Fantasy Baseball Advice

Given the plum matchup of the Nationals for his first Sawx start, John Smoltz turned the opportunity into prunes with a 4-run 1st inning. But then he started shaking off the rust and gave up only 1 ER and 3 hits in the next 4 innings. So what can be expect from Ol’ Smoltzy? His move to the AL is a blessing and a curse – a blessing in that many of the hitters haven’t faced him and a curse in that it’s the tougher league. His velocity was good given it was his first start (hitting 93+ MPH on the fastball) and his slider and split-finger had some bite. If he stays healthy, he’s definitely worth rolling the dice on. But you may want to sit him during bad matchups until he has a couple good starts under his belt.  Anyway, here’s what else we saw in fantasy baseball:

Geovany Soto – Was reported that he tested positive for marijuana in the WBC.  Going, Going, Ganja!  To be blunt, Soto had an awful start.  He stunk up the joint.  He left his owners hungry.  Now, he’s smoking like he’s hitting .420.

Russell Martin – If Soto was on pot, what has Russell Martin been on?

Jake Fox – HR yesterday.  Fox is worth owning while DH’ing.  He’s crazy like a fox, which is much better than crazy like a Milton Bradley.

Magglio Ordonez – HR yesterday after he shaved his head.  Hey, it worked for Bruce Willis.

Ted Lilly – 6 IP, 6 ER.  Did show up on the list of pitchers who may be in for a correction.  I think he’ll be okay, but he’s not an under 4 ERA pitcher.  You knew that, I knew that.  Let’s move on, shall we?

Johan Santana – 7 IP, 1 ER.  Take that Rick Peterson!

Matt Kemp – 0-for-6 with 4 Ks as he batted 5th.  C’mon, Torre, bat him ninth!

Casey McGehee – HR yesterday as he bats .389 in the last week.  After the game, Zobrist tossed him his jersey as he cracked open a Coke.

Denard Span – Returned from the Dizzabled List with a 1-for-2 game and 3 runs scored.

Hanley Ramirez – It’s been a tough year for NL East shorstops and Hanley came out of the gates quite slow (9/2/12/3/.289).  After a typical Hanley May (21/6/11/5/.359), the first 20 games in June netted 0 HR and 1 SB (despite hitting for average and RBI).  So what’s he done in the past 4 games…just 3 HR, 13 RBI, and a SB!  Now at .335 and on pace for about 25/25, he’s back to his rightful place as the 2nd best fantasy hitter after Pujols.

Cody Ross - The one where Ross hits his 13th homer.

Wade LeBlanc – 1 1/3 IP, 4 ER.  Seattle crushed Joey.  Bring in Schwimmer!

Wladimir Balentien – Welcome back to, “Who’s your -laddy!”  Vladimir has two homers, but Wladimir hit his third yesterday.  Right now, Wladdy is your -laddy!

Lance Berkman – 2 HRs, 4 RBIs and 1 steal.  With three hits yesterday, he equaled his total for the last week.  Hopefully he has a solid 2nd half.  The numbers say he should.

Derek Lowe – 3 IP, 6 ER.  Sure would’ve been easier to call this one if he was hit hard against the Red Sox last time out.  Since I said two weeks that he hadn’t given up more than 3 runs in over a month, he’s been rocked twice in three starts.  Lesson learned?  Keep big trap shut.

Jimmy Rollins – Benched for two games because of his .218 BABIP.  Funny that the Phillies are saying it’s a mental break when they’re the ones over thinking things.

Antonio Bastardo – 3 2/3 IP, 6 ER.  Fitting name.

Johnny Cueto – 6 IP, 5 ER.  I’m so done with NL pitchers in AL parks that I benched Cueto yesterday.  Missed a Win, but avoided a WHIPing.

Alex Rodriguez – After battling “fatigue” early in the week, he rested for two days.  Yesterday, he hit his tenth homer.  Now that’s what I call a power nap!

Jordan Zimmermann – 7 IP, 1 ER.  You deserved this line if you had the cojones to start him against the Sawx.  For those playing at home, and I’m assuming besides our incarcerated readers that’s true of most of you, Zimmermann has 69 Ks and 69 2/3 IP.  Hello, beautiful.

Cliff Lee – 7 IP, 2 ER.  Not my style to point out the positive with Lee, but all his Win Karma from last year as gone out the window somewhere on I-90.

