Last week my borderline fantasy starter post regressed to the mean, if ‘the mean’ means getting pantsed in the six grade in front of the girl you have a crush on, but you’re wearing skintight gotchies so no one actually sees anything except your stained underwear. You know, not great, not terrible. My line for last week was: 3.43 ERA in 84 IP. The innings were low because guys were bumped or injured. Masterson pitched well (7 IP, 1 ER), but it was two days after I recommended him, so I didn’t count it (but I did mention it — natch!). The WHIP was 1.31 with 5 Wins and 52 Ks. To recap, these aren’t guys I’d drop anyone worthwhile to get, these starters are meant for streaming purposes and all of their ownership in ESPN is under 50%. These streamers are in no particular order. Also, in the final month of the season, managers juggle their lineups more, so there’s no guarantee all of these guys are listed on the right day. Anyway, here’s some borderline starters for this week in fantasy baseball:
Friday, September 10th
Clayton Richard – Unfortunately, there weren’t a whole lot of guys to recommend on this first day. Richard should be started every time out in Petco and that’s where he is on Friday.
Saturday, September 11th
Nick Blackburn – Don’t really like Blackburn, but he’s thrown three straight quality starts and gets the Indians.
Madison Bumgarner – The Bum goes to Petco in what will be a barn burner of a series if you’re into pennant chases and that sorta thing. Is it weird that I follow baseball daily for six months and I barely know what teams are in first? You’re right, Murray Chass, fantasy bastardizes the sport! (And I’m a bastard.)
Jake Westbrook – I’m recommending him because the Braves aren’t hitting, but they did hit yesterday. If they hit again tomorrow, I’d be cautious.
Sunday, September 12th
Jhoulys Chacin – It’s actually a bit insane that he’s only owned in 10% of ESPN leagues, but there ya go.
Kevin Slowey – Might not be able to go more than 5+ innings, but gets the Indians, which is always nice.
Jordan Zimmermann – Had some control problems in his last start, but gets the Marlins on Sunday who aren’t the most patient team.
Monday, September 13th
Joe Blanton – In his career, he has a 3.35 ERA vs. the Marlins, who he just happens to face next Monday. Coinkydink, huh?
Chris Narveson – Chris Narveson has two things going for him. 1) He gets the Astros. 2) His name sounds like the Christian name for the Domino’s advertising icon, The Noid.
Tuesday, September 14th
Trevor Bell – When you see his name in the box score listed as “T. Bell,” you pray he doesn’t give you heartburn.
R.A. Dickey – He gets the Pirates and he has a 2.91 ERA on the year.
Jason Hammel – Has a 3.43 ERA at home and gets the Padres. And, yes, it’s insane that I’m recommending Hammel, Dickey and Bell on the same day. I realize that.
Justin Masterson – Okay, if I get out of this day without some serious bombings, I’d be shocked and you’ll be awed.
Wednesday, September 15th
Brian Duensing – Just went over my Brian Duensing fantasy.
Carlos Zambrano – The problem with recommending guys this far in advance is things change between now and then. Big Z goes out and loses his shizz in the start before this or if the Cards start hitting, this start then isn’t as enticing.
Mike Minor – I wouldn’t be surprised to see him bumped before this start happens. A minor issue. Hehe, who-who, haha… Um, yeah.
Thursday, September 16th
Jake Westbrook – Yeah, he got the patented double recommendation for this week. Hopefully it doesn’t haunt me. Twice.
Rodney, as expected, has been blowing up my ERA and WHIP. Would you rather have Takahashi?
@Timequake: I would.
@Timequake: Yes, Takahashi’s been pretty solid lately.
Based on my potential playoff opponents next week, I could use an extra 2-starter (maybe 2). Would you drop Brett Anderson (1 start @ MIN) for any of the following: Dickey (v PIT, v ATL), Narveson (@ HOU, @ SF), Blanton (@ FLA, v WAS), or McDonald (@ NYM, v ARI)? I’m thinking Dickey’s probably the best bet out of that group. If it’s a yes to dropping Anderson for him, who would be next in line to pick up if I can justify dropping another of my guys?
