Archive for Kevin Correia

We’re hitting the final stretch of the 2009 season and most fantasy baseball leagues are entering, or have entered, playoff mode. There are 10 games on tap for this evening. Let’s dive into some links before the action begins…

Fantasy Baseball Junkie has a look at the most balanced statistical producers in this year’s fantasy baseball class — hitters and pitchers who covered a range of categories and still posted high all-around numbers. Torii Hunter, Justin Upton, Matt Kemp, Hunter Pence, and Albert Pujols top the list of batters, while Josh Johnson, Matt Cain, Roy Halladay, Felix Hernandez, and Johan Santana covered a wide range of statistics as fantasy pitchers.

Jeremy Kempter of SB Nation’s FakeTeams profiles the Rays’ Jeremy Hellickson for keeper league purposes. The 22-year-old right-hander posted a 9-2 record, 2.45 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, .178 BAA, and collected 132 strikeouts in 114 innings this season at Triple-A Durham. “And this isn’t a one-year fluke,” writes Kempter. “In five minor league seasons, he’s got a 37-13 mark, 2.71 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 507 K’s and 100 BB’s in 461 innings.”

Derek Ambrosino of The Hardball Times reviews Yahoo’s 2009 preseason Top 100. His conclusion? “The pre-ranks are not particularly accurate. Overall, only 51 of its projected top 100 actually finished in the top 100. ” It’s often better to go with your gut, trust your research, and work the waiver wire with ferocity than it is to trust the rankings of these huge fantasy services.

Baseball Prospectus’ Geoff Young analyzes Raul Ibanez’s career first- and second-half offensive splits, and then compares them to this season. “He played over his head for 50 games and then regressed to the [old] Ibanez,” Young concludes. “It happens. Just because he was one of the best hitters in baseball for a third of the season doesn’t mean he’s one of the best hitters in baseball, period.”

The fellas over at Razball have a few Monday observations, including praise for Padres starter Kevin Correia, who threw seven shutout innings on Sunday afternoon. The 29-year-old right-hander isn’t big on strikeouts, but has a 4.08 ERA and a win-loss record above .500 on a bad San Diego team.

Have a link, question or comment you’re dying to get off your chest? Send it over to me in an e-mail or find me on Twitter.

Here is the latest update to Week 24 two-start pitchers. Again this list is subject to change going forward.

Pitchers not listed on last update

ANA – Lackey
COL – Jimenez
TEX – Feldman
NYY – Chamberlain
SD – Correia
BOS – Matsuzaka
WSX – Garcia
KAN – Tejada

Pitchers no longer scheduled for two starts

TAM – Niemann
STL – Smoltz
PIT – Duke
TEX – McCarthy
NYY – Gaudin
BOS – Byrd
NYM – Parnell
WSX – Torres
SD – LeBlanc
KAN – Chen

Lackey has gone 2-0 with a 0.35 ERA in his last three games. In that span he has 3 BB, 17 SO and 0 HR in 26 IP. He has road starts at Boston and at Texas. Lifetime, Lackey has ERAs above 6.00 in both places. In 15 games in Arlington his ERA is 6.12 while it is 6.34 in eight starts in Fenway.

Jimenez has a tweaked groin, which pushed back his scheduled start last Saturday to Monday. Prior to the injury, Jimenez has been on fire. In his last 11 games, all Quality Starts, he is 9-2 with a 2.60 ERA.

Feldman has won seven consecutive decisions. He is 16-4 overall and leads the American League in W. Feldman has two home starts this week, but he has been a better pitcher this year on the road. He is 4-3 with a 4.56 ERA at home, nearly two runs higher than his road ERA.

Chamberlain was cruising along with an 8-2 record before the latest version of the “Joba Rules” were unfurled. In his last six games, Chamberlain is 0-3 with a 7.88 ERA. He has pitched exactly three innings in each of his last three starts, which kills his chances to pick up any more wins.

Correia has won three of his last four decisions. In his last nine games, he is 4-2 with a 3.20 ERA with 3 HR allowed in 56.1 IP. Correia has a game both at home and on the road this week. In Petco Park, Correia has a .256 BABIP and a 3.68 ERA. On the road those numbers are .357 and 5.09, respectively.

Matsuzaka, who has been out since June 19th with a strained shoulder, is slated to be activated and start Tuesday. When healthy and active in the majors this season, Matsuzaka found things a lot tougher than he had in 2008. But few people expected him to repeat his 80.6 percent strand rate from last season.

Garcia was knocked around in his first start this season but has hurled Quality Starts in four straight outings since then, including two against the Red Sox and one against the Yankees. This week brings a road start in Seattle and a home game against the Royals.

Tejada has moved into the rotation for his last two games and has not allowed a run in 11.1 IP. He also has 14 strikeouts in that span. Tejada still has issues with command (5.74 BB/9) but a double-digit SO/9 rate will always get a fantasy player’s attention.

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 11.

Kevin Correia – Coming off back-to-back wins, Correia gets two home starts in Petco this week. And he also squares off against Seattle and Oakland, two below-average run scoring teams, with Seattle being last in the AL with a 3.77 runs per game average. Correia is owned in only seven percent of CBS Sports leagues and could be a nice pickup for his two starts this week.

Gil Meche – Slowed part of the season by a sore back, Meche has turned in three straight solid outings, in which he has 20 strikeouts in 20 IP with a 1.35 ERA in that span. However, he is just 1-0 in those three games, indicative of the poor run support he has received in 2009. The Royals have scored two runs or fewer in six of his 13 starts this year. Make Meche active for his two home starts this week.

Wandy Rodriguez – After starting the season 5-2 with a 1.83 ERA, Rodriguez has allowed 19 runs in his last 20.2 IP. His ERA now stands at 2.82 and only six unearned runs in that stretch kept it from being even worse. His road ERA is 3.74, over 1.5 runs higher than his home mark, and he has starts this week at Texas and at Minnesota. Pull him from your lineup this week.

Tim Wakefield – He has a great record this year despite some uneven pitching. But he is coming off back-to-back Quality Starts and he has two home starts in Interleague matchups scheduled this week. Since 2006, Wakefield is 6-2 in Interleague play. Make sure he is active this week.

Barry Zito – After some tough luck earlier in the season, Zito has picked up two consecutive wins despite not pitching all that well. He has two home starts this week and Zito gets the nod to start due to his big home/road split in 2009. This year he has a 2.70 ERA with a 2.44 K/BB ratio at home compared to a 5.26 ERA and a 1.25 K/BB ratio in road games.

Other scheduled two-start pitchers in Week 11 are listed below. Please remember that these are projected pitchers and changes can and will happen between now and next week.

Verlander, F. Hernandez, Hamels, Wainwright, Zambrano, Jurrjens, Harang, Lackey, Kershaw, Liriano, Danks, Volstad, Pavano, Pelfrey, Braden, Wang, D. Davis, Bush, Niemann, Guthrie, De La Rosa, Martis, Morton, Mathis.

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

Now, I would like to take a step back and provide some accountability for previous picks. There needs to be a two-week time lag because last week’s pitchers have yet to complete their second start. So here are my selections for Week 9 and how they did.

Arroyo – Advised to start. 7 K, 4.38 ERA, 1.30 WHIP (2 starts)
Blanton – Advised to start. W, 10 K, 2.77 ERA, 1.00 WHIP (2)
Burnett – Advised to sit. W, 8 K, 3.86 ERA, 1.29 WHIP (1)
Duke – Advised to sit. W, 0 K, 1.29 ERA, 1.29 WHIP (1)
Washburn – Advised to start. 9 K, 1.38 ERA, 1.15 WHIP (2)