Good news for all of you! And for us.
1. We have received payments from a number of you and are in the process of adding you to a new Email list for this season.
2. PayPal has sent out requests for payment for those of you who have expressed interest in subscribing to our Emails. We are adding to our new mailing list those of you who have made the payment.
3. Because the new mailing list hasn’t been set up entirely, we still are sending out free Emails to everyone on our preseason mailing list. That free lunch will end soon. We encourage all of you who have been receiving our Emails to subscribe for the remainder of this year.
You or any of your friends – or even you signing friends as gifts to them – can subscribe. You can see below how to do that.
In our normal schedule, the Tuesday Emails contain Minor League updates, letting you know which players you could look for to move up from the minors or up through an organization.
Players of the Week
Class League, Team (Organization)
Pos. Name H-AB BA HR-RBI SB
Triple-A International, Harrisburg (Nationals)
OF Roger Bernadina 13-28 .464 1-6 3
Triple-A Pacific Coast, Iowa (Cubs)
OF Brad Snyder 12-25 .480 3-7 1
Double-A Eastern, Bowie (Orioles)
DH Paco Figueroa 13-27 .481 1-7 2
Double-A Southern, West Tenn (Mariners)
CF Carlos Peguero 8-24 .333 3-6 0
Double-A Texas, Northwest Arkansas (Royals)
3B Mike Moustakas 8-17 .471 3-8 0
High Class A California, Inland Empire (Dodgers)
RF Kyle Russell 9-24 .375 2-6 0
High Class A Carolina, Salem (Red Sox)
SS Oscar Tejeda 11-25 .440 3-7 1
High Class A Florida State, Tampa (Yankees)
2B Corban Joseph 10-26 .385 2-6 0
Low Class A Midwest, Great Lakes (Dodgers)
CF Jerry Sands 9-20 .450 5-7 0
Low Class A South Atlantic, Greenville (Red Sox)
C Daniel Butler 9-20 .450 2-7 0
Bernadina raised his season average to .377 with eight RBI and seven stolen bases in 14 games, earning a promotion to Washington.
Sands repeated as the winner of both Midwest League Player of the Week awards for this season.
Moustakas and Russell both were first-round draft choices. Moustakas hadn’t played before last week because of a strained oblique muscle. Russell and Sands both represent part of the Dodgers’ future.
Pitchers of the Week
Class League, Team (Organization)
Hand Name IP W-L ERA WHIP K/W
Triple-A International, Durham (Rays)
RHP Aneury Rodriguez 14.0 2-0 0.00 0.57 10:3
Triple-A Pacific, Portland (Padres)
RHP Radhames Liz 6.0 1-0 1.56 0.83 11:2
Double-A Eastern, Reading (Phillies)
RHP Phillippe Aumont 17.0 2-0 0.53 0.47 11:6
Double-A Southern, Huntsville (Brewers)
RHP Amaury Rivas 13.0 2-0 0.69 0.85 9:6
Double-A Texas, Northwest Arkansas (Royals)
LHP Edgar Osuna 7.0 1-0 0.00 0.86 6:0
High Class A California, Visalia (Diamondbacks)
RHP Joshua Collmenter 5.0 0-0 0.00 0.40 9:1
High Class A Carolina, Wilmington (Royals)
LHP Michael Montgomery 12.2 1-0 1.42 1.03 14:3
High Class A Florida State, Clearwater (Phillies)
RHP Austin Hyatt 11.0 2-0 0.82 0.91 15:5
Low Class A Midwest, Beloit (Twins)
LHP Daniel Osterbrock 13.1 1-0 1.35 0.83 14:3
Low Class A South Atlantic, Charleston (Yankees)
RHP Graham Stoneburner 14.0 0-0 1.29 1.00 16:3
Rodriguez was making his first two starts in Triple-A.
Osuna made it through the first 2 ½ weeks of this season with an 0.00 ERA. He succeeded as Texas League Pitcher of the Week Federico Castaneda, who already has moved up to Triple-A Omaha. We already told you he’s likely to be pitching out of Kansas City’s bullpen during this season.
Montgomery has won both Carolina Pitcher of the Week awards this season. He, Osuna and Castaneda show there is pitching talent in the Royals organization.
News and Notes
The face of the Rangers’ farm system changed today more than at any time since Texas discovered that pitching is part of baseball. The Rangers optioned underperforming Cs Taylor Teagarden and Salty to Triple-A Oklahoma City, removing Salty from his injury-rehab assignment with the Redhawks early and taking him off the disabled list. C Max Ramirez, a far better offensive threat than any of the other three backstops Texas has used this season, was recalled. With RF Nelson Cruz going on the DL, the Rangers recalled OF Craig Gentry from OK City. He’s primarily a center fielder, and Texas could give the overachiever from the University of Arkansas an extended trial to decide whether to send slumping CF Julio Borbon back to the minors to straighten himself out. Here’s another indictment of the free-swinging Rangers: Rookie 1B Justin Smoak set a team record for the longest streak with at least one walk in a game to start a major league career by walking in each of the first four games after he was recalled to replace 1B Chris Davis.
Another shakeup is taking place in Colorado, where the Rockies put two starting pitchers, LHP Jorge De La Rosa (torn flexor band in his middle finger) and RHP Jason Hammel (strained right groin muscle), on the disabled list. They also demoted a catcher, Chris Iannetta, to Triple-A Colorado Springs. Joining the major league team are RHPs Jhoulys Chacin, who will take De La Rosa’s rotation spot, and Juan Rincon, who will go to the bullpen, and journeyman C Paul Phillips.
We’re especially disappointed to see De La Rosa injured. We always like any player who makes us look good, and he has been our greatest hit since LHP Johan Santana in 1995. Since we recommended DLR as “a pitcher to seek” when he was 0-6 last season, he has won 19 games, more than any other pitcher in the majors. We also really like Chacin, who was part of one of the best group of pitchers to graduate from the Double-A Texas League since who knows when. He has begun the season 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA at Colorado Springs.
In closing
This is a regular feature of our Emails and blog posts. It lets you know who’s getting saves. Equally important is telling you who’s blowing saves or putting his job in jeopardy by getting shaky saves. There’s also a FREE Article on the old fantasybaseballscout.com web site letting you know which pitcher or pitchers each team is using to close games. It will be updated whenever there’s a change or speculation about a change in a team’s closer.
If you’re looking for even more change in Texas as the result of RHP Frank Francisco’s first save this season, forget it – at least for now. Rangers manager Ron Washington said that RHP Neftali Feliz remained their closer, but that he had pitched in two consecutive games (blowing a save himself) and needed a day off. As a result, Francisco, who began the season as Texas’ closer, pitched the ninth inning of Texas’ 4-2 victory over the White Sox.
Similarly, Red Sox RHP Ramon Ramirez received his first save of 2010 in a 2-1 win at Toronto. Boston’s closer, RHP Jonathan Papelbon, had pitched in five of its previous seven games.
Another unfamiliar name earning a save was that of Cardinals RHP Jason Motte. He entered their game against the Braves in the eighth inning and picked up his first save this season with a pitching line of 1 2/3 00020. St. Louis’ closer, RHP Ryan Franklin, wasn’t available because he had pitched each of the two previous days.