Eric Byrnes – Out for two months with a fractured hand.  The hand must’ve felt guilty for signing those checks the past year and a half.

Mark Reynolds – 2 HRs yesterday.  Get on the donkey, donkey!

Joey Votto - 4-for-5, HR, 2 R. 3 RBI.  Nothing depressing about that line!

Sometimes you just can’t trade a guy in your fantasy baseball league.  For whatever reason, the rest of the teams don’t believe in your guy.  Whether it’s someone who has been doing well who people aren’t sure if they’re for real (Ben Zobrist) or someone who has been struggling (Liriano), no one in your league will trade for them.  You’ve tried to sell lower than even their value warrants, but no bites. So you go even lower and, before you know it, you’re trading Liriano for a VHS copy of The Secret Life of Desmond Pfeiffer.  So what do you do when no one wants to give you any value for one of your guys?

Let’s look at the guys that are supposedly playing above their heads (the Zobrists).  The best thing you can do with these guys is for you to trust in their value.  Say you have Jeter and Zobrist, and you’re stuck benching Zobrist every day because you just don’t have room.  But you really need a starter.  You know Zobrist is worth a starter, but no one’s biting.  So trade Jeter for a starter, who will give you value, and slot Zobrist in as your shortstop.  Trust in The Zo.

Next, the guys who don’t have any value because they’re sucking wind like a burro in Machu Picchu, the Liriano case example.  There’s two things you can do here.  Drop them so they stop sucking the life out of your team.  For instance, some might remember when I said I dropped Carmona after his first start of the year.  I knew no one would trade me anything for Carmona.  I also knew that people wouldn’t let him sit on waivers.  Sure enough, he was picked up and dropped by countless teams in my league, i.e., he did serious damage to my opponents ERA and WHIP, not mine.  ‘Natch!  The other thing you can do with an underperforming player, trade them for a player that someone else can’t trade.  Someone who owns Ben Zobrist and is benching them?  They might consider Liriano.  Someone can’t stand the sight of Stephen Drew on their team?  They might take Liriano.  Instead of chewing gum, chew bacon!

Matt Lindstrom hits the DL with a sore elbow and should be out at least 6 weeks.  He’s fine to drop if you don’t have DL room, since he may not be the closer when/if he returns.  Rudy and I were talking over IM when the news of Matt Lindstrom hitting the DL broke.  We looked at the options.  Dan Meyer or Leo Nunez?  Meyer is a lefty that has been handling righties well this year.  Nunez has posted ERAs of 3.18, 3.77, 6.43 in the first three months of the season and he just hurt his ankle on Tuesday.  We went with Meyer on all of our teams.  At worst, we have a guy who has pitched well.  A few hours later, Nunez said his ankle was fine.  If I had to do it over again, I would’ve went with Nunez because he’s probably first in line for saves.  SAGNOF, after all.  I’m holding Meyer for now just to see how this plays out.  So far, it’s played out with Meyer getting the first save.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Edinson Volquez – Almost a month after heading to the DL, Edinson has elbow inflammation.  This is obviously terrible news for his owners.  An arm setback after almost of a month hiatus usually means he’s not coming back for a while.

Homer Bailey – Should get the call on Saturday.  That call goes like this, “Hey, Dusty here.”  “This is Homer.”  “Simpson?”  “Bailey.”  “What’s up, Homer Bailey?”  “You called me.”  “Oh.”  Dusty puts down the phone at this point and makes Harang throw 200 warmup pitches.  Then Homer hears in the background Dusty telling Paul Janish to hang up the phone.  Bailey’s worth grabbing in NL-Only leagues.  I wouldn’t trust him in mixed leagues shallower than 15 team.  He’s fubar’d too many opportunities at this point to run out and grab him.  And if you do grab him, don’t start him.

Jonny Gomes – HR yesterday as he fills in for Beltran on three of our teams.  (The “our” is for Rudy.)

Aaron Hill/Adam Lind – Both homered, 16th and 15th, respectively.  I feel like I answer lots of trade questions about getting rid of these guys.  Why does everyone want to lose them?  Afraid of happiness?  They’re solid.  Rios or Hill?  Hill.  Lind or Markakis?  Markakis, but not really by much and Lind can out perform him.  30/100 is nothing to sneeze at.  Unless you’re allergic to productive outfielders.

