Zumaya, Igawa, Clemens and More

A couple of thoughts about the happenings of baseball recently:

- Zumaya will miss 12 weeks as he is scheduled to have surgery for a finger injury. Anybody hoping Zumaya would become the closer at some point this year needs to temper their expectations. Zumaya will probably remain in the setup role for the rest of the year but if there are DL spots and you have room he is worth hanging onto because he can contribute with an IP and strikeouts 3 out 4 nights once he is healthy.

- Kei Igawa was sent to class A Tampa after struggling in the majors. Igawa was merely a PR signing to keep up with the Red Sox in Japan but that is one expensive PR signing. Class A seems a little bit harsh, doesn't it? Igawa didn't have any fantasy value to begin with but if you were still holding out hope for him, it's time to drop him.

- More details have surfaced about the Roger Clemens signing. It appears Clemens should be ready to start in the majors by mid-june at the absolute latest. Additionally, Clemens contract includes a similar clause as his contract last year that states that he doesn't have to travel with the team if he is not scheduled to pitch.

- A couple of players have been suspended recently. Scott Proctor, Joe Torre, Matt Capps, and Juan Salas. The Proctor and Capps suspensions were minimal. Joe Torre obviously has no fantasy implications. Salas was suspended for 50 games for violating the MLB's drug policy. But he isn't really fantasy worthy either.

- Brian Lawrence signed with the New York Mets. He is expected to make some minor league rehab starts and then get a shot at the major league rotation. He doesn't really have any fantasy value either.

Soriano Gets In The Game at 2B

What? Alfonso Soriano back at 2nd base? Fantasy Owners don't get too excited. He only got work there because all the other 2nd baseman (Theriot shifted to short when Izturis was pinch hit for) were out of the game after needing offensive help in the bottom of the 9th. Well, the Cubs tied the game and needed a 2nd baseman for extras so in comes Soriano. I wouldn't expect Soriano to get eligibility in any leagues unless you only need to have played their once to get eligibility in which case Soriano's stock just skyrocketed.

Also, if you haven't noticed the huge banner already -- you're just blind -- IT'S GOING TO BE HUGE. I claim to revolutionize fantasy baseball and this is going to be able to uphold that promise. Me and the Fantasy Man are teaming up to provide you hours of reading material -- more than you will ever find anywhere else and it will be out in november!

Clemens shocks baseball

Roger Clemens shocked baseball with an ingame announcement today that he would return to play for the Yankees. It seems that the Yankees have figured out how to fix up that rotation but will it be enough?

Fantasy-wise it is unclear still how long it will be before he is pitching for the big league club but he is a must add in all leagues.

Cards Ace Carpenter Out 3 Months

The woes continue for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals ace, Chris Carpenter, will undergo arthroscopic surgery next week after suffering a setback in his recovering. Carpenter has been out since his first start, on opening day, with the injury. St. Louis is currently last in the NL Central. Additionally, highly touted prospect Anthony Reyes has been struggling.

If you were waiting for Carpenter to come back and rejuvinate your pitching staff, it is time to look elsewhere. Even after he comes back it will likely take him a couple of starts to get back to his old self. If you drafted Carpenter with your second or third round pick you are going to need to get a little lucky to compete this year. Braden Looper continues to pitch very well as the team's #2 pitcher and Kip Wells is pitching well as the #1 but Reyes has struggled.

This may open the door for a trade to bolster the Cardinals staff. Could struggling Mariners pitcher Jeff Weaver make a return to the Cardinals? If he does, he may be worth a chance. What about White Sox starter Mark Buehrle? If he is not traded to the Cardinals mid season he will likely sign with them in the offseason. The White Sox don't look good this year and they should probably cut their losses and trade him instead of losing him for nothing.

Top 25 Updated

If you look on the sidebar you will notice that the top 25 has been updated to reflect the beginning of the season. Some of the biggest movers included Soriano, Berkman and Lee falling and Sizemore, Rollins, Peavy, Halladay and Hernandez rising. A couple new people joined the top 25: Peavy, Halladay, Hernandez, Aramis Ramirez, Wells and a couple fell out of favor: Jeter, Wright, Teixeira, Carpenter and Suzuki.

Oh and in case you haven't already guessed, this is the first time in two years someone not named Pujols has graced my #1 spot.

A look ahead at 2008 Free Agency

I thought it would be interesting to try and figure out where the possible 2008 free agents will sign. So below are my predictions as of now. Feel free to rip them to shreds because these are just my opinions and even at the beginning of free agency this task is nearly impossible.