The Orioles haven’t really established a closer, and RHP Alfredo Simon doesn’t seem to be the man despite his first save in a 5-4 victory over the Yankees. Shortstop Julio Lugo’s error led to two unearned runs in the top of the ninth, leading to a line of 122012. Baltimore manager said that at least until the nominal closer, LHP Mike Gonzalez, returns from the disabled list the team’s closer would be “whoever can get outs.”
Other saves went to Nationals RHP Matt Capps, ninth, 3-1 at Wrigley Field; Twins RHP Jon Rauch, seventh, 2-0 at Detroit; Mariners RHP David Aardsma, seventh, 3-2 at Kansas City; Padres RHP Heath Bell, fifth, 4-1 at Florida, and Rays RHP Rafael Soriano, fifth, 8-6 against the Athletics.
The most notable blown save was Brewers RHP Trevor Hoffman’s third this season. Milwaukee led 3-2 when he entered the game to begin the ninth inning against the Pirates. Hoffman gave up a game-tying home run to SS Ronny Cedeno and C Ryan Doumit’s grand slam to take a 7-3 loss.
Promotion
Email us at lary@fantasybaseballscout.com. Include your name, address and phone number so we could contact you with any questions, and (most important) tell us the Email address where you would like to receive the Emails. You then would receive an invoice from PayPal, which you could pay by following simple instructions within that Email. Once we receive your payment, we’ll add you to the subscription list so you would receive all of this year’s Emails and have access to any other features from fantasybaseballscout.com.
Subscriptions will include Articles such as our “Pitchers (and Hitters) to Keep and Avoid.” Last year, our recommendation of Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa in itself was worth the cost of what you’d pay, and he was only one of our picks that were on the money. Choosing him was inspired; he was 0-6 when we recommended him, and 16-3 thereafter.
You also would have access to whatever content we’re able to get on to the fantasybaseballscout.com web site.
Subscribers will be able to ask questions specific to their fantasy teams and leagues, and receive answers through these Emails, the web site or personal Emails.
Showing posts with label Jorge De La Rosa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jorge De La Rosa. Show all posts
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Prado, De La Rosa still going strong
The Monday morning updates review what happened over the weekend and indicates which batters and pitchers are hot – and which are not.
NOTE: We have extended the free period for these Emails through Sunday, April 18. After that date, the Emails would go only to those who subscribe.
Before then, we’ll tell you how you can subscribe to receive these Emails five or more times per week, along with timely Articles and other information that will be added to the fantasybaseballscout.com web site.
Subscriptions will include Articles such as our “Pitchers (and Hitters) to Keep and Avoid.” Last year, our recommendation of Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa in itself was worth the cost of what you’d pay, and he was only one of our picks that were on the money. Choosing him was inspired; he was 0-6 when we recommended him, and 16-3 thereafter.
You also would have access to whatever content we’re able to get on to the fantasybaseballscout.com web site.
Let us know of your interest and what you’d like to see by Emailing lary@fantasybaseballscout.com.
Thanks for your continuing interest in and support of Fantasy Baseball Scout. Thanks also to those who have made suggestions as to content they’d like to see. A reminder: Subscribers will be able to ask questions specific to their fantasy teams and leagues, and receive answers through these Emails, the web site or personal Emails.
Hot
The weekly Hot and Not for batters is based on 20 at-bats for batting average, and at least a .280 BA for the other categories.
Pos. Player, Team H-AB BA HR-RBI SB
2B/3B Martin Prado, Braves 13-24 .542 0-1 0
2B Edgar Renteria, Giants 11-21 .524 1-5 0
1B/3B Miguel Cabrera, Tigers 12-23 .522 2-8 0
OF Vladimir Guerrero, Rangers 12-24 .500 1-3 0
2B/3B Placido Polanco, Phillies 13-27 .481 1-8 0
OF Jeff Francoeur, Mets 10-21 .476 2-6 0
OF Magglio Ordonez, Tigers 12-26 .462 2-6 0
OF Nelson Cruz, Rangers 9-20 .450 4-9 0
OF Franklin Gutierrez, Mariners 12-27 .444 0-2 2
3B/OF Chase Headley, Padres 11-25 .440 0-1 1
Prado is a repeater from the list of who was Hot during spring training. He is for real.
Encouraging for their teams are some young players who could be on the way to realizing their potential – Francoeur, Cruz, Gutierrez and Headley. Francoeur and Cruz have to prove they now are laying off bad pitches and aren’t just on a hot streak. Cruz had a couple of hits, including an opposite-field home run up in the Rangers Ballpark jet stream, on tough pitches away that he fought off.
Home runs – Cruz, Blue Jays SS Alex Gonzalez and OF Vernon Wells, and Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols 4; Braves RF Jason Heyward, Cardinals LF Matt Holliday, Phillies 1B Ryan Howard, Diamondbacks 2B Kelly Johnson and OF Chris B. Young, White Sox 1B Paul Konerko and Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia 3.
RBI – Young 11; Howard, Pujols and Marlins 1B/3B Jorge Cantu 10; Cruz 9; Cabrera, Heyward and Polanco 8; Konerko, Pedroia, Wells, Athletics 1B Daric Barton, Dodgers OF Matt Kemp and Nationals LF Josh Willingham 7.
Here are more young players who could break out – Heyward, Barton and Kemp.
Stolen bases – Athletics OF Rajai Davis and Royals OF Scott Podsednik 4; Dodgers SS Rafael Furcal and Yankees OFs Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson 3; Gutierrez, Rays SS Jason Bartlett, Pirates SS Ronny Cedeno, Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury, Tigers OF Austin Jackson, Yankees SS Derek Jeter and Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins.
Are the Yankees going to be a running team, or were their numbers merely helped by playing against the Red Sox? Will Gardner and Granderson push themselves to new heights on the bases? One week isn’t long enough to know for sure, but we’ll monitor the situation.
Runs – Holliday, Polanco, Rollins and Athletics 2B Mark Ellis 8; Davis, Pujols, Wells, Twins 1B Justin Morneau and White Sox OF Carlos Quentin 7.
Additional repeat Hot players from the spring training report are Cruz and Headley. Francoeur and Howard were on the exhibition-game Not list.
Requirements for pitchers to make these lists are 7 innings pitched for ERA and WHIP, 10 strikeouts in K:W ratio and an ERA under 4.00 for the other categories.
Hand Pitcher, Team IP W-L ERA WHIP K:W
RHP Hiroki Kuroda, Dodgers 8.0 1-0 0.00 0.75 7:1
RHP Luke Hochevar, Royals 7.2 0-0 0.00 0.78 2:1
LHP Dana Eveland, Blue Jays 7.1 1-0 0.00 0.95 2:2
LHP Jorge De La Rosa, Rockies 7.0 1-0 0.00 0.29 9:1
LHP C.J. Wilson, Rangers 7.0 0-0 0.00 1.00 9:2
RHP Livan Hernandez, Nats 7.0 1-0 0.00 1.14 1:3
RHP Roy Halladay, Phillies 16.0 2-0 0.56 0.94 17:2
RHP Matt Garza, Rays 8.0 1-0 1.13 0.75 9:2
RHP Bronson Arroyo, Reds 8.0 0-0 1.13 0.88 6:3
RHP Tim Lincecum, Giants 14.0 2-0 1.29 0.71 17:1
You probably already suspected that Halladay and Lincecum are good. De La Rosa was the star of our “Pitchers to seek” Article last season, and looks even better this year. Since we named him a “Pitcher to avoid” in 2009, Arroyo seemingly has been on a mission to prove us wrong. Beware the K:W radios for Hochevar, Eveland and Hernandez.
