Mike Pelfrey went from totally chic to totally geek in the matter of 4 starts. Last night, he dropped a 4 2/3 IP, 7 ER bomb and now he’s staring at nickels. Pardon the wavy lines as we jump in The Way Back Machine and see what I said in April, “His K-rate prior to 2010 was pretty poor. Even this year, it’s only a little above his career mark. His biggest adjustment so far seems to be his ability to avoid the homer ball and leave men on base. He can be usable as a 4th fantasy starter, especially in Metco.” And that’s me copying and pasting me! Nothing’s really changed other than he’s no longer leaving men on base, his homers have gone up (literally) and his lack of Ks are catching up to him. Hmm… Maybe some stuff has changed. He had a 1.98 ERA at Metco prior to last night, so that’s still a nice matchup start, but Pelfrey is no longer a must own. At 109 IP on the year and only 67 Ks, he’s a notch below Jon Garland in K-rate. I just popped a zit in the mirror and spelled out, “You can probably do better than Pelfrey.” Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Jose Reyes – Supposed to return on Tuesday. I really want to believe this, but the Met doctors are a joke. Did they go to that med school Steve Guttenberg went in Bad Medicine?
Shin-Soo Choo – Thumb-Soo Blue now might need surgery and could be out for the season. Is this all a ploy for him to avoid his army service time? We must have a commenter in Canada who could take him in. Volunteers?
Mike Gonzalez – Won’t return until after the All-Star break. As previously mentioned, Alfredo will continue to get saves now and when Mike G. first returns. From there, I imagine names will go into Juan Samuel’s hat and he’ll pull one out. Hey, New ERA’s now the closer! Um, that’s the tag.
Jake Fox – 3-for-5 and now has 2 homers in his last two starts. Not starting every day, but I’d grab him now in AL-Only leagues and watch closely how his playing time shakes out for mixed leagues. Hey, New ERA’s now starting at 1st base! Still the tag, Juan.
Chase Utley – Saying he won’t need the full 8 weeks of recovery time. I believe Utley can return early. Still, a hand issue that won’t have him on the field until late-August isn’t something you should go out of your way to acquire.
Roy Halladay – 9 IP, 1 ER, 6 baserunners, 7 Ks vs. the Braves. It’s one thing to face Halladay, but I can’t even imagine how difficult it must’ve been for the Braves with Russia still occupying Georgia.
Cliff Lee – Supposedly, the Phillies were scouting The Adverb. I wonder if the scout went to Vegas, got himself a hooker and some blow while pretending to scout Cliff Lee because HE WAS JUST ON THEIR TEAM! Whoa, Cap’n Caps, easy. SORRY.
Russell Branyan – Now has three homers since joining the Mariners. Had 31 homers last year and has 13 now. You do the math!
Jose Valverde – 1 IP, 2 ER, Kazaam!
Jonathan Sanchez – 6 IP, 1 ER, 11 baserunners, 6 Ks. Man, that WHIP is messy. What a slob! No wonder he goes by Filthy Sanchez. According to me. But we’ll pretend he goes by that on every site on the interwebs.
Pablo Sandoval – 1-for-4 and batting .269. Maybe he’s uncomfortable carrying around those extra 75 pounds. Let’s get him and the Sandovals on Losing It With Jillian. I’d love to see Sandoval’s family all try to lose weight together. “Mama, did you put extra mayonnaise on my lard sandwich?” Mama Sandoval looks guilty then, “No.”
Buster Posey – 2-for-4 with his third homer. All he does is hit homers (once a week).
Tom Gorzelanny – 5 IP, 3 ER, 11 baserunners, 4 Ks. I’ve seen better starts, but let’s be clear about something. Gorzelanny isn’t an ace. He’s a number five fantasy starter. He still has a 3.31 ERA on the year and is worth starting in favorable matchups.
Ian Kennedy – 5 2/3 IP, 7 ER, 9 baserunners, 6 Ks. Member when I said to lose him in last week’s Buy/Sell? Yup.
Adam LaRoche – Hit his 13th homer yesterday in the Diamondbacks’ 83rd game. LaRoche meet 2nd half of the 162 game schedule, 2nd half say wassup to LaRoche.
Krispie Young – 2-for-3, 2 steals while hitting leadoff. Now has 15 homers and 16 steals on the year. Yeah, Krispie’s been better than your other outfielders. Yup, even that one.
Kosuke Fukudome – 2-for-3 and his 7th homer. Keep in mind his playing time is very iffy right now but he gets crazy hot for a week or two at a time. This game might’ve be the start of something. Either way, the choice is yours. Doo, da, dippity.
Geovany Soto – 3-for-4, 2 Runs and 2 RBIs. Somehow the Cubs pulled out the win with Koyie Hill on the bench.
Alexei Ramirez – Now has two homers in two games while hitting over .400 in the last week. Definitely worth owning though I’m not sure where his steals have been this year. Did they have visa issues?
Carlos Quentin – Hit 2 homers yesterday. Frequent commenter, Steve, summed up the thoughts of current Quentin owners yesterday when he said, “Oh, Quentin, I am so glad I drafted you/dropped you/picked you up/dropped you again/picked you back up.”
Gavin Floyd – 7 IP, 1 ER, 7 baserunners, 4 Ks. Hasn’t allowed more than 2 runs in a start in over a month. Yeah, you should own him.
Bobby Jenks – Pitched in the 8th inning of 7-1 game. I know what you’re thinking, “What’s Ozzie thinking?” Good question. Ozzie supposedly wants Jenks to get some action before being the closer again because he was away on bereavement leave. And Ozzie wants to confuse fantasy owners. That too. I’d grab Thornton if he’s available.
Dayan Viciedo – Hit his first major league homer. Worth monitoring in AL-Only leagues (as if you don’t have enough to do!), but his playing time has been sporadic.
Mark Teixeira – Hit his 14th homer yesterday. PABST (Post All-Star Break Stats Teixeira) getting a jump on the All-Star break so I guess this was a premature jacking.
Jayson Nix – 2 homers in yesterday’s game. Jaymes Nix got drunk and called Laynce to ask him how come he can’t be more like Jayson.
Matt Garza – 3 IP, 4 ER, 9 baserunners, 1 K. Of course I sat Garza when he pitched well last week in Fenway and started him yesterday for this crizzap at home. Of course, I did! When I yell obscenities at telemarketers, I call them Garza.
Eric Patterson – 2 homers and now has 6 homers on the year. Not quite as bonkers as it sounds… Okay, it’s a little bonkers, but he hit 14 homers in Triple-A one year and 12 homers in Triple-A last year. For those desperate for anything at MI, you could probably do worse.
Matt LaPorta – LaPo hit another homer yesterday then was removed with a head bruise from his collision with Andrus. After the bump on the head, LaPorta thought he was Ginger from Gilligan’s Island.
Joey Votto – Hit 2 homers. Yeah, but Omar Infante can play 4 positions.
Erik Bedard – Was due to pitch on Tuesday, but he’s dealing with a stiff shoulder. We’re actually lucky this happened. If Bedard came back while Ben Sheets was healthy, that would’ve caused a major shift in the Time VORP Continuum.