* List as of 4-26-07
** ’08 age in ()

Catchers

Jorge Posada (36) – Resigns with Yankees
Ivan Rodriguez (36) ($13MM club option for '08) – Option is used
Paul Lo Duca (36) – Boston Red Sox
Michael Barrett (31) – Resigns with Cubs
Jason Kendall (34) – New York Mets

First basemen

Adam Dunn (28) ($13MM club option for '08) – Option is used

Second basemen

Jeff Kent (40) ($9MM club option vests with 550 PAs this year) – Option vested
Marcus Giles (30) ($4MM club option for '08) – For only 4 million you have to use the option
Luis Castillo (32) – San Fransisco Giants
Tadahito Iguchi (33) – Traded before he hits FA

Shortstops

Omar Vizquel (41) - Retires
David Eckstein (33) – Minnesota Twins
Juan Uribe (29) - $5MM club option for '08 – Traded before he hits FA
Cesar Izturis (28) - $5.45MM club option for '08 – San Fransisco Giants

Third basemen

Alex Rodriguez (32) – Stays with Yankees
Mike Lowell (34) - Angels
Mike Lamb (32) - Resigns
Pedro Feliz (33) - Resigns

Left fielders

Eric Byrnes (32) – Baltimore Orioles
Adam Dunn (28) ($13MM club option for '08) – Option is used
Geoff Jenkins (33) ($9MM club option for '08) – Brewers but not with the option
Luis Gonzalez (40) - Retires
Barry Bonds (43) - Retires
Brad Wilkerson (31) – Washington Nationals

Center fielders

Ichiro Suzuki (34) – Texas Rangers
Andruw Jones (31) – Los Angeles Angels
Torii Hunter (32) – Seattle Mariners
Eric Byrnes (32) – Baltimore Orioles
Corey Patterson (28) – Philadelphia Phillies
Milton Bradley (30) - Resigns
Aaron Rowand (30) – Chicago White Sox
Mike Cameron (35) – Minnesota Twins
Kenny Lofton (41) – Retires

Right fielders

Jermaine Dye (34) – San Fransisco Giants
Bobby Abreu (34) ($16MM club option for '08) – Tough Call but I say they use the option
Ichiro Suzuki (34) – Texas Rangers
Milton Bradley (30) - Resigns
Geoff Jenkins (33) ($9MM club option for '08) – Brewers but not with option
Trot Nixon (34) – Resigns
Jose Guillen (32) ($9MM club option for '08) – Option is used
Shawn Green (35) ($10MM club option for '08) – Resigns but not with option
Eric Hinske (30) - Resigns

DHs

Shea Hillenbrand (32) - Resigns
Mike Piazza (39) - Retires
Barry Bonds (43) - Retires
Mike Sweeney (34) - Athletics

Starting pitchers

Carlos Zambrano (27) - Resigns
Curt Schilling (41) - Resigns
Jason Jennings (29) - Resigns
Freddy Garcia (32) - Resigns
Kenny Rogers (43) - Retires
Mark Buehrle (29) - Cardinals
Jon Lieber (38) – Traded prior to hitting FA
Bartolo Colon (35) – Texas Rangers
Joe Kennedy (29) - Athletics
Tomo Ohka (32) - Resigns
John Thomson (34) - Resigns
Kip Wells (31) - Resigns
Wade Miller (31) - Resigns
Livan Hernandez (33) - Resigns
Randy Wolf (31) ($9MM club option for '08) – Option is used
Paul Byrd (37) ($8MM club option for '08) – Resigns but not with option
Jeff Weaver (31) - Cardinals
Tom Glavine (42) ($9MM player option for '08) – Option is used
Kris Benson (33) ($7.5MM club option for '08) - Resigns
Jaret Wright (32) - Royals
David Wells (45) - Retires
Eric Milton (32) – Resigns
Kyle Lohse (29) - Resigns
Matt Clement (33) – Forced to retire due to injury
Rodrigo Lopez (32) - Resigns
Josh Fogg (31) – Resigns
Byung-Hyun Kim (29) – Traded prior to FA
Odalis Perez (31) ($9MM club option for '08) - Resigns
Brett Tomko (35) ($4.5MM mutual option for '08) – Option is used

Closers

Mariano Rivera (38) - Resigns
Jason Isringhausen (35) ($8MM club option for '08) – Option is used
Bob Wickman (39) - Retires
Francisco Cordero (33) - Resigns
Armando Benitez (35) - Resigns
Eric Gagne (32) - Resigns
Todd Jones (40) - Retires
Jorge Julio (29) - Phillies

Middle relievers

Scott Linebrink (31) - Resigns
Kerry Wood (31) – Resigns

Don’t get mad at me, I did this really fast. Have fun reading and debating. If you have any questions email me: stew0610@ameritech.net

Saltalamaccia Debuts

Top Braves prosect Saltalamaccia debuted today because McCann had a bruised thumb and his back up was sent to the DL but could it be more than that? With both Saltalamaccia and McCann at catcher, if both stay on the team one of the two will have to move to 1B. However, to get the best value out of the two it would probably be wise to trade Salty. The probable reason that the Braves decided to call up Salty is to display his major league ready skills to possible suitors. How soon could he be traded? By my estimations, as soon as McCann is fully healthy if Salty has been playing well he could be shipped out. Stay tuned for more trade rumors on him for the next couple of weeks.