Brad Lidge – Should return today, I’d hold Ryan Madson for the time being, because Lidge has been ready to pitch in 28 games so far this year and has a 7.27 ERA.

Kenshin Kawakami – Was hit with a linedrive to the side of his neck.  Should be fine, according to his doctors that are located over the *pinkie to mouth* Throbs Neck Bridge.

Evan Longoria – Left with moans over his hammy.  He said he’ll be back by Thursday.

Pat Burrell – Hit his 2nd homer of the year.  2nd homer?  That’s awful.  Hopefully, he hasn’t been clogging up too many of your teams.  The good news is if he’s on waivers he gets very hot for stretches.  Could hit 10 homers in the next month.

Matt Garza – 8 IP, 1 ER, 7 Ks vs. Phils.  Last two starts, he couldn’t get through the 6th inning and gave up 4 and 3 runs, respectively.  When Garza pitches, you know you’re going to get something.  What something is a whole different ballgame.

Joe Blanton – 7 IP, 2 ER, 10 Ks.  Yeah, and I had Wolf going all over the place giving up five runs to the White Sox.  Fantasy Baseball, Aggravating you for over twenty years.

Rich Harden – 5 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 3 Ks, 4 walks.  I’ve never been a fan of Harden.  But I wasn’t a fan of the when-healthy-extremely-effective Rich Harden.  Who is this Rich Harden?  This isn’t him.

David Ortiz – HR yesterday.  I’m willing to admit it, he’s back.  Now you’re still up against a guy who has no position eligibility.  That kills your team’s flexibility.  You see a hot hitter on waivers?  With Ortiz at UTIL, you’ll have no place to put him.

Grady Sizemore – 2nd game back, first homer.  Great sign!  Then again, he hit a homer the day before he went on the DL.  Damn you, half empty glass.

Zach Duke – 6 IP, 1 ER.  Has a 3.09 ERA on the year.  Zoinks!

Adam LaRoche – 3-for-4, 11th homer, 2nd steal, 1 cat saved from a burning building.

Nick Evans – HR yesterday as he got the start at first.  Makes sense for the Mets to give the kid starts over Tatis, not sure if he’ll continue to start over Murphy though.  He may find himself in a platoon of sorts and hurting his breakout potential.  He does have solid pop and a decent eye.  Other than NL-Only keepers, it’s a bit early to be looking at him.

Ricky Nolasco – 7 IP, 0 ER, 7 Ks.  I won’t go as far to say he’s fully back, but I will say he seems fully back.  Modified!

Nick Blackburn – 8 IP, 3 ER, 12 baserunners, 2 Ks.  41 Ks/26 BBs on the year with a 3.11 ERA.  You are a statistical anomaly!

Miguel Olivo – Another homer yesterday.  Has something like 20 homers this month.

Josh Fields – 2 HRs yesterday.  That’s one homer for each start he’s had in the last ten days.

Gavin Floyd – 6 IP, 1 ER.  I hope someone’s riding this wave so I can live vicariously, because I don’t own him in any league. (<–Not by choice.)

Frank Francisco – Being eased back into the closer role.  They ease much longer and he’s going to be back on the DL before he gets another save.

Brandon Morrow – Threw 2 innings three starts ago, 3 innings two starts ago, then 4 innings one start ago.  Guess how many yesterday?  Yup, 5.  Anyone want some action on how many he’s going to throw next time out?

Vladimir Guerrero – Hit his 2nd homer yesterday.  Now only two behind the Subaru pace car of Abreu.

Everth Cabrera – Newest shortstop-schmohawk-SAGNOF guy.  Definitely worth a flier if you need steals.

Vicente Padilla – After a typical start, after a 7 IP, 1 ER start.

This week’s StU is looking at Bill Bavasi and laughing at his face, and wondering if Chris Davis can manage to reach enough ABs to destroy Mark Reynolds strikeout record or if Mister Smoak can push Davis into the abyss and let Reynolds hold his title.

