Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 5/22/08

The next young arm that is going to be added in a lot of fantasy leagues in the next 24 hours is going to be the Marlins’ Andrew Miller. Miller was one of the two big pieces that the Marlins got back in the Miguel Cabrera trade, but he got off to a terrible start. This is the fourth consecutive good start for Miller, and tonight was the best of his major league career. Miller lasted seven shutout innings, while striking out nine. Not bad for a guy who turned 23 yesterday. Unless your staff is stacked, see if you have someone you can replace with Miller, and keeper league players, act quickly.

Yankees rookie Ian Kennedy finally had a start that he didn’t embarrass himself. Kennedy has been a whopping disappointment for both the Yankees and fantasy players, and I am guessing most people had given up on him by now. Kennedy gave up just one run over six innings with four punchouts. I still think that you should wait for two or three more starts like this before thinking of adding him to your roster.

After swirling rumors about his job security, Rangers’ closer C.J. Wilson collected his ninth save of the season. He still could be replaced sometime soon by Eddie Guardado, but perhaps he has bought himself some more time with the 1-2-3 performance he gave on Thursday.

Despite walking more than a batter an inning, Daisuke Matsusaka remained unbeaten with his 8^th win of the season against Kansas City. Dice allowed three runs, walked six and struck out seven over 5.2 innings in which he threw 118 pitches. It wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done.

Both Santanas took the loss on Thursday, with Johan losing to the Braves and Ervin going down to the Jays. Ervin gave up four runs over six innings with seven Ks. He has been shaky his last few times out which is to be expected. He is pitching over his head, I would try to move him if I had him (which I do, and I will).

Johan Santana had two parts to his line score which wouldn’t make me happy if I owned him. First, Santana gave up a career high 12 hits, second, he struck out only one over seven innings. He is a great buy low candidate. Don’t expect anyone to give him away, but I bet the price is lower than it was when the season started.

Even when he loses, Aaron Laffey is pretty impressive. The great Indians’ rookie threw seven, one-run innings and struck out six while only walking one. Laffey has been one of the more impressive rookies in 2008 and is starting to look like a must-start each time out.

Ryan Howard is on a tear, and is starting to show he was worthy of your first round pick. After his 13^th on Thursday, Howard now has six in his last nine games. Ryan will most likely finish with 50, or somewhere near that, you just have to hope that he starts to cut down on the strikeouts which have plagued him this year.

Tigers rookie Matt Joyce is making the most of his opportunity to play. Joyce connected on his fifth homer of the season Thursday, and raised his average to .276. Joyce is worth a look in larger leagues as he is showing that he has some pop. Joyce did have a season of 17 HRs in 130 games, so this isn’t a total fluke. Continue to watch Joyce, and if he continues to hit like this, pick him up.

Jason Bay continues on the road to fantasy relevance again with his 11^th homer of the season Thursday while he now has 22 RBI. After hitting just 21 HRs all of last season, Bay looks to be on pace to get back to the numbers he put up his first two years in the league.

With his third homer in five days, it also looks like Corey Hart is getting back to the form that made him a very sexy pickup in 2007. Hart also stole his eighth base of the year, which puts him on pace to smash his career high of 23 last season. I believe that Hart will hit fewer homers in 2008, but steal more bases than he did in 2007.
Injury News

Brewers closer Eric Gagne has been shut down indefinitely with rotator cuff tendonitis. It is too soon to have a timetable for his return, but if you have him, try ANYTHING to get someone to take him or just cut him off your team.

One day after taking a Pujols line drive to the nose, San Diego pitcher Chris Young was placed on the Disabled List with the broken nose. He hopes to miss just the mandatory 15 games, so stash him in your injury spot on your roster and hope that there are no lingering effect to that scary injury.

Indians closer Joe Borowski will be activated off the DL on Friday and immediately regain his role as closer in the Cleveland bullpen. Yeah, he gives up a lot of runs and blows some saves, but after the way his replacements performed during his absence Borowski’s job security has never been higher. Put him back in your lineup immediately.

Indians catcher Victor Martinez left the game Thursday with an injured finger, making him day-to-day. This is just the latest is in a string of tough events for one of the best catchers in the league. Martinez is hitting for a good average, but still hasn’t homered yet this year. Considering you probably have no second option behind the plate, continue to play Victor and hope this doesn’t keep him out long.

