Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Friday 6/3/11

Thursday's Recommended Starter - Bud Norris - Results Not In Yet

Cumulative Starters' Stats - 460.1 Innings Pitched - 330 Strikeouts - 6.45 K/9 - 28 Wins in 73 Starts - 3.56 ERA - 1.22 WHIP

Cumulative Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Posting this earlier than usual because I have things to do later Thursday night.  Friday is my Birthday so going to be celebrating early at midnight.  May not be another update until Saturday depending on what I end up doing tomorrow.

As always, all recommendations are available in more than 50% of ESPN Leagues.  Friday's recommended starter coming up.....

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Thursday 6/2/11

Wednesday's Recommended Starter - Rick Porcello - 6.2 Innings Pitched - 4 Strikeouts - Win - 2.70 ERA - 1.35 WHIP

Cumulative Starters' Stats - 460.1 Innings Pitched - 330 Strikeouts - 6.45 K/9 - 28 Wins in 73 Starts - 3.56 ERA - 1.22 WHIP

Cumulative Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Porcello picked right back up where he left off before the Red Sox beat him up, delivering 6.2 innings of strong ERA and WHIP and picking up a win.  The strikeout numbers weren't great, but they were solid enough.  Strikeouts in general have been harder to come by than they were at the beginning of the year, as most of the strong strikeout pitchers have been rostered at this stage of the year.  The ERA and WHIP have been solid for a while, so going to look to pick up extra strikeouts going forward.

If you went with alternate recommendation Brian Matusz off the DL on Wednesday, you didn't pick up a win, but you had even better ERA and WHIP.  Matusz should be good to go from here on out and is worth rostering in mixed leagues.  If you went with Chris Capuano in your deep league, you would have had a strong start if they didn't leave him in to start the seventh inning.  When they did, Capuano let up five straight singles, and all of them made it across home plate, ruining an otherwise awesome start.

As always, looking to do better today than I did yesterday.  Recommendations are, as always, available in more than 50% of leagues.  Travel Thursday recommendations coming up...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Monday 5/2/11

Sunday's Spot Starter Recommendation One - Jon Garland - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 8 Strikeouts - Loss - 4.50 ERA - 1.17 WHIP

Satruday's Spot Starter Recommendation Two - Bud Norris - 7.2 Innings Pitched - 11 Strikeouts - Win - 0.00 ERA - 0.78 WHIP

Week Four's Starters' Stats - 56.1 Innings Pitched - 48 Strikeouts - 7.67 K/9 - 3 Wins in 9 Starts - 3.99 ERA - 1.17 WHIP

Cumulative Starters' Stats - 233 Innings Pitched - 188 Strikeouts - 7.26 K/9 - 15 Wins in 38 Starts - 3.55 ERA - 1.16 WHIP

Spot Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

Great four starts this weekend to make the week four stats solid.  First Brandon Beachy and Tim Stauffer killed it on Saturday, and then we got 19 strikeouts and great ERA and WHIP from the Bud Norris and Jon Garland combo on Sunday.  That made the week four line solid.  Sub-4.00 ERA and 48 strikeouts is nothing to sneeze at.  As we head into week five, I'm looking to keep the mojo going.  Monday's starter recommendation coming up...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickup For Sunday 5/1/11

Saturday's Spot Starter Recommendation One - Tim Stauffer - 6.2 Innings Pitched - 7 Strikeouts - No Decision - 2.70 - 0.75
Satruday's Spot Starter Recommendation Two - Brandon Beachy - 7.0 Innings Pitched - 5 Strikeouts - No Decision - 2.57 ERA - 0.57 WHIP
Week Four's Starters' Stats - 42.2 Innings Pitched - 29 Strikeouts - 6.12 K/9 - 2 Wins in 7 Starts - 4.64 ERA - 1.24 WHIP
Cumulative Starters' Stats - 219.1 Innings Pitched - 169 Strikeouts - 6.93 K/9 - 14 Wins in 36 Starts - 3.65 ERA - 1.18 WHIP
Spot Starter Spreadsheet Viewable Online Here

It was a very solid Saturday.  First, in the afternoon, Beachy gave us seven solid innings with five strikeouts and was in line for a win when they left him in to start the eighth and he let two men on base, who both ended up scoring.  It still amounted to a very good spot start, and 0.57 WHIP is amazing.  He's down to 0.99 WHIP on the season and shouldn't be dropped now that you own him, he won't be around to pick up next time through.  Later, in a Saturday night game, Tim Stauffer was just as good.  He had two more strikeouts than Beachy, but didn't go quite as long and gave up an extra hit.  Neither guy picked up a win, but both pitched well enough to pick one up.  As always these are guys available in more than 50% of leagues, and there are two more coming up now to help those trying to catch up on the last day of the match-up...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Thursday 4/21/11

Wednesday's Recommended Starter's Stats - Bud Norris - 6.0 Innings Pitched - 6 Strikeouts - No Decision - 4.50 ERA - 1.83 WHIP

Week 3 Starters' Stats - 20.0 Innings Pitched - 23 Strikeouts - 10.35 K/9- 1 Win in 3 Starts - 1.35 ERA - 0.95 WHIP

Cumulative Starters' Stats - 144.1 Innings Pitched - 120 Strikeouts - 7.48 K/9 - 11 Wins in 23 Starts - 3.30 ERA - 1.16 WHIP

Starter Spreadsheet Online Here

So Bud Norris didn't end up being quite the start that Beachy or Zambrano were, but it wasn't too offensive for a spot start.  The ERA and WHIP were bad, but with just six innings pitched, it will only take one solid start to bring it down to an acceptable level.  Balancing the ERA and WHIP are the six solid strikeouts.  I'll take six strikeouts from a guy who was owned in just 2.6% percent of standard leagues.  The week three stats are still great, and going to follow that up with my Thursday pick coming up....

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...

Fantasy Baseball Spot Starter Pickups For Sunday 4/3/11

Another day, another spot starter recommendation from me.  If you'd been following along so far, I've recommended Derek Lowe, Mark Buehrle, and Carlos Zambrano on the first three days of the year.  The  Buehrle and Zambrano picks suffered because their managers left them each in too long, but combined the three have thrown 17.2 innings of 3.66 ERA and 1.27 WHIP ball with 2 wins and ten strike outs.  Not bad numbers considering these are guys you are getting off of the waiver wire.  Sunday presents the best opportunity for pick ups yet, as teams get to their third ,and generally less owned, starters.   See who i like today after the jump break...