Chris Tillman – SP – Baltimore Orioles – DOB 4/15/1988 – 6′ 5” – 195 lbs – Throws Right

Acquired in the fleecing of former Seattle Mariners GM Bill Bavasi for Eric Bedard, Tillman seemed to be an afterthought. I am still trying to comprehend that trade, let alone giving up two top prospects (Adam Jones and Tillman), a decent reliever and two fillers for a starting pitcher just after he finished having a career year. Praise Jesus/Allah/any deity of your choice, that Mr. Bavasi is gone. Nevertheless, the Orioles are soaking in some young talent. They have the top prospect, according to the majority of sources, in Wieters, a young stud budding in Markakis and aging veterans like Roberts, Mora, Huff, and Sherrill. What they lack is a major league worthy rotation. With Tillman and his partner in crime Brian Matusz (who was just drafted in 2008 and is supposed to make it to the majors within the next couple of years), the rotation may be fixed from within.

I am not going to say that the Orioles have a chance at contending in that division because Chris Tillman may be more hype than reality (plus, the Yankees and Red Sox won’t let it happen). Remember Daniel Cabrera? I sure do. Remember the hype? The 100 mph fastball? The lack of control? Tillman may not have a 100 mph fastball, but he does have a 91-95 mph fastball with some late movement, but its his curve that the scouts drool over. He throws the curve in the mid 70′s and it’s his strikeout pitch. However, he lacks a reliable change-up and consistent control and this is why he isn’t major league ready. This year, his numbers are better and I am assuming he has been consistently working on that change-up, and with the Orioles going nowhere and needing pitching, we may have to wait to see his game until September. Nevertheless, here is what he has done the last 3 years since A ball:

’07 [A] 33 IP, .27 (1) HR/9, 3.55 BB/9, 9.27 K/9, 3.55 ERA [2.81 FIP], 1.27 WHIP, .337 BABIP, 55.1 LOB%
’07 [A+] 102 2/3, 1.05 (12), 4.21, 9.2, 5.26 [4.43] 1.51, .340, 58.6
’08 [AA] 135 2/3, .66 (10), 4.31, 10.22, 3.18 [3.41], 1.33, .315, 77.1
’09 [AAA] 60, .6 (4), 2.70, 10.05, 2.55 [2.78], 1.17, .320, 71.9

Baseballcube.com ranks players attributes on a scale of 0 to 100 such as power, patiences, k-rate, control, etc, and his ratings are:

Control: 26 (as compared to Mad-Bum and Alderson’s 100 and 97)
K-Rating: 98 (Mad-Bum and Alderson: 98 and 84)
Efficiency: 47 (Mad-Bum and Alderson: 100 and 100)

Those are a ton of numbers, but hang in there. As the Cube states, the strikeouts are there and the control is the issue. The last three years proves that with the numbers. Other than this year, his lowest BB/9 has been an even 4. That is a little scary, only for the fact that Daniel Cabrera had similar minor league numbers. I am not saying that he is the reincarnation of Cabrera, but that is a possibility, unless he harnesses his control. Also, BABIP has been unfriendly to him, which makes me think that having a better defense behind him might help us see some better peripheral numbers. But the key operative word here is might, and that is a awfully large might!

He is ranked higher than Tommy Hanson, but rankings are frivolous if the results beg to differ. After doing the research, I am holding a lot of reservations for this lanky kid. He may have good mechanics, a plus curve, great mound presence, but this year’s control seems to be the outlier. How many players reach AAA and cut their walks in half? Few.

He may not reach the majors and be a #1 starter, but definitely a middle of the rotation because he limits the homers, has a stellar k-rate, and the mechanics to have moderate success. Picture the success Kevin Slowey has had in the majors with the control of a rookie Lincecum. That is essentially what Tillman is as of now. That isn’t anything to be embarrassed over, but the hype surrounding Tillman may not be as warranted. In fantasy leagues this year, I would hold off and let the rookie nookie suckers bite.

Justin Smoak – 1B – Texas Rangers – DOB 12/5/1986 – 6′ 3″ – 200 lbs – Bats/Throws: Switch/Left

Imagine this, up to bat is catcher Matt Wieters and on deck is Justin Smoak. These two guys were just teammates during high school. Maybe there’s something in the water…?

Playing for his hometown college, South Carolina, Smoak rose in their all-time home run hitter list to second by hitting 62 with only Rafael Palmeiro ahead of him. That is some nice company, even with the steroid hoopla. In 739 ABs in college, Smoak produced a line of .334/.449/.658. Those are stellar numbers. Calling him country strong would seem a bit presumptuous and lacking creativity, how about Sumac strong (That’s tree strong. Lame yes, even if I am making a play on his name which isn’t even pronounced like Sumac)? You may want to object and claim that they use metal bats, but he played in some games in the Cape Cod league during the summer and had mild success. Even more, the scouts are claiming that the swing is legit and so is the power.

