Sunday, February 28, 2010

ESPN talks to Scout X

ESPN reports various musings from Scout X, a big-league scout with a couple of interesting considerations for the 2010 season. Among them:

He thinks Matt Cain has a better six- to eight-year outlook than Tim Lincecum.

He also likes Phil Hughes over Joba Chamberlain for Yankees fifth starter.

Nothing else really stands out.

Fantasy Impact: It's becoming fairly typical for those doubting the diminutive Lincecum and his unique pitching rotation. We still find the best analysis of his mechanics to be much less of an indictment than what the doubters are saying.

Hughes vs. Chamberlain is certainly a tossup. Neither is a good fantasy option due to their low sample size and MLB inconsistency, but they both deserve flier picks due to playing for the Yankess.

Reyes HGH concerns

Jose Reyes got a visit from the FBI regarding a doctor he worked with in connection with HGH.
“They asked me if he inject me with that, I said no,” Reyes said. “What we do there is basically is he took my blood out, put in some machine, spit it out and put it back into my leg.”

He was referring to a procedure that was intended to help him recover from a hamstring injury.

Reyes said that he met with the authorities for less than an hour and that he was surprised they wanted to meet with him.

“They called me in the morning and said they wanted to meet me,” Reyes said. “I mean, they said this is the F.B.I., and I said, man, what did I do wrong. I was kind of surprised a little, scared, but after that, they said should be no problem with me, it’s just an investigation. Right now I don’t worry because he don’t put nothing like that in my body. I know what he was doing with me, so I don’t have to worry about that because I know I’m fine.”
Fantasy Impact: It would not appear that Reyes is in much trouble, especially if the FBI actually told him there's not a problem. He remains the third best option at shortstop in fantasy baseball after Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki. He has the opportunity to place as high as second if healthy.

Gutierrez could be D'backs future closer

The Arizona Diamondbacks like what they've seen from setup man Juan Gutierrez to the point that he might end up Arizona's closer next season. Chad Qualls is the incumbent in 2010.
Gutierrez's performance last year validated GM Josh Byrnes decision to trade former closer Jose Valverde to the Astros after the 2007 season for Gutierrez, Qualls and infielder Chris Burke. While Burke was a bust, Qualls has put together two good seasons and Gutierrez could conceivably slip into the closer's role if Qualls departs as a free agent following 2010.

"He's always had plus stuff, very solid delivery and arm action and multiple pitches," Byrnes said. "He has a lot of pieces in place to be successful. You hoped it would translate, and now that he's had success, he can build off that."

Which is exactly what Gutierrez is trying to do.

"I learned more about how to pitch last year," he said. "I learned how to control your emotions. When you have a bad day you've got to forget about it. You have to say this is a new day and I'm going to show the world what I have."
Fantasy Impact: There's a chance Gutierrez earns the job even sooner than 2011. Consider that Qualls is coming back off a serious injury sustained late in 2010, so he's not necessarily in baseball shape going into the year. Then, there's the chance that the Diamondbacks, who won't be picked any higher than third in the NL West this year, could be sellers come July. If Qualls is moved to a contending team, Gutierrez could be in line for as many as 15-20 saves over the latter half of the season. The D'backs bullpen is definitely one to monitor all summer long.