M-Pineda Sounds Muy Delicioso As A Keeper
October 14, 2011
Category: 2012 Fantasy Baseball Keepers
In 2012, Michael Pineda will open the sky and fart thunder. He will do a duet with Bruno Mars that will sound like rap to people who don’t know rap and their song will reach the top of the charts for 12 weeks. He will then put together a table from Ikea in less than an hour without dropping any F-bombs. It’s written and so it will be. You know the Sausage Race in Milwaukee? Of course you do. You’re not living on a deserted island with no one to talk to but a volleyball. So the Sausage Race is going on in my mind right now, but it’s not sausages. Instead, it’s players that I’m excited about owning next year. So far in that race there’s Mike Stanton and Michael Pineda. There will be more runners. We’ll get to those. Where did this jumbo-sized joy come from? In 2011, Pineda had a line of 9.11 K-rate and a 3.53 xFIP. Wait, that’s not a line. That’s okay. That’s all you need. I’ll put on some Marvin, drink some Chardonnay and make love to those numbers. So what can we expect of Michael Pineda for next year, and what makes him a 2012 fantasy baseball keeper?
In 2010, he threw 139 innings and 171 last year. That’s not a huge jump. We’re fine there. In 77 innings at Safeco, he had a 2.92 ERA. That’s far from surprising. Pedro Cerrano would’ve been a slap hitter in Safeco. Pre- vs. post-All-Star break numbers show a pitcher that tired in his first full season in the majors. Again, no red flags. That’s a taupe flag. Totally natural color, blends into the background. He had the 7th best K-rate in the major leagues. He ranked between Lincecum and Gallardo. Oh. Wait, what? *drools* More like Mmm-Pineda on this young pitcher. To add lovely to beautiful, batters swung at pitches inside the strike zone at a 68.5% rate, which was the fifth most in the majors. That means hitters swung at pitches they thought were hittable only to strike out a lot. Stanton’s still the kielbasa winning the ‘Young Players That Grey Is Crazy About’ race, but Pineda’s not far off the pace. For 2012 fantasy baseball, he’s definitely a keeper (assuming you’re not choosing between him and Halladay at the same price; I mean, be reasonable).
October 14th, 2011 at 1:11 am
Don’t own him, so can’t keep him. Sad trombone.
That being the case, I want full details of your BBQ (and Moneyball) capers in Austin.
It’s food season!
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October 14th, 2011 at 1:38 am
I like Pineda, but I’m betting he ends up pretty high on the Risky Pitchers for 2012 list; first full MLB season over 2500 pitches (2688), 700 more MLB pitches than LY (0), and 31.5% sliders. You already covered his 2009 elbow problems in your post on him last spring too. May still be a good keeper if he’s cheap and you can afford to perhaps weather a down year and/or missed time.
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October 14th, 2011 at 4:52 am
i wish i woulda drafted Pineda this past year instead of stupid mike minor….
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October 14th, 2011 at 5:16 am
Hey Grey, thought you might get a kick out of this with your numerous mentions of Floyd here. In our 13th year of a Pink Floyd themed fantasy football league where all our team names reference Floyd titles or lyrics. My arch rival and good friend is a huge Red Sox fan, me a Yankee fan. He posted the lyrics to a Floyd song and changed all the words to burn on the Yankees dropping out of the playoffs. I answered back with “Pigs, Dogs, Sheep or Red Sox?”.
If you didn’t care that we didn’t get Lee
And I didn’t care that you lose
We would zig-zag our way
through the standings again
Most occasionally Red Sox in pain
Wondering which of the Yankees to blame
And watching for Rays on the wing.
You gotta be lazy, you gotta have a real feed
You gotta sleep on your teammates, when they’re getting beat
You gotta be able to pick out the all white meat with the bucket closed
And then Medal of Honor, break wind and lose sight
You gotta throw strikes at some moment tonight without drinking.
And after a while, you can work on points for style
Like the ketchup sock, and to seem not awake
A certain look of girl is a guy, and a nasty smile
You have to be trusted by the Tito that you lie to
So that when he turns his back on you
You’ll get the chance to put the knife in.
You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder
You know it’s going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get colder
And in the end you’ll pack up, fly down south
Hide your head in the sand
Just another sad old man
All alone and managing Marlins
And when you lose control, you’ll see the big lead that you’ve blown
And as the beer flows, Big Papi slows and turns to stone
And it’s too late to lose the weight you used to need to hide your needle jones
So have a good choke, as your team croaks, all alone
Dragged down by the bones.
I gotta admit that I’m a little bit confused
Sometimes it seems to me as if all we do is lose
Gotta wake and bake, gotta try and shake off this chicken wing glaze
If we can’t stand up on the mound, how can we get our 15 million pays?
Deaf, dumb, and blind, and Lackey ain’t pretending
Luchesse says everones expendable and no-one had a real friend
And it seems to him the thing to do would be to publicly smear the only winner
Everything’s done under the sun
And if you believe The Globe, everyone’s a swiller.
Who was born in a house full of Curse
Who was trained not to spit from home to first
Who was told what to do by the man
Who was broken by Yankee personnel
Who was fitted with flea collar and chains
Who was given pink hats on the rack
Who was slipping away from the pack
Who was singing Neil Diamond songs at home
Who was ground out in the end
Who was found dead on the bullpen phone
Who was dragged down by the bones.
Big Papi, pig Papi, ha ha charade you are.
You flat healed worn wheel, ha ha charade you are.
And when your hand is on your bat,
You’re nearly a good laugh,
Almost a hitter,
When your headin down the baseline,
Saying “Keep on digging.”
Pig stain on your fat chin.
What do you hope to find.
When you’re down in the ninth.
You’re nearly a laugh,
You’re nearly a laugh
But you’re really a cry.
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October 14th, 2011 at 5:17 am
And Part 2.
Big Papi, pig Papi, ha ha charade you are.
You flat healed worn wheel, ha ha charade you are.
And when your hand is on your bat,
You’re nearly a good laugh,
Almost a hitter,
When your headin down the baseline,
Saying “Keep on digging.”
Pig stain on your fat chin.
What do you hope to find.
When you’re down in the ninth.
You’re nearly a laugh,
You’re nearly a laugh
But you’re really a cry.
ScumBeckett dirt bag, ha ha charade you are.
You fucked up puss rag, ha ha charade you are.
You radiate cold drafts in a Sam Adams glass.
You’re nearly a good laugh,
with your Colonel Sanders hair chin.
You like to give up steals,
You’re hot stuff with a joystick,
And good fun with a Call of Duty gun.
You’re nearly a laugh,
You’re nearly a laugh
But you’re really a cry.
Hey you, Clubhouse,
Ha ha charade you are.
You KFC dipped fried mouse,
Ha ha charade you are
You’re trying to keep our pitchers off their feet.
You’re nearly a real Tweet
All grease lips and no heat
Why can’t you watch them lose??
…..! …..! …..! …..!
You gotta stem the downward slide,
And keep the chicken deep fried.
Ellsbury you’re nearly a treat,
Ellsbury you’re nearly a treat
But you’re really a cry.
Harmlessly passing your time in the off-season away;
Only dimly aware that your team never did really care.
You better watch out,
There may be Rays about
I’ve looked over Fenway, and I have seen
Things are not what they seem.
What do you get for pretending the wild card’s not real.
Weak and obese you follow the Lester
Down chicken splattered corridors into the clubhouse of beeah.
What a surprise!
A look of terminal shock in your eyes.
Now things are really what they seem.
Lackey’s mug is not a bad dream.
Bleating and babbling they fell on their face to extremes.
Wave upon wave of pink hat bandwagons
March wearily out of the old fad into a new team.