Also with 1.29 ERAs, but in just 7 innings pitched, were Rangers RHP Colby Lewis, Twins RHP Carl Pavano, White Sox RHP Jake Peavy and Blue Jays LHP Ricky Romero. A strategy with Romero might be to trade him at the All-Star break while his value is high, and avoid the possibility of his slumping during the season’s second half as he did last year.
Wins – Blue Jays RHP Casey Janssen 3; Halladay, Lincecum, Giants LHP Jeremy Affeldt, White Sox LHP Mark Buehrle, Pirates LHP Zach Duke and Rockies RHP Ubaldo Jimenez 2.
Saves – Twins RHP Jon Rauch 4-for-4; Nationals RHP Matt Capps 3-3; Mariners RHP David Aardsma, Padres RHP Heath Bell, Reds RHP Francisco Cordero, Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gregg, Cubs RHP Carlos Marmol, Rockies LHP Franklin Morales, Yankees RHP Mariano Rivera and Giants RHP Brian Wilson 2-2.
The word is that Capps has rediscovered the fastball that might have dwindled away while he was waiting for save opportunities with the Pirates away.
WHIP – De La Rosa 0.29; Braves RHP Tim Hudson 0.43; Lincecum and Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright 0.71; Garza and Kuroda 0.75; Hochevar 0.78; Athletics LHP Dallas Braden and Yankees LHP C.C. Sabathia 0.85; Pavano 0.86.
K:W ratio – Lincecum 17:1; Orioles RHP Kevin Millwood 11:1; Halladay 17:2; Diamondbacks RHP Dan Haren 13:2; Braden 12:2; Blue Jays RHP Shaun Marcum 11:2; Angels RHP Jered Weaver 13:3; Jimenez 13:4; Astros RHP Roy Oswalt 11:4.
Pitchers repeating their strong spring-training performances were De La Rosa, Eveland, Affeldt, Brian Wilson and Hudson. Arroyo, Buehrle and Aardsma were on the exhibition Not list.
Not
Pos. Player, Team H-AB BA HR-RBI SB
CF Julio Borbon, Rangers 1-21 .048 0-2 0
OF Milton Bradley, Mariners 1-21 .048 1-2 0
1B Lyle Overbay, Blue Jays 2-23 .087 0-1 0
RF Hunter Pence, Astros 2-21 .095 1-2 0
2B/SS David Eckstein, Padres 2-20 .100 0-0 0
OF Melky Cabrera, Braves 3-25 .120 0-0 0
OF Juan Pierre, White Sox 3-24 .125 0-0 2
1B Mark Teixeira, Yankees 3-25 .125 0-3 0
LF Carlos Lee, Astros 3-23 .130 0-0 0
SS Alexei Ramirez, White Sox 3-23 .130 1-3 0
This week’s dis(honorable mention) goes to Brewers C Gregg Zaun 0-for-14, and Mariners C Adam Moore and Rangers C Taylor Teagarden 0-for-12. Teagarden also had seven strikeouts.
Angels 3B Brandon Wood just missed the lists, going 1-for-19, Unless he can show he’s the player who racked up huge home run totals in the minors, LA/Anaheim will have to find a replacement quickly.
Here are a couple of outfielders you should expect to see in Triple-A before long: Borbon and the Blue Jays’ Travis Snider.
W:K ratio – This one requires 10 strikeouts. Surprisingly, no major league batter reached double figures in Ks during the season’s first week. The worst ratio belonged to Padres SS Everth Cabrera at 0:9.
Caught stealing – Miguel Cabrera and Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez 0-for-2; Indians SS Asdrubal Cabrera and Mariners RF Ichiro Suzuki 1-3.
Repeaters from the spring-training Not list are Borbon and Teagarden. Pence was on the Hot list from the exhibition games; we’re still confident that he’ll have a good year.
Hand Pitcher, Team IP W-L ERA WHIP K:W
RHP Carlos Zambrano, Cubs 8.1 1-1 11.88 1.92 10:4
RHP Vicente Padilla, Dodgers 8.2 0-1 11.42 2.08 8:4
RHP Justin Verlander, Tigers 10.0 0-0 9.00 1.50 9:4
LHP John Lannan, Nationals 8.2 1-1 8.31 2.19 2:6
RHP Jake Westbrook, Indians 9.2 0-1 7.45 2.17 8:7
RHP Yovani Gallardo, Brewers 12.0 0-2 6.75 1.33 10:4
RHP Josh Johnson, Marlins 10.0 0-1 6.30 2.00 10:7
RHP Josh Beckett, Red Sox 11.2 1-0 6.17 1.80 5:4
RHP Chris Carpenter, Cards 11.0 1-0 5.73 1.27 7:2
The pitchers eligible for this list all started twice during the week. Some of baseball’s best pitchers appear here: Verlander, Gallardo, Johnson, Beckett, Carpenter. It’s too early to panic, but keep an eye on them – especially on their K:W ratios, which could show that they no longer can blow batters away or that they might be hurt. Beckett and Gallardo could have lost some fire after signing big contracts.
Losses – Gallardo, Rangers RHP Frank Francisco, Padres RHP Jon Garland, Orioles LHP Mike Gonzalez, Cubs LHP John Grabow, Astros RHP Roy Oswalt and Angels LHP Joe Saunders 2.
Blown saves – Francisco and Red Sox RHP Daniel Bard 0-for-2; Gonzalez 1-3; Brewers RHP Trevor Hoffman 2-4.
Returning to the Not list, where they also resided from spring training, are Verlander and Gonzalez.
News and Notes
Ellsbury left Boston’s game Sunday after a collision with 3B Adrian Beltre while chasing a foul popup. Beltre’s knee hit Ellsbury’s rib cage. X rays were negative, and the left fielder is considered day to day.
I like Joe Maddon as the Rays’ manager, but he made a couple of moves Sunday that didn’t make sense to me. In the first inning, after the first two Rays had hits against Yankees RHP A.J. Burnett, No. 3 batter Ben Zobrist bunted a runner from second base to third. Maddon excused the action of giving up an out that settled down a struggling pitcher by saying that Zobrist didn’t feel comfortable against Burnett. Then why was the right fielder batting third in the lineup? If he is the next time he faces A.J., I’ll really be disappointed in Maddon. The other move came late, when Tampa Bay still was stuck on the two runs it had scored in the first inning. With switch-hitting C Jorge Posada coming to bat, the manager replaced the starter, RHP James Shields, with sidearm LHP Randy Choate. Now Choate may have retired a right-handed batter during his undistinguished career, but I don’t remember when. He threw a pitch to Posada that the catcher hit for a home run. Weren’t the odds better that Shields at least would have kept the ball in the park?