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.

Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 5/17/08

The bullpen situation in Cleveland is an absolute mess. A couple days after removing Rafael Betancourt from the interim closers role while Joe Borowski is out, Masa Kobayashi gave up a TOWERING three run homer to Adam Dunn and blew a save himself. I can’t believe it is possible, but are the Indians (and fantasy players) asking how much longer Joe Borowski will be out? Borowski is one of the more criticized closers in baseball, but we are finding out why he has kept his job for so long.

One start after getting absolutely tattooed, Rich Harden showed flashes of brilliance again Saturday. Harden allowed just one run over seven innings and struck out eight, as he showed why fantasy owners continue to pick him, even though he breaks their hearts with his injuries every season. Hold on to him, until…….

Not too many details yet, but Brad Penny will be scratched from his start on Sunday due to stiffness in his right arm. No news yet to the extent of the injury or when he will pitch again, but it is certain that at least this start will be skipped as the Dodgers will move Derek Lowe up to pitch on Sunday.

For the second consecutive start, Arizona rookie Max Scherzer didn’t allow an earned run, but he wasn’t exactly sharp. Scherzer lasted just five innings, and although he struck out five he walked four and gave up three hits. Overall, not bad at all, but he has been unable to recapture the magic from that first appearance of his career.  Also, Doug Davis is making his way back to the majors following cancer treatment, so Scherzer’s days in the rotation appear to be numbered.

Ervin Santana has now struggled in two consecutive starts. Santana has seen his ERA go up almost an entire run in just two starts, as he gave up four runs over six innings and striking out five. Santana took his first loss of the season on Saturday, and he is someone that I would look to sell high before he has a few more starts like this.

Aaron Harang had one of his typical starts, and of course, the Reds didn’t score the runs in time for him to get a win. Harang went seven, allowed just one run, one walk, and struck out five but left in a tie game. The Reds would win on a walk off homer by Adam Dunn, so Harang’s record will still sit at 2-5. He is a player that I would be targeting cheap if I were looking for starting pitching.

Red Sox starter Daisuke Matsusaka ran his record to a perfect 7-0 with another impressive start on Saturday. Dice didn’t allow an earned run over 6.2 innings, and struck out six, lowering his season ERA to 2.15. He has taken his game to the next level this season, and is starting to prove what all the hype was about last season. He obviously isn’t going to finish the season 25-1, so you have to expect at least a little drop in production, but it appears that Matsusaka is going to have a top 15 starter kind of year.

After three great starts in succession, it appeared that Matt Garza had it all put together. Well, Garza took one on the chin Saturday against St. Louis. In just 4.1 innings, Garza allowed six runs, walked two and only fanned one. He is still a young pitcher, and I always preach with pitchers under 25 you are going to have your fair share of starts like this. But be patient with Garza, he was one of the best pitching prospects in recent years.

One day after hitting homer number seven and eight, Alfonso Soriano went 5-5 today and hit dingers number nine and ten. Soriano is now hitting .295 and is the hottest hitter in baseball. Look for Soriano to finish the year between 35-38 homers and 93-97 ribbies as he gets back to a feared fantasy player. He isn’t stealing bases like he used to, but his power still makes him valuable.

Although he is hitting for a good average and swiping some bases, Corey Hart has been a mild disappointment to his fantasy owners with his lack of power. Hart connected on just his second homer of the season on Saturday, and hopefully this will start a little chain reaction of power. You don’t expect him to hit 35 out of the yard or anything, but we were projecting 20-25. He is hitting .301 and has stolen seven bases, so he isn’t a wasted pick, but his owners would like to see him showing a little more pop, he could be available cheap.

The knock on Albert Pujols coming into the season (besides the elbow injury) was that he had no one hitting behind him that struck any fear into the opposing pitcher to stop them from pitching around Albert. Well, the Cardinals may have found that protection in Ryan Ludwick. With two more bombs on Saturday, that is now six for Ludwick in the past ten games to go with RBI. He isn’t a young guy, so this production might be a fluke, but if you can pick up a guy batting over .330 with ten homers you gotta grab him now.

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.