Recent Promotions: Cashner & Tillman

We already discussed Buster Posey’s arrival over the weekend, but here’s two more recent call ups that could help your team…

Andrew Cashner | Cubs | RP

The Cubs’ first round pick in 2008 made quick work of the minor leagues this year, posting a 59/15 K/BB ratio in 57 IP as a starter (~2.15 FIP) between Double- and Triple-A. The big league team needed some righthanded relief help with Carlos Zambrano moving back into the rotation, so for the second time this year the Cubbies called on their top minor league prospect to fill a hole. Cashner debuted yesterday, getting Ronny Cedeno to pop up to short on just one pitch (a 95 mph fastball inside) with two men on and two outs in the 8th inning with Chicago trailing by one. It was about as spectacular as a one-pitch big league debut could be.

Now Cashner’s not going unseat Carlos Marmol as closer as long as the latter continues to strike out basically half the men he faces, but he could quickly push his way into some 7th and 8th inning setup work. Close to a strikeout per inning with a sub-4.00 ERA is likely, so if your league counts holds, here’s a new candidate to consider.

Chris Tillman | Orioles | SP

If you’re going to pick up an Orioles’ starter, you have to go in expecting very little help in the win column. Kevin Millwood is having his best season in about four years (4.00 xFIP, 3.41 K/BB), but he’s got an 0-5 record to show for it. Tillman and Brian Matusz are the future of Baltimore’s rotation, but right now they’re just 6th or 7th starters on a fantasy roster. ZiPS RoS projection for Tillman isn’t good – 5.13 ERA, 4.67 FIP – but I think he can best those numbers. Maybe I’m just a blind optimist, but I think he can keep his walks around 3.5 BB/9 and his strikeouts around 7.5-8.0 K/9 (both in line with his career Triple-A performance), which should put his ERA in the low-to-mid 4.00’s assuming a somewhat normal homerun rate.

The AL East is an unforgiving place, especially when you play for a generally awful team, so Tillman only has value in deep mixed or AL-only leagues. His next two starts come at home against the Red Sox and Yankees, but after that he lines up for dates in San Francisco, in San Diego, at home against the Nats, and at home against the A’s. Not a bad stretch of matchups, so there’s a little bit of value to be had this month.