Chris Tillman will start Saturday for the Orioles. He’s yet another prospiñata for the Orioles. They’re fun to play with until they get the stuffing beat out of them by the Yanks, Sawx, Rays or Blue Ks. Before picking up Tillman, do me one favor. Ask Matusz’s owners how the experience has been owning him. Though since they’re probably your competition they may lie to you. Those bastards! Maybe you can ask Matusz yourself since he’s probably on your waivers. Can Tillman be lights out? I suppose. Is he worth a flier in 12 team leagues? Eh, if expectations are in check. You should proceed with caution. Or you can pull the ol’ “You gotta use your waiver claim, sucker” trick with Tillman. Let me explain the unfortunately named “You gotta use your waiver claim, sucker” trick. You grab Tillman off waivers, then the next day you drop him so someone (<– the sucker) uses their waiver claim to get roofied. Ah, yes. That stings. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Frank Mata – Will Ohman seems to be the leading candidate for saves, but Mata’s a dark horse for saves (that’s not racist). He was the closer in Triple-A Norfolk, which is only slightly below the Orioles in the ESPN power rankings. I don’t think the O’s will/should throw Mata right into the fire, but they did that with Alfredo Simon, so there’s that.
Will Ohman – Ugh, too many Orioles stories today. It’s like Senator Clay Davis took over the blog. Sheeeeeeet! I don’t think it’s clear cut that it’s Ohman over Meredith for saves. It’s not like one is Rollie Fingers and the other is his lesser known brother, Stank Fingers. But Ohman did come in yesterday for the scoreless ninth. Then again, it wasn’t for a save. Then again II, it was a save opportunity when he started warming up.
Dallas Braden – Left the game in the 4th inning for an undisclosed reason. A-Rod said, “Maybe he missed his grandma.” Those two!
Jake Peavy – 6 IP, 6 ER, 9 baserunners, 5 Ks vs. the Indians. Peavy may just be the secret poison pill you can drop in your opponents’ drink. I’ll explain. You drop him and someone will undoubtedly pick him up. Then when they put him in their lineup, he fizzles in their drink and their ratios die. Right now, that might be the best you can hope for.
Mike Leake – 7 1/3 IP, 1 ER, 11 baserunners, 3 Ks and now has a 2.70 ERA on the year. In the preseason if I would’ve told you to draft Leake instead of Peavy, you would’ve punched me in my virtual mouth. Crazy game this fantasy baseball, huh? On the bright side if you don’t own him, I fully expect Leake to hit a wall at some point in the summer and be unusable. Think Cueto last year. On the not so bright side if you own him, see the previous two sentences.
Ryan Doumit – Now has two homers in his last three games. If you’re sitting on a catcher you’re not happy with or recently just found yourself saying Goddoumit, Ryan could help.
Neil Walker – Hit in the two hole going 1-for-4 as the Pirates brought up their 2004 first round pick to fill-in for LaRoche. If this were a reading comprehension test, how many context clues can you get out of the previous sentence? Let’s see, the Pirates suck yet they left a first round draft pick in the minors that long, what does that say about Walker? Yeah, he’s had his struggles. I’d take a flier in NL-Only leagues because he has been hitting in the minors so far this year, but my hopes ain’t sky high.
Jon Lester – 6 IP, 0 ER, 1 Hit, 5 BBs, 9 Ks as he beat James Shields. Ha! Though Shields’s line was 8 IP, 2 ER, 6 baserunners, 5 Ks and his ERA is 2.99 to Lester’s 3.15. Dah!
Jose Reyes – 3-for-5, 3 Runs, 1 RBI and 2 steals. Could it finally be the end of Spring Training for Reyes? Fingers crossed, rabbit’s foot rubbed, juju idol kissed. Hopefully Reyes goes on a SB tear rather than a hamstring tear.
Anibal Sanchez – 6 1/3 IP, 2 ER, 9 baserunners, 6 Ks. No matter what the Slightly-Less Filthy Sanchez has done recently, I wouldn’t touch him in his next start vs. Philly.
Leo Nunez – 1 IP, 2 ER. Kazaam!
Coco Crisp – Headed back to the DL. Hey, Coco felt a pop so I guess that’s cheerio.
Derrek Lee – 3-for-3, 3 RBIs and his 6th homer. I think I said this last week, but since I don’t remember you surely don’t. Lee broke out around this time last year. Cust kayin’ (maybe for the second time).
Clayton Kershaw – 6 IP, 0 ER, 6 baserunners, 4 Ks. Was a bit touch and go for a little while in April, but Kershaw’s ERA is now at 2.90 on the year. Sure, the walks are atrocious, but that’s how Kershaw do.
Andre Ethier – Saw that Ethier took BP. Where, to see the fish they’re killing?
Vladimir Guerrero – 3-for-5, 5 RBIs and 2 homers to bring his season total up to 12. He’s making the knees he stole from Ron Kovic very proud.
Ricky Romero – 5 1/3 IP, 7 ER, 14 baserunners and 8 Ks. His K-rate has been terrific so far and he gets the O’s next, I’d hold tight.
Jose Bautista – Hit his 15th homer yesterday to lead the majors. Can’t wait for the All-Star Game Home Run Derby when Bautista takes on the other major league homer leaders: Konerko, Wigginton, Jose Guillen, Kelly Johnson, Dan Uggla and Scott Rolen. That could outdraw the M.A.S.H. finale.
Rickie Weeks – 3-for-5, 2 RBIs and a homer. Understandable if he was dropped in your league, but Weeks is also one of the streakiest hitters around and this could be the start of something. Or more bluntly, Weeks streaks.
Billy Butler – 2-for-4 with 2 WTFs (Warning Track Flies). Hey, Royals, forget investing in free agents just move the fences in 10 feet. You’re welcome.
Justin Verlander – Makes perfect sense that Verlander K’d 8 Mariners and gave up 5 runs while Fister struckout 1 Tiger and gave up only 2 runs. Excuse me while I go shove my head in the oven.
Chris Iannetta – Was recalled yesterday. Iannetta was tizz-errible earlier in 2010, you hurd. Really bad, and not bad as in good, but bad as in bad. Yet, he still hit 16 homers in only 289 at-bats in 2009. Wait, what about Miguel Olivo? Ah, random italicized voice, you had to bring up the elephant in the room. Olivo doesn’t seem like he’s in the best of shape, but an elephant? Okay, random italicized voice, you interject, we don’t converse. My bad. As just said, in 289 ABs, 16 homers. Even with Olivo, Iannetta can get that many ABs. Olivo and Iannetta can coexist. In deep, mixed two catcher leagues and NL-Only leagues, I’d grab Iannetta again.
Ian Stewart – 2-for-2 and the two hits were off his old high school teammate, Ian Kennedy. Elias Sports Bureau said this was the first time two old high school teammates both named Ian squared off in a Major League game. Actually, they didn’t say that, but something that was overheard recently at the Elias Sports Bureau, “Bobby, from Human Resources, wore a “Glee” t-shirt for a record 10 weeks straight while maintaining his heterosexuality.”
