Crooked Pitch

Thank you for visiting Crooked Pitch! While you're here you'll find tons of valuable fantasy baseball information to help you win your fantasy baseball league. If you're new here, or haven't done so yet, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Most pitchers need at least 12 months to recover from Tommy John surgery. But, B.J. Ryan said he’d heal much quicker and took a major step towards proving that when he struck out two batters on Friday in his one inning of work against Tampa Bay.

Actually getting the start against the Tampa Rays — to sidestep the possibility of afternoon rain — the big guy needed only 12 pitches (eight strikes) to log his much-anticipated spring debut.

He missed, low, with his first pitch to Elliott Johnson, caught the outside corner with his second, then was quick off the mound to his left for an easy comebacker.

It would get better. After Carl Crawford took a ball low, the Tampa stud went down on three straight rips. Willy Aybar followed by taking a called third on a 2-2.

“It was good, finally coming out there, both anxious and nervous and not really knowing what to expect,” said Ryan, who, depending on how he feels tomorrow, expects to be back out there Monday.

Watch the Jays today against Pittsburgh to see if Ryan is as sharp. This is the news that all of you who drafted Jeremy Accardo looking for saves, did not want to see.

Arizona Diamondbacks third basemen and clean-up hitter, Mark Reynolds struck out a lot in 2007. In fact, he struck out 129 times while hitting .279 with 17 home runs in 366 at-bats. His strikeout rate was an abysmal 35.2% and his BB:K ratio was also poor at 0.29 (37:129).

Reynolds came into Spring Training working towards lowering his strikeout total. However, that experiment has come to an end as he’s accepted his strikeouts saying, “it’s just me”.

Part of spring training is experimenting, and third baseman Mark Reynolds’ experiment at trying to work counts and lower his strikeout total has come to an end.

“I realized that’s not me,” he said. “I’m swinging at the first strike I see. Hanging curveball, hanging slider, fastball, whatever. That’s what got me here, so I don’t think I need to change it.

“I just realized, ‘Why am I trying to change something that got me to the major leagues?’ Strikeouts are going to be there. I’ve accepted it. I don’t care what anybody writes about it or anybody says. It’s just me.”

For those of you in fantasy leagues that count hitters strikeouts against you, listen up. If Reynolds registers 550 at-bats in 2008 (which he should if he stays healthy and remains in the clean-up slot) and doesn’t improve on his strikeout rate, he’ll whiff 194 times this season. That places him near Howardian levels, without the 47 bombs that Ryan Howard hits.

On the flip side of that coin, if strikeouts don’t count against you Reynolds might have some value to your team. Even with his poor strikeout rate he still hit .279/.349/.495 last season. And with the extra at-bats, his home run totals reach towards 25 instead of the 17 he hit in 2007.

So, once again… stay away if your league negatively counts strikeouts. If not, look to Reynolds as a secondary 1B or CI hitter.

Quick, I’ll give you two guesses as to who’s hit the most home runs this spring…

…

Yeah, I wouldn’t have guessed that either. It’s Detroit Tigers catcher, Ivan Rodriguez. The veteran backstop who is closer in age to Yankees DH Billy Crystal than some rookies (that’s an exaggeration) has six home runs in 12 games this spring. He’s averaging a home run every 5.33 at-bats.

Now, he won’t keep that pace up all year, but what do you guys think about a little game of over/under? Pudge hit 11 bombs last season and over the past three years has averaged 12.5 homers per year. So, let’s set the over/under there.

Over/Under 12.5 home runs for Pudge in 2008? (Leave your answers below in the comments)
photo credit: jimcchou

If you’ve been paying attention to spring box scores from the San Francisco Giants club, you may have noticed Eugenio Velez, a 26 yeal old rookie who’s hitting .340/.353/.511 with a double, two triples, and a home run. Most importantly he’s stolen 9 bases in 16 games. Velez is turning heads, and causing Giants decision makers to scratch theirs.