The Cube gives him these ratings:
Power: 99
Speed: 1
Contact: 80
Patience: 98

His swing is praiseworthy, and several sites back up claims on his stellar swing. One amateur scout for the Rangers said that he has a great swing because his hands move together with his body producing a short, solid swing with few holes (his plate coverage is great). His hips and hands rotate simultaneously which is where all that power comes from. So the swing is legit, the power is there, he walks (and runs) like he’s at a retirement center and strikes out like your average power hitter (151 BB to 107 K’s in college).

The only downside is his fielding as he is quite the klutz, or more just a roaming troll. He’s at best an average fielder (and that may be stretching it), and his sloth like speed restricts his range. Nothing the great ole DH can fix. Speaking of DH, have you seen the one man wrecking crew, I mean the one man migraine inducing player named Chris Davis? Smoak may get his spot… but then again, I hear the Rangers want Davis to break Mark Reynolds’s strikeout record (*sarcasm).

On a serious note, Smoak really only has about 200 minor league AB under his belt. So most stats are just there for looking at and not seriously analyzed because the sample size is too small. However, if his college numbers translate, we may have a similar player to Mark Teixeira who is projected to hit 35-40 homers a year with decent average. A few scouts claim he may have reached his potential and is a player who is a “get what you see” kind of player. Nevertheless, I would love to have a player who can hit 35-40 homers and not destroy my team.

He may get a look at this year with Chris Davis struggling mightily. However, I think Peter Gammons hype and talk about Smoak reaching the majors and thriving latter this year is a bit optimistic, it may be a reality in September. Why make a player of this caliber arbitration eligible earlier than you have to? Fantasy wise, he is a dark horse for ROY in 2010.

Brandon Webb may miss the rest of the season.  Nothing good comes from drafting a top pitcher.  Nothing, I tell you.  I own Peavy in two leagues, so I’m right there with youse.  Remind next year to revert back to not drafting starters in the first five rounds.  Actually, next year you probably will be able to get Webb and Peavy after the fifth round.  Hmm, that’s a pickle.  Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.  Webb was diagnosed with an “Ain’t Getting Better” problem.  Captain Obvious says, “When a guy misses three months, then goes for an MRI, it’s not a good sign.”  I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s shutdown for the year.  But you’ve held him this long, what’s another day or two to hear the full prognosis?  BTW, prognosis is doctor-talk for the 411.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Coco Crisp – Out for the season when his shoulder went snap, crackle, pop.

Carlos Beltran – Out on the 15-day DL.  Now, get this, the Mets say the best case scenario is he returns in 15 days.  Crazy, right?  I wonder what the best case scenario would’ve been if he was out on the 14-day DL.  Or 16-day DL.

Joel Pineiro – Two hit the Mets with one strikeout.  In other the news, Willie Randolph laughs.

Joey Votto – Returned to the lineup after being out for almost a month on the Dizzabled List.  I still think he can surpass Berkman’s numbers this season.  (Doesn’t hurt that Berkman’s having a season for the old ages.)  I’d buy into Votto picking up right where he left off.

Grady Sizemore – 2-for-5 in his return.  I’m not crazy about Grady going forward.  Elbow’s a tricky thing and Sizemore doesn’t seem to have a volume down button on his hustle.

Brandon Inge – Hit his 17th homer yesterday.  Matt Wieters hit his 2nd.

Magglio Ordonez – Liquid Paper, be damned.  Leyland returned Ordonez to the lineup in the 7th hole.  Mags repaid him with an 0-for-2 night, then Raburn eventually replaced him and hit a walkoff homer.  Now Raburn needs to play 2,130 consecutive games then Gary Cooper Jr. Jr. can play him in The Pride of the Tigers.

Kosuke Fukudome – Batted seventh yesterday.  Okay, he’s crizzap.  No argument here.  But he does have a .390 OBP.

Jake Fox – DNP as Hoffpauir DH’d.  The day before Fox hit third.  Piniella’s following the Leyland School of Filling Out a Lineup Card.  One day, they don’t play.  The next day, they hit third.  Following day, sit out again.  You figure it out.

