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| Joba Set to Start |
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Joba Chamberlain looks like he will finally be making his long awated transition to the starting rotation according to manager Joe Girardi. While the Yankees wait for their phenom Darrell Rasner has helped shore up the rotation, Bartolo Colon returned to the majors, Chone Figgins returned from the DL, and Dusty Baker is out to ruin another young promising arm. May 22, 2008  Joba Chamberlain looks like he will finally be making the transition to the starting rotation. He pitched two innings of relief Wednesday, and manager Joe Girardi told the New York Daily News that it was part of the process of extending him and making him a starter. There still is no timetable for the move, but if he is starting to be stretched out now I would expect him in the rotation in about a month’s time. Chamberlain’s stuff is electric, and reports say he has even more plus pitches than he has shown out of the pen. He may be a little inconsistent to start out when he begins his new role, but the strikeout totals should be top notch from the get-go. The Yankees beat the Orioles Wednesday 8-0 behind another good outing by Darrell Rasner who is now 3-0. Rasner has just 11 strikeouts in his three starts, but has shown terrific control walking just two batters. He and Joba should be enough to solidify the rotation behind Wang, Pettite, and Mussina and save the world from further starts by Kei Igawa. A-Rod hit a home run in his second straight game off the DL so he looks completely fine going forward. • Big story of the day is that Brandon Webb is indeed fallible. He lost his first game of the year, but was still very effective allowing three runs in seven innings while striking out seven. Webb was bested by Florida’s Ricky Nolasco who allowed just one run while also lasting through seven. The D-Backs have hit a bit of a speed bump having scored just nine runs in their last four games. Two big culprits in the struggling offense are Eric Byrnes and Mark Reynolds. Byrnes is batting just .133 in May and has just 2 RBI. Reynolds is only marginally better hitting just .214 this month, and has not hit a home run since April 25. For those paying attention, Chad Tracy was 3-4 with a walk on Monday at Triple-A Tucson and could be activated later this week. He will definitely cut into the playing time of Reynolds. Imagine if Arizona still had Carlos Quentin instead of signing Byrnes to an extension. The rest of the NL is thankful the Arizona front office made at least one mistake. • The Royals are reaching Padres territory. They are second to last in runs (only ahead of San Diego) and were effectively shut down again by Boston, this time by a round mound formerly known as Bartolo Colon. Kansas City has scored just four runs so far in this series and face the 7-0 Daisuke Matsuzaka next. Fantasy owners should take advantage of the anemic offenses of both the Royals and San Diego at every opportunity. • As for Colon, he was making his return to the majors and looked pretty good striking out four in five innings allowing two earned winning for the first time since June 14 of last year. If he keeps pitching effectively he probably sticks in the rotation and replaces the struggling Clay Bucholz who is currently on the DL. He has suffered through a myriad of injuries the past few years including a bad back and shoulder problems. Some of that could be linked to his weight, but he flashed good velocity and appears healthy. Although I am still a bit wary, he is still a must add in almost all but the shallowest mixed leagues due to the potential for double-digit wins and a high strikeout total. • Look out: Dusty Baker is out to ruin another young arm. Johnny Cueto lost his fifth game of the year lasting just five innings, but more importantly he was allowed to throw 114 pitches. He had already thrown 96 pitches through 4 innings, but was still left in the game. It is actually only the second time this season that Cueto has topped the 100 pitch mark, but the first time was just three starts ago when he threw 108 pitches. Baker has a reputation for riding his young pitchers hard (see Wood, Kerry and Prior, Mark) so even though Cueto has been limited this season for the most part, this last start was not a good sign. Cueto was not exactly hit hard as the first four Dodger runs were scored via a squeeze play, a wild pitch, a passed ball, and a throwing error on his part. He did however walk three batters, and lacked some poise and focus with runners on base. The talent is clearly there, but at just 22 years old Cueto has some growing up