I didn’t see Mariners RHP Felix Hernandez in person, but on TV he appeared to be in good shape and not carrying extra weight. His physical conditioning seems to be the only thing that could keep King Felix from being successful. Hernandez does have a big, new contract, but we expect that his team’s lack of offense will be a bigger problem for him than a potential big head.
To give you an idea, our pitching chart for the regular season’s first week had the right pitcher on the right date in 87 per cent of the games (160 of 184). The American League record was 95 per cent (84-for-88) but the National League projections hit on 79 per cent (76-for-96). We had the right pitchers in the right number of starts closer to 95 per cent, but some teams switched the order of those starters from what we had projected. Those switches each resulted in two – and in one case three – games that weren’t matched with the right pitcher.
Minor matters
The bloodletting continued Friday in the Triple-A International League series between Columbus (Indians organization) and Indianapolis (Pirates). Indy won 14-12, with Pedro Alvarez hitting two homers to bring his total to three in two games. Clippers C Carlos Santana hit one homer, also for a total of three after he’d hit two in Columbus’ 17-4 Opening Day win over Indianapolis, so he also had three dingers in two games.
On Sunday, Reds LHP prospect Aroldis Chapman made his U.S. pro debut with eight strikeouts for Triple-A Louisville at Toledo (Tigers), and Nationals RHP prospect Stephen Strasburg gave up four runs (one earned) in five innings for Double-A Harrisburg at Altoona (Pirates).
In closing
This is a regular feature of our Emails and blog posts. It lets you know who’s getting saves. Equally important is telling you who’s blowing saves or putting his job in jeopardy by getting shaky saves. There’s also a FREE Article on the old fantasybaseballscout.com web site letting you know which pitcher or pitchers each team is using to close games. It will be updated whenever there’s a change or speculation about a change in a team’s closer.
Indians RHP Chris Perez blew a save Sunday as the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 9-8 victory. Hoffman also blew a save by allowing the Cardinals to score three times in the top of the ninth on back-to-back two-out homers by Pujols and LF Matt Holliday. Pujols’ was a two-run shot. Hoffman became the winning pitcher when Brewers 3B/2B Casey McGehee homered in the bottom of the inning against St. Louis RHP Kyle McClellan.
NOTE: We have extended the free period for these Emails through Sunday, April 18. After that date, the Emails would go only to those who subscribe.
Before then, we’ll tell you how you can subscribe to receive these Emails five or more times per week, along with timely Articles and other information that will be added to the fantasybaseballscout.com web site.
Subscriptions will include Articles such as our “Pitchers (and Hitters) to Keep and Avoid.” Last year, our recommendation of Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa in itself was worth the cost of what you’d pay, and he was only one of our picks that were on the money. Choosing him was inspired; he was 0-6 when we recommended him, and 16-3 thereafter.
You also would have access to whatever content we’re able to get on to the fantasybaseballscout.com web site.
Let us know of your interest and what you’d like to see by Emailing lary@fantasybaseballscout.com.
Thanks for your continuing interest in and support of Fantasy Baseball Scout. Thanks also to those who have made suggestions as to content they’d like to see. A reminder: Subscribers will be able to ask questions specific to their fantasy teams and leagues, and receive answers through these Emails, the web site or personal Emails.
Hot
The weekly Hot and Not for batters is based on 20 at-bats for batting average, and at least a .280 BA for the other categories.
Pos. Player, Team H-AB BA HR-RBI SB
2B/3B Martin Prado, Braves 13-24 .542 0-1 0
2B Edgar Renteria, Giants 11-21 .524 1-5 0
1B/3B Miguel Cabrera, Tigers 12-23 .522 2-8 0
OF Vladimir Guerrero, Rangers 12-24 .500 1-3 0
2B/3B Placido Polanco, Phillies 13-27 .481 1-8 0
OF Jeff Francoeur, Mets 10-21 .476 2-6 0
OF Magglio Ordonez, Tigers 12-26 .462 2-6 0
OF Nelson Cruz, Rangers 9-20 .450 4-9 0
OF Franklin Gutierrez, Mariners 12-27 .444 0-2 2
3B/OF Chase Headley, Padres 11-25 .440 0-1 1
Prado is a repeater from the list of who was Hot during spring training. He is for real.
Encouraging for their teams are some young players who could be on the way to realizing their potential – Francoeur, Cruz, Gutierrez and Headley. Francoeur and Cruz have to prove they now are laying off bad pitches and aren’t just on a hot streak. Cruz had a couple of hits, including an opposite-field home run up in the Rangers Ballpark jet stream, on tough pitches away that he fought off.
Home runs – Cruz, Blue Jays SS Alex Gonzalez and OF Vernon Wells, and Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols 4; Braves RF Jason Heyward, Cardinals LF Matt Holliday, Phillies 1B Ryan Howard, Diamondbacks 2B Kelly Johnson and OF Chris B. Young, White Sox 1B Paul Konerko and Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia 3.
RBI – Young 11; Howard, Pujols and Marlins 1B/3B Jorge Cantu 10; Cruz 9; Cabrera, Heyward and Polanco 8; Konerko, Pedroia, Wells, Athletics 1B Daric Barton, Dodgers OF Matt Kemp and Nationals LF Josh Willingham 7.
Here are more young players who could break out – Heyward, Barton and Kemp.
Stolen bases – Athletics OF Rajai Davis and Royals OF Scott Podsednik 4; Dodgers SS Rafael Furcal and Yankees OFs Brett Gardner and Curtis Granderson 3; Gutierrez, Rays SS Jason Bartlett, Pirates SS Ronny Cedeno, Red Sox OF Jacoby Ellsbury, Tigers OF Austin Jackson, Yankees SS Derek Jeter and Phillies SS Jimmy Rollins.
Are the Yankees going to be a running team, or were their numbers merely helped by playing against the Red Sox? Will Gardner and Granderson push themselves to new heights on the bases? One week isn’t long enough to know for sure, but we’ll monitor the situation.
Runs – Holliday, Polanco, Rollins and Athletics 2B Mark Ellis 8; Davis, Pujols, Wells, Twins 1B Justin Morneau and White Sox OF Carlos Quentin 7.
Additional repeat Hot players from the spring training report are Cruz and Headley. Francoeur and Howard were on the exhibition-game Not list.
Requirements for pitchers to make these lists are 7 innings pitched for ERA and WHIP, 10 strikeouts in K:W ratio and an ERA under 4.00 for the other categories.
Hand Pitcher, Team IP W-L ERA WHIP K:W
RHP Hiroki Kuroda, Dodgers 8.0 1-0 0.00 0.75 7:1
RHP Luke Hochevar, Royals 7.2 0-0 0.00 0.78 2:1
LHP Dana Eveland, Blue Jays 7.1 1-0 0.00 0.95 2:2
LHP Jorge De La Rosa, Rockies 7.0 1-0 0.00 0.29 9:1
LHP C.J. Wilson, Rangers 7.0 0-0 0.00 1.00 9:2
RHP Livan Hernandez, Nats 7.0 1-0 0.00 1.14 1:3
RHP Roy Halladay, Phillies 16.0 2-0 0.56 0.94 17:2
RHP Matt Garza, Rays 8.0 1-0 1.13 0.75 9:2
RHP Bronson Arroyo, Reds 8.0 0-0 1.13 0.88 6:3
RHP Tim Lincecum, Giants 14.0 2-0 1.29 0.71 17:1
You probably already suspected that Halladay and Lincecum are good. De La Rosa was the star of our “Pitchers to seek” Article last season, and looks even better this year. Since we named him a “Pitcher to avoid” in 2009, Arroyo seemingly has been on a mission to prove us wrong. Beware the K:W radios for Hochevar, Eveland and Hernandez.
