues. After another 0-3 tonight, Lind is hitting .062 since being called up on 4/26. Keep tabs on him as he is talented, but I can’t recommend having him on your roster right now.

Why do the Dodgers’ continue to play Andruw Jones? Well, I know there are over 100 million reasons why, but he is killing them, and anyone who still has him on their fantasy team. Through six innings tonight, Jones is 0-3 with another three strikeouts, lowering his average to .154 and he now has 32 K’s in just 29 games. Meanwhile Andre Eithier, Matt Kemp, and even Juan Pierre are performing well. Thanks Scott Boras, you suck! (well, that’s not true, you are awesome at what you do for your players, but you handcuff teams when your players don’t perform; see J.D. Drew, Andruw Jones, Barry Zito, etc.)

Injury News

I hate to tell you this Yovani Gallardo owners, but it looks like your guy is done for the year. After it appeared Gallardo avoided injury in a collision yesterday, word came today that he has a tear in his ACL and if surgery is done, his season will be over. In keeper leagues if you can stash him on your DL all year I would certainly do that, but in yearly leagues, let him go and let’s go searching the waiver wire.

Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins now looks on pace to return to the lineup this coming Thursday. This is good news, because the reports yesterday were looking cloudy as far as when he might be able to return to the field.

It looks like Yanks’ catcher Jorge Posada isn’t going to have surgery until after the season, meaning he will probably miss about 6-8 weeks to heal his inflamed rotator cuff. Great news for Posada owners, because if you need to replace your catcher at this point, you are usually scraping the bottom of an already shallow barrel.

Shane Victorino got his second start since coming back from the DL tonight, and it is now safe to get him back into your lineups. The “Flyin Hawaiian” will hopefully now get on track to repeat his breakout performance from 2007. Victorino was 1-5 in the Phillies comeback win, and stole his first base since returning to the field.

Marlins’ OF Josh Willingham was placed on the 15 day DL with a stiff back. He had been missing some time with the injury, and now he will get a couple of weeks to try to rest it. Back injuries are tricky and tend to linger for a while, so this could really cool off the hot start that Josh got off to. Put him in your injury slots, and hope that the rest cures what’s ailing him.

The only man to play in 12 different decades, Moises Alou returned to the Mets’ lineup after missing the beginning of the season after hernia surgery. If he can stay on the field, Alou isn’t a bad option to have on your bench to play in case of emergencies, but he shouldn’t be more than an injury replacement on your roster.

Quick Hitters

I’m watching my beloved Cardinals against the hated Cubs and Alfonso Soriano looks LOST in left field. He has completely misplayed two balls in the outfield tonight, and you can bet that Lou Pinella will have a press conference tonight that will be NSFW.

Aramis Ramirez was hit on the wrist by a pitch by Adam Wainwright tonight, but he stayed in the game initially, but was lifted shortly after. Damn it, Soriano just atoned for his sins and hit a two run homer in the 9^th to tie the game.

As much as I have been bashing him, Aaron Rowand is starting to heat up a little for the Giants. Rowand had his fourth consecutive two hit game and connected on his third homer of the year (his second in four days). I can’t see him repeating 2007 statistics, but perhaps he will be better than I thought. A decent fourth outfielder, but don’t expect great production.

Ichiro is also hitting a bunch of singles. The speedy slap hitter had two hits and stole three bases tonight to bring his season total to 10. He has hit in 10 of his last 11 games and has 15 hits during that time. He has got to be on the downside of his career, but should have a few more productive seasons left.

I am so tired of writing about Nate McLouth, but the guy keeps on producing. McLouth was 2-3 with a double and a stolen base, and looks to be single handedly costing me my matchup in my head-to-head league. Thanks Nate!

Marlins’ 2B Dan Uggla is doing exactly what we figured, hitting with some pop, and an average that is poop. After his two taters tonight Uggla now has six on the season and is on pace to hit his 23-28 HRs, and at .245 his average is right where you expect it to be.

After hitting 27 HRs and nearing 100 RBI many had hopes that Khalil Greene would finally put it together…..but they were wrong. Greene finally hit his first homer of the year tonight and is batting an awful .217. If you own Tulowitzki, Greene may be an option to look at, he should improve some from this terrible start.

Mark Hendrickson continues to pitch out of his butt. With seven strong innings on Friday, Hendrickson ran his record to an improbable 5-1 and kept the Marlins around the lead in the NL East. A lifetime 47-56 pitcher, Hendrickson is the poster boy for selling high. Hurry, before it’s too late.

Shawn Marcum continues to pitch well in Toronto when nothing else is going right. Marcum went 6.2 gave up no runs and struck out nine. He has given up two runs or less in four of his six starts and is trying to prove that 2007 was no fluke.

As always, your questions about your team (adds, drops, trades, etc) and comments are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee an answer within 18 hours.