The Marlins outfield is only big enough to handle one prospect as Logan Morrison is hitting the DL on the same night that Mike Stanton finally hits a home run. Morrison projected to be the anti-Stanton with solid AVG and OBP but limited power (10-15 HRs). Yet after 4 early HRs, he was showing the 4-category prowess that makes owners feel all a-tingle. But then Logan goes and hurts his left foot and will miss 2-4 weeks. Guess Daniel Day-Lewis is now the favorite for the title role in The Logan Morrison Story. I’d stash vs. drop Morrison if you’ve got DL or bench space. Oh well, good thing Stanton only hit a solo shot vs a grand slam or Morrison might’ve needed his foot amputated.
Felix Hernandez – 7 2/3 IP of shutout ball with 8 Ks. Whew. For a while there, I thought F-Her was going to pull the Zack Greinke “Yawn. I had to work extra hard to win a Cy Young on a crappy team. I’m going to mail it in for a year and then ask to be traded in the offseason” routine. Even more impressive than F-Her’s pitching line was that the Mariners lavished him with a whole run so he could get the win.
Kevin Youkilis – Yoooooooooooouuk left last night’s game with a bruised shin. It’ll take a day or two to determine if it’s serious so I’ll take this moment to take a nonsensical estimate of the damage. Let’s see…Youkilis is Jewish. The ‘Shin’ is the unlucky symbol on a dreidel that requires the spinner to contribute to the pot. As the one song ever written for Hanukkah has taught us, one must wait until a dreidel is dry before one could play with it because they are made out of clay. Clay Buchholz is a teammate of Youkilis’ on the Red Sox. Buchholz rhymes with cuckolds which are men who have been conned into raising another man’s child. So it’s obvious that Youkilis will not be ready to play until he realizes that a teammate has shtupped his wife by spinning her like a top. Then he must wait for the physical bruise on his shin to heal and the tears from the emotional bruise on his heart have had time to dry.
Brad Hawpe – The Padres offense is hopeless with Hawpe (.119 AVG with .179 OBP!) and the only hope for the Padres is for a Hawpeless lineup. Bud Black has done this in three of the last four games. I think Hawpe will be DFA’d in the next couple of weeks and they bring up 1B prospect Anthony Rizzo by June 1st. Jorge Cantu is the short-term beneficiary of any additional playing time. Opponents benefit either with Hawpe or Cantu.
Jason Bartlett – Don’t quote me on this but Bartlett could prove to be a stealth MI choice this year for those that punted or got Nishoka’d. He’s shaken an early season slump to go 12 for his last 23 and has been moved back to the top of the lineup. The Padres are definitely being aggressive on the basepaths this year and Bartlett has the potential of going .280 w/ 30 SBs. He makes for a pretty good pearing (pun intended) with a 2B or SS that might be light on the speed (e.g., Uggla).
Torii Hunter – Angel i’s broke out of a big slump (4-for-38) with a 2 run HR to ruin Josh Beckett’s night. He’s been quite dependable since becoming an Angel (.280-.290/20+ HRs) but not sure how much he has left in the tank – just that he has a little more than Vernon Wells and Bobby Abreu. Peter Bourjos must feel like a young Mel Gibson on a team full of Danny Glovers.
Chris Perez – The Eastside & Down star blew his first save of the year, giving up 2 ERs in a 3-2 loss to Kansas City. Those were the first runs Perez has given up in his last 26+ innings. Maybe it was just a tribute to his ex-mentor Ryan Franklin.
Aaron Hill – Day-to-day with a hamstring issue. If Canadian Bacon is like ham, are Canadian hamstrings like bacon?
Roy Oswalt – 6 IP, 0 ER, 3 baserunners, 7 Ks. So much for the back strain scare from his last start. Given that this start was against the Padres, I’m sure everyone in the Phillies middle relief was volunteering to take Roy’s spot for a start. Throw Kyle Kendrick a bone!
Daniel Hudson – That’s 0-4 now for Hudson who had pitched pretty well in his first three starts (6+ IP in each start, 4 or less ER, average of over 7 K’s). He was sick of being subtle as he gave up a 4-spot to the Reds in the 1st inning in about as ugly a fashion as one could (3 BBs including 2 with bases loaded, 1 HBP, and a 2 run single to Miguel Cairo). I’ll say this for Reds games – you don’t want to show up late as half the scoring is in the first inning.