Also with 1.29 ERAs, but in just 7 innings pitched, were Rangers RHP Colby Lewis, Twins RHP Carl Pavano, White Sox RHP Jake Peavy and Blue Jays LHP Ricky Romero. A strategy with Romero might be to trade him at the All-Star break while his value is high, and avoid the possibility of his slumping during the season’s second half as he did last year.
Wins – Blue Jays RHP Casey Janssen 3; Halladay, Lincecum, Giants LHP Jeremy Affeldt, White Sox LHP Mark Buehrle, Pirates LHP Zach Duke and Rockies RHP Ubaldo Jimenez 2.
Saves – Twins RHP Jon Rauch 4-for-4; Nationals RHP Matt Capps 3-3; Mariners RHP David Aardsma, Padres RHP Heath Bell, Reds RHP Francisco Cordero, Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gregg, Cubs RHP Carlos Marmol, Rockies LHP Franklin Morales, Yankees RHP Mariano Rivera and Giants RHP Brian Wilson 2-2.
The word is that Capps has rediscovered the fastball that might have dwindled away while he was waiting for save opportunities with the Pirates away.
WHIP – De La Rosa 0.29; Braves RHP Tim Hudson 0.43; Lincecum and Cardinals RHP Adam Wainwright 0.71; Garza and Kuroda 0.75; Hochevar 0.78; Athletics LHP Dallas Braden and Yankees LHP C.C. Sabathia 0.85; Pavano 0.86.
K:W ratio – Lincecum 17:1; Orioles RHP Kevin Millwood 11:1; Halladay 17:2; Diamondbacks RHP Dan Haren 13:2; Braden 12:2; Blue Jays RHP Shaun Marcum 11:2; Angels RHP Jered Weaver 13:3; Jimenez 13:4; Astros RHP Roy Oswalt 11:4.
Pitchers repeating their strong spring-training performances were De La Rosa, Eveland, Affeldt, Brian Wilson and Hudson. Arroyo, Buehrle and Aardsma were on the exhibition Not list.
Not
Pos. Player, Team H-AB BA HR-RBI SB
CF Julio Borbon, Rangers 1-21 .048 0-2 0
OF Milton Bradley, Mariners 1-21 .048 1-2 0
1B Lyle Overbay, Blue Jays 2-23 .087 0-1 0
RF Hunter Pence, Astros 2-21 .095 1-2 0
2B/SS David Eckstein, Padres 2-20 .100 0-0 0
OF Melky Cabrera, Braves 3-25 .120 0-0 0
OF Juan Pierre, White Sox 3-24 .125 0-0 2
1B Mark Teixeira, Yankees 3-25 .125 0-3 0
LF Carlos Lee, Astros 3-23 .130 0-0 0
SS Alexei Ramirez, White Sox 3-23 .130 1-3 0
This week’s dis(honorable mention) goes to Brewers C Gregg Zaun 0-for-14, and Mariners C Adam Moore and Rangers C Taylor Teagarden 0-for-12. Teagarden also had seven strikeouts.
Angels 3B Brandon Wood just missed the lists, going 1-for-19, Unless he can show he’s the player who racked up huge home run totals in the minors, LA/Anaheim will have to find a replacement quickly.
Here are a couple of outfielders you should expect to see in Triple-A before long: Borbon and the Blue Jays’ Travis Snider.
W:K ratio – This one requires 10 strikeouts. Surprisingly, no major league batter reached double figures in Ks during the season’s first week. The worst ratio belonged to Padres SS Everth Cabrera at 0:9.
Caught stealing – Miguel Cabrera and Rockies OF Carlos Gonzalez 0-for-2; Indians SS Asdrubal Cabrera and Mariners RF Ichiro Suzuki 1-3.
Repeaters from the spring-training Not list are Borbon and Teagarden. Pence was on the Hot list from the exhibition games; we’re still confident that he’ll have a good year.
Hand Pitcher, Team IP W-L ERA WHIP K:W
RHP Carlos Zambrano, Cubs 8.1 1-1 11.88 1.92 10:4
RHP Vicente Padilla, Dodgers 8.2 0-1 11.42 2.08 8:4
RHP Justin Verlander, Tigers 10.0 0-0 9.00 1.50 9:4
LHP John Lannan, Nationals 8.2 1-1 8.31 2.19 2:6
RHP Jake Westbrook, Indians 9.2 0-1 7.45 2.17 8:7
RHP Yovani Gallardo, Brewers 12.0 0-2 6.75 1.33 10:4
RHP Josh Johnson, Marlins 10.0 0-1 6.30 2.00 10:7
RHP Josh Beckett, Red Sox 11.2 1-0 6.17 1.80 5:4
RHP Chris Carpenter, Cards 11.0 1-0 5.73 1.27 7:2
The pitchers eligible for this list all started twice during the week. Some of baseball’s best pitchers appear here: Verlander, Gallardo, Johnson, Beckett, Carpenter. It’s too early to panic, but keep an eye on them – especially on their K:W ratios, which could show that they no longer can blow batters away or that they might be hurt. Beckett and Gallardo could have lost some fire after signing big contracts.
Losses – Gallardo, Rangers RHP Frank Francisco, Padres RHP Jon Garland, Orioles LHP Mike Gonzalez, Cubs LHP John Grabow, Astros RHP Roy Oswalt and Angels LHP Joe Saunders 2.
Blown saves – Francisco and Red Sox RHP Daniel Bard 0-for-2; Gonzalez 1-3; Brewers RHP Trevor Hoffman 2-4.
Returning to the Not list, where they also resided from spring training, are Verlander and Gonzalez.
News and Notes
Ellsbury left Boston’s game Sunday after a collision with 3B Adrian Beltre while chasing a foul popup. Beltre’s knee hit Ellsbury’s rib cage. X rays were negative, and the left fielder is considered day to day.
I like Joe Maddon as the Rays’ manager, but he made a couple of moves Sunday that didn’t make sense to me. In the first inning, after the first two Rays had hits against Yankees RHP A.J. Burnett, No. 3 batter Ben Zobrist bunted a runner from second base to third. Maddon excused the action of giving up an out that settled down a struggling pitcher by saying that Zobrist didn’t feel comfortable against Burnett. Then why was the right fielder batting third in the lineup? If he is the next time he faces A.J., I’ll really be disappointed in Maddon. The other move came late, when Tampa Bay still was stuck on the two runs it had scored in the first inning. With switch-hitting C Jorge Posada coming to bat, the manager replaced the starter, RHP James Shields, with sidearm LHP Randy Choate. Now Choate may have retired a right-handed batter during his undistinguished career, but I don’t remember when. He threw a pitch to Posada that the catcher hit for a home run. Weren’t the odds better that Shields at least would have kept the ball in the park?
