Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Wednesday 4/20/11

Tuesday's Recommended Starter's Stats - Brandon Beachy - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 7 Strikeouts - Win - 0.00 ERA - 0.67 WHIP
Week 3 Starters' Stats - 14.0 Innings Pitched - 17 Strikeouts - 10.93 K/9- 1 Win in 2 Starts - 0.00 ERA - 0.57 WHIP
Cumulative Starters' Stats - 138.1 Innings Pitched - 114 Strikeouts - 7.42 K/9 - 11 Wins in 22 Starts - 3.25 ERA - 1.13 WHIP
Starter Spreadsheet Online Here

Week Three is off to a great start so far.  First Carlos Zambrano came through huge on Monday, and now Brandon Beachy does the job today.  I didn't expect him to be this good, but he does have the stuff to strike guys out like this on a regular basis, and to be nearly unhittable when he's on like he was tonight   14 innings of no run ball with more than a strikeout per inning is more than you can really ask for from spot starters, but hopefully I can keep the streak going on Wednesday...

Wednesday's Recommended Starter - Bud Norris - Houston Astros at New York Mets -  7:10 PM EST - Owned in 2.6% of ESPN Standard Leagues.

Norris only has one all around good start so far, but has struck out at least six guys in all three starts. The first start is easily excusable, as he got blown up against the Phillies, and the second start he was cruising against the Marlins until they let him work into the sixth inning and he got hit up for three runs.  Against the Mets here I expect something much closer to his third start against the Padres.  Wandy is proving as I type this that playing the Mets in Citi is a good thing for a pitcher, and thats what Norris is going to get to do tomorrow.  I expect a strong ERA and WHIP along with six plus strikeouts.  The win is a bit iffy with the offense behind him, but he's still your best pick today.

The rest of the starters are listed in the order I would take them.  Percentage owned in ESPN standard leagues is in parenthesis.  I'm on a time limit here, so going to be just listing everyone today.  Gonna try and come back and give explanations before Wednesday morning.

R.A. Dickey (11.0%) - New York Mets vs Houston - I like Norris more here, but Dickey is a good second option if he's available.  Neither team has an overpowering offense, so both guys have a shot at a win and are going to enjoy the benefits of Citi Field.  Norris just has slightly more strikeout potential than Dickey.

Rick Porcello (4.4%) - Detroit at Seattle - Porcello started the year off with a pair of bad starts, but proved last time out against Oakland that he can be a solid start against weaker lineups.  Against Seattle at Safeco definitely qualifies and he makes a decent option with less strikeout potential than Dickey or Norris

Charlie Morton (3.6%) - Pittsburgh at Florida - Morton has switched up his delivery this year to more of a three-quarters slot and it has shown so far in his numbers this year.  Hitters are having more trouble with him than in the past, and he threw a complete game of one earned run ball against the Reds his last time out.  He hasn't been striking anyone out though, or his ranking would be higher here.

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This is the ten-team mixed league line.  Anyone below this line is being recommended only for Deeper and AL/NL-Only leagues.

Chris Narveson (45.5%) - Milwaukee at Philadelphia - Liked Narveson enough to recommend him last time through the rotation and he burned me against Washington so I can't very well recommend him as a start going up against Philly on the day Cliff Lee will be pitching. Obviously playing in NL-Only, but otherwise I'd avoid him here.

Phillip Humber (0.1%) - Chicago White Sox at Tampa Bay - Humber has been surprisingly good through a pair of spot starts filling in until Peavy comes off the DL.  In his first start against Tampa Bay he struck out four and just let up one run on the way to a victory.  Now he gets to go up against Tampa Bay again, this time in Tropicana Field as opposed to home at U.S. Cellular.  He would probably be above the line if he had more of a track record in the majors, but in multiple stints in the majors as a relief pitcher he has an ERA of almost 5.00.  He's playable here, but be wary.

Nick Blackburn (2.0%) - Minnesota at Baltimore - Blackburn isn't going to strike a lot of players out and got beat up last time out against Tampa Bay.  He's only being recommended for AL-Only leagues here because of his nice match-up against Baltimore.

Luke Hochevar (3.8%) - Kansas City vs Cleveland - Hochevar has been decent so far this year, but has more or less done as well as would be expected given his opposing lineups.  This time around, the opposing lineup is the powerful Cleveland lineup, so don't expect much here. 

Pick A Winner
Brett Cecil (2.1%) - Toronto vs Bartolo Colon (0.4%) - New York Yankees - Neither guy has a good matchup... And neither guy is particularly good.  Pick the guy you think will win and take the strikeouts that will go with it in your AL-Only leagues, but I'll bet both guys ERAs will be above 4.00.

Eric Bedard (3.5%) - Seattle vs Detroit - I like Bedard and his strikeout potential, but he has been hit up in each of his three starts so far this year.  Keep him on the bench until he proves startable, but definitely hold onto him in those AL only leagues.

Jon Garland (4.1%) -  LA Dodgers vs Atlanta - The Dodgers haven't been hitting lately to give him any run support, and Garland didn't look good in his first start out.  Going against Atlanta, Garland is a bench/cut in all formats.

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