Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
In news that probably means a lot more to fantasy baseball players than real baseball fans -- with all due respect to the Pirates and their true fans -- Ryan Doumit is going to miss the next 8-10 weeks. He'll be undergoing wrist surgery and have some pins inserted. As fantasy owners, we must march on and look at how to replace the production of a very solid offensive catcher.
The first few days of the season are a great time for fantasy owners. We can enjoy a hot start for our team -- which obviously means a championship is on the way -- or we're stuck scouring the waiver wire for guys who have already shown they are going to be a stud all season long. Then, we remember Chris Shelton. In 2006, Shelton had 9 home runs and 17 RBI with a .471 average through 13 games. Thus, he is our namesake for Stud or Shelton.
Today, we'll check out a bevy of unheralded and/or maligned starting pitchers who have shown their true studly colors in their first start. Or have they? The lightning round of judgment follows the jump (because we heart lightning rounds).
It's not easy being a top prospect. Despite being only 23, many people probably recognize Franklin Morales' name because of his role in the Rockies' improbable run to the World Series in 2007. Last year, he bounced between Triple-A and the majors and mostly struggled at both levels. This was a bit disappointing to some, but given his age it wasn't all that discouraging.
He was all set to begin 2009 as part of the Colorado rotation and he had a decent spring when the Rockies traded for Jason Hammel right before the season started. That lead to an awkward situation Wednesday: he knew he was being demoted to Triple-A after an afternoon game against the Diamondbacks, so he went out and tossed six sparkling one-hit innings to pick up the win.
Trade talks between the Tampa Bay Rays, one of the rare teams with surplus pitching, and the Colorado Rockies have resumed, with an official with one of the teams telling FanHouse, "Something may happen this weekend."
The Rockies are in need of pitching. The Rays have not publicly decided between Jason Hammel and Jeff Niemann as their fifth starter, and the Rockies were known to have interest in Hammel last week.
If you're a baseball fan who likes surprises, then the 2008 season has been a special treat. The Rays are the most notable team that has exceeded expectations, but the Twins, White Sox and Marlins are also surprise contenders.
Of course, those pleasant surprises have come at the expense of several clubs expected to be much better this season. Whether because of a big free-agent signing last winter, a deep October run last season or the (hint, hint) crushing burden of a massive payroll, the baseball landscape is littered with flops as August comes to a close.
The following is a countdown of the seven most disappointing teams this season.
7. Padres: Mired in last place in the abysmal NL West, it's easy to forget that this team won 89 games last year and was a (phantom?) Matt Holliday slide away from a playoff spot. Even when they were winning division titles, the Padres operated on a thin margin. Injuries and underperformance are at the root of their struggles.
Things to watch for in 2008 is, well, FanHouse's attempt to keep track of what's worth keeping your eye on as we roll into the 2008 season, be it good, bad, or ugly.
You'd be forgiven for thinking that every good young player in baseball was a member of the Red Sox or Yankees. All of the hemming and hawing associated with the Johan Santana trade was about how the two teams didn't want to give up Joba Chamberlain, Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Phil Hughes or Ian Kennedy because of how bright a future they had ahead of them. Well, as the Mets package made clear, there are good young players on other teams. Here's a quick primer on potential Rookie of the Year winners.
Evan Longoria- It's fitting that Longoria will never play for a satanically associated club because his talent is a gift from the heavens. He's going to hit for average, power, draw walks and play sound defense that will be a cornerstone of the first Tampa team to ever reach .500, be it this year or in the next few. And no, he's not Tony Parker's brother-in-law. Jay Bruce - The name most often associated with Bruce is Larry Walker. Since he plays for the Reds he'll be putting up those numbers at sea level, which should make him a strong candidate for awards as a rookie and well beyond.
While Clint Hurdle was steadfast in assuming all responsibility and not assigning blame for his team's poor performance in the World Series, I will go ahead and say that the layoff did hurt his team. I would not go as far as to say that the Rockies would have beaten the Red Sox in the series without a layoff, but there's no doubt that they were not the same team that reeled off 21 wins in 22 games.
In Game 1, Colorado did not fare much better than any other team against Josh Beckett. On the flip side, Jeff Francis and Franklin Morales both got bombed despite pitching well in the NLDS and NLCS. Sure, the Rox got some runs on the board in Game 3 and Game 4, thanks to home runs from Matt Holliday and Garrett Atkins that brought them within one run, but Brian Fuentes only followed by allowing the Red Sox to increase their lead. The big hits from Kazuo Matsui and Yorvit Torrealba that were there earlier in the playoffs were nowhere to be seen in the World Series. Fuentes failed on the biggest stage, as did Francis, Josh Fogg, and mostly everyone in the Rockies lineup. Clint Hurdle began to panic, playing musical center fielders, and pretty much every move he made looked bad because his players didn't perform.
I don't know if the Rockies became rusty, or if they let the attention and reality sink in, but I do know that the layoff did not help them. Whatever momentum they had from sweeping to the National League pennant was lost in the layoff, while the Red Sox carried the momentum of returning from a 3-1 ALCS deficit against Cleveland. I don't think the Rockies would have beaten the Red Sox otherwise, but being off for eight days certainly did not help their case.