I didn’t see Mariners RHP Felix Hernandez in person, but on TV he appeared to be in good shape and not carrying extra weight. His physical conditioning seems to be the only thing that could keep King Felix from being successful. Hernandez does have a big, new contract, but we expect that his team’s lack of offense will be a bigger problem for him than a potential big head.
To give you an idea, our pitching chart for the regular season’s first week had the right pitcher on the right date in 87 per cent of the games (160 of 184). The American League record was 95 per cent (84-for-88) but the National League projections hit on 79 per cent (76-for-96). We had the right pitchers in the right number of starts closer to 95 per cent, but some teams switched the order of those starters from what we had projected. Those switches each resulted in two – and in one case three – games that weren’t matched with the right pitcher.
Minor matters
The bloodletting continued Friday in the Triple-A International League series between Columbus (Indians organization) and Indianapolis (Pirates). Indy won 14-12, with Pedro Alvarez hitting two homers to bring his total to three in two games. Clippers C Carlos Santana hit one homer, also for a total of three after he’d hit two in Columbus’ 17-4 Opening Day win over Indianapolis, so he also had three dingers in two games.
On Sunday, Reds LHP prospect Aroldis Chapman made his U.S. pro debut with eight strikeouts for Triple-A Louisville at Toledo (Tigers), and Nationals RHP prospect Stephen Strasburg gave up four runs (one earned) in five innings for Double-A Harrisburg at Altoona (Pirates).
In closing
This is a regular feature of our Emails and blog posts. It lets you know who’s getting saves. Equally important is telling you who’s blowing saves or putting his job in jeopardy by getting shaky saves. There’s also a FREE Article on the old fantasybaseballscout.com web site letting you know which pitcher or pitchers each team is using to close games. It will be updated whenever there’s a change or speculation about a change in a team’s closer.
Indians RHP Chris Perez blew a save Sunday as the Tigers scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 9-8 victory. Hoffman also blew a save by allowing the Cardinals to score three times in the top of the ninth on back-to-back two-out homers by Pujols and LF Matt Holliday. Pujols’ was a two-run shot. Hoffman became the winning pitcher when Brewers 3B/2B Casey McGehee homered in the bottom of the inning against St. Louis RHP Kyle McClellan.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
A look at some possible award winners
On Wednesday, we told you that White Sox LF Carlos Quentin is a strong candidate to be the American League Comeback Player of the Year.
A National League counterpart made his case today. Spring training reports that don’t involve new injuries are almost all rosy. That was the case with news of Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Webb’s first 45 pitches of 2010, but it isn’t difficult to envision him returning close to 20-win form.
Webb also could be an NL Cy Young Award candidate again. Two other pitchers who threw today also are likely to be contenders.
RHP Roy Halladay went from the AL’s Blue Jays to the Phillies. The biggest obstacle to his winning the award should be moving into a more hitter-friendly home park.
Marlins RHP Josh Johnson has made great leaps forward in each of the last two seasons. He threw 30 pitches, almost one for each of the 39 million dollars on his new four-year contract. His team isn’t bad, and its park doesn’t unnecessarily punish pitchers. For Johnson, the key is avoiding injuries.
Here’s how spring training is progressing. Even though not everybody has been required to report yet, there’s already talk about the opening exhibition games. Though Florida is likely to have Johnson start the regular-season opener, the Marlins will use RHP Ricky Nolasco in their first exhibition game Wednesday against the University of Miami. Other teams will open spring play Tuesday.
What they’re working on:
Some of the most important bits of information coming out of spring training are those that tell us what players are working on to improve. We’ve found that the best prospects are those who know their weaknesses and work to eliminate them.
Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa was one of the top recommendations in last year’s “Pitchers to seek and to avoid.” We recommended seeking him when his record was 0-6. De La Rosa went 16-3 over the remainder of the season. This spring he’s working on holding runners and his fielding; he made five errors in 2009.
Reds CF Drew Stubbs wants to draw more walks to allow himself to stay near the top of their lineup and become a more dangerous offensive threat. He was striking out about twice as often as he had walked at Triple-A Louisville before Cincinnati promoted him to the majors. That ratio ballooned to about 3:1 in the National League.
White Sox SS Alexei Ramirez is working with his new backup, 42-year-old Omar Vizquel, to improve his defense. Chicago is hoping Vizquel can ease Ramirez’s road to playing the position effectively the way he did for SS Elvis Andrus last year in Texas.
1B/OF Adam Dunn, expected to be a full-time first baseman this year for the Nationals, has been working on his footwork with coaches Tim Foli and Pat Listach, who were shortstops during their playing careers. Washington needs to improve a defense that led the majors with 143 errors last season. Dunn is in a contract year. Expect the usual 40 homers and a bit more from him.
Contract years:
It isn’t totally a contract year for Astros 1B Lance Berkman, but he’d have to have an incredible year to get Houston to pick up its $15-million option on his contract. Berkman will want to do well anyway to come up with what’s likely to be his last big contract.
Except for the fact that he didn’t come from another organization, RHP Jeremy Bonderman has been almost like the Tigers’ version of Carl Pavano since signing a four-year, $38-million contract. Three years and just 14 wins since, Bonderman is entering a contract year. He’s slated to begin the season as Detroit’s fourth starter, in part because he’ll have to serve a three-game suspension for throwing at Twins OF Delmon Young.
Position battle:
Cubs 2B Mike Fontenot, who lost the job by playing poorly last season, is back in the hunt at the position with 2B/3B Jeff Baker. Fontenot also could play some at shortstop, but manager Lou Piniella said that if starting SS Ryan Theriot had to miss significant time, the team would promote SS Starlin Castro from the minors. At this point, you couldn’t expect Castro to have fantasy value because he would be far from major league-ready as a hitter. But he could be a good addition to a reserve roster.
Reporting:
Most teams have had all of their players working out already. Jointing that group today will be the batters for the Mets in Florida and the Padres in Arizona.
News/notes:
Tales of Texas Rangers:
The Rangers voided SS/3B Khalil Greene’s contract before he made it to spring training, apparently because his anxiety problems have resurfaced. His absence could reopen the door for Texas to acquire 3B Mike Lowell from the Red Sox as a righthanded-hitting first baseman and DH. A trade that would have sent him and $9 million to pay most of his salary was scuttled because Lowell’s wrist wouldn’t pass a physical exam. That deal would have sent hard-hitting C/1B Max Ramirez to Boston.
Texas LF Josh Hamilton missed today’s workout because of the bruised left shoulder he suffered Wednesday. The team still isn’t sure when he’d return to action.
Rookie RHP Omar Poveda will seek a second opinion from Dr. Lewis Yocum before agreeing to undergo Tommy John surgery on his elbow.
The Rangers hope LHP Derek Holland (sprained knee) will be able to throw off a mound again this weekend.
C Jarrod Saltamacchia, who underwent shoulder surgery last year after he’d had difficulty throwing the ball back to the pitcher, reportedly has been throwing well in Arizona.
Free-agent 1B Hank Blalock, who has played his entire major league career with Texas, has received interest from the Marlins, who would use him as a left-handed batter off the bench, and the Rays.
Weighty issues:
We’ve talked about Rockies RHP Aaron Cook and Rangers LHP Matt Harrison, who have lost weight since last season, and Dodgers C Russell Martin, who had put on pounds in an effort to increase his power. Athletics OF Jack Cust lost 15 pounds during this season, but has gained it back to get back up to what he considers his playing weight: 240.