Ryan Zimmerman – 2-for-3, batting .297 on the season.  Wasn’t he just batting .415 and carrying Nats Nation on his shoulders?

David Huff – 8 IP, 0 ER.  Now he has a story to tell his grandkids when they ask about his career highlight.

Ian Snell – 2 2/3, 4 ER.  Member when this guy was good?  Think it was the autumn of ’06.  A burial cave dating back to the 1st century BC was discovered, the Crocodile Hunter met his match with a stingray and Snell won a game.  Good times!

Jhonny Peralta – HR yesterday.  Someone wasn’t happy Khalil was taking all the weirdly placed H love.

Jason Frasor – Got the save.  Frasor and the ‘do split, and it’s now safe to drop everyone else from the Jays pen.

David Price – 4 1/3 IP, 5 ER and nine baserunners.  From the comments Razzball received yesterday, I’d say Price’s owners aren’t too happy with him.  I’d look at buying him on the cheap.  They’re zigging?  Zag, friend, zag!

John Mayberry – HR yesterday.  All he does is hit home runs!  No, really, that’s all he does.

B.J. Upton – 2-for-5. .430 in the last week.  .330 in June.  If he hits 3 homers a month for the next three months and continues to steal near his current pace, he’ll go 15/50.

Matt Lindstrom – Mollywopped for three runs in 2/3 of an inning.  Leo Nunez left before that with a sprained ankle.  Those with sprained patience could grab Dan Meyer as he’d be next in line in Joe Robbie/Pro Player/Dolphins/Brought to you by Blockbuster Stadium.  Though I think Lindstrom has a few more closetastrophes in him before we get to Meyer.

Andrew Miller -7 IP, 1 ER.  Nice start, I’m still not buying.

Koji Uehara – 6 IP, 1 ER.  I like him, but would love to see him get out of the sixth inning in one of these games.

Francisco Liriano – 5 IP, 3 ER.  Even when the start’s good, he chucks in five walks.

Casey McGehee – 2-for-5.  No one else is going to hit for the Brewers?  Everyone’s favorite novel, “Picking Up Slack,” by McGehee.

Billy Butler – 2 homers in the last four games.  That’s one homer for each moob.

Miguel Tejada – 3-for-4, Tay-HA-duh’s still hitting an empty .337.  Say-Blah-duh.

Tommy Hanson – 5 1/3 IP, 0 ER.  Sure, you’re annoyed you benched him, but five walks through just over five and nine baserunners isn’t a great start.  Benching him was the right move.

Jorge Posada – Donned the golden sombrero and is now hitting .230 in June.

Hiroki Kuroda – 8 2/3 IP, 2 ER, 9 Ks.  All those starters people DL in hopes of them returning with value and Kuroda will probably exceed them all.  Sure, he gets smacked oops upside his head sometimes, but he’s also lights out plenty of other times.  Grey hearts Kuroda.  Actually, Grey hearts 95% of NL West pitchers not named Jonathan Sanchez.  Fingers, why are you talking about me in third person?  My bad.

Felipe Lopez – 3-for-5 and has hit in 18 of 20 games this month.  But… Wait for it… Here it comes… Is batting .262 in June.  Hey, one-for-fours, say hello to your mother for me.

Max Scherzer – 6 IP, 2 ER, 7 Ks.  Six innings and guess how many pitches.  119.  I feel an idea coming on for the All-Star game festivities that involves Scherzer and Kershaw facing off with no bullpens allowed.

Troy Tulowitzki – Two homers as Razzball’s favorite son is back.  Now to get going Razzball’s favorite uncle, Nick Markakis.

Chad Gaudin – 11 Ks.  Wait, huh?  Eleven strikeouts.  Ah, yes, that’s the stuff.

Scott Hairston – Returned from the DL and slid right back into the number three hole.  Worth owning in 12 team leagues and could make a decent sub while Beltran’s out.  That’s not to say he could make a decent hoagie.  Different things.

Sammy Sosa – Claims are surfacing that he altered his jersey to make his arms look bigger.  It was only after team officials convinced him that he shouldn’t leave on the rubber tie-offs that he put on his arms pre-injection.  “But they make me look like The Ultimate Warrior!”