Crooked Pitch

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One of the biggest pitching questions the Yankees faced prior to the 2008 season was whether or not Joba Chamberlain would be in the rotation or the bullpen, and how would they get Chamberlain to the rotation if he started the season in the pen.

Going into 2009, Hank Steinbrenner is making sure that there won’t be any uncertainty about Joba’s role. Joba Chamberlain and his 10.58 K/9 ratio will be in the rotation.

When the afternoon session was over, co-chairman Hank Steinbrenner said one of the first off-season decisions was that Joba Chamberlain Joba Chamberlain  will be used as a starter next year.

“The plan as of right now is Chamberlain is going to be a starter,” the Yankees co-chairman said. “Everybody’s pretty much in agreement with that.”

With Chamberlain only pitching 100.1 innings in 2008 and ending the season with a shoulder injury, a full season in the rotation seems risky. His K/9 dropped in 2008 and his BB/9 rose, which are also red flags.

It hasn’t been decided who will be manning first base when the Yankees begin play in 2009. Cuban prospect Juan Miranda is trying to convince the Yankees that it should be him with his early play in the Arizona Fall League.

In four AFL games Miranda is 9 for 16 with slash stats of .563/.588/1.125. Of his nine hits, five were doubles and two triples. He also has four RBI.

In 356 Triple-A at-bats in 2008, Miranda batted .287 with 22 doubles, 12 home runs, and a 79:55 strikeout to walk ratio.

Prior to the 2008 fantasy baseball season I decided to give up on Albert Pujols. This was right around the time that the rumors were flying that he’d go down with an unjury at any moment, or whenever the Cards were “officially” out of the race Pujols would opt for surgery.

In a stroke of genius, in the keeper league I am in, I traded Pujols and Curtis Granderson for Mark Teixeira, Alex Rios, and a 6th round draft pick (Cole Hamels). I was expecting Rios to completely break out and contend for the 30/30 club and I wanted Teixeira to blast 40+ with 120+ home runs. Had it not been for the extra pick (and the fact that I grabbed Hamels with it), I think I would have declared myself the loser in the trade. Rios didn’t hit for the power that I expected him to, and Pujols, not only didn’t go down with an injury, but had another MVP caliber year.

The reason for writing this post isn’t to look back at my trade, but to inform you all that Pujols finally had surgery on his elbow.

The Cardinals first baseman underwent a 25-minute outpatient procedure at a West County facility shared by team medical supervisor Dr. George Paletta, who performed the procedure.

Pujols is expected to begin rehab this week and should resume baseball-related activities within three months, according to Paletta. General manager John Mozeliak said the club is “very encouraged” that Pujols would be ready for full participation in spring training.

That’s much better news for fantasy GM’s that stuck with Pujols, not to mention all the Cardinals fans out there. And if you really want to dig in and get an in depth look at what the procedure Pujols had was all about, you can find more info on relocating elbow nerves in baseball players here.

I’m a little behind in reporting the final standings of the Crooked Pitch fantasy baseball league final standings. I have to say that most of the guys in this league came to play, knew their stuff, and competed viciously (and might I say never quietly). I’ve never been around more brutal attacks and trash talking. What fun!!!

At the end it was a three team race with the championship going to Matt who managed The Rusty Kuntz. And, to the victor go the spoils. For winning the league, I’m going to buy Matt the 2009 Baseball Prospectus, which should be available on February 16th. He’s also going to get the 2009 Baseball Preseason Package that the folks over at Mock Draft Central were fantastic enough to donate as a prize to the league champion.

Here are the final results:

1. The Rusty Kuntz - 91
2. 12th MAN - 89.5
3. Sleeping Giant - 88
4. Atl Snakes - 80
5. Tigers - 70.5
6. Victorious Secret - 65.5
7. The Mercs - 61
8. Crooked Pitch - 60
9. Da Bomb Cheifs - 56.5
10. Last Place Grabbers - 51.5
11. Library Bats - 41
12. The Uggla Stick - 25.5

Cleveland Indians prospect Wes Hodges played the 2008 season at Double-A Akron in 2008 and put up decent numbers. He hit 18 home runs in 504 at-bats and batted .290/.354/.466 along the way. His 29 doubles to go along with 97 RBI show that he’s got a little more power to come and that he likes base runners. He did strike out 105 times last season, which is something that’ll need to be worked on before he gets a full time job in Cleveland, but in the first week in the Arizona Fall League, Hodges is impressing everyone.

He’s tied for the AFL lead in home runs with two. He also has six RBI and slash stats of .300/.385/.846.

You may want to keep your eye on this kid. He was a second round (#69 overall) pick in the 2006 First-Year Played Draft by Cleveland, and many feel that he will be ready for the Indians at some point in 2009. A hundred or so at-bats of hitting like this could hasten his approach to the big leagues.

It’s not too early to talk about Spring Training 2009. Especially, if you’ve already been sent home for the season.

• Oakland’s Justin Duchscherer’s season was cut short by what we now know was loose cartilage in his hip. His 2008 record was 10-8 with a 2.54 ERA, but jumped into fantasy notoriety for his great results in the month of June. In June he was 4-1 with a 1.45 ERA and joined most fantasy rosters at that time. According to Duchscherer, he’ll be ready for Spring Training.

Justin Duchscherer’s right hip problem at the end of the season was the result of loose cartilage, which was cleaned out in an arthroscopic procedure, the A’s All-Star right-hander said Wednesday.

“Now I know I’ll be ready to go during spring training,” he said.

The recovery time is two months, according to Duchscherer, and he expects he will not miss any time next spring. He’s currently on crutches, but he said he’ll be walking in less than a week.

• It turns out that you can beat the Marlins on short rest and with torn cartilage in your left knee. At least you can if you’re Johan Santana. An MRI earlier this week revealed the tear, which Santana has since had surgically repaired.

New York Mets ace Johan Santana had arthroscopic surgery on torn cartilage in his left knee and is expected to be ready for spring training. The injury was revealed in a magnetic resonance imaging Tuesday.

Tonight, in game 1 of the NLDS between Los Angeles and Chicago, Derek Lowe pitched six innings allowing seven hits, only one run and struck out six, while walking only one. He got the win tonight, and more importantly for fantasy GM’s, Lowe surely improved his 2009 fantasy baseball draft position with this season’s great numbers.  2008 was his seventh straight season with 30+ starts and 12+ wins. He did a few other things, as well, to make sure that he’s be drafted higher in 2009 than he was in 2008.

• He lowered his walk total from 59 in 2007 to 45 in 2008, even though he pitched more innings in 2008.
• He reduced his HR total from 20 last season to 14 in 2008.
• He dropped his ERA from 3.88 in 2007 to 3.24 in 2008, his best ERA since his 21-win campaign in 2002.

Had Lowe not stunk up May with an 0-4 record and a 6.11 ERA, we might be including him in Cy Young talks. Lowe improved in many key statistics that are important to starting pitchers, and he did it all with a pretty normal 28.3% hit rate. You’d much rather have Lowe pitch at home (2.30 ERA) than on the road (4.42 ERA), but that may be a moot point if Lowe ends up somewhere other than Los Angeles in 2009.