Paul Sauberer - Page 15

Michael Young- TEX- Hot- Young has bounced back since returning from his latest bout of hamstring troubles. This has been the first season that he has been seriously impacted by injuries, playing only 133 games so far. Still he has...

Juan Pierre- LAN- Cold- With Manny Ramirez out with a sore hamstring and likely to be rested a lot in the last days of the season, Pierre has been getting some playing time. That’s the good news for Pierre owners....

Scott Kazmir- LAA- Hot- Kazmir took the loss against the Yankees last night, but still pitched decently. It was a quality start, with 3 runs allowed on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4 in 6 IP. Since...

Joe Blanton- PHI- Stats- A big part of Blanton’s surge after a poor April has been a turnaround in his comparative home and road performances. He has not been effected by the hitter bias at Citizens Bank Park, posting a...

Zack Greinke- KC- Stats- Greinke has thrown 4 consecutive quality starts in which he has given up a total of 4 runs, only three earned. There have been three factors that have driven Greinke’s success this year. First is an...

Carlos Marmol- CHN- Caution- Marmol picked up his 9th save and has yet to blow an opportunity since his promotion into the closer role, but there are some things that can make you queasy. Half of Marmol’s 14 pitches were...

Ivan Rodriguez- TEX- Hot- Pudge’s return to the Rangers was a smashing success at the plate. He went 3-for-4 with a double, RBI and run scored. The crowd was definitely behind him and that may have helped. In the longer...

Andy LaRoche- PIT- Hot- The LaRoche Pittsburgh kept after being discovered over their legal limit and having to get rid of one has been improving of late. Not as much as Adam in Atlanta, but certainly better than the .188...

John Lannan- WAS- Caution- Imagine there’s no road games. It’s easy if you try. That’s what Lannan wishes was the case as he takes the mound in Atlanta. In the Nation’s Capital, he pitches like a Cy Young candidate, with...

Marc Rzepczynski – TOR- Hot- It wasn’t a quality start because he allowed 4 runs in his 6 IP, but everything else about Rzepczynski’s outing was positive. He allowed only 5 hits and walked 1 while striking out 7. This...

Johnny Cueto- CIN- Cold- One thing has been contributing greatly to the almost doubling of Cueto’s ERA from 2.17 on June 14th to the 4.06 ERA. That is an inability to keep the baseball from reaching the stands. In his...

Joaquin Arias- TEX- Rise Value- Arias was called up to the Rangers yesterday due to the injury to Ian Kinsler. He will serve primarily as a backup middle infielder until Kinsler’s hamstring is better. Arias has seen his stock fall...

Adam Wainwright- STL- Caution- Wainwright has performed very well this season but he has been throwing many more pitches than he has done in the past. In his first two seasons as a starter he hit the 110 pitch mark...

Jarrod Washburn- SEA- Caution- A couple of things have come together for Washburn in this career (so far) year. One is under his control and one is not. First, Washburn has put together his best K rate EVAR! Second, he...

Doug Davis- ARI- Cold- Davis was crushed yesterday, giving up 8 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks in just 2-1/3 IP. Since a run of 4 consecutive starts in which he threw 110 or more pitches he has gone...

Alfredo Aceves- NYA- FYI- Aceves takes the mound for a spot start today and will have a limit of about 65 pitches. That may or may not give him enough to stick around for a potential win, but his performance...

Casey Kotchman- ATL- Stats- Looking at Kotchman’s Fantistics Player Charts, certain numbers are almost identical between 2008 and so far in 2009. His batting average, singles average and Batting EYE are all just about the same. The thing that kills...

Alexei Ramirez- CHA- Injury- Ramirez will be out of today’s game, but it has nothing to do with the beaning he took on Monday. He is apparently fully recovered from that, going 3-for-4 with a run and RBI. Ramirez injured...

Dan Haren- ARI- Caution- At this point last season Haren had hit or exceeded the 110 pitch mark twice. So far this year he has done it 5 times. For a pitcher who has exhibited a noted second half fade...

Luke Hochevar- KC- Hot- Hochevar turned in an impressive performance last night, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 4 in 7 IP. This follows up a disaster his last time out, when he gave...

Max Scherzer- ARI- Caution- With the Rangers coming to town starting tonight, it’s time to take a quick look at Scherzer’s home/road splits. They are not pretty for someone facing the Texas lineup in his home park, if you have...

Joba Chamberlain- NYA- FYI- In 12 starts this year, Joba has walked at least 4 batters 5 times. None of those outings was longer than 6 IP. This indicates some real problems at times locating the strike zone. Joba still...

Dave Bush- MIL- Cold- Despite being 29 years old, Bush may still be affected by high pitch count games. He has not thrown a quality start in his last 5 outings, the first of which was a 116-pitch effort. Last...

Dioner Navarro- TB- Cold- Navarro was a big part of Tampa Bay’s 2008 World Series run, hitting .295. This season, a combination of bad luck (.198 BHIPx) and hideously poor patience (3 BBs in 173 ABs) have crushed him. After...

Stephen Strasburg- WAS- FYI- Matt Wieters? He is so last month. The latest hype machine surrounds Stephen Strasburg, who will officially become property of the Nationals as soon as the Major League Draft gets underway this evening. If you’ve been...

Brandon McCarthy- TEX- Hot- McCarthy enters tonight’s start against the Yankees with 3 consecutive quality starts under his belt. His season will e an interesting test of the new philosophy Nolan Ryan and pitching coach Mike Maddux have brought to...

Adrian Gonzalez- SD- Great Player- Silly Phillies. They chose to pitch to Gonzalez with no one on in the 6th inning and, naturally, Gonzalez parked one, his 21st of the season. It was only his 6th homer this year at...

David Huff- CLE- Rookie- Huff is getting a third start after all. His first two were disasters, as he lasted no longer than 3-2/3 IP in either and gave up at least 6 runs in both. Huff has had uncharacteristic...

Andrew Miller- FLA- Caution- Miller is making his first start since throwing a quality start on his 24th birthday. He matched his major league career high of 9 strikeouts in the game, so things are definitely looking up. On the...

Kevin Millwood- TEX- Hot- Millwood takes the mound this afternoon in Detroit having thrown quality starts 6 times in his first 8 outings of the year. He has gone at least 7 innings in every one except his last, when...

Shairon Martis- WAS- FYI- Martis followed up a 110 pitch outing on May 2nd by allowing 9 hits and walking 2 in 5-1/3 IP the next time out. In his last start, Martis threw 109 pitches, perilously close to the...

CC Sabathia- NYA- FYI- Sabathia has thrown more than 110 pitches in 4 of his first 7 starts. He has a track record of being able to handle heavy workloads, even early in the season. The high pitch counts should...

Casey Kotchman- ATL- Hot- Kotchman continued his tear, going 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and a run scored. He is now 11-for-26 over the past week with 4 doubles and his first 2 homers of 2009. One concern is that he...

The bombshell came in a text message to my cell phone at 12:09 EDT today. "Manny Ramirez will be suspended 50 games for use of a perfromance-enhancing substance, the league office confirmed on MLB.com." You could have knocked me over...

Roy Halladay- TOR- Great Player- Seeing a pitch count of 117 instinctively makes me flinch, but Halladay has a track record of not suffering from heavy workloads. It is the 4th time in 7 starts and third time consecutively that...

Carlos Lee- HOU- Hot- Lee is riding a mini-hitting streak of 4 games in which he has hit an even .500. He has added 42 points to his batting average sine the end of April. This is an early example...