Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Ross is boss

Ross Ohlendorf throw his best outing in two months as the Pirates ride their big right-hander to a 3-0 victory over the Cubs. Ohlendorf has pitched well in his first full season as a starter, posting a 7-6 record with a 4.41 ERA on a losing team.

Fantasy Impact: Certainly, you can do better than Ohlendorf, but you can also do much, much worse. The young righty continues to pitch well despite his low strike out total. He actually notched eight in seven innings in this one. He's a great low-end rotation option. If you've got him as a 5the or 6th starter, you're exceeding your replacement value.

Ug-Lee

Indians starter Cliff Lee threw the Chicago White Sox batting practice in game two of their series giving up 7 runs on 11 hits in three innings. His ERA soars to 3.39, which is obviously very respectable but still bot that of a frontline fantasy ace.

Fantasy Impact: Earlier in the year we talked about Lee's inflated value after his Cy Young season. Certainly there are fantasy managers out ther who over-valued the solid lefty. The fact of the matter is this: Lee is a good to very good pitcher, but he's not one of the top 10 or even 20 pitchers in baseball. He'll never dominate like the game's best, and therefore he'll continue to be a top-end No. 3 or low end No. 2 fantasy starter. If you drafted him high or kept him, here's hoping you moved him prior to this paltry showing.