Daniel Cabrera is certainly posting the strikeout numbers we expected. With another 7 K's in last night's start, he now has 26 strikeouts for a K/9 of 8.9. The good news for Cabrera owners is that he's keeping his walk total down. He posted 4 BB's in his first game, but in his next three games had 0, 1, and 2 for a BB/9 of just 2.4 for the season. Compare that to his 5.7 BB/9 last season and you can begin to see the improvement in Cabrera's game. Chalk it up to pitching coach Leo Mazzone or maybe even just plain maturity, but either way, Cabrera is poised to have a nice fantasy season full of K's.
Panic time! Well, not really. Mariano Rivera now has two blown saves this season after giving up 2 ER and 3 hits in just 0.2 IP against the Sox last night. Remember in 2006 when the same thing happened in April? He was 0-2 for Apr-06 with a 3.72 ERA, 1 blown save, and a .270 BAA. He ended last season with 34 saves, a 1.80 ERA, a 0.96 WHIP, and a .223 BAA. How about 2005? Same slow start in April that year as well - two blown saves, a 2.70 ERA, and a .276 BAA. That season, he posted 43 saves with a 1.38 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, and a .177 BAA as he contended for the cy-young award. As Mariano ages, it looks like he gets slower starts early in the season and then becomes his normal self when the calendar turns to May. If you can buy Mo low, I would.
Alex Gordon has had a rough introduction to the big leagues, but last night's game against the Twins might have been a subtle sign that he's ready to turn it around. Aside from hitting his 3rd double of the season, Gordon finally showed some plate patience and worked two walks for his first multi-BB game of his big-league career. He has been striking out at an incredible rate, entering Friday's game with 17 K's and only 1 BB. He's been lunging and swinging at bad pitches out of the zone, but seemed to show some correction in yesterday's game. He was likely a late-round flier for many fantasy teams and has since been dropped out of early-season frustration. Now might be a decent time to grab the rookie off the wires to stash away on your bench, but don't go too crazy making a trade for him.
The fantasy player's dream - two wins from their closer in one week (that is, of course, assuming you have the saves category already won). Chris Ray has a 3.72 ERA and a 0.62 WHIP. Take away one little pitch (which just happened to be a walk-off grand slam to Alex Rodriguez) and his ERA goes to zero. That one mistake is inflating his numbers, but Ray has been about as solid as they come. At just 25, I think Ray puts up eye-opening 40-save numbers this season. There's a reason the Orioles were willing to give up on BJ Ryan a couple of years ago - they knew they had a long-term closer in Chris Ray.
AJ Burnett posted his 2nd quality start of the season and is now 2-for-4 in QS. He hurled 7.0 IP, 2 ER, and 3 hits, but didn't factor in the decision. Burnett's control has been a problem and he still hasn't been able to put it all together. With 5 BB's in yesterday's game, Burnett now has a BB/9 of 5.6 in 21.0 IP. His K/I rate is low at 0.67, especially given the fact that he has averaged 0.95 and 0.87 in the last two seasons. With Friday's quality start, he's showing signs of having that one big game in the near future. I doubt he'll find it in his next start against the Yankees, but the follow-up start against the Rangers could be the one.
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