Late Season Injured Pitchers: Who to Keep, Who to Drop

Before the 2014 season even started there were several top pitchers who went down with season-ending injuries. It continued throughout the season and now into August the aching joints and tendons seem to have picked up again.

As the playoffs are approaching in your fantasy baseball league you will be forced to make a few difficult decisions. Your commitment to your pitchers, although valiant, should be forgotten. Remember that these players have no clue they may be helping you win a few hundred bucks and office pride. Your loyalty shouldn’t go too deep and dropping a player hurts no one’s feelings.

Among some of the top pitchers hurt right now and on the disabled list, here is who you should keep and who you should drop.

Matt Garza – Drop

It has already been announced that Matt Garza will need more than 15 days to recover. Since he’s a starting pitcher this probably adds at least 10 more. By the time he’s back you may have wasted a roster spot and slipped in the standings while waiting for Garza to return to your rotation. Garza has been incredibly inconsistent all season long anyway. When he’s been on he’s been great. When he’s been off he’s been unjustly executed from my fantasy baseball team before the game was even finished.

Henderson Alvarez – Keep

Henderson Alvarez is supposed to return to the Miami Marlins on Thursday barring any setbacks. The timetable itself is a good sign though and this surprise pitcher from the 2014 season is someone you can rely on down the stretch. The biggest unknown with him will be whether Manager Mike Redmond will allow him to go deep into games or not. Looking at it more optimistically, this could just mean 6 shutout innings instead of going into the 8th and eventually blowing the game.

Anibal Sanchez – Drop

Actually going against what I will do, I think Anibal Sanchez should be dropped. This isn’t reverse psychology or some mind game where I can justify my actions by saying I should have dropped him then gloat that I didn’t after he succeeds. Sanchez’s injury is still too new to this injury which as of right now should keep him out for 3-4 weeks. This means at the earliest he should be back around Labor Day. By that point there’s no telling how effective he will even be upon his return. The only excuse to keep Sanchez is for the lack of other players available to take in his place.

Josh Beckett – Drop

For all of the good from the 2014 season Josh Beckett experienced it ended on a very sour note. His performance decreased since the calendar turned over to July and it appears largely due to a hip injury. Most likely Beckett will be out for the remainder of the season. Hopefully you, unlike me, actually started him when he pitched his no-hitter. Be happy with what you got from him and move on before you get too sentimental.

Gerrit Cole – Keep

Coming along strong in his rehab, Gerrit Cole should hopefully rejoin the Pittsburgh Pirates by next weekend. Cole has pitched very well this season and unless his injury is still lingering when he comes back there should be very little reason to doubt his abilities. Cole is someone you will be thankful you held onto. The Pirates have played some great baseball even with a lack of offense which should result in more wins for Cole in these last few weeks.

Fantasy Baseball Take On Tyson Ross

Oh the San Diego Padres. The team we love to ignore and hate to be forced into paying attention to. My biggest problem with the Padres this season is how incredibly boring they are. The third season of Dexter had more excitement than their offense.

The only thing the Padres can brag about from the 2014 season is how talented their pitching staff appears. I say appears because even I could have an ERA under 4.00 pitching at Petco Park; or maybe slightly above depending on how well my changeup works.

One pitcher I do like on the Padres is Tyson Ross. A guy who seems like a top-rated rookie coming of age, Ross actually has a lot more experienced than most people realize.

A young 27-years-old, Ross pitched three seasons from 2010-2012 with the Oakland Athletics. He split time between the bullpen and as a starter in that time before coming to the Padres in 2013. In that season, he continued his role as a spot starter. The Padres saw something in him and in 2014 made the right decision to name this guy a full-time man in the rotation.

On what I think is the worst team in baseball in spite of what their record may claim, Ross maintains a .500 record with a very low 2.65 ERA. He’s not simply a guy who has benefited from a lot of long fly balls tracked down by his outfielders either. Ross averages a strikeout per inning, which is crucially beneficial in fantasy baseball. Pitchers who strike out lots of batters add points and tend to have more control of any given game.

Ross has been as dependable as anyone this season. He has gone at least 5 innings in every start. His average seems to be 7 innings with 7 strikeouts and a run or two per game. Pitching in Petco also helps. Ross has only given up 3 home runs at home all season and has held batters to a .193 average.

Because he plays for the Padres he will not pack in the wins until they have a better team which may take a while. You should know that even in his losses his ERA has been a respectable 4.11 and in no-decisions it has been 2.37. What this means even more is that when Ross does win he works hard to earn it. In the 10 wins he has this season, Ross has maintained a 1.30 ERA. Ross deserves far more wins than he has too. Thankfully he can easily add a few to your fantasy baseball team even when his team doesn’t support him.