@Steve Stevenson: I’d grab Dickey then Blanton.
Thought for a second that maybe rotographs wrote an article about you:
http://www.fangraphs.com/fantasy/index.php/the-man-the-myth-the-moustache/
Apparently you have competition for the title of Man, Myth, and Mustache.
@royce!: That guy’s mustache is like mine when my mustache has a bad hair day.
blanton’s a beer-league pitcher .
doesn’t bother him to give up 5 or 6 runs ,
as long as he get’s the win .
give him a cushion and he’ll fill it up with fart gas.
whoopie .
@big o: Ha!
I’m itching to stream someone tomorrow, and Clayton Richard isn’t available:
Minor, Happ, Lannan or JDLR?
Or take a cold shower and pick up Jhoulys now for Sunday?
.
@Grey: I like Septumblers, but what about Fall Guys?
@Bender: Happ, dlR, Minor… I’d start Jhoulys on Sunday too, if you can.
@Seequinn: It was considered, but to get nitpicky Fall doesn’t start for another 2 weeks. Same reason naughtumns didn’t make the cut.
******Grab Ryan Perry if you need saves.
@Grey: Makes sense. Different question, I wanted to chat with you about something regarding Razzball but obviously this isn’t the forum. Is there a way to get in contact with you off-comments section?
@Seequinn: grey [at] razzball.com
@Grey: Got it, thanks. Will be in touch soon.
@Grey: Colby Rasmus and David Murphy are basically the same player, no?
@Steve: Tell that to their Moms! Rasmus has more upside and speed.
@Grey: Thanks. Needed a drop to grab Perry.
Is it churlish to complain about D-Fowl driving EYJ in before he had a chance to steal?
@Steve: I blame Fowler. I want everyone after Young to take the first 6 pitches.
@Grey: I own Fowler too, so the little blip in AVE is nice.
Least he could have done is stolen third, though.
@Steve: Yeah, don’t have Fowler. Had Damon for one day though. Aw sookie.
@Grey: Sweet (I hadn’t checked the box from that game)! I drafted him on one team and for some reason still have him.
Gained two points on the strength of what he did today!
@Steve: Yeah, nice of him to show up for one day this year.
Masterson been shut down from starting according to yahoo.
Who do you like better for next week: Blanton (@FLA, v. WAS) or Maya (presumably @ATL and @PHI)? I’m thinking the former, because both of Maya’s starts could be massacres.
@DJSatane: Thanks for the heads up!
@royce!: Blanton
Do you think Arroyo or Zambrano for the remainder of the season? And how is Tommy Hanson 1-6 with a 2.75 ERA since the break?! Unreal. I traded Romero for him back then. Also, do you like EY Jr over Pierre?
@TheFunk: Zambrano… Crazy on Hanson. No on Young over Pierre.
Cool thanks. Had a first round bye in my H2H playoffs so escaped my J. Garcia start this week. Ouch.
I’ve got Colby Lewis on my roster, but not pitching for me as I’m afraid he could blow up at Toronto. My staff has a 6-1 win lead (btw, using guys like Jason McDonald, Naverson, and, Masterson per your advice, thank you), so what I need to maintain is my leads in ERA (2.99/3.61) and WHIP (1.16/1.37). K’s I believe I have with a 61/27 margin. This guy has some good pitching for the rest of the week (Slowey, Gallardo, W.Davis, Lily, Guthrie, and Pelfrey, so I’m not out of the woods, yet. I’ve still got Cahill, Wandy, Figeuroa, and a suspect Harang (although it is against the Pirates). So, am I right to sit Lewis…and would you sit Harang and Figeuroa, also, if you were in my position? Thanks Grey!