In other big news in fantasy baseball, Billy Butler was called up by the Royals and named an every day starter. He doesn't play great defense but his bat is certainly major league ready. He's certainly worth a shot in most leagues and certainly in AL only leagues. I'd put him about on par with Hunter Pence at this point.

Thats all for now. As always, I'll take your questions via email: stew0610@ameritech.net

Buy it or Sell it: Hot/Slow Starts

Hot Starts:

Rich Hill - I buy this one. The guys a stud in the making and one of the best left handed pitchers in the NL. Expect a slight regression in his numbers but a 3.3 ERA to end the year is probably not out of the question and anything less than 3.7 would be a dissapointment at this point.

Alex Rodriguez - Have to buy this one as well. No, he's not going to hit 100 home runs like he's on pace to do but he can top 50 and 55 or 60 isn't out of the question.

Mark DeRosa - Sell. This guy still shouldn't be on fantasy rosters and the Cubs should never have signed him.

Eric Byrnes - Buy. 30/30 not out of the question. 25/25 is definately attainable again. Could be one of the best draft day bargains.

Slow Starts:

Carlos Zambrano - Sell this. He always starts the season slow and he is always an ace in the end. Don't worry about Big Z.

Anthony Reyes - Sell this one as well. I think an ERA around 4 is a reasonable expectation and anything less than 4.5 will be a dissapointment. He'll figure it out at some point.

Alfonso Soriano - Sell it also. The move to LF should help his bat a little bit. He no longer will have to worry as much about defense.

Phillies - Buy. Okay, so we over exaggerated the Mets problems a tad bit but Pelfrey has looked horrible. The Phillies studs are going to wake up (Utley and Howard I'm talking to you) but the relief pitching is terrible and they need to make a trade. Moving their best SP not named Hamels to the pen is not the answer.

Mike Pelfrey - Buy. Don't get me wrong, he's going to be good in the long run but this is just not his year. He needs another year to mature but they just don't have that time to give him.

Chris B. Young and Carlos Quentin - Sell. These youngsters are going to start hitting its just a matter of time.

Want my opinion on another player? Send me an email.

Yikes!

It's been a while since my last post -- don't worry I'm not dead. I feel the need to explain myself a little bit. This blogs purpose is to provide fantasy advice. I don't think that it is really necessary for me to post every day with all of the call ups etc. I know everyone gets that news from MLB.com, ESPN.com, or Yahoo! anyway. That being said, the offseason is going to be a much more busy time for posting and you can expect my posts to be significantly less often during the season. As always, feel free to send me questions and I will happily answer them.

(FYI if Phil Hughes is still on the wire in your league you need to add him -- he is starting on thursday)

That's all I've got to say, hopefully I'll come up with something good sometime soon. As always, you can find my weekly column every thursday at sportsblurb.com.

3 up/3 down: SP

3 Up:

Felix Hernandez - I already wrote about him but there really isn't much to say besides this kid is the next big thing. Scratch that -- he is the big thing NOW. Him and Santana will be competing for AL Cy Young at the end of the year. When he keeps the ball low he is unhittable.

Daisuke Matsuzaka - So far the biggest import of the year looks like a great deal. I'm a little bit worried about fatigue from this guy down the stretch because he has logged so many innings in his career but he certainly looks like he is here to stay. He could be the best yet -- and no, I'm not forgetting about Ichiro and Matsui.

Zack Greinke - This kid WAS the next big thing before he went a little crazy. He's back in the majors and seems to have his head back on straight. His fastball has gained a little speed because of a leg strength program he is on and he certainly looks like he could dominate hitters all season.

3 Down:

Chris Carpenter - If I hear the words Tommy John I'm going to cry. No seriously, this time it's his elbow. He shouldn't miss much time but if this thing lingers fantasy owners who drafted them are going to be in trouble. He was the concesus number 2 starter in most fantasy drafts.

Carlos Zambrano - I wouldn't get too worried yet but in 3 starts he's given up 14 ER, thats 2nd in the MLB. Look for Z to rebound but if this keeps up he could be out of the running for Cy Young before the All-Star Break.

Brett Myers - The only pitcher to have more ER than Zambrano? Brett Myers. He does have 19 SO in his 3 starts so atleast he is helping fantasy owners in that way. Like Big Z, look for Myers to rebound.