Chris Carpenter went five innings giving up no runs, allowing 4 baserunners, adding in 6 Ks, driving in 6 runs and five golden… rings. 12 runs for the Cards, but everyone was a ticker tease, except for Carpenter who pitchslapped Kip Wells. LaRussa’s mind must be swimming with ideas….Do I hit him 8th? 7th? Do I platoon him with Ankiel in the OF and have Ankiel come in for intentional walks? Do I go with a Singapore Sling or an Old Fashioned? Why is Dave Duncan looking at me? Is my fly open? How come no one read my book, Tonyball? If I’m facing East, my hair should be facing West! Why is it going South?! If homeless people have no homes, why do they lug around so much junk? Homeless people shouldn’t be pack rats!… Wow, there’s a lot swimming in Tony’s mind. Interesting to peek into the mind of a genius, ain’t it? Surprised he didn’t mention this is the last roundup of the year. Ho-hum, so sad. There will still be a new post every week day through the fall and winter, so check your separation anxiety at the door. I’m still here. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Scott Baker – 5 IP, 0 ER. His FIP last year was 3.79. This year it was near 4. So he was .20 off of last year. He throws around 7 Ks per 9 innings. So he’s good for about 155 Ks. His Post-All-Star Break ERA was 3.39. Guess what I’m saying is I’m going to predict next year he’ll pitch around a 3.75 ERA, good WHIP and solid Ks and he’ll be someone to look at as a third fantasy starter with number two upside and number four downside. And in three months, I’ll quote that.
Orlando Cabrera – 2-for-5, 3 RBIs. Behind the scenes of Razzball, I’m busy doing the top 20 recaps that will be coming your way over the next few weeks. So O-Cab made it pretty high on the top 20 list for SSs. I’m like, “Cool, he had a good 2nd half.” He hit 4 homers and stole 6 bases while batting .296. Okay, so he had a good two months? Nope. The shortstops are so shallow that a good five weeks is all it took. Anyway, I’m jumping the gun, those recaps will be coming next week.
Delmon Young – 3-for-4 yesterday. He’s batting .309 with one homer in September. This is considered a good month for him. Would I pickup Young off waivers next year? Sure. I wouldn’t draft him. I’m not going to write someone off who’s only 24, but I’m at the point where I want to see something from Young before I take the gamble on him in 2010. I mean, Ryan Raburn and Garrett Anderson are above Delmon Young on ESPN’s Player Rater. Young’s the new blech.
Aaron Cook – 8 IP, 1 ER, 2 Ks. It’s Rocktober.
Tim Lincecum – 7 IP, 2 ER. I’m giving him the Cy Young. He threw more innings than Carpenter, way more Ks and he’s dazzling. I know, it’s tough to judge dazzling, but if you’ve ever watched Lincecum pitch you know what I mean. It’s kinda like a choice between the crazy hot girl that would cheat on you and the sweet girl that would make a nice mother. I’m taking the crazy hot girl. For what it’s worth, I think the voters go with Carpenter. What’s a shame in all of this is Wainwright’s getting totally ignored. Maybe I just have a special kinship to Wainwright because I own him on a few teams and I pushed many people to draft him this year.
Mark Reynolds – 1-for-4, up to 215 Ks. This last month (4 homers, 2 steals, .187) is why I’m going to probably take a pass on Reynolds if people are grabbing him in the top 50. I saw value in him when people were drafting him around 200. I see very little value for next year. What do you want, I’m frugal. It’s a recession after all.
Dan Haren – 6 IP, 5 ER, 7 Ks. Ends the season with a 3.14 ERA and a 4.44 ERA in the 2nd half. The good news is his next start is scheduled for the 1st half.
Derrek Lee – Scratched for personal reasons. Maybe he has crabs.
John Lackey – 2 IP, 2 ER and 40 pitches. This is about what you can expect from starters who are headed to the playoffs. I wouldn’t expect more than 5 innings from any of them. This is a shout out to you Hamels owners.
Kevin Millwood – 9 IP, 2 ER, 10 Ks. And this is what to expect from pitchers facing teams headed to the playoffs.
Chris Davis – 3-for-5, and hit his 21st homer of the year. I can’t wait to see what Bill James predicts for Chris Davis for 2010. No sarcasm there, really interested.
Cliff Lee – 5 2/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 Ks. The Adverb finishes with a 3.39 ERA for Philly.
Kendry Morales – Hit his 34th homer yesterday. The best case scenario would be the Angels are eliminated quickly from the playoffs. Worst case scenario is, in late-October, Joe Buck saying something like, “America’s getting a firsthand look at what Kendry Morales has been doing all year.” Then Tim McCarver says, “Good thing there weren’t more men on base when Mt. Everest erupted cause then there would be more runs.”
