When you’re looking at pitcher matchups for fantasy baseball, sometimes the cards just align for certain guys. On the right day, Piniero can look like Winiero. Or Jamie Moyer looks like “Play Me” Moyer. Or Carl Pavano becomes Pava-yes. It’s all about the matchups, right? Anyone can win against the Indians… Well, maybe. Maybe not. I decided to look at teams, in general, to see what their overall stats could tell us about potential fantasy baseball matchups.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Monthly Archives: May 2010
Jose Lima died yesterday at the age of 37 after suffering a major heart attack. In a career with its ups and downs, Jose was always entertaining. It’s as if he was part baseball player and part wrestler. It’s sadly ironic that he suffered the fate that many wrestlers have met in dying prematurely.
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After an exhausting week of every team playing everyday, we come to only a handful. Weekly leagues take note that in week 8, 3 teams: Detroit, Seattle and Texas only play 5 games. The week of Memorial Day is also tough for fantasy in New Jersey, because we have to find WIFI friendly hotels at The Jersey Shore. I’m bringing my laptop to Jenkinson’s since I have a reservation for a bar stool for one. Baseball is approaching the time where teams that are out of it are saying, “Sorry, fans, but our good players won’t be here and you will have to watch scrubs.” Houston, KC and Cleveland are the early names that jump out to me as being sellers long before the All-Star Break.
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It seems like every year around this time I make Mark Teixeira a prime breakout candidate. Why can’t he hit in April? Does he need mittens? His last three Aprils have produced a .245 average and 9 homers in 261 ABs. No other month is close to that bad.
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Tommy Hanson‘s line yesterday was one and two-thirds innings and eight earned runs. Yes, you’ve been Pwnson’d. Hanson said he felt dizzy during the game, I’m sure his owners can sympathize. Hanson has an ERA of 4.18 on the year and back to back bad starts. Try and put a pine tree air freshener on that and it still stinks. Going into this year, I steered clear of Hanson. I was legitimately worried about his innings pitched jump from ’08 to ’09. So sell fast right now? Not so fast, Paulo. I’m going under the assumption that you don’t own him because you listened to me in the preseason. Hanson has a tremendous K-rate and his walks have been fine. Even yesterday it was an ill-timed homer to Votto that did him in. Do I think Hanson could still be a risk because of his innings last year? Yup, you betcha. But I’d buy him for 50 cents on the dollar. It depends how cheap you can swindle his dramatized owner. It takes alligator blood to check raise to the bed wetter. Anyway, here’s what else saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Brooks Conrad – If you didn’t see the end of the Braves game, you should try to catch the Brooks Conrad homer. Unlike Nix.
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This is more of a general fantasy baseball strategy post (and aimed for Roto more than H2H). This is sort of a continuation of this morning’s roundup. Well… Of every roundup, really. At least the thought process for why I’m writing it is in continuation. Do you start or sit pitchers? There isn’t an easy, broad answer to start every guy, so I understand the questions about starting certain guys. You don’t want Wandy sitting on your team’s face right after he ate Mexican food. But you also don’t want to start a guy for all his bad outings and sit him for the great ones. In a lot of cases, it comes down to overthinking. Listen, even your fearless leader sometimes overthinks his starts and misses a good one. And some guys really are for just matchups. You’re not starting Kevin Millwood every time out.
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The Disgraceful List claimed two more yesterday, Josh Beckett and Grady Sizemore. Neither is a big surprise. Closest Grady Sizemore came to taking off this year was in his amateur Playgirl shoot. Even when he hit a home run, the rain washed it away. The Indians are talking about knee surgery for Grady. Turns out Tom Sizemore isn’t the only Sizemore with a joint problem. I’d DL Sizemore until more news surfaces, but, if recent history is any indication, new news (stutter much?) will be bad news. As for Josh Beckett, I’m more optimistic. He can miss a few weeks, put this back injury behind him (literally!) and return. Will he be effective on his return? What, I’m Nostradumbass? I don’t know, but it’s possible he has a decent half season. I wouldn’t trade for him, but I would pick him up off waivers and stash him. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Psyche! Before I jump into the roundup, quick bit of business. No one likes to have to ask for shizz, but this voting thing at the Refresh Challenge is for a good cause. To up the stakes, we’re donating a $100 gift card to Wal-Mart. All you have to do is vote and comment “Razzball” over at the voting site. The comment names will be chosen at random on Monday and the winner will be announced here. That link again is http://pep.si/abEtbm — Wow, I feel like George Clooney. Anyway II, here’s the roundup:
Trevor Hoffman – Probably should be headed to the Disgraceful List but in the meantime the Brewers say he won’t pitch for a few days while he works on his mechanics. Carlos Villanueva and Todd Coffey are the pickups, in that order. Or the reverse order if you’re dyslexic.
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Nearly a year ago, I wrote my first Scouting the Unknown raving about Andrew McCutchen and Neftali Feliz. A lot has changed since then besides three hundred some odd days. There are weekly SportsCenter updates on phenom Stephen Strasburg (ignoring Drew Storen who will be called up before him); weekly grumblings about keeping Buster Posey in the minors from MiLB dot com; Mike Leake made the transition from facing college hitters to mowing down Major League hitting; Carlos Santans annihilating Triple-A pitching; Jeremy Hellickson continues to dominate Triple-A while Jesus Montero is flailing away in the same league and Starlin Castro skipped Triple-A altogether in a surprise May 7th callup.
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Hanley Ramirez said he wasn’t lollygagging after the ball. I see his point. You can’t chase after the ball. You kick the ball to the curb, neg it then hope the ball comes back to you. That’s Pickup Artist Rules 101. Hanley was benched yesterday and now there’s talk he may get traded. Fredi said, “We don’t want the game played like that in front of our fans.” Insert your “There are no Marlin fans” joke here. I don’t think he’s traded away. In fact, I think all this shizz blows over in a day or so. What are the Marlins going to do? Trade away their best player? As someone in the audience of Jerry Springer might say, “Pay first month on that puh-lease.” Fredi Gonzalez will be out of job before Hanley gets traded. Hanley being Manny and the Marlins will learn to deal with it. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Cameron Maybin – Hit his 2nd homer of the year. That’s so Maybin!
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Let’s see… The winner of the All-Star game gets home field advantage… The WBC… Steroids testing after letting the world believe Bret Boone was good… Finally, interleague play. Selig should hang his legacy right next to the monkey carcass that helped spread the AIDS virus. So, interleague is here whether we like it or not. I don’t, but I’m the only one who thinks this is all about me. So what can we do about interleague play for fantasy baseball?
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