Fantasy Baseball Tonight 4/11

If you heard a giant exhale coming through your back yard this afternoon, that was coming from the Bronx. After (one of) their million-dollar man, CC Sabathia left a mess in Baltimore, usually level headed Yankee fans (sarcasm at its finest) were ready to run him out of town.

Sabathia threw 7.2 shutout innings against the light hitting Royals, and struck out six.  Even better news for the Bombers, after walking five in his season debut, Sabathia offered no free passes on Saturday. I think it is safe to assume he’ll be all right.

Roy Halladay just never seems to get his due. Halladay continues to be one of the most consistently great pitchers in the major leagues, but is never mentioned among the Santanas, Sabathias, etc. 

He might not be quite at that level as far as fantasy is concerned, but he is at least in the conversation. Not only does he always win a good number of games, but he gets decent strikeouts and always has among the lowest walk totals in the league. 

Halladay was masterful again, allowing just one run over seven innings, striking out seven. He should win 16 games or more, and strikeout 170 or more with an ERA around 3.25.

Halladay’s opponent in that game was reigning Cy Young winner Cliff Lee. How is it going so far this year for Lee? Ah, not so good. After allowing seven runs in his first outing, Lee allowed another four runs in just five innings.

He did strike out five, but he also walked four. Lee is now 0-2 with an ERA just under 10! If you spent a high draft pick on him, you are probably sweating bullets.

Alexei Ramirez finally broke his slump to start the season. Ramirez had not recorded a hit before Saturday, but he had two hits and drove in two runs against the Twins. 

After an 0-13 in the first four games, Ramirez is now on the board, and should be able to better his breakout performance from 2008. Don’t lose faith on him after just a few days.

After Kevin Gregg blew the save last night, it was Carlos Marmol closing the door against the Brew Crew. I don’t think we should read too much into this. Gregg did throw 26 pitches in his inning of “work” the night before, so perhaps that was the reason Lou Piinella didn’t use him today.

I find it hard to believe that they named Gregg the closer only to pull him the FIRST time he blew a save.

Nick Swisher was at it again on Saturday. He homered for the second time in three days, and now has nine RBI in the last three games. I still think he will play the utility role for the Yankees, but he is certainly making a case for more playing time.

I would wait until I heard something official from the manager before I would assume that he will be a regular.

Chone Figgins is healthy and running early in the season. Figgins stole his fourth base of the season on Saturday. Now he is batting only .235 on the season, but I was in two 12 team drafts where he went undrafted.

Ok, so he has been hurt the previous two season a lot, but this guy has been among the best stolen base guys in baseball over the past five years. Check your waivers to see if he is available if you need some speed.  He should be able to swipe 40.

It seems on sports radio here in New York that the Mets are not in love with Ryan Church. They even signed Gary Sheffield just before the season started. But Church has done nothing but hit since the season opened. He had two more hits today, both doubles, giving him five two baggers on the season.

Church is now hitting .526 for the season. He was having a pretty solid season in 2008 before his concussion problems, and I think he has earned the right to play right field every day. Of course, what I think means just about nothing. Well, actually it means exactly nothing.

Keep an eye on how much Sheffield plays, Church could be a nice fifth outfielder or bench option.

He was an unlikely pick to start the season, but Skip Schumaker did win the starting 2B job for the Cardinals. At first it seemed a little crazy, but Schumaker has certainly shown that he deserved it, at least with his bat, as he has pushed his average to .412 on the young season.

He won’t bring you much speed or power (1 RBI, 1SB to this point), but at middle infield options like that are limited. He is strictly a bench option or if your league requires a MI spot. But so far, so good for the new second baseman in St. Louis.

Rays’ fifth starter Jeff Niemann gave up a five spot in the first inning today against the Orioles, and allowed six runs total over his 5.1 innings.  He struck out three and walked four.

If this is a sign of things to come, I can imagine this phone call coming soon from Tampa to their AAA affiliate in Durham. “Um, hello. Do me a favor, get David Price on the first plane to Tampa Bay...NOW!!!!!” 

It will be interesting to see how long of a leash that Niemann is on before the phenom known as David Price is summoned to the majors.  Fantasy owners across the country are hoping that it is very short.

Other Pitchers of Note

We got our first look tonight at Braves’ pitcher Kenshin Kawakami, and by the boxscore he did pretty well.  Kawakami allowed three runs (all in the first three innings) and struck out eight over his six innings of work Saturday against the Nationals. 