Three Players I Want(ed) the Toronto Blue Jays to Pursue at the Trade Deadline

The Toronto Blue Jays find themselves in the playoff hunt in 2014 after a disappointing year in 2013. Armed with a powerful offense and a pitching staff that when at its best can dominate anyone, they may need to make a few trades at the deadline to bolster the team. Here are three players they should have considered trading for at the trade deadline.

Chase Utley

One of the biggest weaknesses in the Blue Jays’ lineup is at second base. The young Brett Lawrie has moved there over from third to make room for Juan Francisco without much success. Lawrie has hit for power, but his batting average has been incredibly low. Thankfully the Philadelphia Phillies are struggling and they have Chase Utley.

Taking Utley out of Philadelphia might take a bit of a fight. A grizzled veteran and fan-favorite who has spent his entire career there, the Blue Jays will have to be willing to give up something pretty good to get him. Utley’s success in 2014 so far has been wasted on a team going nowhere. If he were to join the Blue Jays they would instantly become the most dangerous team in baseball.

Jake Peavy

A perfect rental pitcher for the Blue Jays would be starter Jake Peavy. Currently with the Boston Red Sox, Peavy’s contract ends following the 2014 season and there is little reason to believe he will re-sign. Peavy is a veteran pitcher with a good track-record of winning and could feel comfortable immediately when reunited with former teammate Mark Buehrle.

Peavy is not what he used to be, but as a fourth or fifth starter for the Blue Jays he would give them an added threat to win a few more games. Pitching depth is a weakness for the Blue Jays as they have no strong suitors at the back of the rotation. Since the trade would involve division rivals it may be a difficult one to pull off. Even so, the Red Sox are not too stubborn about things like this especially if the season continues to spiral out of control.

Of course, unless the San Francisco Giants are interested in pulling off a Mike Piazza to the Marlins type trade, Peavy is out of the mix in heading north of the boarding.

Andre Ethier

One player the Los Angeles Dodgers would love to part with is Andre Ethier. Ever since Yasiel Puig joined an already full outfield, Ethier has been the odd man out; that is when Matt Kemp is actually playing well. Odds are even if they are in contention the Dodgers would trade off Ethier if only to avoid further controversy in the dugout.

The benefit of Ethier is that he plays every outfield position. With Jose Bautista in right field and Melky Cabrera out in left this really only leaves centerfield for Ethier to get lots of playing time. Colby Rasmus has gotten the majority of the starts there, although an upgrade from him would have big benefits. Rasmus strikes out far too often even if he does have a home run swing. A package of Rasmus and a prospect could bring Ethier to Toronto. He would be happy to be gone and if he had the chance to face his former team in the World Series he would be at his best for the Dodgers.

Players with the Awful Career Statistics Against Tom Glavine

The lefty in the trio of talented Atlanta Braves pitchers from the 1990s, Tom Glavine had his way with some batters more than others. These are a few hitters that during his time in baseball Glavine managed to consistently pitch well against and sometimes even embarrass.

Bret Boone

A solid second baseman who put together some very good seasons, Bret Boone was not one to ever look forward to seeing Glavine on the mound. Boone faced Glavine a total of 50 times and finished the fight with a .191 batting average. In addition to getting Boone out, Glavine got him to ground into 4 double plays for some collateral damage on the base runners.

Jeff Conine

The majority of the battles between Glavine and Jeff Conine came when the latter was a member of the Florida Marlins. In the 65 at-bats Conine had, he only managed to hit .200 against Glavine. His 15 strikeouts hurt too as well as the fact that he only had 3 extra base hits. Rarely in his career was Conine a rally-killer With Glavine on the mound, the Marlins should have just forfeited.

Delino DeShields

A few less at-bats than Conine and a few less hits, Delino Deshields had a .190 batting average in his career against Glavine. He did have 12 hits in his 63 at-bats, only one going for extra bases when he managed to get a double. Typically Deshields would be at the top of the lineup. For Glavine this meant a quick out and some immediate confidence.

Mariano Duncan

An even worse batting average than Conine and Deshields against Glavine belongs to Mariano Duncan. Aside from the 2 triples he had off of Glavine there’s not much else to brag about. Duncan only hit .164 against Glavine and failed to draw a single walk. His on-base percentage rests at .177 and unless scorekeepers made some major errors and go back to the box scores it won’t be changing anytime soon.

Sammy Sosa

Slugger Sammy Sosa shared the prime of his career with Glavine. When facing Sosa, Glavine played it smart. He did manage to walk Sosa 10 times, but when he allowed Sosa to hit Glavine usually bested him. Sosa owns a .224 batting average against Glavine along with 3 home runs. He also has to bear the 16 strikeouts he suffered at the hands of Glavine’s mastery on the mound.

Photo Credit: By jimmyack205 (Glavine Pitching) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons