Archive for Jake Westbrook

Here is the last-minute look at the two-start pitchers for Week 25. First the starters who you may be on the fence about putting into your lineup:

Gavin Floyd – Perhaps no pitcher in baseball this year has been more Jekyl and Hyde than Floyd. In his last seven starts he had back-to-back starts where he gave up 13 and 11 runs bookend three straight Quality Starts. While going either way with him seems a risky proposition, I think he should be on the bench this week with two road starts, including one in Anaheim versus Jered Weaver.

Gio Gonzalez – Home has been good to Gonzalez this season as he has an 8-3 mark with a 2.70 ERA in Oakland. He got roughed up in his last start in Kansas City but prior to that had ripped off seven straight Quality Starts. With two home games this week, get Gonzalez in your lineup.

Philip Hughes – In his last five games, Hughes is 1-3 with a 6.85 ERA. Since the All-Star break Hughes is 5-6 with a 5.37 ERA. While the 16 Wins look nice, Hughes has not been a particularly good pitcher for over two months now. Hughes does get two home starts this week but they are against the Rays and Red Sox. The Yankees have scored a ton of runs for Hughes this season, an average of 6.79, so the possibility for a Win is certainly there. But the rest of the numbers could be very ugly. Unless you are desperate for Wins, give Hughes a seat on the bench.

Mike Pelfrey – Hughes and Pelfrey have been linked quite often this season as young pitchers with big win totals for the two New York clubs. While Hughes has benefitted from great run support, Pelfrey has received a big boost from his home park. In Citi Field this year he is 10-3 with a 2.87 ERA. But in road games Pelfrey is 5-6 with a 5.30 ERA. This week he has road games in Florida and Philadelphia so give him a spot on the bench.

Jake Westbrook – In nine games since joining the Cardinals Westbrook has just a 2-3 record. But he has hurled a Quality Start in eight of those nine games and in his last outing threw eight shutout innings. This week he squares off against Pittsburgh and Chicago, two teams that are a combined 60 games below .500 on the year. Owned in just over half of CBS Sports leagues, Westbrook is a potential waiver wire option in your league. Pick him up if he is available and start him if he is already on your roster.

Other scheduled two-start pitchers in Week 25 are listed below. Please remember that these are projected pitchers and changes can and will happen during the week.

Weaver, Carpenter, Hamels, Cain, Greinke, Garza, Billingsley, Cahill, Jurrjens, de la Rosa, Shields, Happ, Lewis, Richard, Matsuzaka, Carmona, L. Hernandez, Norris, Porcello, Bailey, Saunders, Holland, Nova, Volstad, Capuano, Bush, Maholm, J. Gomez, Chen, French, Mendez.

Now I want to provide some accountability and check in and see how previous recommendations turned out. There needs to be a two-week lag, since last week’s pitchers have not completed their second start yet. So here are Week 23 pitchers and how they fared.

B. Anderson – Advised to start. 2 W, 1.84 ERA, 9 Ks, 1.023 WHIP (2 starts)
Gallardo – Advised to sit. W, 1.29 ERA, 10 Ks, 0.929 WHIP (2)
Jackson – Advised to start. 7.30 ERA, 9 Ks, 1.946 WHIP (2)
W. Rodriguez – Advised to start. 4.50 ERA, 16 Ks, 1.214 WHIP (2)
Vargas – Advised to sit. 4.77 ERA, 6 Ks, 1.500 WHIP (2)

After the post-deadline frenzy, here are some possible names on our wire that might help. We’ll try to hit one player each for leagues of differing depths to maximize our utility here.

Ryan Ludwick, Padres (67% owned)
Ludwick left the Cardinals and suddenly hit waiver wires for no good reason. I’m guessing it’s being blamed on the change in parks and lineups, but neither of those is a strong enough reason to leave a good platoon bat on the waiver wire. For one, the Cardinals have only scored 19 runs more than the Padres this year – surprising, no? Another surprising fact is that the park factor for righties in Petco is not as terrible as you might think. Though it’s a nasty 59 for left-handers, righties still manage a 92 park factor for home runs in the park. Guess what the park factor in St. Louis was for right-handed batters. Yeah, 73. So Ludwick may get a boost in home run production, might have a couple fewer ducks on the pond – this doesn’t sound like an epitaph because it isn’t one. ZiPs RoS calls for his OPS to surge from a decent .827 to a much nicer .914, and I believe it. I’ll take Ludwick as my final outfielder, thank you very much.

Jake Westbrook, Cardinals (7% owned)
Instead of trying to give sand to Dave Duncan and asking for a sandwich, it seems the team has finally given him something nice to work with. Westbrook fits right inside Duncan’s wheelhouse as a groundballer (58.9% career) that relies on control (2.79 BB/9 career) and has a mediocre strikeout rate (4.96 K/9 career). He even is using his cutter a lot this year (12.9%)! Maybe getting rid of Ludwick to acquire Westbrook didn’t make a lot of sense, but this pitcher, in this park, with this pitching coach – that makes a lot of sense. It’s not magic, it’s just a good marriage. He’ll get a few more wins with that offense behind him, and he’ll probably pitch close to his lifetime xFIP (4.02) given the fact that the number was accrued in the more difficult league.