News and notes:
The Diamondbacks are negotiating multiyear contracts with 3B Mark Reynolds and RF Justin Upton to avoid some arbitration years, and could do the same with C Miguel Montero.
The Mariners have been working 2B Jose Lopez at third base and 3B Chone Figgins at second. They’re not satisfied with Lopez’s defense, specifically his range, but switching their positions still appears to be a longshot. Figgins would have higher relative value if he were eligible as a middle infielder.
The Red Sox might consider reducing the workload on RHP Manny Delcarmen, who is 10th in the majors with 181 games pitched over the last three years. That could help prevent the shoulder fatigue that reduced his fastball’s speed to low-90s mph.
Astros 1B Aaron Boone has retired.
A National League counterpart made his case today. Spring training reports that don’t involve new injuries are almost all rosy. That was the case with news of Diamondbacks RHP Brandon Webb’s first 45 pitches of 2010, but it isn’t difficult to envision him returning close to 20-win form.
Webb also could be an NL Cy Young Award candidate again. Two other pitchers who threw today also are likely to be contenders.
RHP Roy Halladay went from the AL’s Blue Jays to the Phillies. The biggest obstacle to his winning the award should be moving into a more hitter-friendly home park.
Marlins RHP Josh Johnson has made great leaps forward in each of the last two seasons. He threw 30 pitches, almost one for each of the 39 million dollars on his new four-year contract. His team isn’t bad, and its park doesn’t unnecessarily punish pitchers. For Johnson, the key is avoiding injuries.
Here’s how spring training is progressing. Even though not everybody has been required to report yet, there’s already talk about the opening exhibition games. Though Florida is likely to have Johnson start the regular-season opener, the Marlins will use RHP Ricky Nolasco in their first exhibition game Wednesday against the University of Miami. Other teams will open spring play Tuesday.
What they’re working on:
Some of the most important bits of information coming out of spring training are those that tell us what players are working on to improve. We’ve found that the best prospects are those who know their weaknesses and work to eliminate them.
Rockies LHP Jorge De La Rosa was one of the top recommendations in last year’s “Pitchers to seek and to avoid.” We recommended seeking him when his record was 0-6. De La Rosa went 16-3 over the remainder of the season. This spring he’s working on holding runners and his fielding; he made five errors in 2009.
Reds CF Drew Stubbs wants to draw more walks to allow himself to stay near the top of their lineup and become a more dangerous offensive threat. He was striking out about twice as often as he had walked at Triple-A Louisville before Cincinnati promoted him to the majors. That ratio ballooned to about 3:1 in the National League.
White Sox SS Alexei Ramirez is working with his new backup, 42-year-old Omar Vizquel, to improve his defense. Chicago is hoping Vizquel can ease Ramirez’s road to playing the position effectively the way he did for SS Elvis Andrus last year in Texas.
1B/OF Adam Dunn, expected to be a full-time first baseman this year for the Nationals, has been working on his footwork with coaches Tim Foli and Pat Listach, who were shortstops during their playing careers. Washington needs to improve a defense that led the majors with 143 errors last season. Dunn is in a contract year. Expect the usual 40 homers and a bit more from him.
Contract years:
It isn’t totally a contract year for Astros 1B Lance Berkman, but he’d have to have an incredible year to get Houston to pick up its $15-million option on his contract. Berkman will want to do well anyway to come up with what’s likely to be his last big contract.
Except for the fact that he didn’t come from another organization, RHP Jeremy Bonderman has been almost like the Tigers’ version of Carl Pavano since signing a four-year, $38-million contract. Three years and just 14 wins since, Bonderman is entering a contract year. He’s slated to begin the season as Detroit’s fourth starter, in part because he’ll have to serve a three-game suspension for throwing at Twins OF Delmon Young.
Position battle:
Cubs 2B Mike Fontenot, who lost the job by playing poorly last season, is back in the hunt at the position with 2B/3B Jeff Baker. Fontenot also could play some at shortstop, but manager Lou Piniella said that if starting SS Ryan Theriot had to miss significant time, the team would promote SS Starlin Castro from the minors. At this point, you couldn’t expect Castro to have fantasy value because he would be far from major league-ready as a hitter. But he could be a good addition to a reserve roster.
Reporting:
Most teams have had all of their players working out already. Jointing that group today will be the batters for the Mets in Florida and the Padres in Arizona.
News/notes:
Tales of Texas Rangers:
The Rangers voided SS/3B Khalil Greene’s contract before he made it to spring training, apparently because his anxiety problems have resurfaced. His absence could reopen the door for Texas to acquire 3B Mike Lowell from the Red Sox as a righthanded-hitting first baseman and DH. A trade that would have sent him and $9 million to pay most of his salary was scuttled because Lowell’s wrist wouldn’t pass a physical exam. That deal would have sent hard-hitting C/1B Max Ramirez to Boston.
Texas LF Josh Hamilton missed today’s workout because of the bruised left shoulder he suffered Wednesday. The team still isn’t sure when he’d return to action.
Rookie RHP Omar Poveda will seek a second opinion from Dr. Lewis Yocum before agreeing to undergo Tommy John surgery on his elbow.
The Rangers hope LHP Derek Holland (sprained knee) will be able to throw off a mound again this weekend.
C Jarrod Saltamacchia, who underwent shoulder surgery last year after he’d had difficulty throwing the ball back to the pitcher, reportedly has been throwing well in Arizona.
Free-agent 1B Hank Blalock, who has played his entire major league career with Texas, has received interest from the Marlins, who would use him as a left-handed batter off the bench, and the Rays.
Weighty issues:
We’ve talked about Rockies RHP Aaron Cook and Rangers LHP Matt Harrison, who have lost weight since last season, and Dodgers C Russell Martin, who had put on pounds in an effort to increase his power. Athletics OF Jack Cust lost 15 pounds during this season, but has gained it back to get back up to what he considers his playing weight: 240.
News and notes:
The Diamondbacks are negotiating multiyear contracts with 3B Mark Reynolds and RF Justin Upton to avoid some arbitration years, and could do the same with C Miguel Montero.
The Mariners have been working 2B Jose Lopez at third base and 3B Chone Figgins at second. They’re not satisfied with Lopez’s defense, specifically his range, but switching their positions still appears to be a longshot. Figgins would have higher relative value if he were eligible as a middle infielder.
The Red Sox might consider reducing the workload on RHP Manny Delcarmen, who is 10th in the majors with 181 games pitched over the last three years. That could help prevent the shoulder fatigue that reduced his fastball’s speed to low-90s mph.
Astros 1B Aaron Boone has retired.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Schedule notes, Sept. 21-27
This week's greatest advantage in games played goes to the six American League teams -- Red Sox, Tigers, Royals, Athletics, Rangers and Blue Jays -- scheduled for seven games. That's 40 per cent more than the Rays, who would play just five games. Their disadvantage means that it's not a good week for you to have Tampa Bay batters and relief pitchers in your lineup.
The National League also has six teams -- Cubs, Brewers, Phillies, Pirates, Padres and Giants -- scheduled for seven games, giving them a slight advantage over the 10 teams that would play six times.
