Let’s first start with results:

Week 1: 1-3, 30 IP, 3.00 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 2.3 K/BB, 1.13 WHIP (Kevin Slowey, Ubaldo Jimenez, Joe Saunders)
Week 2: 2-3, 25.1 IP, 5.69 ERA, 6.8 K/9, 2.4 K/BB, 1.74 WHIP (Joe Blanton, James McDonald, Eric Stults)
Week 3: 1-2, 32 IP, 3.66 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 3.1 K/BB, 1.22 WHIP (Wade Davis, Carlos Villanueva, Patrick Corbin)
Week 4: 2-1, 22 IP, 6.14 ERA, 7.8 K/9, 2.1 K/BB, 1.95 WHIP (Julio Teheran, Jason Hammel, Garrett Richards)
Week 5*: 1-1, 18.1 IP, 2.45 ERA, 4.9 K/9, 1.4 K/BB, 1.09 WHIP (Scott Diamond, Nick Tepesch, Andrew Cashner)

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Total: 7-10, 127.2 IP, 4.16 ERA, 6.6 K/9, 2.3 K/BB, 1.41 WHIP

Last week got pretty ugly, though the strikeouts were certainly a welcome addition in light of what this crew has accomplished so far this week.  Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s first start with results:

Week 1: 1-3, 30 IP, 3.00 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 2.3 K/BB, 1.13 WHIP (Kevin Slowey, Ubaldo Jimenez, Joe Saunders)
Week 2: 2-3, 25.1 IP, 5.69 ERA, 6.8 K/9, 2.4 K/BB, 1.74 WHIP (Joe Blanton, James McDonald, Eric Stults)
Week 3: 1-2, 32 IP, 3.66 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 3.1 K/BB, 1.22 WHIP (Wade Davis, Carlos Villanueva, Patrick Corbin)
Week 4*: 1-1, 16 IP, 6.19 ERA, 7.9 K/9, 2.3 K/BB, 1.94 WHIP (Julio Teheran, Jason Hammel, Garrett Richards)

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Total: 5-9, 103.1 IP, 4.36 ERA, 6.9 K/9, 2.5 K/BB, 1.43 WHIP

A blowup game from Richards kept a couple of 3.00 ERAs in the dark so far this week, and the WHIPs have all been terribly ugly this week. In fact, Richards presently holds the lowest WHIP for this week of the trio with a 1.76. Yikes. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s first start with results:

Week 1: 1-3, 30 IP, 3.00 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 2.3 K/BB, 1.13 WHIP (Kevin Slowey, Ubaldo Jimenez, Joe Saunders)
Week 2: 2-3, 25.1 IP, 5.69 ERA, 6.8 K/9, 2.4 K/BB, 1.74 WHIP (Joe Blanton, James McDonald, Eric Stults)
Week 3 (incomplete): 0-1, 19.1 IP, 3.26 ERA, 7.0 K/9, 2.5 K/BB, 1.19 WHIP (Wade Davis, Carlos Villanueva, Patrick Corbin)
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Total: 3-7, 74.2 IP, 3.98 ERA, 6.3 K/9, 2.4 K/BB, 1.35 WHIP

In the words of the NBA Jam announcer, “He’s heating up!” But in all honesty, this week has been a lot better in a lot of ways, most notably in strikeouts and limiting baserunners. Now to just get some wins going here. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s first start with results:

Week 1: 1-3, 30 IP, 3.00 ERA, 5.4 K/9, 2.4 BB/9 (Kevin Slowey, Ubaldo Jimenez, Joe Saunders)
Week 2 (incomplete): 1-2, 12.1 IP, 7.30 ERA, 5.8 K/9, 2.0 K/BB (Joe Blanton, James McDonald, Eric Stults)
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Total: 2-5, 42.1 IP, 4.25 ERA, 5.5 K/9, 2.2 K/BB

Based on a personal preference due to time I am allotted, I will not update previous week’s results until the next week, so each week will result in a half-week listed as ‘incomplete’, because most of these guys will start tomorrow or the next day. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Last week was pretty disappointing, but could have been worse. James McDonald was absolutely bombed in his outing, but only three of the runs were earned. And that’ll happen in short weeks. Oh well.

I’m confident this week will be better, because these are three really good pitchers rather than trying to make matchups work. Thanks universe! A special thank to Twitter pal @eblack35 for his help pulling Yahoo! ownership numbers this week. Read the rest of this entry »

As promised, here’s a running tabulation of the results we’ve seen so far this season with my recommendations:

1-2 record
4.71 ERA
1.30 WHIP
6.3 K/9
3.0 K/BB

We still have two more starts to go — one apiece from Kevin Slowey and Joe Saunders — while Ubaldo Jimenez has been pushed back due to a rainout. That’s probably for the best, as Jimenez allowed seven of the nine earned runs that go into that less-than-ideal 4.71 ERA. Read the rest of this entry »

Today marks the return of the two-start starter pieces. With the help of Joe Tarring this week, I’ve tried to get some very low usage pitchers for you to consider for this go-round. This year, I’m going to make a concerted effort to track the stats of the pitchers I choose, so you know whether to go with my advice, or run in the other direction.

Also: I fully understand that rotations are subject to change. I pull my data on Friday mornings from ESPN.com’s ‘probables’, so with this in mind please realize I look at Monday starters (guaranteed 2x considering five-man rotation and one or fewer off days the rest of the week) as well as Tuesday’s (if no off day later in the week). Lots of things can change over the weekend, but we’re just trying to be preemptive here.

This week will also be necessarily brief. We don’t have much of a statistical basis here yet for this season, and a lot of teams are drastically different than last year. It would be disingenuous for me to suggest otherwise. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ll be honest with you friends: I don’t love my bold predictions as much as I did last year. But I did spend a lot of time researching them so I think I have at least a somewhat decent statistical backing to what I see here.

And similarly, these aren’t bets I’d take with the money straight up. If I were in Las Vegas — perish the thought — I’d take these bets if I got pretty good odds. In spots where I don’t really have a strong fantasy angle — ROTOgraphs, after all — I’ll try throw in a little somethin’ somethin’ that I might see which could help. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s that great time of year again: Scoresheet draft review! And while I won’t make my last pick until Sunday at 15:51:46 — love that military time — that means I only have three more roster spots to fill after this is published.

After reading, you’ll know where I’ll be attacking to fill those last three spots.

So for those unaware, Scoresheet is in essence a baseball simulation fantasy league. It’s based on real-life stats. For instance, last season I thought Carl Pavano might be a good back-end rotation guy. Well, he missed almost the entire season, and my Triple-A replacement — whom shall remain nameless because the game dictates so — went something like 7-35. So while my team went 76-86 if I’m recalling correctly, I’d have done a lot better than Pavano and Felipe Paulino taking up 40% of my rotation. Read the rest of this entry »

“Through early morning fog I see,
Visions of the things to be,
The pains that are withheld for me,
I realize and I can see,

That suicide is painless,
It brings on many changes,
and I can take or leave it if I please”

-M*A*S*H Theme

While I’m not advocating or equating the aforementioned lyrics, it’s become pretty obvious that this will be a M*A*S*H unit which Mike Redmond will preside over. Three of the most ‘established’ players on whom Redmond would have liked to lean upon — relatively speaking — are either injured or questionable to start the season.

Read the rest of this entry »

A preliminary apology is in order for the muddled depth chart. No, not necessarily from me, but just in general. I offer my sincerest apologies if you derive nothing out of this depth chart discussion, but this is just how I see it.

The Twins infield — much like the rest of the team — is a bit of a messy situation. Read the rest of this entry »