Kila Ka’aihue, Royals (1% owned)
It must be August if we’re touting a player that hasn’t started since he was called up, doesn’t have the backing of his organization, and grounded into a game-ending double play in his only major league at-bat of the past three months. Huzzah. The thing is, Ka’aihue has some skills – and an apostrophe – that argue in his favor. A 16% walk rate in the minor leagues is actually an elite skill, even. The power is suspect – he had a career .194 ISO in the minors which isn’t what you’d expect from your first baseman – and there’s the rub when it comes to the lack of at-bats, belief from the home club, and fantasy ownership. But this is a team that doesn’t currently have a left-fielder listed on their depth chart and is running Jose Guillen out there every day at designated hitter. Perhaps they can find room for a guy that will get on base, put up a decent batting average, and maybe run into a few homers along the way. It’s not like Gregor Blanco will do any better despite his .300 batting average.

Ownership numbers provided by Yahoo Fantasy Baseball.

Everyone is happy when one of their pitchers is scheduled for two starts in a week. But that is not always a good thing. Here are five pitchers you may be on the fence about (or should be on the fence) putting into your lineup for Week Six.

Right now only 23 pitchers are scheduled for two starts in the upcoming week. Of those, 12 are currently starting in less than 10 percent of leagues while five are active in 70 percent or more. So, there are slim pickings in the middle class, or where I usually try to focus on for this column.

Aaron Cook – He has allowed five runs in four of his last six starts, including his last outing at Petco. Cook gets two home starts this week, where he has actually fared much better this year. But he opens up against Roy Halladay. If that was not bad enough, Cook is 1-5 lifetime against the Phillies. His second start is against the surging Scott Olsen. It all adds up to a pitcher to reserve for this week.

Wade LeBlanc – You will not find many pitchers with a .353 BABIP and a 1.16 ERA after four games, but that is exactly what LeBlanc has managed to do so far this season. He achieves that thanks to the one-two combination of zero home runs allowed and a 90.3 LOB%. After opening with three of his first four games in the friendly confines of Petco, LeBlanc hits the road to face the red-hot Barry Zito in his first start. He is back home against the Dodgers in his second game, but LeBlanc is 1-2 with a 6.27 ERA in his brief career against Los Angeles. Put him on the bench if you have other options this week.

John Maine – Since I selected him as a “Hunch” 10 days ago, Maine has gone 1-0 with 15 Ks and 5 BB in his last 12 IP after a brutal start to his season. He still has not recovered the lost velocity on his fastball, but he proved he could pitch effectively without it. In his last game, Maine threw fastballs on 92 of his 102 pitches, averaged 89.19 with his heater, allowed just 1 ER in 6 IP and lost a win when the bullpen blew a two-run lead. Maine has favorable matchups this week so make sure he is in your starting lineup.

Scott Olsen – Everyone knows about the no-hitter he carried into the eighth inning in his last start, but that was the third straight solid outing in a row for Olsen, who is pitching like he is ticked off that he started the season in the minors. He is 2-0 with 5 BB and 20 Ks in his last 20.1 IP. Olsen faces an uphill task with two road starts this week but ride the hot streak and make sure he is in your lineup. His best pitch is his slider and Olsen faces the Mets and Rockies this week, two teams that are below-average against that pitch.

Jake Westbrook – Available on the waiver wire in most leagues, Westbrook is on there for a reason as he has not delivered good results this year, with an 0-2 record and a 5.74 ERA. But there are some encouraging signs for the veteran. His 6.03 K/9 is his highest since 2001 and he still gets a ton of ground balls. Westbrook is being hurt now by the gopher ball, as he carries an 18.2 HR/FB ratio. He squares off against the Royals and Orioles this week, two teams in the middle of the pack in HR hit, and who have combined for a 19-39 record. If you are looking for a pitcher to stream this week for his two starts, Westbrook has a good shot to pick up a win and hopefully not hut too bad in the other categories.

Other scheduled two-start pitchers in Week Six are listed below. Please remember that these are projected pitchers and changes can and will happen between now and next week.

Garza, Hanson, Lee, Zito, Billingsley, Lilly, Vazquez, Arroyos, Robertson, Willis, Cahill, R. Lopez, D. Davis, Kendrick, Atilano, Ohlendorf, D. Hernandez, G. Smtih.

Check back Sunday night for an update of two-start pitchers.

Now I want to provide some accountability and check in and see how previous recommendations turned out. There needs to be a two-week lag, since last week’s pitchers have not completed their second start yet. So here are Week Four pitchers and how they fared.

Buehrle – Advised to sit. 5 Ks, 6.94 ERA, 1.629 WHIP (2 starts)
Davis – Advised to start. 2 W, 9 Ks, 3.00 ERA, 1.25 WHIP (2)
Duke – Advised to sit. 9 Ks, 10.80 ERA, 2.400 WHIP (2)
Lowe – Advised to sit. W, 7 Ks, 5.06 ERA, 1.313 WHIP (2)
Wolf – Advised to start. 9 Ks, 4.15 ERA, 1.769 WHIP (2)