@TheFunk: Yeah, I wasn’t so lucky.
@manfromearth: I would sit Lewis today, then play the next two by ear.
You see the Casilla accidental strike? Hilarious. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100908&content_id=14451068¬ebook_id=14474752&vkey=notebook_sf&fext=.jsp&c_id=sf&partnerId=rss_mlb
@royce!: That’s funny… Surprised they didn’t just pitch to him after that.
Do you think Perry (Detroit), who got a save today, might get some more save opportunities?
@manfromearth: See comment 12.
@Grey: I was thinking the same thing- a first pitch strike is very valuable, best to not let it go to waste. And it would have been freaking awesome.
@royce!: Plus LaRoche was probably so thrown off by what happened he might not have been able to put it out of his mind. I.e. head games.
@Steve: You get Masset’d today?
@Grey: Dotel had a a similar problem last night when trying to intentionally walk a Padre (probably Adrian, I can’t remember). He kept on missing Barajas, the first intentional ball was down the middle but like 5 feet short of home. I guess he can’t just throw the ball- it has to be either a pitch or a huge and inaccurate rainbow toss. Headley was on second, and should have stolen third on him.
@royce!: Yeah, always perplexes me when pitchers can’t throw to a base. If they don’t wind up, their brain doesn’t compute properly.
@Grey: Nah – he is (or he was) on my H2H team and I have a bye this week.
I would have been Hammel-d too, not to mention Hudson-d on Tuesday.
Phew.
@Steve: Ah… Cool.
@Grey:
big o ‘s bucket list ==> to see the world series clip ,
where johnny bench strikes out , on an intentional walk ,
vs the A ‘s .
if someone could provide a link to this 35+ year old clip ,
i would be forever grateful .
Cards picked a bad time to start sucking.
@Steve: Looks like this will be the 4th consecutive crappy start for Wainwright. Terrible timing.
If walls could talk…
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/12/realestate/12jeter.html?hp
@peter: Hold the phone!
@big o: Depends on how many things are on your bucket list, I don’t want you to be without wanting. Actually, MLB locks down all of their clips, so it’s not out there (or at least I didn’t see it).
@Steve: The walls would say, you’re hitting .237 vs. righties this year.
How would you rank Lowe in the mix for next Mon. with Naverson & Blanton? THanks.
***BTW:
http://football.razzball.com/live-blog-saints-and-vikings
@Grey: But I bet he’s still not striking out very often.
Oofa!
Looks like quite a place. But seriously, who needs 5 bathrooms?
@big o: No sign of it on YouTube.
@Howard: I almost listed him, but he’s been hit by the Nats this year. He’s just after them.
Run, Murphy, run!
@Steve: What I took away from that, how do you misnumber by 18 floors?
@Steve: Yeah – like Vlad’s gonna take the first pitch.
@Grey: Exaggeration is Trump’s MO.
@Steve: Ha, very true. This is the greatest 70th/88th floor in the world.
@Grey: But the man has a heart. From the Trump World Tower homepage:
“We are pledged to the letter and spirit of U.S. policy for the achievement of equal housing opportunity throughout the Nation. We encourage and support an affirmative advertising and marketing program in which there are no barriers to obtaining housing because of race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin.”
I’m sure there is a diverse mix of people in that building…
@Steve: Yeah, it’s practically government housing. BTW, did you see the steal of home by Chris Nelson off of Masset? Look at the video on MLB, impressive.
Would you drop any of the following for Perry: Axford, Storen, Hanrahan, Chapman, Bills or ErvSan? We have 2 RP spots and 2 P spots?
Also, can you rank the follow mass of pitchers for the rest of the year? Big Z, Gio, Porcello, Cueto, Matusz, Guthrie, Duensing, Chacin, Hanrahan, Uehara, Hensley, Takahashi, Rodney? Thanks man, and I appreciate the help on this ridiculously long question.
@Grey: Wow. Did Masset forget where the runner was or something?