to do. • Skip Schumaker went 4 for 5 and scored twice against the Padres. He now has 10 hits in his last 4 starts to raise his average 23 points in less than a week. In the same game, Padres starter Chris Young was struck in the face by an Albert Pujols line drive. It is reported that he has a nasal fracture, but it is unclear how long Young would be out. • Jermaine Dye is starting to heat up. He is hitting .313 in May and has 4 home runs this month after hitting just one in April. Dye has traditionally heated up through the summer months with his best power months being May, July, and August over the past three seasons. Great buy-low candidate from the surging White Sox who are the only AL Central team above .500. • Through the quirks of baseball Shawn Chacon had not received a decision in his first nine starts of the year despite pitching pretty effectively for the Astros. He turned in his seventh quality start turning in seven innings against the Cubs allowing just three runs. Chacon has been a great pick-up in NL-only leagues, and is worthy of spot-starting in standard mixed leagues. • What if I told you I had a pitcher with this stat line: 3 wins, 0 losses, 2.95 ERA, 1.31 WHIP, 19 strikeouts, 10 walks. He is also available in virtually 100 percent of leagues and has limited his opponents to one run or fewer in four of his six starts. Would he be somebody you would be interested in? Well those numbers are courtesy of Sir Shrek Sidney Ponson, the fat man from Aruba. He pitched complete games against the Twins allowing just one run on six hits. In fantasy you’re supposed to just play with the numbers and not the names attached to them, but I can’t separate the two in this situation. Ponson is still Ponson meaning he’s still fat and terrible. He hasn’t been even mediocre since the 2003 season. I’m not buying. • One day after Eric Gagne was once again (mercifully) removed from the closer role Ben Sheets eliminated the need altogether going the distance striking out six Pirates and allowing just one run. The problem for Sheets has never been performance, but health. I don’t think you could get full value for Sheets because of his history so ride him out and hope this is the season he can stay on the field. With regards to the Milwaukee bullpen situation it seems it changes almost daily. At this point I have to believe Salomon Torres will get the next save opportunity, and manager Ned Yost has said as much despite still calling it a committee. Gagne will be shut down for awhile so expect a prolonged absence which will be good for him and the psyche of Brewers fans everywhere. One name that has yet to be mentioned in the closer derby is recently deposed starter Carlos Villanueva. He pitched in a relief role last season and had some success. His numbers have not matched his minor league track record, but his stuff may play up better out of the bullpen. • Jamie Moyer is incredible. His fastball is probably slower than mine, but he still figures out how to get major league hitters out even at the age of 45. According to PitchFX, Moyer’s fastball this season doesn’t even average 81 miles per hour, and he throws it just 34 percent of the time. He’s pretty much throwing batting practice out there yet he still gets hitters out. Moyer shut down the Nationals Wednesday going six innings scattering seven hits without allowing a run. • Brian Wilson is the new Joe Borowski. Wilson saved his 14th game for the Giants, but sports an ERA of 5.49. It is always an adventure with him in the end-game, but he’s still getting the job done. • Yet another complete game was turned in by Oakland’s Dana Eveland. Just a Jonny Gomes solo shot blemished an otherwise stellar game for Eveland who dropped his ERA to 2.90 and WHIP to 1.16. He is still walking too many batters for my tastes (3.48 per 9) but that is nitpicking. The lefty is a solid fantasy option in all formats. • Chone Figgins went 1-3 with a run and a walk in his return from the disabled list. He started at third, but with Erick Aybar out for a month with a finger injury he could see some time at second as Mike Scoscia looks for some more offense out of his replacements. That is significant because Figgins has played seven games this season at second, and is nearing fantasy eligibility at that position where he would be much more valuable. If you need middle infield help this is an under-the-radar situation to monitor in the next week or so. • Mendoza Watch: Ryan Howard: He’s still hitting just .195 for the season, but is now at least flashing his power. He went 3-5 Wednesday and hit his ninth and tenth home runs on the season.
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