What a Relief

Closing pitchers are sometimes overlooked in fantasy baseball. Many times, you can find a relief pitcher or two in the top ten pitchers at the end of the year, especially if your league allows that player to be categorized as a relief pitcher even though the majority of his playing time was due to starting games.

Don’t count out the Chicago White Sox just yet. The Southsiders are having a nice June, and Bobby Jenks is collecting the saves. He isn’t nervous; he just sweats…a lot. Imagine if he actually had to run. Anyway, the man that was once Hank Hill’s son is getting the job done and is well worth your consideration and attention.

The Texas Rangers’ starting pitcher, Colby Lewis, is racking up fantasy points with strikeouts and wins. In most leagues, he is listed as a relief pitcher, which is great if your league dictates a minimum of at least one relief pitcher. He will continue to rack up the points as a starter if he continues to pitch the way he has for the first half of this season. The 31-year-old has a record of 7-4 with an ERA of 3.08 and has 90 strikeouts in 93.2 innings, which is good enough for top-five closers in many leagues.

Billy Wagner has had an impressive season so far. The Atlanta Braves’ closer is coming back from Tommy John surgery and has played like the old Billy Wags. He has been a key part of the Braves’ resurgence and is at the back end of a solid bullpen. With 14 saves, five wins and 43Ks, Wagner is a great option.

Two of the past top closers are having decent seasons but are not racking up the points that fantasy owners predicted they would when they were drafted. The Yankees’ Mariano Rivera and the Red Sox’s Jonathon Papelbon are barely cracking the top-15 points-getters for closers.

Turn the Page

Sometimes it just takes a quick flip of the wrist to turn the calendar and start over. Let’s take a look at some of the best hitter and pitchers from June of 2009 to possibly get an idea of what to expect this June.

Some of last year’s top hitters were the usual suspects. Albert Pujols, Ichiro Suzuki, Hanley Ramirez, David Wright and Prince Fielder were some of the top points-getters in fantasy baseball last June. Those guys are, of course, all on teams in your league. Let’s go a little deeper and find some players that might be still swimming in your free agent pool.

Scott Rolen, then of the Blue Jays and now of the Reds, had a great June of ’09 posting a .384 average with two homers and 11 RBI. Adam LaRoche, who was in Pittsburgh at the time, hit .344 with four home runs and 15 RBI (which is more shocking considering the Pirates were probably mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by June 1). Those numbers were all nice, but check out what the Angels’ Juan Rivera did last year. Rivera hit a decent .290 but hit eight homers while driving in 24 in the process.

A few quality starting pitchers had a very nice June last year. The Rockies’ Aaron Cook went 5-1 with a 2.36 ERA. Scott Baker, of the Twins, went a perfect 4-0 with a 3.20 ERA. Kevin Millwood, then of the Rangers, went 4-1 while recording a tiny 1.30 ERA. The Giants’ Barry Zito went 3-1 but had a high ERA of 5.81 and the Yankees’ Andy Pettitte was 2-2 with a 5.06 ERA. No doubt that Zito and Pettitte benefited from high powered offenses last year.

There, of course, isn’t a guarantee behind last year’s numbers that they will be duplicated; however, it is something fun to watch over the next few weeks.

Straight Outta Left Field

The fun fact of the week

Major League Baseball’s all-time caught stealing leader is Ricky Henderson with 335. Ricky was caught 42 times, the most in his career, in 1982. He did, however, make it up with stealing a ridiculous 130 bags that same season.

Surprises of the Season

Per the norm, the fantasy baseball season has brought us some surprises, both invited and not. Let’s take a look at a few of the big surprises that have affected your season thus far.

Pitchers

With the off-season trading of their ace starter, Roy Halladay, few predicted the Toronto Blue Jays to contend in the tough A.L. East. Not only have the Jays had a nice start to their 2010 season, they have looked pretty darn good at times. Sure, the offense has certainly helped lead the Majors with 88 homeruns (through May 30). In fact, the closest team to the Jays is the Red Sox with 69 bombs. But two stars have begun to shine through the rest in Toronto, and they are doing their best Roy Halladay impressions. Shaun Marcum and Ricky Romero have quietly put together stellar starts. Marcum, who missed all of the 209 season due to ligament replacement surgery on his throwing arm, is 5-1 with a 2.59 ERA and has not lost since April 16. Romero is 5-2 with a 3.14 ERA and has struck out 79 batters in 73.3 innings. So when you take a glance at the top ten starting pitchers in your league, don’t be surprised to see these two Jays near the top for the rest of the season.
Another somewhat surprise is the Colorado Rockies’ starter Ubaldo Jimenez. No one questioned his talents coming into the season, especially after winning 15 games last season and striking out 198, but no one predicted just what he is doing this year. Jimenez should be carrying a towel with him to the mound because he is downright filthy. Jimenez is 10-1 with a .78, yes, .78, ERA. Jimenez is looking like the stud starter that you lock in with Halladay and Tim Lincicum from the N.L. this year.

Hitters

Remember that promise when you were a kid that if you did something right, you would get a great surprise? You tried as hard as you could to achieve the goal that was set, and, upon completion, you found the surprise turned out to be nothing more than a pair of red-striped tube socks? What a let-down. Well, that pair of red-striped tube socks this year is the Houston Astros’ Carlos Lee. The normally penciled-in points collector is hitting just .205 this season with only five homers thus far. Not the production you expect from a top-four rounds draft pick.
Another disappointment, or perhaps Lee’s sock mate, is the Phillies’ Raul Ibanez. Compared to Lee, Ibanez is hitting a robust .245, but only has three homers in nearly two months of play. Ibanez will need to really pick it up if he wants to come close to last year’s 34 homers and 93 RBI.
These two outfielders have been producing for years, but time may be starting to set in. Continue to monitor Lee and Ibanez for a couple more weeks and if they haven’t picked it up, give them both the boot.

Clipped Wings

Although the baseball season is just barely a month old, quite a few Fantasy points-producing pitchers have already hit a roadblock, ended up on the DL and have cost you points.

The Minnesota Twins were dealt a few huge lost in spring training when shut-down closer Joe Nathan had Tommy John surgery and consequently had his 2010 season come to an end before it began. Nathan registered 47 saves last year, which was second most in the American League. Look to Jon Rauch as a replacement on your Fantasy squad to take Nathan’s place.

Brandon Webb, of the Arizona Diamondbacks only pitched four innings last season before shutting it down with shoulder surgery. The 2008 season was a very good year for Webb and the D-backs. Webb went 22-7 with an ERA of 3.30, making him a top point getter in Fantasy. Webb isn’t due back to the lineup until at least early June, but could be longer. If you have space to stash him away in a keeper league, do so. He has the potential to be a top starting pitcher when he comes back. In Webb’s absence, Dan Haren continues to a must-start.

The Colorado Rockies’ Jorge De La Rosa turned it on in the second half of the 2009 season going 10-2 with an ERA of 3.36 after the All-Star break with a strikeout total of 94 batters in 84 1/3 innings of work. Those impressive numbers continued this season as the Mexican hurler posted a 3-1 record with 26 strikeouts before he suffered a finger injury on his pitching hand and is now out until at least early June. This is a big blow to owners due to De La Rosa’s strikeout ability. To help fill his place, the Rockies brought up Jhoulys Chacin in the rotation. Chacin, in his first of the year, pitched a lights-out seven innings while striking out seven and picking up the win against a very good San Francisco Giants offense. Keep your eye in Chacin as he could be a solid keeper.