The only people that are heaped with more scorn than nerds at Adams College are fantasy pitchers who are drafted in the top 6 rounds only to severely disappoint. It may not be fair to the pitchers but it definitely offers up some bargains come draft time for those that can see that they are champions and will keep on fighting ’til the end. Aaron Harang and Erik Bedard are your Louis and Gilbert. Granted Harang was facing the Pirates, but a 3 hit no walk shutout with 9 K’s has got to be a great sign for those that gambled on a comeback. Erik Bedard – who has been great when healthy – tosses 8 1/3 shutout innings agains the A’s with 3 hits and a walk. Assuming these two can stay healthy (no small challenge for Bedard or a pitcher on Dusty’s staff), their fantasy owners will be eating pie this year. Anyway, here’s what else we saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Brandon Webb – To the DL with a sore right shoulder. I warned people back in February not to make this guy your top starter, “As for Webb, I’m legitimately worried about him. So much of his value is derived from good Win karma,” but obviously the Eight Ball didn’t even predict things would be this bad. For those thinking it’s a good Buy opportunity because his owners are now discounting him. Let’s drop some Liquid Paper on your brain and correct that. Pitchers + arm, shoulder or elbow injuries = Don’t Want.
Kyle Lohse – 3-hit shutout. Coming off a 15-6 / 3.78 ERA with a low K rate (only 119 out of 200), he seemed ripe for regression in 2009. Go with Lohse when he’s on a roll and don’t be afraid to bench or cut bait after a bad start or two.
Milton Bradley – Left Sunday’s game with a leg injury. In other news, ice is cold.
Tom Glavine – Left rehab start with sore shoulder. I don’t think anyone was actually waiting on this guy, but, if you were, postdate your expectations.
Evan Longoria – 5th HR this week. Orioles pitchers don’t hurt anyone’s numbers except Orioles pitchers, but that is still an impressive first week. I liked Longoria at the end of the 2nd round and felt he wasn’t that far off from Wright. Color me vindicated.
Dexter Fowler – Joining in on the mean violin, hit his 2nd HR this week. If he can continue to pound his way into the lineup, we might be looking at the NL ROY. As I said about my Cinnabon today, that’s some kind of delicious.
Tim Lincecum – It’s called a panic move. What, Grey? What is? Trading Lincecum for fifty cents on the dollar. You need to be patient. Though getting hit by the Padres is not a good sign. He’ll get his K’s, but hope you’re not banking on 18 Wins happening again.
Kevin Gregg – Making even his owners wish Piniella would go with Marmol so they can drop him. Don’t. Not yet. When Piniella says no more, then you can drop him. Not until then.
Rafael Soriano – Recorded the save yesterday. I have him in two leagues. Mike Gonzalez is iffy at best and usually injured at worst. Soriano’s not much better, but he’ll vulture some saves.
Alfonso Soriano – Another HR, bringing his tally to 4. I’m marking Soriano down as my NL MVP in my head. Injuries always seem to befall him, but if he runs a little less and stays healthy he can have a monster year. As I projected in my top 20 overall post — 110/32/85/.275/15 are crazysexysolid numbers for him.
Huston Street – Loses the game for the Rockies. The Rockies really need Street to be their closer so they can trade him for a worthwhile piece before the trading deadline to make up for trading Holliday for Nadir Bupkus.
Brandon Inge – Another HR. As Rudy told you the other night, Inge can help while hot. No reason not to drop some lesser catchers for him — Navarro, AJ, Skinny Molina…
Chase Headley – He sounds like a porn star, but may actually prove to be a fantasy star this year as well. HRs in two straight games are a good sign. His playing time is all but guaranteed. We’ve seen this kind of thing before – Kouz in 2007 – so we’re still a bit skeptical. Like any hitter with promise, grab him off FA and see how he does for a week or two.
Chris Young – 7 IP, 4 Hits, 7 Ks. Another quality start from Tally. When I pegged him a fantasy sleeper, this is what I expected. For real for real.
Randy Wolf – Randy like the Wolf! Randy like the Wolf! 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 Ks. Real tough to start him against Haren last night, but if you did you reaped some rewards. If you continue to trot Wolf out against 2/3 of his NL opponents, you’ll reap more.
Trevor Cahill – Two solid starts for the 21 year old Athletic who hadn’t made a start past AA prior to this year. His long-term future looks bright but 3 Ks and 8 BBs in 12 IP is a harbinger for a stormy short-term future.
Delmon Young – HR yesterday. Just think, he didn’t hit his first home run last year until June 7th. I know, not super reassuring, but it’s a positive.
Josh Johnson – Outdueled Johan Santana with a 1-run, 7K complete game. We marked him as a prime comeback candidate after a lengthy recovery from Tommy John surgery. If he keeps pitching like this, people will stop confusing him with the Casey kid from Dawson’s Creek.
David Aardsma – Nabbed his 2nd save already. Not bad for someone who isn’t even the closer. He’s ruining the joke that you can’t spell Aardsma without Triple-A. That said, Morrow should have a fairly long leash so don’t expect too many more from Aardsma (an aardvark that’s short of breath?)
