The Washington Nationals announced Monday that Jordan Zimmermann, one of the few bright spots in their nightmare of a season (save their current eight-game winning streak, of course), has a torn elbow ligament and will need Tommy John surgery. With the recovery timetable given by the Nats -- 18 months -- it's likely that the budding ace will miss not just the rest of 2009, but all of 2010 as well.
Neither Zimmermann's ERA (4.63) nor his WHIP (1.35) are eye-catching, but his 9.1 strikeout-per-nine-inning rate along with his 2.9 BB/9 in 2009 are phenomenal for a pitcher that won't turn 24 until next May. He entered 2009 as the Nats' best pitching prospect and arguably their best overall prospect and nothing he did on the mound this year disproved those perceptions.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Prospects' careers don't always progress the way we hoped they would. While players like Rick Porcello and Clayton Kershaw became fantasy-relevant before their 22nd birthdays, Nolan Reimold had to wait until he was 25 to get a legitimate shot. Travis Hafner wasn't a true force until he was 27, etc.. In any case, like the curious one of scorching outfielder Garrett Jones, it's important to keep that perspective in mind.
So what exactly do we know about "The Robber Baron"? (Other than the fact that he's drilled nine homers in his first 17 games with Pittsburgh)
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... The Astros are a game out of first place.
A little more than a month ago -- before the games of June 20 -- Houston was dead last in the NL Central, six games behind first-place Milwaukee.
Since then the Astros have gone 19-11, including Wednesday's 4-3 defeat of the (now) first-place Cardinals with two runs in the bottom of the ninth, finishing a three-game sweep. Miguel Tejada delivered the game-winning single.
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.
With one week in the books, the Stream Team has a 40% success rate, but we're going to need to be much better to erase those stink-bombs thrown up on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Our first two streamers are back on the hill tomorrow, but I would avoid Jordan Zimmermann in Colorado and Kevin Correia away from Petco Park. Today's best bet to help is the $126 million man, Barry Zito.
There are 47 pitchers in fantasy Week 14 getting two starts. In an unusual turn of events, they are pretty evenly partitioned between "must starts," "solid starts" and "risky business".
I love Matt Cain this week. He gets two home starts and gets very, very favorable pitching matchups. If he doesn't get two wins and put up impressive strikeout totals and a low ERA, I'll answer questions every Friday afternoon from here on out in a live chat.
First pitch on Monday is at 1:05 PM ET. Make sure you get your rosters set early.
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.
Yesterday, I tabbed Jordan Zimmermann as a good spot-start option for your teams, pegging him for six innings pitched, two earned runs allowed or less, and six strikeouts or more. Little did I know how prescient that prediction would be -- Zimmermann hit those numbers exactly in his afternoon start. Let's mark down the first member of the Stream Team as a success, and move on to tomorrow's best bet.
In this week's Fantasy Baseball Cram Session Tom Herrera and I spent some time talking about pitchers on most waiver wires. Jordan Zimmerman and Kevin Correia are two of the better options that we mention. We also spent some time on the Pain Train talking injuries to players like Jake Peavy, Jose Reyes and Grady Sizemore. And finally in Fantasy Felony we give a few of our picks to help you out in baseball's second half.
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the Stream Team, where we tab pitchers that are likely to help you in your quest for fantasy gold.
As we try to identify good spot-starters for you to use in the coming months, a common thread will likely make itself clear: look west. The bottom three teams in the majors in terms of OPS are San Francisco, San Diego and Oakland. Seattle and Arizona are also among the bottom ten teams in OPS, and with half of the that bottom ten located out west, fantasy owners (i.e. you) should take advantage of these offensive jugger-nots. With that in mind, let's inexplicably avoid that advice and take a look at the inaugural member of the Stream Team.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
By the looks of his season stats, you wouldn't know that Jordan Zimmermann has actually been one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors over the past month. We're talking a 1.90 ERA and a .198 batting average against. On that same note, Minnesota's Scott Baker is holding opposing hitters to a .205 average over his last five starts. The turnaround of these pitchers teach fantasy owners an important lesson about staying patient and swooping in when the time is right.
On the cusp of making what some people expect to be a franchise-altering draft choice, the Nationals got some not-so-great news today about the guy that's currently the best young pitcher in the organization. The Washington Times is reporting that Jordan Zimmermann will miss tonight's start against the Reds with soreness in his pitching elbow.
As ugly as that sounds, the reports are that this isn't a serious injury and he'll be able to make his next start against the Rays this weekend. Of course, that's only if you believe what the Nationals are saying right now. Elbow problems for young pitchers are never good things, and soreness now could indicate something worse down the round.
The Washington Nationals announced Monday that Jordan Zimmermann, one of the few bright spots in their nightmare of a season (save their current eight-game winning streak, of course), has a torn elbow ligament and will need Tommy John surgery. With the recovery timetable given by the Nats -- 18 months -- it's likely that the budding ace will miss not just the rest of 2009, but all of 2010 as well. 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the 
There are 47 pitchers in fantasy Week 14 getting two starts. In an unusual turn of events, they are pretty evenly partitioned between "must starts," "solid starts" and "risky business".
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the 
In this week's Fantasy Baseball Cram Session 
Looking to cycle spot-starters each day? Check out the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
On the cusp of making what some people expect to be a franchise-altering draft choice, the Nationals got some not-so-great news today about the guy that's currently the best young pitcher in the organization. 
