Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 7/18/08
Full slate of games tonight, but not a ton of news.
The Yankees won their first game after the break, getting some support from a guy I think will have a great second half, and a guy I think will have a cold second half. Mike Mussina won his 12th game of the year on Friday, and I continue to be shocked by his pitching. I still don’t recommend targeting Mussina, as I am predicting he will win 16 games this year. But you can’t take away from him what he has done so far. He was great again on Friday, as he lasted six innings and allowed just one run and struck out six. Robinson Cano on the other hand I expect big things from. He has hit over .300 the past two season, and batted over .290 in his rookie year. He is currently at .249 so it would take quite a second half for him to reach the .300 plateau again, but I think he will challenge it, and finish between 15-19 home runs.
A couple of Orioles also continued their fantastic seasons. Aubrey Huff connected on his 19th homer of the season on Friday, as he continues to surpass his last three seasons stats already at just the halfway point. Huff did break 30 homers twice before in his career when with Tampa Bay, so I expect him to continue to hit well throughout the rest of the year. Luke Scott hit a pair of dingers, giving him 16 for the year. Scott was a fairly well thought of prospect for the Astros before ending up in Baltimore, but his batting average and streaky play stops me from picking him up, or recommending you to. Keep an eye on him, but I wouldn’t make a move on him right now.
Delmon Young went 4-4 on Friday, and perhaps he will get it going for the second half. They were all singles, so his power outage continues. If you can figure out why this guy isn’t hitting for power, I’d love to hear it. I gotta figure he is going to hit more than three homers for the season, and I think he will approach 15 before the season is over. He also stole his 11th base of the year tonight, so at least he is giving you a little something in the boxscore.
After opening the season 5-1, Zach Greinke fell to 7-6 after another poor outing tonight. His ERA is still slightly under 4.00 so he hasn’t been pitching horribly, but that magical start to the year appears to be gone. The White Sox tagged Greinke for seven runs over just 3.2 innings, and he walked three and struck out two. This wasn’t a guy that I have been high on all season long, and it appears that his season stats are starting to approach where they normal are, and not the 5-1 with a 1.93 ERA like he had in mid-May. If you can move him and still get something good for him, I would look into doing that right away.
Clay Buchholz was just relieved in his start against the Angels, and he had another poor performance. Buchholz allowed six runs over 4.2 innings, walked two and struck out two. Clay has a nasty repertoire of pitches, but with most young pitchers, he is struggling to be consistent and to get people out. If you are in a keeper league, you’ve got to hold on to him. But in seasonal leagues, I would be scanning the waiver wire to see if there is a better option available.
As always, your questions (adds, drops, trades) and comments are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Don’t forget to check me out at mlbfrontoffice.com on Tuesdays under In The News. Also go to fantasybaseballsearch.com to find me in the Gurus Blog, and listen to The True Gurus Show every Wednesday night at 9 pm. I am now a cohost on that show. To hear the best analysis on who to add/drop and more, don’t miss the Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report, every Tuesday night at 10.