Two teams in each league are scheduled to play seven games at home. Kansas City would host seven games (Red Sox four, Twins three) in a relatively good hitters' park. The others -- Toronto (Orioles three, Mariners four); Milwaukee (Cubs three, Phillies four), and Pittsburgh (Padres one, Reds and Dodgers three each) have home parks slightly favoring pitchers.
The best hitters' parks in use for six games this week are at Arizona (Giants and Padres), Colorado (Padres and Cardinals) and the south side of Chicago (Twins and Tigers). Parks at Washington (Dodgers and Phillies) and Cleveland (Tigers and Orioles) slightly favor hitters.
Other National League parks that would slightly favor pitchers for six games are at Florida (Phillies and Mets) and Houston (Cardinals and Reds). The Angels have a neutral park that would host the Yankees and Athletics for three games each.
Overall, those parks would indicate a slight advantage for hitters in the AL and for pitchers in the NL. However, because batters will be going against so many Triple-A and tired major league pitchers, I'd say hitters should have the edge this week in the majors.
Pitchers scheduled to start twice at home this week are RHPs Zack Greinke, Dirk Hayhurst, Josh Johnson, Yorman Bazardo, Bud Norris, Braden Looper, David Bush, Daniel McCutchen and Livan Hernandez, and LHPs John Danks, Lenny DiNardo, Joe Saunders, David Purcey, Doug Davis and Jorge De La Rosa. Because there also will be a number of Triple-A batters in lineups this week, the best major league pitchers should dominate more than usual. My highest recommendations are Greinke, Johnson, Danks, Saunders and De La Rosa. For a live longshot, try Looper. If you really need some good innings and have to gamble on a pitcher, try Hernandez. If he did well, you could gloat over your intelligence or prescience, but whatever you do, don't hold me responsible. Take all the credit if he comes through and blame somebody else if he bombs, which is a 2:1 or more proposition.
Overall, it should be a good week for pitchers. The only teams scheduled to play seven games at home are the Dodgers (against the Cardinals for three games, Cubs four), Mets (Giants one, Braves and Phillies three each) and Padres (Cubs three, Cardinals four). San Diego is one of the majors' most extreme pitchers' parks, and Dodger Stadium and Citi Field favor pitchers but to a lesser degree. There would be six games at Houston (Marlins and Diamondbacks) and Pittsburgh (Brewers and Reds) which also tend to be pitchers' parks. Note that it should be a bad week for Cubs batters in hostile pitchers' parks. Even in the American League, scheduled to play all six at games are the Athletics (Yankees and Tigers), Rays (Orioles and Rangers) and Blue Jays (Red Sox and Angels). Oakland has an extreme pitchers' park; Tampa Bay and Toronto are slightly less pitcher-friendly.
The best hitters' parks that would be in play for all six games would belong to the White Sox (Royals and Orioles in this week's most extreme hitting conditions), Indians (Angels and Mariners) and Nationals (Rockies and Brewers).
The best hitters' parks in use for all six games would be at Baltimore (Athletics and Angels) and Arizona (Mets and Dodgers).
Pitchers scheduled to start at home twice this week are RHPs Fausto Carmona, Vin Mazzaro, Tommy Hanson, Bud Norris, Charlie Haeger, Chad Billingsley, Livan Hernandez, Kevin Hart, Kevin Correia, Cesar Carrillo and Craig Stammen, and LHPs Mark Buehrle, David Price, Ricky Romero and Oliver Perez. My highest recommendations are Hanseon Romero, with other young live longsots in Hart, Carrillo and Price.
The National League also has six teams -- Cubs, Brewers, Phillies, Pirates, Padres and Giants -- scheduled for seven games, giving them a slight advantage over the 10 teams that would play six times.
Two teams in each league are scheduled to play seven games at home. Kansas City would host seven games (Red Sox four, Twins three) in a relatively good hitters' park. The others -- Toronto (Orioles three, Mariners four); Milwaukee (Cubs three, Phillies four), and Pittsburgh (Padres one, Reds and Dodgers three each) have home parks slightly favoring pitchers.
The best hitters' parks in use for six games this week are at Arizona (Giants and Padres), Colorado (Padres and Cardinals) and the south side of Chicago (Twins and Tigers). Parks at Washington (Dodgers and Phillies) and Cleveland (Tigers and Orioles) slightly favor hitters.
Other National League parks that would slightly favor pitchers for six games are at Florida (Phillies and Mets) and Houston (Cardinals and Reds). The Angels have a neutral park that would host the Yankees and Athletics for three games each.
Overall, those parks would indicate a slight advantage for hitters in the AL and for pitchers in the NL. However, because batters will be going against so many Triple-A and tired major league pitchers, I'd say hitters should have the edge this week in the majors.
Pitchers scheduled to start twice at home this week are RHPs Zack Greinke, Dirk Hayhurst, Josh Johnson, Yorman Bazardo, Bud Norris, Braden Looper, David Bush, Daniel McCutchen and Livan Hernandez, and LHPs John Danks, Lenny DiNardo, Joe Saunders, David Purcey, Doug Davis and Jorge De La Rosa. Because there also will be a number of Triple-A batters in lineups this week, the best major league pitchers should dominate more than usual. My highest recommendations are Greinke, Johnson, Danks, Saunders and De La Rosa. For a live longshot, try Looper. If you really need some good innings and have to gamble on a pitcher, try Hernandez. If he did well, you could gloat over your intelligence or prescience, but whatever you do, don't hold me responsible. Take all the credit if he comes through and blame somebody else if he bombs, which is a 2:1 or more proposition.
Overall, it should be a good week for pitchers. The only teams scheduled to play seven games at home are the Dodgers (against the Cardinals for three games, Cubs four), Mets (Giants one, Braves and Phillies three each) and Padres (Cubs three, Cardinals four). San Diego is one of the majors' most extreme pitchers' parks, and Dodger Stadium and Citi Field favor pitchers but to a lesser degree. There would be six games at Houston (Marlins and Diamondbacks) and Pittsburgh (Brewers and Reds) which also tend to be pitchers' parks. Note that it should be a bad week for Cubs batters in hostile pitchers' parks. Even in the American League, scheduled to play all six at games are the Athletics (Yankees and Tigers), Rays (Orioles and Rangers) and Blue Jays (Red Sox and Angels). Oakland has an extreme pitchers' park; Tampa Bay and Toronto are slightly less pitcher-friendly.
The best hitters' parks that would be in play for all six games would belong to the White Sox (Royals and Orioles in this week's most extreme hitting conditions), Indians (Angels and Mariners) and Nationals (Rockies and Brewers).
The best hitters' parks in use for all six games would be at Baltimore (Athletics and Angels) and Arizona (Mets and Dodgers).
Pitchers scheduled to start at home twice this week are RHPs Fausto Carmona, Vin Mazzaro, Tommy Hanson, Bud Norris, Charlie Haeger, Chad Billingsley, Livan Hernandez, Kevin Hart, Kevin Correia, Cesar Carrillo and Craig Stammen, and LHPs Mark Buehrle, David Price, Ricky Romero and Oliver Perez. My highest recommendations are Hanseon Romero, with other young live longsots in Hart, Carrillo and Price.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)