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Cubs Wade Miller likely locked a rotation spot on Saturday night when he tossed 5 innings of 3 hit ball. As we've discussed, Miller isn't the same pitcher who won 16 in 2001, his fastball is topping out in the mid 80s. Not a recommended pitcher unless you're in an extremely deep league that can make benefit of a mid 4 ERA.
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Atlanta's Tim Hudson has been remarkably sharp this spring. Since the second week of March, Hudson has only allowed 19 baserunners, and 4 runs in 16 innings. Hudson was extremely inconsistent last year, which placed him in the 37 percentile among his peers in Quality Starts. We're expecting a bounce back from Hudson this year.
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Padres Jake Peavy turned in another strong performance on Saturday. Peavy has only allowed 10 hits and 3 runs in his last 15+ innings. He's going in the 4th round, 7th selection according to our ADP, grab him in the late 3rd.
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Dodgers' Randy Wolf struck out 7 in 5+ innings of work, his best outing of the spring.
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For the first time in recent memory, Baltimore's Daniel Cabrera did not walk any batters on Saturday. The increase in pitches over the plate led to more hits than normal (8 in 6 IP). All things considered, we'd trade in the Walks for more hits if his WHIP could stick around 1.30.
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The Doug Davis of yesteryear is just that. Davis has had a shaky spring, and his best outing of the spring was Saturday. 3 Runs allowed on 7 hits (1 walk) over 5 innings. Davis' fastball is topping out in the mid to upper 80s, a far cry from 2004-5 when he was hitting 92-94 consistently. It's "smoke and mirrors" right now, and the thin air of Arizona won't help. Steer Clear!
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The Marlins Scott Olsen hasn't been able to shake off last year's high Walk Ratio this spring. The only aspect of Olsen's game which is preventing him from becoming an elite pitcher is his control, and it seems that he'll carry it into his 2007 campaign as well. Not to worry, as Olsen has a solid arsenal with an explosive fastball to make up for the extra runners on base.
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Royals' Octavio Dotel was the only closer to struggle yesterday. I won't be overly concerned, coming into this contest Dotel had only allowed 2 hits in 6 relief outings.
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Milwaukee's Ben Sheets pitched a AAA game this weekend: 6.7 IP, 5 Hits, 1 BB, 8 Ks. A healthy Ben Sheets....enough said.
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The Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang is headed to the DL with a hamstring injury that could sideline him until May. Jeff Karstens (pass) appears to now be a lock for the early season rotation.
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White Sox' John Danks has won the 5th rotation slot. Through 4 minor league seasons Danks has a 4.20 ERA with a 1.37 WHIP. He does have a solid 9 Ks per 9 IP ratio, but he had been walking over 4 batters per 9. Not worth a fantasy draft pick at this point in his career.
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Sox' Bobby Jenks admitted on Saturday that he's going through a dead arm period. He went through the same ailment last spring and turned it around during the season in a big way. Although most of the fantasy community has soured on him, he's certainly worth a late round pick.
Don't forget to keep updating your player projections program. These and other changes have an impact on the player valuations and rankings. Have a great Sunday, we'll see you back tomorrow with more notes. - Anthony
