Monday, April 18, 2011

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Monday 4/18/11

Sunday's Recommended Starter's Stats - Jeff Francis - 6.1 Innings Pitched - 1 Strikeouts - Loss - 4.27 ERA - 0.95 WHIP
Week 2 Starter Stats - 50 Innings Pitched - 32 Strikeouts - 3 Wins in 8 Starts - 4.68 ERA - 1.18 WHIP - 5.76 K/9
Cumulative Starter Stats - 124.1 Innings Pitched - 97 Strikeouts - 10 Wins in 20 Starts - 3.62 ERA - 1.19 WHIP - 7.02 K/9
Starter Spreadsheet Online Here

One of my Sunday spot starters didn't make it, and the other one didn't do anything good for your team.  I'm just going to put week two behind me and point to the fact that my cumulative numbers are still pretty good despite a horrible week two.  Anyways, onto my starter recommendation for Monday on a free week three start....


Carlos Zambrano - Chicago Cubs vs San Diego Padres - 8:05 PM EST - 43.1% Ownership in ESPN Standard Leagues

I said last week that it would be the last time i started Big Z, but I expected him to be owned in more leagues by now.  He's still owned in just 43.1% of leagues, despite having ranked up 10 wins since the last time he's taken a loss going back to last year.  The Padres are, as expected, near the very bottom of the league in runs scored and a great match-up play.  Zambrano is going start striking more guys out and getting his ERA down, and I expect he'll put up a game here against San Diego that makes people ask if he must be owned in every league.  Z is good for at least five strikeouts and the win and should deliver a good ERA and WHIP this time out.

As always, the rest of the starters are listed in the order I would start them.  As always, ESPN ownership percentages are listed in parenthesis.

Jason Vargas (0.9%) - Seattle vs Detroit - It's a weak day for starters, and Vargas has a decent match-up playing at home at Safeco field, and that makes him a worthwhile start here. His ERA is a little ballooned due to one bad game against Cleveland's hot offense, but he surrrounded that with two very solid starts.  He's always a worry to pick up a win playing with Seattle's offense behind him, but he should be able to a good job in the ERA and WHIP department and rack you up a handful of strikeouts.

Chris Tillman (1.6%) - Baltimore vs Minnesota - Minnesota had fallen to last in the league in runs scored even before Mauer went to the DL.  Now it's all pitchers go against Minnesota, even Chris Tillman.  Tillman has had two straight bad outings, but got the job done last time he played a poor offense in Minnesota.  It's a poor day for starters here, so only if you NEED the start do you play him here in a standard league.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is the 10-team mixed league line.  The starters below this line are only being recommended for deeper or AL/NL-Only leagues.  If you need mixed league help, you can wait until tomorrow.

Carlos Carrasco (0.9%) - Cleveland at Kansas City - Carrasco had a bad first game against the White Sox, but has been pretty strong since that point.  I like him in AL-only definitely but the Kansas City offense has been so hot lately that I would avoid him in regular mixed leagues.  Worth a pickup though if you have the roster space.  He has some nice match-ups coming up soon.

Tim Stauffer (4.3%) - San Diego at Chicago Cubs - Stauffer has had trouble getting deep into starts so far this year, but the Cubs lineup isn't that amazing.  Stauffer hasn't let up a crazy amount of hits so far and hasn't walked too many people.  Stauffer should give you decent stuff here for NL-Only, but thats in.

Esmil Rogers (8.6%) - Colorado vs San Francisco - Rogers has had decent numbers so far, and it's a bad day here, but I'm only starting him in deep NL-Only leagues here.  He had a poor start last time out against the Mets at Citi, and now he comes back to play at Coors Field.  I don't trust him here.

Kevin Correia (18.7%) - Pittsburgh at Cincinnati - Correia is a decent starting pitcher, but he's not a real fantasy play here.  Cincinnati is still scoring a crazy amount of runs and Correia can't count on his offense to supply him with any run support.  Don't bother here.

The +9.00 ERA Club
Daisuke Matsuzaka (3.5%) - Boston vs Toronto
Joe Blanton (4.0%) - Phillies vs Milwaukee
Kyle Davies (0.1%) - Kansas City vs Cleveland
All of these guys have ERAs over 9 and all have had multiple starts already.  Until they bring the ERAs down, they aren't worth playing in any fantasy league.

No comments:

Post a Comment