I like it better when the runner flashes into home just before the ball and in front of a stupefied catcher, but very impressive nonetheless.
@Grey: Did you see the clip of the A’s fan dive for the foul ball? That’s pretty funny. Especially the way he scarpers off at the end.
@Wilsonian8: Hanrahan… Gio, Chacin, Cueto, Bills, Z, Duensing, Porcello, Takahashi, Uehara, Rodney, Hanrahannananan, Hensley…
@Steve: He’s staring at him! Crazy play. Naturally I looked up how many steals Nelson had in the minors and it was impressive. Not sure what that is about. I didn’t see the A’s fan one.
@Grey: Looked like he stepped off and turned towards 2nd and then got completely disoriented.
@Grey: so you still like Storen more than Hanrahan? Out of Rodney, Takahashi and Perry, where would you rank Perry?
@Grey: @Steve: He looks like he thought that if he spun around as fast as he could he could reverse time, a la Superman. Or maybe he just wanted to entertain the crowd with a well executed pirouette. Either way it was great!
@Steve: Where’s the A’s fan video?
@Wilsonian8: Storen over Hanrahan… Takahashi, Rodney, Perry…
@royce!: Ha!
@Grey: Can post the link for some reason. Just go to the video highlights section and it’s in the second row of the ‘Browse all playlists” section.
@Steve: I suppose the walls are the only thing you could ask questions, considering the photos on the listing feature absolutely no furniture. Apparently his listing agent doesn’t watch Designed to Sell.
@royce!: It seems not. They must have shifted the chair in the shape of a giant baseball glove.
@peter: The Braves sure picked a bad time to start sucking (emoticon)
@Steve: Ha! And all of the framed photos of Jeter, possibly signed.
@Steve: The sad thing is that fan was the only one out there and those seats weren’t even bad.
@Grey:
@Steve:
thanks for trying , guys .
not sure why mlb has systematically scuttled my bucket , over the years .
can’t be a hof thing …(my weakened memory tells me that it was
catfish hunter who was brought in as a late reliever , to sneak the 3rd strike
past mr. all-american johnny bench … who actually left the bat on his shoulder.)
maybe should have subscribed to SI , the following year . their free world
series re-cap tape may have contained it , for posterity .
spoke to george foster (reds rf) , some 20 years after the fact , and his
eyes got wide and sparkled as he adamantly maintained that no one on
the reds bench ever suspected a thing !!
guess my only recourse is to hunt down
@Grey: thanks man. I’m kinda pissed I had to drop Chacin in a league because I needed a bat with Hamilton’s sore vag. Great timing buddy!
@big o:
****http://bleacherreport.com/articles/439211-baseball-history-dick-williams-embarrassed-johnny-bench****
@big o:
larussa and dave duncan , and have a drink with those boys .
they’ve got everything on tape .
thanks , again , for trying .
@Steve: Did you mean this one:
http://oakland.athletics.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20100909&content_id=14474852&vkey=news_oak&fext=.jsp&c_id=oak
Wasn’t sure b/c I think you said it was a foul ball. Anyhow, this clip is pretty hilarious. I love at the end of the clip how he’s splayed out on the ground, pointing at the ball like “it’s mine, I deserve it.”
@royce!: Yeah, sorry – it was a home run. Would it have killed the cameraman to have picked it up for him?
I love how he runs away, almost furtively, at the end.
@Steve: So awesome. I wish I could have watched the early 70s A’s. I’d at least have a better idea of how to groom my mustache.
@royce!: A mustache is but a pipe dream for me.
@Steve:
MUCH thanks for that link .
as you can see , old age left some gaps in my memory .
this article will help fill those in .
i have bookmarked the link , and will re-read it much slower , many times .
IOU .
@Steve: The word “scamper” has never seemed so appropriate.
Seems like he rushed home to show his mom what he got at the game. “See! You shoulda come with!”
