AccuScore
| Cabrera Ready for Primetime |
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Daniel Cabrera is getting harder and harder to ignore. For years he has teased the Orioles and fantasy owners with his potential, and now he finally appears to be fulfilling it in his fifth major league season. It was a good day for starting pitchers as Justin Verlander showed signs of progress, Chad Billingsley continued his recent run of dominance, and another young Red Sox prospect shut down the Royals.
Daniel Cabrera is getting harder and harder to ignore. He is now 5-1 and has thrown 8 straight quality starts. Tuesday he went seven innings allowing two runs on five hits. Slightly disturbing is his drop in strikeouts with his K-rate dropping over four per nine innings from just two seasons ago. He has however improved his walk rate, and is inducing far more groundballs this season than in the past. His BABIP is very low at .240 which shows that there is some luck involved with his success. Eight straight terrific starts however are hard to argue with. The sharp decrease in strikeouts means Cabrera’s fantasy value is not as great as it could be, but he is a far more effective player pitching more to contact this season. • Those of you that drafted Justin Verlander have been waiting all season for a start like this: 6 innings, 4 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts. The win was just Verlander’s second of the year. The strikeout-to-walk ratio is a terrific sign as is the fact that Verlander lasted a full six innings without allowing a run in his final five frames. He was helped by the fact that Detroit’s bats finally woke up and gave him 12 runs of support. Curtis Granderson, Miguel Cabrera, Placido Polanco, Carlos Guillen, and Edgar Renteria all had at least two hits. Renteria had the best night collecting four hits, four RBI, and a home run. • Ichiro stole his major-league leading 21st base against the Tigers to go along with 3 hits. He is having his typical crazy May with six multi-hit games this month with hits in every game except two (.392 average). He also has 15 steals this month. • Chad Billingsley is finally becoming the full-fledged fantasy and real-life ace that fans and the Dodgers envisioned at the beginning of the year. He won his fourth game in five starts striking out seven Reds without allowing a run in seven innings. The walk-rate is still worrisome, but Billingsley is now maintaining his focus and not allowing mistakes lead to big innings. Expect this momentum to continue for him. Definite buy-low guy, and he is backed by one of the best bullpens in baseball. • Atlanta swept a doubleheader from the Mets 6-1 and 6-2. Mark Teixeira looks like he might be shaking out of his May slump as he went 4-5 on the day with 2 walks, 2 RBI, and 2 runs. See if you can pry him away from a frustrated owner for a discount. • 30-yeard old Jorge Campillo made just his second start of his career in the second game for Atlanta, and shut down the Mets for six innings striking out seven and allowing just three hits. He had previously allowed just three earned runs this season in 21.1 innings of relief with a terrific strikeout-to-walk ratio. He’s not any kind of prospect or somebody to run out and get but he is intriguing. With the injuries in the Braves rotation, it will be interesting to watch whether he will get any more starts. • Mets outfielder Ryan Church suffered a concussion in a collision with Atlanta’s Yunel Escobar. He is listed as day-to-day, but expect him to miss at least a couple starts. If he misses an extended period of time the Mets could be in trouble as he has been their most consistent offensive player this season. • Any value left with Eric Gagne just left the building. After all the bullpen drama the past two weeks with Milwaukee it appeared that Gagne would be the closer after all despite his general ineffectiveness. Tuesday he entered a 7-0 game, but promptly gave up 2 walks and 2 runs on a Jason Bay home run before leaving with stiffness in his shoulder. I would not use him under any circumstances. • After being no-hit by Jon Lester, the Royals managed just one run against Red Sox prospect Justin Masterson in a 1-2 loss. Masterson was great again in his second start of the year going 6.1 innings while striking out 5. This was a spot start, and he will be sent back down to the minors, but he is a name to remember for next season and in keeper leagues. Gil Meche had his second straight effective start for the Royals pitching seven strong with eight strikeouts. • Mendoza Watch: |
