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.

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

Max Scherzer didn’t quite have the starting debut he had hoped for. Scherzer only lasted four innings, gave up five runs (two earned) and struck out five. Scherzer still is a top prospect, and we have already seen what he is capable of in his relief appearance, so don’t let this little setback effect your opinion of him. If anything this helps out those who missed out on Scherzer, maybe those who got him might sour on him with this subpar outing.

Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matsusaka has had trouble with control throughout his tenure in the United States, but tonight took the cake. Matsusaka walked EIGHT guys throughjust five innings, but somehow only gave up one run and got the win. This is crippling to your WHIP for those in leagues that keep that category, but he is now 5-0, so it is hard to complain too much about other categories.

David Ortiz seems to be breaking out of his slump. In his last five games he has ten hits, and in the last ten games he has four homers, counting the one on Monday night. You had to figure that Big Papi would break out, and it looks like he is doing just that now. Keep him in your lineup no matter what.

Two bits of news coming out of Toronto. One is closer that closer B.J.Ryan has been cleared by doctors to throw two consecutive games. Ryan has been nearly unhittable in his return from Tommy John Surgery, and this is just one more positive step in his full recovery from his injury. He is getting closer to being considered a number one closer again.

Johnny Cueto was back on the winning track Monday, throwing six innings and striking out eight. Cueto only gave up three runs and ran his record to 2-3. As I have been saying from the beginning, there are going to be good games, and bad games, and if you commit to owning Cueto you are going to have to learn to take the good with the bad, but the good should outnumber the bad.

Angels’ starter Ervin Santana continued his improbable success in 2008 by doing something he had only done once before in his major league career. Monday marked the second time that Santana threw a shutout. He now sits at 6-0 with a 2.02 ERA, and is one of the sleepers of 2008, although I like to think of him as a serious sell high candidate. See if you can find someone to give you the value of the way he is pitching right now, because this won’t continue all year long.

Although he has been getting into most games at some point during the contest, Brandon Wood really hasn’t been starting too many games. And although Monday was no different, Wood did his first home run of the season, while he bats just .200. Like I have said before, I have long since jumped off of Wood’s bandwagon, but just wanted to report what he has been doing, but I wouldn’t touch him with a ten foot pole.

Cubs catcher Geovany Soto is proving that last year in the minors was no fluke. Soto is hitting .352 with six homers and 24 RBI, and is on pace to be one of the top three or four catchers in fantasy. This is a huge steal for those of you who own Soto.

Brad Hawpe hit his second homer in three games, and it is looking like he is starting to regain the form that showed him hit 29 HRs in 2007. Keep Hawpe in your lineup everyday, and hope that this resurgence is the real deal.

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.

Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 4/23/08 Closers, Injuries, Rookies, more

couple of aging closers are really dealing so far in 2008. In New York, Mets’ closer Billy Wagner has been completely dominant. Not only has Wagner not given up a run yet in his eight appearances, but Wagner is yet to give up a hit! He does only have four saves and six Ks, but Billy has been dealing every time out for Manager Willie Randolph, whether it has been a save situation or not. Although he too isn’t filling up the save category (only has three), Rays’ closer Troy Percival has also yet to give up a run, and has allowed only one hit. This is a little more surprising than Wagner’s season, as many wondered how Percival would do being in the closer’s role for the first time in a number of years. I believe the last time that Percival had a save, Jesus himself was playing left field. Although he doesn’t get a ton of chances, he is making the most out of the chances he gets.

Speaking of closers, it was Derrick Turnbow, not Eric Gagne who came in to finish the game for the Brewers on Wednesday. Most likely this was because Gagne has pitched in five of the last six days. Even though Gagne has struggled, Turnbow hasn’t been much better, with an ERA over nine. He did convert the save with no trouble, but I don’t see this as any change in the guard, Gagne is still the Brewers closer.

In Colorado, closer Manny Corpas is in the middle of a meltdown. After blowing tonight’s chance, Corpas has now blown three out of the last four opportunities. Haven’t heard anything about changing jobs yet, but if it isn’t already in the works, you have to believe Corpas is on a very short leash now. Might be worth grabbing Brian Fuentes as insurance.

Trevor Hoffman was victimized again on Wednesday, as Giants catcher Bengie Molina took Hoffman out of the yard for a blown save. There is still some concern over Hoffman, but he will have to do much more to put his job in jeopardy.

If I am going to crush people when they suck, I should give credit when they don’t. One of my favorite whipping posts, Mike Mussina was good tonight as the Yanks played the White Sox. The Moose gave up only two runs over seven innings for the longest outing of his season, and the Bronx Bombers remained above the .500 mark. Don’t expect this type of production to continue, Mussina’s fantasy days are in his rear view mirror…..and out of sight.

Ok, time to check back in with Evan Longoria. He has now played in 11 games, and although the average is lower than what we expected (.243), he does have two homers and seven ribbies. I have to say that so far he has been a success, and as time passes and he becomes comfortable in the majors, it is dangerous to think what he might do.

Another rookie, Geovany Soto is starting to get noticed. The Cubs catcher got off to a pretty horrendous start, but he is locked in now. Soto was a triple away from the cycle tonight, collecting his seventh double and third homer of the season. He is a welcome addition to a position that is starving for some young talent.

The Tigers have made a fairly drastic change to their infield already in this young season. It was announced on Wednesday that 3B Miguel Cabrera would now play first base, and 1B Carlos Guillen would now be the starting third baseman. This is great for those of you who own these players, as the added flexibility helps your team out. Especially with Guillen, your league most likely gives him SS eligibility from last year, he probably already gained 1B eligibility, and now he will soon have 3B as well.

I know I usually try to stay away from reporting about first round picks, but a few were completely awesome on Wednesday. Chase Utley hit his seventh home run in the last seven games, and has driven in 12 runs during that span. Hanley Ramirez not only hit his seventh homer of the year (his fourth in four games), but stole his sixth base as well. He is definitely proving last year was no fluke. Prince Fielder went yard twice as he aims to get back on his pace to get to 50 HRs again his year.

Injury Notes

Welcome back Curtis Granderson! One of my guys going into this year to come close to replicating last season’s numbers, Granderson came back from the DL today after being hit by a pitch in the Spring. Granderson didn’t disappoint, going 2-4 with two walks, three runs scored and two ribeyes. Get him back into your lineups immediately and get ready for Curtis to fill up the boxscore.

For the second time in two days, the Boston Red Sox had to scratch their projected starter. After Josh Beckett couldn’t make his start, Daisuke Matsusaka had to miss his start due to flu like symptoms. I didn’t see any quotes, but I am sure that Dice will make his next start.

Quick Hitters

Marlins’ pitcher Andrew Miller finally put up a decent outing. Miller went five innings and only gave up one earned run. He didn’t strike anybody out, but consider the growing pains, everyone doesn’t execute right away as rookies. There was talk of sending Miller down, but this start most likely bought him a few more.

The Colorado middle infield situation is a mess. Today’s combination was Clint Barmes at second and Troy Tulowitzki at short. I believe that this is the best lineup for the rookies and the Rockies, keep watching Barmes, he hit another long ball today and is earning his playing time.

When the Cardinals and Blue Jays traded Scott Rolen for Troy Glaus, it seemed as both teams were just changing for the same guy. It is looking like the Cardinals got the better end of that deal. While Glaus isn’t exactly mashing (he is yet to go deep), he does have ten doubles and is hitting .267. I know, I know these aren’t all-star numbers, but thinking of those two guys when the season started you would’ve taken those numbers from Glaus.

As always, your questions (adds, drops, trades) and comments are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours.