"June 2008" Monthly Archives - Page 2

Pedro Martinez: Pedro handled a pretty tough matchup against the Rangers offense with ease on Sunday, giving up just 1 ER over 6 innings on 6 hits and 1 BB while striking out 4. I mentioned last week that Pedro’s...

Charlie Morton (rookie) - Making his big league debut Saturday, Morton impressed, beating the Angels, allowing three runs on five hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out four. Morton threw 104 pitches (64 for strikes) in picking...

Edgar Gonzalez - After hitting .290 or better in four out of five seasons in the minors, Adrian's big brother finally ended up in the right place at the right time with the Padres and is picking up consistent playing...

Andy Sonnanstine: Sonnanstine has had some bad luck, 65% S% to go with his 4.89 ERA, but has also had good run support, 7-3 record. He possesses outstanding control, 1.5 BB/9, and it may only take a slight bump up...

About three to four weeks ago a reader wrote me saying that he was surprised I didn’t consider Justin Morneau a .300-plus hitter this season. I responded that I love Morneau but I wasn’t convinced his .321 season was legitimate...

Jason Bergmann - I was somewhat excited about Bergmann as a nice sleeper pick in deeper leagues, but he just posted his second straight very bad start. Bergmann does have a good K rate (8.79 K/9), allowing him to have...

David Murphy: Considered the least of the three prospects acquired from the Red Sox for Eric Gagne, Murphy is putting together a breakout season, 10/46/.293 and 20 doubles in 263 AB. Since he has never shown this kind of power...

Mike Aviles- KC- Idea- Mike Aviles hit the double digit mark in steals in 3 of his 5 minor league seasons before 2008. After watching the Royals against the Rangers the last couple of nights, it looks like he might...

Jorge Cantu - Will Cantu continue to fly under the radar or will his 2-HR game bring his season to the forefront? Cantu has a 0.70 FPI with a .296 average, .878 OPS, HR/AB of 17.9, and a total of...

Quick note: I will start adding 2008 draftees like Pedro Alvarez and Aaron Crow to the top 50s and team top 5's when they sign a contract officially making them property of the team. Some may consider it folly to...

In this week’s edition of Sabermetric Tuesdays we’re going to take a look at one of my favorite indicators for Pitchers: the Runners Stranded Percentage. The Runners Stranded Percentage is a pretty simple statistics to understand, it’s simply measuring the...

Value Picks - June 11, 2008   Fantasy Week 11 is upon us and for some leagues, it marks the half-way point to the fantasy season.  Lots of head-to-head leagues play 22 week schedules with 12 teams playing each...

Josh Beckett wasn’t great last night but he wasn’t bad either. The 2nd inning contained all 4 of his ER and after that he settled down to make it through 6 IP, giving up 8 H, 1 BB and striking...

Todd Wellemeyer: Wellemeyer, who missed a start with a sore elbow, should be fine to start this weekend. The dramatic improvement in his control, 2005/2006/2007/2008 BB/9’s of 6.1/5.7/4.5/2.8, while maintaining a good K/9, 8.9/6.2/6.8/7.0, is another example of the LaRussa/Duncan...

Nick Swisher - I think he's back. Yesterday was a Swisher-style line with two homers and two walks, and since his K's are down and his LD% percentage is up from last year, you certainly wouldn't expect this kind of...

Edinson Volquez- CIN- Hot- Volquez was uncharacteristically wild, throwing 44 of his 101 pitches for balls and walking 5 in 6 IP. In a measure of how good his season has been so far, his 3 earned runs allowed is...

Jason Giambi - Maybe its the mustache. Maybe its the hot weather. Maybe its his unique choice of undergarments. Whatever it is, he's on fire and looks like the old MVP Giambi. Since May 1st, Giambi is hitting .333 with...

Pedro Martinez: Looking at Pedro’s line on Sunday, 5 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, doesn’t invoke much optimism for Pedro owners in what seemed to be an extremely favorable matchup in San Diego. But watching the...

Johnny Damon has been absolutely incredible since May 20th and his multi-hit frenzy reached its peak yesterday when he went 6-6 with 4 RBI, including the game-winning single in the bottom of the 9th. Damon has raised his BA from...

Tom Gorzelanny After entering Saturday’s game with a 7.22 ERA and 28:40 K:BB, it was hard to be optimistic about Gorzelanny’s chances against the potent Arizona offense. There have even been rumors of a Triple-A stint should his struggles continue....

Nate McLouth: It seems like forever since Nate McLouth has put together one of his monster 3 hit nights with multiple extra base hits, and as such it seems like he’s finally slowed down a bit, but a quick look...

Miguel Cabrera – Cabrera’s singles average the past 4 seasons has been .287/.293/.300/.295, but this year it sits at .255. Also, Cabrera’s ISO, which had been on an upwards trend (.201/.219/.238/.229/.245) sits at .178. At age 25 it is impossible...

Cole Hamels: After two horrid outings, Hamels got back on the right track on Thursday tossing a complete game shutout against the Reds. Hamels allowed just 4 hits and 3 BB’s during the shutout, but struck out just 4. A...

Curtis Thigpen: With Rod Barajas day-to-day with lower back tightness, Thigpen could pick up a few starts. A look at his Triple-A numbers; 1/18/.228 with 6% BB% and a 79% Ct%, tells you all you need to know. He is...

B. J. Upton- TB- Cold- Upton said something naughty to umpire Paul Emmel in the 8th inning and was given the rest of the game off to think about what he had said. Having struck out for the third time...

Adam LaRoche - The Roach has had a tough season with the Pirates and is currently mired in a terrible 1-for-20 slump. This season's totals include a .213 average, .296 OBP, 0.42 FPI, 33.7 HR/AB, and a .653 OPS. Compared...

If you're not a subscriber, you may not know that each week, we have between 60 and 80 prospect updates to our top 50 hitters, top 50 pitchers, and team-by-team top 5s. This is just a small sample. I'll move...

Stolen Base Report for the week of June 9th to June 15th Unfavorable Matchups, American League Kurt Suzuki Oakland (16 for 36, .444 CS%): 3 against NYY (Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter), 3 against San Francisco (Fred Lewis, Randy...

Mark Teahen – Teahen, who homered last night, had a breakout season back in 2006, but he has been unable to build on that success. For one thing, Teahen’s HR rate from ’06 sticks out like a sore thumb. Here...

First Pitch – June 4th – Value Picks: We’re back with another edition of Wednesday’s Value Picks! As we’ve mentioned before, every Wednesday we’ll go digging for diamonds in the rough that is the Free Agent Pool. The last few...

Jason Schmidt: After getting hit in the leg with a line drive, Schmidt’s rehab assignment has been extended past the original June 10th date. Since he has not pitched that much since 2006 and is now 35 years of age,...

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Sabermetric Tuesday – Week 10 style. Today I’d like to try and see if we can find some solid evidence pointing toward sustained breakouts on the offensive side of the ball, and perhaps unearth...

Michael Young - Young has now hit in 18 straight games after three hits last night and raised his AVG.....10 points. Lots of 1-5's in there for the 31 year old of late, which makes for good press but not...

Jay Bruce- CIN- Hot- Although Bruce is a Red, he has become the New Black. The hottest player in baseball added another homer to his total and went 2-for-4 last night. When 2-for-4 lowers your batting average to .577, you...

Jesus Flores: We haven’t talked too much about the young catcher in Washington, but Jesus Flores is taking advantage and taking hold of the starting catching role for the Nationals. Flores notched his 10th double of the season on Sunday...

BJ Upton - Upton's HR total remains low with just 3 in 197 AB for a rate of 65.7, but the rest of his game is making up for his low power numbers. He's hitting .305 with a .417...