He did show some control issues, with four free passes, but for his first start in the States, I would say he is worth keeping an eye on for the future.

One of Johnny Cueto’s big problems last season was his control problems.  Now, why you can’t say that four earned runs over six innings is impressive, what was positive out of Cueto’s first outing of the year was he struck out nine and walked just one in those six innings. 

He is a big time sleeper this season due to the perceived improvement of the Reds, and his strikeout potential.  If he has a good next start, he could be worth adding.

Adam Wainwright didn’t too last long, but he was more than effective on Saturday versus the ‘Stros.  Wainwright threw five scoreless innings, struck out four, but he did walk three.

Wainwright did have a sparkling 3.20 ERA in 2008, and looks like he will be the lead of the Cardinals pitching staff in 2009.  If you get a chance, turn on Baseball Tonight.  They have that segment called “That’s Nasty” where they profile the sickest pitches of the night.

Wainwright’s curve ball is one of the most impressive in the entire major leagues. Just ask Carlos Beltran. Expect another solid season from Wainwright.

There isn’t much to look forward to this year in Pittsburgh, but through two starts Paul Maholm is looking like a staff ace.  In almost 14 innings pitched, Maholm has allowed only two earned runs.  He won’t get the wins or strikeouts to make himself very fantasy relevant, but at the bottom of your staff, you could do worse than Maholm.

Grand Slams

There was THREE grand slams today, all from guys that most likely SOMEONE has in your league, hopefully it was you.

You have to lead with THE MAN.  Albert Pujols took the first pitch of his at bat into Big Mac Land in St. Louis, effectively ending the game against the Astros. Pujols would go on to also hit a three run jack in this game, giving him seven RBI in the contest, all in his last two at bats.

The Royals have scored EIGHT runs in their first five games. He wasn’t a top two or three pick for nothing.

Ryan Doumit finally stayed healthy enough to be fantasy relevant last year, and he finally broke out of a mini season starting slump today.

Doumit parked the ball in the seats in the ninth inning to further blow open a game that was already probably open.  He had two more hits in the game, raising his average to .235. Barring injury, he should be a top five to seven option at the position, and today was his first step towards getting there.

Melvin Mora hit his grand slam in the first inning off of Jeff Niemann, but it was his only hit of the game. However, Mora is off to a great start in trying to repeat last year’s trip to the Fountain of Youth.

Mora now has seven RBI on the young season, and looks like he will be somewhat of a factory in 2009.

Injury News

B.J. Upton looks like he will be returning to the Rays’ lineup on Monday against the Yankees. Upton has been playing in minor league games this weekend as he returns from offseason shoulder surgery. 

If he is on your roster (and I hope he is) you will probably have to take him out of your DL slot tomorrow to have him active in time for Monday.  I would be sure I did that if I were you. 

After his playoff power surge last year, big things are expected from Bossman Junior.

There have been conflicting reports on the health of Cubs’ catcher Geovany Soto.  The majority opinion I believe is that he will try to throw on Sunday.  If he could at least be declared ready for backup duty he will avoid the disabled list. 

However, since the Cubs only have one other catcher, if he isn’t deemed ok for emergency duty the team will be forced to DL him.  His last game was Apr. 7, meaning he would be eligible to return on Apr. 22 if he is forced to the Disabled List.

The Arizona Diamondbacks (and his fantasy owners, including me) got good news from Brandon Webb’s MRI. The test showed no structural damage, his discomfort was caused by something muscular, not ligaments or tendons.

Webb is now hopeful to make his next start next Friday against the Giants. Even if he would miss that one, it appears that he dodged a bullet and won’t miss any significant time.

The Dodgers have placed starter Hideki Kuroda on the 15 day DL with an abdominal injury. It has been reported that putting him on the DL was just a precautionary move and they expect him back on April 22nd when he is eligible to come off the disabled list.

Finally, Arizona’s young phenom pitcher Max Scherzer pitched in a minor league rehab game on Thursday. Scherzer lasted 4.2 innings, allowed two runs, struck out five and walked four. He is scheduled to be taken off the disabled list and pitch for the Diamondbacks on Tuesday. 

If you drafted him, get him active for Tuesday. If he is on your waiver wire, watch to see how he pitches on Tuesday, and if it is good, snatch him right away. The kid has the chance to be a big time strikeout pitcher as well as helping you in all the other categories as well.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at [e-mail].

I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. 

To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. 

The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back!  Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries.  A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.  I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site.

They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.