Have you heard the news?
The Sox are dead!
You better stay home
As Tito was told.
Don’t play on the road if you want to win gold.
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October 14th, 2011 at 6:04 am
@nyydj2: Whoa. I never knew that if you started Pink Floyd and fantasy baseball at the same time they synced up perfectly. My mind, it is blown!
I had Stanton and Pineda both on a keeper team, but dropped Pineda after they shut him down because I was futilely trying to catch up in pitching stats in the semi-finals. My consolation is I don’t think he would have made the cut since we only keep 7 and the team is stacked. Maybe I’ll snipe him somewhat early just to be on the Greyvy train.
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October 14th, 2011 at 6:59 am
16-Team Yahoo! H2H League w/ 14 Scoring Categories. Need to Choose 5 Keepers:
Joey Votto
Troy Tulowitzki
Ryan Zimmerman
Desmond Jennings
Brett Gardner
Rickie Weeks
Jason Kipnis
Carlos Quentin
David Ortiz
Zack Greinke
Yovanni Gallardo
Matt Moore
Craig Kimbrel
Jose Valverde
Heath Bell
Right now I’m leaning toward Votto, Tulo, Zimm, Weeks and Greinke. But I know you’re not much of a Weeks fan. What do you think?
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October 14th, 2011 at 7:01 am
@nyydj2: that is absolutely insane man, u have too much time on your hands, although look at me im posting about u having too much time on a fantasy baseball blog site…. lol
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October 14th, 2011 at 7:02 am
@KB: id keep jennings over weeks, i think grey will most likely say the same….
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October 14th, 2011 at 7:39 am
My only three keepers next year: Stanton, Pineda, and beachy. Grey Drools.
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October 14th, 2011 at 7:54 am
Grey (and commenters),
What do you think of Hellickson as a keeper for next year? His K-rate was way down this year compared to his career average, his BB/9 was up to almost 3.5, and his FIP was almost 1.50 higher than his ERA (thanks at least in part to a low BABIP of .223). All of that indicates stay away, but if he could get his K-rate and BB/9 back close to his historical rates than it seems to me that he could weather a rise in his BABIP and still give you a very good year. Makes no sense to me that a guy with a typical K-rate of 9+ and walk rate of 2-2.5 in the minors would drop all the way to a 5.5 K-rate and 3.5 BB/9 — was this year an aberration in that respect? Or is that the pitcher he really is and he is due for a serious regression next year? The guy’s only 24, so there’s got to be room for further growth in the majors, right? I don’t know; I’m just having trouble pegging him for next year.
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October 14th, 2011 at 7:56 am
@p0rk burn: Same here. Had Pineda all year and then dropped him when he was shut down because I was making a playoff push.
Yeah, you start the album as soon as the (Det) Lions roar (into the playoffs).
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October 14th, 2011 at 8:10 am
@Rabbit: I’m with you. I’m going to let him figure it out on someone else’s team. I like him and his potential but I have a feeling it doesn’t come together until 2013.
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October 14th, 2011 at 8:23 am
@Tony –
Thanks, man. Jennings, Gardner and Gallardo would all be my next options if I didn’t keep Weeks. Just a little worried about Jennings since he tailed off a bit over the final month and there’s always the fear of the Sophomore Slump.
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October 14th, 2011 at 8:33 am
@KB: I think Jennings puts up 100 15 45 277 40.
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@Steve: I was woken up at 10am and I’m now in line for BBQ before even my morning coffee.
@centralohguy: damn, why you gotta rain on the Pineda parade?
@nyYdj2: Wow… Wait… Wow! That was insane in the best of ways. Well played.
@pork burn: at least you have Stanton.
@KB: I’d go Jennings and Gallardo.
@Donald Trump: *drools*
@Rabbit: I’m aware of his insanely lucky year lear with no K-rate. I don’t think I’m drafting him anywhere next year. Will let someone else take the risk. In a keeper he becomes a dilemma.
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October 14th, 2011 at 9:45 am
@Grey -
Thanks. So, Jennings over Weeks and Gallardo over Greinke? I was leaning toward Greinke over Gallardo since K/BB is one of the scoring categories and because Greinke could be in a contract year next season.
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@KB: Gotcha… Go Greinke… Yeah, Jennings…
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October 14th, 2011 at 10:07 am
@Grey: Just recommending Razzballers factor in extra risk, is all. Winter is coming and I’m projecting.
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October 14th, 2011 at 10:33 am
@centralohguy: central, OH? whereabouts…..
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October 14th, 2011 at 10:35 am
Uh oh, Rockies have their Pomeranz full with this one… http://blogs.denverpost.com/rockies/2011/10/14/pomeranz-arrested-for-disturbing-the-peace/9778/
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October 14th, 2011 at 10:42 am
wild stallyns rule !!
love it when my favorite movie airs on tv .
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October 14th, 2011 at 10:43 am
@Tony: Columbus-like. NW. Used to comment under Jake in Columbus, but now use my Twitter handle.
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October 14th, 2011 at 2:00 pm
@centralohguy: haha gotya
thats cool…. i’ve asked u before i believe.
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@centralohguy: Gotcha…
@centralohguy: Oh, Pomeranz…
@chata: Ha
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October 15th, 2011 at 12:10 am
@Grey:
so …. gas station bbq for breakfast ….
give us a run-down .
or did it give you the runs ?
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October 15th, 2011 at 4:30 am
So my dilemma is I kept Stanton for a dollar last year. So if I keep him again, my league imposes a penalty. That penalty being the avg. of what I kept him for, so a $1 and the amount ESPN predicts him to go for next year, plus $5. So depending on what they value him based off 16 teams, he will probably cost between $20-$25. Then I have Pineda who I can keep straight up for $1. We only get one keeper and I’d prefer Stanton, but Pineda for a buck is just as enticing. Guess I just have to wait and see their values and try to get the most bang for my buck when I have to draft one of them.
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@chata: Start by saying, I’m not a BBQ aficionado. But this was top five BBQ I’ve ever had in my life. Maybe previous lives too. Franklin was too busy (about 2 hour wait at 11 AM and they close at 1PM) so we went to J Mueller. The sauce was so freakin’ good. And the brisket. And the sausage. Everything.
@Champion1337: I’d keep Stanton.
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October 15th, 2011 at 3:35 pm
@Grey:
bourdain says that , the next time that he’s in austin , he’s going
to eat himself across town , from food truck to food truck .
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October 15th, 2011 at 5:51 pm
Grey– Is this totally unthinkable?
He gets Adr. Gonzalez and Lincecum
I get Longoria and Halladay
All of these are keepers we have to give up after holding for three years.
He gets best player in the deal, but I like the trade for position scarcity, 3B over 1B. And I think Longoria bounces back next year. What think you?
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@chata: went to one that had a bacon donut… It was wonderful…
@The Miracles: I’d do it.
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October 15th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
@Grey:
glad you’re enjoying your time there .
maybe you guys ought to come up with a
Razzball Fantasy Food League .
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October 16th, 2011 at 8:57 am
WILSON! Too soon, Grey… too soon.
I’m assuming you’ve taken in the most recent Real World, yeah? Or are you still unaware of the term “besties” and the douche chills it creates?
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@chata: I’d be at pert at that too, if do say so myself.
@Awesomus Maximus: I watched the newest one before I let for Austin. Great episode. We’re fine, I just can’t talk to you or be around you anymore. Besties was brilliant too. Ha!
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October 16th, 2011 at 6:13 pm
Nice of McGwire to share his stash with both teams.
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October 16th, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Seems to have kept the premium shizz for his own team…
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October 16th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Most unlike Narveson. He’s normally good for four sparkling innings before imploding like that in the 5th.
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