Roger Clemens of the New York Yankees apparently has the best gig in the history of Major League baseball. After his last start Joe Torre said all he asks of Clemens is that he gives them a chance to win when he is on the mound. HA! That is an awful lot of money (about $1 million per start) to just give your team a chance to win. For that kind of money you should get Jake Peavy, Dan Haren, C.C. Sabathia or Josh Beckett type production. Fortunately there is no masking the truth (stats) in Fantasy baseball and Clemens isn't anywhere close to being one of the best pitchers in the game. Clemens will make his third start of the season today against the Colorado Rockies and he should do exactly what he did in his first two starts and that is record a quality start with about a WHIP of 1.25 and about a strikeout per inning. Those are pretty good numbers when combined with the way the Yankees are scoring runs right now so Clemens is a valuable pitcher just not an elite pitcher.
The Baltimore Orioles appear to have a pretty good young pitcher in Jeremy Guthrie. Guthrie threw eight innings of four hit one run ball on Wednesday and improved to 4-1 in doing so. Guthrie has made 10 starts and six relief appearances this season and he owns a 2.42 earned run average, a 0.89 WHIP, 6.17 K/9, and a BAA of .204. Caution is advised since he pitches for the Orioles and they are more than capable of blowing a solid start from any pitcher, but Guthrie has made nine consecutive quality starts. Guthrie's next start will come against the New York Yankees so again please use caution.
It is hard to believe but things got even worse for the White Sox on Wednesday. Jon Garland twirled seven innings allowing only one run but an error in the eighth led to his removal from the game with two runners on and Bobby Jenks promptly served up a three run homer to hang Garland on the losing side of the decision. Garland has been very good in June posting a 2.54 E.R.A. through four starts but the White Sox offense has been so bad that he is only 1-2 over that stretch. The White Sox offensive woes combined with the fact that Garland doesn't strikeout many hitters doesn't make him an attractive fantasy starter right now.
Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim is currently 6-3 with a 3.80 earned run average along with a K/9 rate of 7.17. On the negative side Weaver currently has a WHIP of 1.53 and he is allowing 9.98 H/9. Weaver will face the Pittsburgh Pirates today so he should fair well. So far in 2007 Weaver's K/9 are down his BB/9 and H/9 are up as well as his BAA (.209 in 2006 .278 in 2007) but he is still a quality pitcher, just not an outstanding pitcher.
Stetson University Hall of Famer Lenny Dinardo will make his fifth start since joining the Oakland Athletics starting rotation on May 29th today against the New York Mets. After Dinardo's first three starts he had a 0.52 earned run average and two of the three were quality starts. Unfortunately, Dinardo took a big hit in his last start (vs. St. Louis) allowing five earned runs and lasting only 3.2 innings. Additionally, in the unfortunate column, Dinardo's fantasy worth is hurt by the fact that his walks have skyrocketed since becoming a starter ( 4 BB in 19.1 IP as a reliever and 12 BB in 21 IP as a starter). Dinardo is having a productive year with an overall E.R.A. of 2.21 but he will need to get his walks under control if he wants to stay in the starting rotation. Dinardo will be matched up against Tom Glavine (0-4 in last 5 starts) of the New York Mets (4-13 in June) today so he should have a good chance of collecting a win.