@royce!: If you look closely, I think the dude has an ‘inner’ glove on his glove hand – just like the pros.
It’s getting to the point where I’m starting to feel a little guilty for poking fun at this guy…
Alright, working on the last question of the day… I’m trying to save my season in my 16 team H2H where I’m getting my ass handed to me in the first round of the playoffs. Here’s my lineup:
C: Buck
1B: Dunn
2B: Espinosa
3B: Wright
SS: Alexei
OF: Hunter
OF: Lind
OF: Murphy
UTIL: Branyan
UTIL: Ike
BN: Hamilton
I need some production out of my 2B. Drop Espinosa for: Kelly, Keppinger, Sean-Rod, Skippy, Ellis or Rhymes?
Also, any other moves for any of these FAs: Peralta, Kalish, Fowler, Maybin? Also Torres and Bernadina will clear waivers tomorrow.
Thanks man, I really appreciate all the help. I owe ya a daiquiri or 400.
@big o: My memory of that play is that it shouldn’t have been called a strike. I think it was high. Of course, I was cheering for the Reds.
I don’t think it would ever be called a strike today, with the catcher standing up blocking the ump’s view.
@big o: That’s pretty incredible that they pulled that off in the World Series. Hadn’t heard of that before.
@royce!: Such a scamperer.
@Wilsonian8: I like Espinosa. Lose Branyan for Peralta
@Grey: thanks man. No move of Alexei for Peralta? He’s not doing shizz right now.
@Grey: Rasmus!
@Wilsonian8: Yeah, make that move instead. Also, if you need steals, lose Branyan for Fowler.
@Steve: Pujols said he would’ve hit three HRs if he loved the Cards more.
Quick, better spot start for tomorrow… Lannan vs. Fla or Zambrano @Mil.
Also, better drunken boyfriend visit, Pablo hitting on Sahar’s roommates or Nicole (Back to NY) throwing up on her pimp… I mean boyfriend.
@Grey: thanks man, it’s do or die time. I’m shockingly up 2-1 in steals and tied 5-5 in hrs. He’s got Crisp and Pierre. Worth it to drop Branyan for Fowler or hope my guys get enough steals without Fowler and hope Branyan hits a couple bombs this weekend?
@Awesomus Maximus: Big Z… Pablo’s visit was classic. He was wasted, hitting on Mackenzie while his girlfriend was living her dream! This year’s Real World has redeemed itself from some past misses.
@Wilsonian8: Yeah, hold Branyan. You’re probably going to lose steals, but let’s revisit that on Saturday.
@Grey: Seriously… it started off a bit slow, but now they’re hitting it out of the park. And just when it’s getting awesome it’s over! At least we’ve been promised one more dose of The Nutty Hairdresser. Should be fun.
@Awesomus Maximus: I missed the previews…. He’s coming back?! I’m much happier than I should be.
Well, screw you, Dodgers. Bases loaded, and nothing. Zero. Zilch.
Bah.
@Steve: They don’t score runs, don’t cha know?
@Grey: I was hoping against hope, obviously. How have the Dodgers not won this division in a stroll?
And here’s Broxton to put the game out of reach.
For the Astros.
@Grey: thanks, yet again. I’ll hold onto Branyan for the time being and we’ll look at my situation again on Saturday.
Axford or Takeasushi?
Watch out, ladies – Pat the Bat’s in town!
@Wilsonian8: No problem.
@Wilsonian8: No problem.
@TastelessGarbage: Takahashi
@Steve: He’s such a swinger.
@Grey:
who drops clowny , 1st ?
me or ozzie ??
seriously , if he doesn’t go yard on bruce howizthisguyastarta chen ,
i’m selling that LA dred-cap , that i someday hope to own .
@big o: You before Ozzie is my guess.
Tabata or Crisp?
@Bob: Crisp… And what are you doing in this post?
@Grey: Duh, I’m retarded. Zoinks!!