Quote of the day
"I feel like, first of all, that there's no way in hell we overused Contreras. That's how I feel. There's no way. What did he pitch? The most games was three. Then he had a day off. He pitched five times in seven days. We weren't trying to stay away from him. He was closing games for us. That's how I look at it." -- Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, after Jose Contreras was placed on the DL with a strained tendon in his right elbowDaily blurb
Congrats if you drafted Jered Weaver in March. He was the 12th starting pitcher drafted in the RIBC, and generally a late 4th round pick in the RIBC leagues. But with 6 wins in 6 starts, an ERA of 0.99 with a WHIP of 0.79, and 43 Ks in 39 IP, he’s way ahead in current ranking among starters. Can it last? Last year, Ubaldo Jimenez started out on fire, with very similar numbers in his first six starts. Jimenez stayed on top through mid-June, but wasn’t able to sustain his lofty numbers after that (e.g., 4.65 ERA, 1.34 WHIP after June 20) – although he still ended the season ranked #5 among pitchers (on the ESPN Player rater). If Weaver follows a similar path, you should hold for another 8 starts and then sell high.
In daily contests, Matt Cain seems like an attractive option in Pittsburgh tonight. The Pirates have been one of the one of the more favorable teams to face so far this year. But today’s weather dashboard suggests that the biggest obstacle for Cain might be getting on the field at all.
Weather also threatens games in Cleveland, Detroit, and Minnesota. If all four of those games are washouts (probably unlikely, but certainly plausible), that would bring the number of postponements for this season up to 19. In the entire 2010 season, only 20 games were postponed.