Wednesday, April 15, 2009

The arrival of Clayton Kershaw

Clayton Kershaw may have made his major league debut in 2008, but tonight the young Dodger pitcher looked like a major league ace for the first time in his career. With 13 strikeouts in seven innings of work, Kershaw dominated the Giants with his fastball. The left-hander looked unhitable -- and he was, save for a solo homer by Bengie Molina in the second.

Fantasy Impact: Kershaw left with a 2-1 lead and watched Aaron Rowand ruin his win with a 3-run homer in the eighth off of Hong-Chih Kuo. Such is life in the big leagues. Kershaw's ERA dropped to 1.50. His days of inconsistencies are probably not fully in the rear-view mirror just yet, but you can expect sparkling performances such as this to be sprinkled in just as often.

Strong-armed Armando

Tigers second-year pitcher Armando Galarraga continues his progression as a major leaguer. Galarraga's fine 2008, in which he recorded 13 wins and a 3.73 ERA, looks to be eclipsed if you believe in his hot start is for real.

Galarraga has allowed just one run in two starts and has struck out 12 batters in 13 1/3 innings. Today he worked 6 1/3 shutout innings to beat the White Sox, 9-0.

Fantasy Impact: Don't confuse Galarraga with a fantasy ace just yet. He walks three batters per nine innings, which is pretty good but not ideal, and he served up 28 home runs in less than 180 innings in 2008. He does limit hits, and if those strikeout numbers stay up he's a possible number two or three in your rotation for the year. Not too shabby, considering you probably drafted him as your number four.

Foxy stretch at Wrigley

Michael J. Fox sang the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley today. He looks pretty good and sounded equally strong singing from the booth.

Bad start

The Baseball Analysts take a look at Pythagorean win-loss and decide the Washington Nationals aren't necessarily an awful 0-7. They're more like a really bad 2-5.

Don't miss Swish

Nick Swisher's next assignment with the Yankees won't be at pitcher. He's likely the Yankees' starter in right field now that Xavier Nady's elbow issue could be season-ending.

Fantasy Impact: Nady's value obviously plummets with the news he could miss all of '09. Swisher is intriguing, to say the least. He's a streaky hitter who's belted 35 homers in a single major league season, but he's also a .246 career hitter who rolled out a .219/.332/.410 line in 2009. If he's on the waiver wire, nab him as a fourth outfielder. A good Yankee lineup around Swisher, coupled with a short porch in right at New Yankee Stadium could provide for some fantasy help.

Carpenter disabled

The Cardinals place Chris Carpenter on the disabled list after straining his ribcage in Arizona Wednesday night. He's out at least a month.

Fantasy Impact: Always the danger with Carpenter, injuries seem to be getting the better of him these days. This is his ninth trip to the disabled list. If you drafted him, you new injury risk was a concern. This qualifies as a bad injury, but not quite a devastating one. Here's hoping you took him late, when you already rounded out your staff. Carpenter will remain an injury-risk sleeper for the second half of the season.

Hard-luck Harden

Rich Harden is one of those guys who can't seem to fully harness his incredible gift of throwing a baseball. The Cubs starter lasted just three innings against Colorado on Wednesday, needing 92 pitches to record nine outs. He struck out eight Rockies batters but walked four. Harden gave up four runs, bringing his ERA up to 5.00. He left with a 4-0 Rockies lead.

Fantasy Impact: In his last 10 starts, Harden pitched out of the fifth inning just five times. He's no better than a five or six inning guy, but he's one of the best in baseball in terms of stuff. This leaves fantasy owners in a quandry. Do you treat Harden as an ace who can win big with the Cubs, or do you consider Harden an also-ran who will blow you away numbers-wise ever third or fourth start? The obvious answer is somewhere in between. Harden makes for a dynamic third starter, and upside is there now that he's on a consistently winning team. He will miss a few starts, however, and he's more likely to have success going deep into games against teams with free swingers.

Contreras can't get through six

Hot and cold Jose Contreras looked like he was putting together one of his good starts in Detroit. Through four innings in Detroit Contreras allowed just three base runners, one of them on his own fielding error. The Tigers got two in the fourth of a Placido Polanco double. Miguel Cabrera homered in the sixth, and after Contreras exited three batters later, Clayton Richard allowed another two runs, one of them charged to Contreras.

Contreras' line: 5.1 IP, 5H 5R, 4ER, 2 BB, 4K

Fantasy Impact: Those aren't terrible numbers, and Richard didn't help matters much. But Contreras doesn't help fantasy owners, either. Not right now, anyway. He's bound to find his good stuff at some point this season, but the veteran owns a 6.97 ERA through two starts. He's best left on the waiver wire at this time.

Matsuzaka disabled

Daisuke Matsuzaka hit the disabled list with "arm fatigue." File this one under W-B-C. He gave up five runs in one inning last night, growing his ERA to 12.79.

Fantasy Impact: Daisuke will miss a few starts going on the DL. If he "feels fine," hopefully this is only a minor setback.

Who's leading off?

The Chicago White Sox go with Brent Lillibridge as the leadoff man again following the minor injury to Chris Getz. Getz will be back at the top of the order again on Thursday when the Sox take on Tampa Bay.

That might last forever, however, with Scott Podsednik signed to a minor league deal after an injury to Dewayne Wise. The White Sox leadoff spot could eventually become Podsednik's.

Fantasy Impact: Podsednik batted just .253 in 2008 with the Rockies. He's a low-end option in fantasy play, and he's not even with the team at this time. Lillibridge remains a backup to Getz, who deserves a look at second base in deeper leagues.

Fans boycott MLB over steroids

A group of New Jersey fans is attempting to get steroids out of baseball by proposing an MLB boycott. You can check out their initiative here: www.baseballfansgiveback.com