Actually, I think this is a bit harsh. I like Josh Fogg. I like him about as much as anyone can like a middling fourth or fifth starter that isn't really very good at baseball. Amazingly, despite a sub-par career (on a scale where 100 is perfectly average, Fogg has a career ERA+ of 91), Fogg's managed to rack up a record of 60-60 with two teams that have generally been the dregs of baseball when he's pitched for them, the Pirates and the Rockies. He's always had a knack for keeping the team he pitches for in the game, and I say this from the perspective of a guy who think statements like, "He's always had a knack for..." are total bullcrap in baseball.
Enter tonight. Faced with the biggest start of his career, Fogg was tracked with keeping the Red Sox mighty lineup in check in the thin air of Coors Field on a cold night. It wouldn't be an enviable task for anyone. Still, Fogg's job was to keep the game close and he gave up six runs in the third inning tonight. That's not keeping things close and that's a recipe for disaster in Game 3 of the World Series when you're facing an 0-2 deficit.
Still, it's hard to pin this one squarely on Fogg. Sure, he gave up six runs in less than three innings. But the Rockies did claw back to within one run, only to have Brian Fuentes shut things down. And Clint Hurdle did make the decision to have Fogg pitch instead of Franklin Morales, who shut the Sox down in relief tonight (though he was awful in Game 1). Maybe I'm just making excuses because I like Fogg, who seems like a genuinely nice guy. Still, he was the Dragon Slayer for the Rockies during their incredible run and he failed to come up big in the game of this series that they need him most. If it looks like a goat and sounds like a goat, it's probably a goat (for this game, at least). Sorry, No Photos
For two days I've heard people say things like, "You know the Rockies aren't out of this series yet. If they can catch Dice-K in the thin air of Denver and pile some runs on, they can get a win and make this thing close." And yeah, that seemed vaguely possible. But no one was mentioning the alternative which was, "Umm, guys, not to rain on your parade or anything, but Josh Fogg is pitching for the Rockies against the Red Sox lineup in Game 3." So, yeah, maybe people should've been more focused on that possible outcome.
Before Fogg or the Rockies knew what hit him, the Sox had hung a six spot on the scoreboard in the third inning (lead by a two-run single from Dice-K!) and things were just about over.. To the Rockies credit, however, they certainly didn't go down without a fight. They scored a couple of runs off of Daisuke Matsuzaka in the sixth and Franklin Morales was electric out of the pen to stem the Red Sox tide at six runs for a while. Matt Holliday added in a huge three-run jack in the seventh to pull the Rockies to 6-5, but Brian Fuentes couldn't hold the Red Sox back and they piled on four more runs to put the win away. They simply got everything they need to win. Dice-K was solid, the lineup (particularly Jacoby Ellsbury and his four hits) picked up the slack they lost without the DH, and the pen was good enough.
I'll be honest, this game and this series have kind of gone the way I'd expect a fight between David Ortiz and Dustin Pedroia to go. The big guy laid a massive hurting on the little guy to open things up and since then he's had his hand on the little guy's head while his arms swing wildly around, desperately trying to land any kind of blow. The Rockies are certainly going down swinging in this series, but they're still going down and I don't think anything's going to change that at this point. Sorry, No Photos
Pat Lackey already questioned Clint Hurdle's decision-making ability this morning, so file what I'm about to write under "piling on." Why in the world was Franklin Morales pitching relief in the fifth inning? Why was guy that Hurdle had just decided wasn't good enough to start a game handed the ball at a time when the game was still technically within reach? How unprepared for the situation was the rookie? Gerry Fraley of the Rocky Mountain News explains:
Morales' first major league relief appearance turned into a historic disaster. Morales retired only two of the nine hitters he faced during the fourth inning and allowed seven runs in a nightmarish appearance that enabled Boston to rout the Rockies 13-1. ... In 106 previous professional games, Morales had made only seven relief appearances. He last worked out of the bullpen in 2006, making one relief appearance that season while in the Single-A California League.
Hurdle switched Morales after he failed to make it past the fourth inning in two starts during the National League playoffs.
If Hurdle didn't trust the kid to stop that lineup as a starter, did he really think he'd perform any differently as a wholly unfamiliar role, just days after having his confidence shot by being told he was being moved to the bullpen in the first place? And when Morales started to struggle in the first place, why did Hurdle leave in there to face the heart of Boston's lineup?
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
The first few days of the season are a great time for fantasy owners. We can enjoy a hot start for our team -- which obviously means a championship is on the way -- or we're stuck scouring the waiver wire for guys who have already shown they are going to be a stud all season long. Then, we remember 
It's not easy being a top prospect. Despite being only 23, many people probably recognize 
Trade talks between the Tampa Bay Rays, one of the rare teams with surplus pitching, and the Colorado Rockies have resumed, with an official with one of the teams telling FanHouse, "Something may happen this weekend."
Things to watch for in 2008
While 
Actually, I think this is a bit harsh. I like 
For two days I've heard people say things like, "You know the Rockies aren't out of this series yet. If they can catch Dice-K in the thin air of Denver and pile some runs on, they can get a win and make this thing close." And yeah, that seemed vaguely possible. But no one was mentioning the alternative which was, "Umm, guys, not to rain on your parade or anything, but 
Pat Lackey already 