Manager Bruce Bochy would agree. After the Giants’ 11-6 exhibition victory over the Diamondbacks, Bochy declared Velez has a real shot of making the 25-man roster. Not only as a bench player but as someone who “might force the issue, too,” meaning get in the lineup on occasion.

“If we want a lineup with speed in there, he gives you another dimension,” Bochy said. “This kid is fun to watch.”

• In 2006 in Single-A Augusta, Velez hit .315 with 14 home runs and 64 stolen bases.
• In 2007 in 114 games of combined AA, AAA and MLB playing time, Velez stole 58 bases while hitting .296.

If Velez makes this club out of Spring Training, but doesn’t earn a starting spot, you should keep an eye on him and see if does earn his way into a starting role. If he surprises and starts from day one, he’s going to be one of those players who could single handedly vault your fantasy team to the top of the stolen base leader board.

Today’s pitch count is 13.

1. I think it’s hilarious that they’re calling Carlos Silva “the Bigger Unit” in Seattle.
2. Sox starter Bartolo Colon hit 93 mph in his first spring start today and pitched well.
3. Scott Kazmir is ready to make his first Grapefruit League start on Sunday.
4. Nate McLouth looks to have won the Pirates CF job.
5. The Mets feel that Pedro Martinez has had enough simulation time. He’ll take the mound for the first time “for real” this Sunday.
6. With Andy LaRoche injured, Nomar Garciaparra gets the nod as the Dodgers starting third baseman.
7. Hideo Nomo has worked his way into the mix for a K.C. Royals rotation spot. Stop laughing, I’m serious!
8. He’s not considered Major League ready yet, but A’s pitcher, Henry Rodriguez has been hitting 100 on the gun this spring.
9. Could Nick Swisher be hitting leadoff for the White Sox when the season starts?
10. Fernando Rodney may not be ready to anchor the Tigers bullpen when the season starts.
11. Ken Griffey Jr. listed his personal top five closers in baseball. It’s not exactly like most fantasy lists, but interesting, none the less.
12. Odd are looking real good for the winner of the Colorado Rockies second base job to be… Nobody. Second base by committee is looking like the way to go in 2008.
13. Rumors are flying that Lou Pinella may use Ryan Theriot as the Cubs leadoff hitter and move Alfonso Soriano to the #2 slot.

It’s probably a little late in the game to be asking this question as most of you are, most assuredly, involved in one or more fantasy baseball leagues (I’m involved in four, so far), but is anyone out there interested in a Crooked Pitch fantasy league?

If the interest is there, I would be excited to host a 12 team, mixed format league. And if there is even more interest I’d also host an AL and an NL only league. Obviously, if we filled these leagues, I’d drum up some cool prizes for the winners.

So, shoot me an e-mail or contact me through the comments or contact form and let me know if you want in.

Joe Torre has made it abundantly clear that the Dodgers are going to manufacture runs this year. He plans on doing this by taking chances on the basepaths this season. This new strategy was reinforced in a recent Spring Training game:

Ultimately, the only action they forced was a 10-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, a game in which the Dodgers didn’t get a hit until the seventh inning. But they also manufactured a run before Nationals starter Mike O’Connor recorded a single out, manufactured another by the end of the first inning and finished the afternoon with five walks and four stolen bases.

Now that we know Joe Torre’s master plan <g>, which Dodger is really going to benefit from this? My first thought is Juan Pierre.

Three walks were drawn by the notoriously non-walk-drawing Juan Pierre, who is beginning to appear entrenched in the leadoff spot, with Rafael Furcal hitting behind him.

Early fantasy drafters have been cautious about drafting Pierre as we weren’t sure if he would be in a platoon situation or not. His ADP is 107.52 (late 9th round) which is almost 1% better than his ADP two weeks ago. If Pierre is going to be given more opportunities to be aggressive on the basepaths due to him drawing more walks and the new Dodger philosophy of manufacturing runs, is it possible for him to swipe more than 64 bases, which was his stolen base total from last season?
photo credit: zerorules677