A hot topic of
fantasy baseball is always where you’ll get your saves fix. With the news of Matt Capps being shut down surfacing yesterday,
a new opening just popped up. Aside from the Pittsburgh closing situation,
there are still several precarious situations that could turn out to be great chances
for you to get some cheap saves.
- Pittsburgh:
Capps will miss a couple of months; expect Damaso
Marte to get the saves in his absence.
- Cleveland:
With Cleveland out of contention I don’t see them sticking with Joe Borowski very long. However, the
replacement list is questionable. Rafael
Betancourt usually gets the first shot, but usually fails. Rafael Perez has been pitching better
and is a possibility. But Masa Kobayashi
would probably get the first crack as he’s been pitching well and has closer
experience in Japan.
- Toronto:
B.J. Ryan has pitched well this
year, but doubts still linger about whether he’ll finish the year coming off
Tommy John Surgery. Scott Downs
would be the leading candidate to replace him and has five saves this year.
- Oakland:
If Huston Street is indeed traded,
that opens up a spot. Joey Devine
should be coming off the DL soon and has pitched great this year. He’d be first
in line.
- Colorado:
There have been the same trade rumors about Brian Fuentes leaving the Rox. Just because Manny Corpas had the job before doesn’t mean he gets it back — he’s
still been awful. Look for Taylor
Buchholz — 1.36 ERA, 0.76 WHIP — to take over.
- Tampa
Bay: The Rays will stick with Troy
Percival if he stays healthy. Otherwise it’s between Dan Wheeler (picked up last night’s save), J.P. Howell, and Grant
Balfour. They all have good numbers, but I’d bet on Wheeler because of
experience.
- Detroit:
No saves column is complete without mentioning the annual “Is this Todd Jones’ last chance?” question.
He’s once again posted bad ERA and WHIP numbers — 4.78; 1.50 — but has only
blown one save. As usual, Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney would lead the charge to replace, but I’m not
counting on it.
If you’re in
need of saves to make up some quick roto points keep an eye on the above situations.
If you act quickly enough you could grab 10-20 second half saves and gain
valuable ground.
Elsewhere...
* Grady
Sizemore went
3-for-4 with two home runs and a steal, putting him at the 20/20 mark just
half-way through the season. He started out slow in the power department — just
two HR in April — but has really picked it up.
* Jay
Bruce broke out of
his slump in a big way — 2-for-3 with two homers and four RBI. Bruce had just
one home run since June 2nd and hit .223/.274/.340 in June. As with all rookies,
he’ll continue to have his ups and downs.
* After going 4-for-5 with a homer
last night, Dustin Pedroia is now
hitting .307/.352/.457 on the year. He was lights-out in June — .356/.407/.545 —
but don’t expect the power numbers to be sustained. He never had more than
eight homers in a season in the minors and had eight in his first full MLB
season last year.
* Chris
Davis went 1-for-4
with this third home run. Since being called up last week he’s hitting
.316/.381/.842. He has good power potential but there’s still a chance he ends
up back in the minors when Hank Blalock
returns from the DL.
* Ricky
Nolasco pitched
another good game yesterday — W, 7 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 8 K, 0 BB. He’s now allowed
just eight earned runs over his last five games and has gone at least seven
innings in four of those starts. He had a 3.97 ERA in May, a 3.31 ERA in June
and his ERA on the season is now under four and his WHIP is 1.25. He’s worth a
shot if you need pitching.
* Joe
Saunders became the
AL’s first 12 game winner by allowing two earned runs in 6.1 innings yesterday.
He continues to impress with a 3.04 ERA and 1.16 WHIP, however I’m still
concerned about his low K/BB rate.
* Xavier
Nady went 3-for-5
with two home runs giving him 12 on the year. He hit only one all of June after
starting out the year hot. He missed 10 games last month due to a shoulder
injury, so he could be rounding back into form with his power stroke.
* Nick
Blackburn tossed
seven scoreless innings to pick up his sixth win, yet remains erratic. Over his
last eight games he’s had three games where he’s allowed six runs or more and
five games where he’s allowed two runs or less. He has a respectable 3.78 ERA
and 1.31 WHIP to go along with a very good K/BB rate just under 4:1. Keep him
in mind for spot-starts.
* Since taking over the closer’s job
in mid-June, Brandon Morrow is
5-for-5 in save chances. He has a 0.71 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and a 35:8 K/BB rate.
* If you own Rafael Furcal and were expecting to get him back soon, make other
plans. Furcal is going to have surgery on his back and will miss at least eight
more weeks.
* Francisco
Liriano should be
back in the majors right after the All-Star break. He threw seven scoreless
innings with nine strikeouts and one walk in his last Triple-A appearance.
* Jeff
Francis hit the DL
with a shoulder injury.
QuickTIPS
Spot-start
candidate:
Johnny Cueto
vs. Washington. Cueto has turned it on in his last three starts — 1.47 ERA,
1.16 WHIP — and is pitching against a team with an NL worst .667 OPS.
Avoid:
Javier Vazquez
at Oakland. Vazquez has a 7.71 ERA his last three starts, a 6.60 ERA in 30 IP
against the A’s, and hasn’t gone more than six innings in five starts.
QuickTIP Results
I said start:
Dustin McGowan — L, 6 IP, 6
H, 4 ER, 1 BB, 5 K
I said avoid:
Sidney Ponson — ND, 5 IP, 7 ER, 9 H, 3 BB, 1 K
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