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 8th 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 13th 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 11th 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.
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