Looking For Pitching Help?
by Scout Hoffman (seniorbeisbol@gmail.com)
www.profantasybaseball.com
When you check box scores a bad pitching outing always looks a lot worse than a bad hitting day. Even All-Stars have 0-4 days throughout the season and no fantasy owner would bat an eye, but if a pitcher lets up seven runs in four innings, that 15.75 ERA will send them to the waiver wire. Don’t get me started on Troy Percival and his 108.00 ERA on Thursday.
If you are like most fantasy owners, you are searching the wires for some starting pitching help. Most everyone available will have their flaws, but if used properly they could become great assets to your fantasy squad. All three of these pitchers are available in over half of Yahoo and ESPN leagues.
Jorge De La Rosa – Colorado Rockies
If I offered you stats of 15 innings, 11 hits, 3 ER, and 22 K’s, I am sure you would expect two wins. This is what makes wins so hard to chase in fantasy baseball. De La Rosa would have been 0-2 in those two starts if it weren’t for a 9th inning bailout by Brad Hawpe in his most recent start. As it stands, De La Rosa is 0-3 on the season, but the ratios and strikeout numbers show a mixed league worthy pitcher.
He has an ERA of 3.16, a WHIP of 1.18, and 45 K’s in 42.2 innings. His career ratios are much higher, but the strikeouts have always been there. Let us not forget that he plays his home games at the hitter’s haven that his Coors Field. While his 2008 numbers actually show his home numbers a touch better than his road numbers, I still don’t trust the thin Colorado air.
De La Rosa is in his third year of getting consistent starts, so it is OK to expect growth, but I do not see a guy who can shave two runs off his ERA. He is a guy who I would add only if you need strikeouts and have some low ratio pitchers to hide his WHIP and ERA.
Randy Wolf – Los Angeles Dodgers
Since being acquired by Houston last year in an odd deadline deal, Wolf has proven to be a very solid starte
r. He is 8-3 with an ERA of 3.25 and 101 strikeouts in 119.1 innings of work since August of 2008. Dodger Stadium is a pitcher friendly park, and even without Manny Ramirez the Dodgers still provide a solid lineup. It doesn’t hurt that the NL West isn’t exactly full of powerful offenses.
Wolf has a career ERA of 4.21, so look for the ERA to rise a bit, but it should stay under 4.00. He has always been a good source of strikeouts and that should continue. The Dodgers should provide him with enough run support to pick up 10+ wins from here on out.
Dave Bush – Milwaukee Brewers
There is something to be said about sleeping in your own bed. Dave Bush personifies this. His home/road splits over his career are borderline ridiculous. At home he is nine games over .500 with a respectable 3.82 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and a K/9 of 6.33. When he hits the road it is a whole different story. Bush is ten games under .500, his ERA balloons to 5.21, his WHIP to 1.32, and his K/9 drops to 5.82.
This season Bush is off to a solid start, posting a 2-0 record through eight games. Six of his seven starts have been quality (3 or fewer ER in 6 or more IP), and his K/BB ratio is a very solid 3.6:1. He has held both his home and road ERA under 3.90 for an overall ERA of 3.83.
Eight games is a very small sample size, but in 2009 Bush looks like he may have figured something out. Or maybe the Brewers have realized his affinity for home cooking, giving him five home starts to only two road starts. Either way, Bush is a pitcher that you can feel very comfortable starting when he is at Miller Park, but until gives you a few more solid road starts, I would only use him in favorable matchups on the road.
He has an ERA of 3.16, a WHIP of 1.18, and 45 K’s in 42.2 innings. His career ratios are much higher, but the strikeouts have always been there. Let us not forget that he plays his home games at the hitter’s haven that his Coors Field. While his 2008 numbers actually show his home numbers a touch better than his road numbers, I still don’t trust the thin Colorado air.
De La Rosa is in his third year of getting consistent starts, so it is OK to expect growth, but I do not see a guy who can shave two runs off his ERA. He is a guy who I would add only if you need strikeouts and have some low ratio pitchers to hide his WHIP and ERA.
Randy Wolf – Los Angeles Dodgers
Since being acquired by Houston last year in an odd deadline deal, Wolf has proven to be a very solid starter. He is 8-3 with an ERA of 3.25 and 101 strikeouts in 119.1 innings of work since August of 2008. Dodger Stadium is a pitcher friendly park, and even without Manny Ramirez the Dodgers still provide a solid lineup. It doesn’t hurt that the NL West isn’t exactly full of powerful offenses.
Wolf has a career ERA of 4.21, so look for the ERA to rise a bit, but it should stay under 4.00. He has always been a good source of strikeouts and that should continue. The Dodgers should provide him with enough run support to pick up 10+ wins from here on out.
Dave Bush – Milwaukee Brewers
There is something to be said about sleeping in your own bed. Dave Bush personifies this. His home/road splits over his career are borderline ridiculous. At home he is nine games over .500 with a respectable 3.82 ERA, 1.13 WHIP and a K/9 of 6.33. When he hits the road it is a whole different story. Bush is ten games under .500, his ERA balloons to 5.21, his WHIP to 1.32, and his K/9 drops to 5.82.
This season Bush is off to a solid start, posting a 2-0 record through eight games. Six of his seven starts have been quality (3 or fewer ER in 6 or more IP), and his K/BB ratio is a very solid 3.6:1. He has held both his home and road ERA under 3.90 for an overall ERA of 3.83.
Eight games is a very small sample size, but in 2009 Bush looks like he may have figured something out. Or maybe the Brewers have realized his affinity for home cooking, giving him five home starts to only two road starts. Either way, Bush is a pitcher that you can feel very comfortable starting when he is at Miller Park, but until gives you a few more solid road starts, I would only use him in favorable matchups on the road.Labels: Dave Bush, jorge De La Rosa, Randy Wolf, Scout Hoffman, Starting Pitching