Mike Leake – That’s 3-0 for Leake after a solid start (7 IP, 3 ER). With Cueto and Bailey getting healthy, it’s tough to say whether he stays in the rotation or goes to the ‘pen. If they let the judge decide, it’ll likely be the latter.
Justin Morneau – That’s now 5 games missed for the flu. As someone who has him starting in a weekly H2H league, I’d like to give him the FLU minus the L.
Freddie Freeman – The rookie 1B went deep against Kershaw – rather impressive for a lefty hitter. He’s not going to hit for average this year but he looks like he could reach 20 HRs. Not bad for a UTIL or a CI fill-in. He’ll be competing neck-and-neck this year with Jerry Sands for the “Best Rookie Who I Thought Was Black Until I Saw A Picture” Award – also known as the Reggie Cleveland All-Stars.
Mike Stanton – I know I mentioned it in the lede (fancy newspaper spelling of the word) but it’s worth noting again. Finally, Stanton hit a HR! While that was his only hit, he scored 2 additional runs via walks. Better get ready for more souvenirs, you five people who sit in the Florida bleachers.
Pedro Alvarez – Speaking of long-awaited first HRs (I talk as I type)! Pedro ended the night 3-4 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. A few more nights like that and dorky Pirate fans can wear their ‘Vote For Pedro’ t-shirts with only its original-intended detached irony.
Clayton Kershaw – Was one out away from a complete game victory when he loaded the bases with 2 outs. Kershaw’s gassed after throwing 119 pitches. Mattingly comes out of the dugout with six highly motivating words “Broxton is ready in the pen”. Kershaw chooses to own his fate and, alas, David Ross hit a 2-run single on an 0-2 fastball. It’s hard to complain about a pitching line of 8 2/3 IP, 3 ER 9 baserunners, 7 K but it looks a whole lot better with a Win attached to it.
Matt Kemp – Hit his 2nd walkoff HR in 5 games. Is Rihanna the Buck Showalter of WAGs? The year after they leave leads to ultimate success. Kemp has clearly been the best fantasy player in the NL so far and – while his average won’t stay above .400 – he’s got a decent chance of clearing .300 if he maintains his 19% K rate (he’s been around 25% for his MLB career). One negative – only because Grey LOOOOOOOVES Kemp and I feel the need to balance him out – is that he’s only 1-for-4 in SBs since starting the season going 7-for-7. What happened, Davey Lopes?!
Scott Baker – Baker dominated the O’s at Camden Yards, striking out 9 while giving up no runs and 5 baserunners in 7 IP. That’s on the heels of another 5 baserunner in 7 IP start at Tampa. Baker has shown the potential to rise to another level (1.19 WHIP in 2009) but has been generally plagued by bad innings and gopheritis. I’m sure I’m in the minority on this one but I’d rather have Baker than Liriano this year.
Kyle Lohse – Lohse swatted away the Nats with a complete game 2 hitter. Everyone’s talking about Jaime Garcia’s start but Lohse is now 3-1 with a 2.01 ERA, 0.73 WHIP, and a decent K-rate (22 in 31 IP). He’s had two bad, health-marred years since his last solid one in 2008 (15-6, 3.78/1.30 in 200 IP) but if Duncan can get a solid year out of Joel Piniero, why not Lohse? I’d pick him up in mixed leagues but would be aggressive in sitting him against bad matchups.
Brandon McCarthy – Brandie Mac is looking like a fantastic buy low acquisition for the A’s. He’s now up to 30 IP at a 2.10 ERA clip and a K/BB ratio of 20/3. I haven’t been that turned on by a McCarthy since Jenny McCarthy was on MTV’s Singled Out.
Will Venable – Venable’s awful hitting blends in very well in San Diego but ever alert Bud Black seems to have noticed. Venable (a lefty) was benched in favor of Chris Denorfia (a righty) on Thursday night even though they were facing a righty (Oswalt). Not a great show of support for Venable. I can’t recommend Venable in shallow leagues but – if you’re speculating on SBs – he’s a better bet than, say, a Nyjer Morgan.
Nyjer Morgan – Sent to the 15-day with a deep thigh bruise. The trainers knew the bruise was deep when they heard it recite prose from Kierkegaard. Say what you want about Nyjer but he is the 3rd best active player with an African country as his first name – behind Chad Billingsley and Tsu-Dan Kalbi of the Korean Baseball League.
