Monday, April 11, 2011

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Tuesday 4/12/11

Monday's Recommended Starter's Stats - Alexi Ogando - 7.0 Innings Pitched - 4 Strikeouts - Win - 0.00 ERA - 0.43 WHIP
Cumulative Recommended Starters' Stats - 81.1 IP - 69 Strikeouts - 8 Wins in 13 Starts - 2.66 ERA - 1.07 WHIP - 7.64 K/9
Cumulative Starter Stats Spreadsheet Online Here

Ogando cruised for me in the early game on Monday.  He didn't strikeout as many guys as his career numbers would expect, but thats the only way I can complain about his seven runs of two hit ball.  Don't get over excited about these numbers so far however. Texas has Brandon Webb on the DL and Ogando has now developed a blister and a callous on his throwing hand in consecutive starts.  Ogando hands might prevent him from being a good long term starter and Webb will provide Texas with the replacement it needs to possibly send Ogando back to the bullpen. Short term, you're not going to want to start him Sunday against the Yankees.  Luckily for you guys, I provide you with a spot starter every day.  Tuesday's starter is right beyond the jump break...


Jeff Francis - Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins - 8:10 PM EST - 3.8% Ownership in ESPN Leagues

I've been going well the last few days by playing the match-ups and the hot hand, and am not going to stray from that formula here.  Francis has had a pair of very good starts already this year against strong opposing offenses in the Angels and White Sox.  This time out he gets the Twins, who are currently last in the majors in runs scored.  The Royals offense has been hot to start the year, and I expect that to continue here.  Francis might not strike out too many guys here but it should be a respectable number and those strikeouts along with a good ERA, WHIP and a win make him the easy starting choice today.

As always, the rest of the players are listed in the order in which I would play them on Tuesday.  Numbers listed in parenthesis are ESPN standard mixed league ownership.

Michael Pineda (21.3%) - Seattle vs Toronto - The young pitchers have been pretty money so far this year, and you don't find a young pitcher that people expect things out of like Michael Pineda.  When people are calling you "Baby Felix" it's usually a good sign.  If you haven't heard, Pineda is 6'7 with a great fastball and a good slider.  His only problem at this young age is his ability to get left handers out.  Lefties, Mitch Moreland and Josh Hamilton went 3 for 5 with two double and a triple and drove in two runs against him.  Luckily for him, the Blue Jays don't have enough left handers on the roster to give him major problems. I expect six plus innings with around seven strikeouts and low ERA, but might not be able to get a win with his offense going up against Ricky Romero.

Sam LeCure (0.5%) - Cincinnati at San Diego -  LeCure is another young pitcher who I'm interested in this year.  He will be a spot start candidate all year with the Cincinnati offense behind him and has some solid enough stuff to get things done.  He projects as a 7.00+ K/9 guy, and over that number tends to be what I'm looking for in spot starters.  Playing in Petco against the Padres will almost always get you high on my list, and it does again here.

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This is the NL/AL-Only and Deep league line.  No one below this line is being recommended in ten team leagues.  If no one above the line is available, just wait until tomorrow.

Esmil Rogers (1.8%) - Colorado at New York Mets - Rogers had a strong first outing and is pitching in Citi Field on Tuesday and as a projected +7.00 K/9, he'll get the strike outs.  I can't recommend him for everyone because the Mets offense has been hot to start the year, but I like him if you need a start in deeper or NL leagues.

Jonathon Niese (1.5%) - New York Mets vs Colorado - Basically everything I say right above here applies to Niese.  The reason Niese is ranked lower is his last outing compared to Rogers.  Not ranked much lower though, so if you like Niese over Rogers, I can't argue with the idea.

Kevin Correia (12.9%) - Pittsburgh vs Milwaukee - Correia has had a pair of good starts to begin the year, but they came against weaker lineups.  This time he goes up against the stronger Brewers lineup after making a relief appearance on Saturday night.  The stats look good so far, but they are out of character I'd avoid him here.

Armando Galarraga (0.2) - Arizona vs St. Louis - Galarraga isn't a strike out pitcher or anything, but he has a good matchup with St. Louis's dead offense on Tuesday.  Take him if you need him, but don't expect the strikeouts.

Fausto Carmona (2.2%) - Cleveland at Los Angeles Angels - Carmona followed a bad start against the White Sox with a strong start against Boston.  Against the Angels here I can't truly recommend him, but he's got the Offense behind him to get him a win if he has a good outing.

Livan Hernandez (0.9%) - Livan Hernandez is Livan Hernandez.  Unless he gets hot and has an amazing match-up, I won't be recommending him here at any point this year.  Against the Phillies on Tuesday, there is even less of a reason to start him here.

Clayton Richard and Chris Tillman - Both of these guys will be quality spot starts at times this year, but with Richard drawing the Red and Tillman drawing the Yankees, neither is recommended for you here.

Brian Duensing (2.7%) - Minnesota vs Kansas City - Only so many ways to say average pitcher with a bad bad match-up, so that's all I'm going to say here.

Chris Volstad and James Russell - Both of these guys are young and not remotely reliable.  I'm not going to start either of them here.  Need to have a track record or a good K/9 as a starter, and these two don't have either.

Joe Blanton and Brad Penny - Not starting anyone with an ERA above 10.  Both guy's have been decent in their careers, but I assume pitchers problems are worst case scenario until they prove otherwise.

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