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Its been a long time, let's see if I still have the hang of this....



Do you like ground ball pitchers?

Draft Tim Hudson.

Hudson was the only pitcher to induce over 400 ground balls last year.

To those that scoff, of the top 10 pitchers in ground balls induced, only two had an E.R.A. over four, Jake Westbrook and Mark Buehrle.



My thinking is, what is the worst thing that can happen with a ground ball? Doubles down the lines, maybe? Two or three seeing eye hits?

Like strikeouts with your ground outs?...

Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter, Felix Hernandez, and CC Sabathia qualified as getting close to seven strike outs per nine innings and were also in the top 10 of inducing ground balls.



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What about fly ball pitchers?

Ervin Santana leads the list. Followed by Livan Hernandez and Rodrigo Lopez. Ugghhh.

High ranked pitchers in the fly ball inducers arena, are Dan Haren, Matt Cain, and Matt Garza.

Mark Buehrle makes BOTH top 10 lists. A testament to his low of 4.24 k's per nine innings, the second lowest strike out rate in the Major Leagues (Kyle Kendrick, 4.18 per nine innings)



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Phil Hughes had his problems last year. To the everyday baseball fan, he was fine, not many pitchers can say they won 18 games.

Hughes pitch counts usually got him in trouble. He was a five-six inning pitcher. Fortunately for Hughes, he would leave the game with a lead.

In fact, nobody enjoyed run support like Hughes last year. Of qualifying pitchers (160 innings or more), Hughes support was a full run per game over every other pitcher in baseball. The Yankees averaged a whopping 9.6 runs in Hughes pitched games.



The top 10 of well supported pitchers, for the most part, well, needed that support. Only two pitchers of good support had E.R.A.'s south of four, Yovani Gallardo and Jonathon Sanchez, the rest are inning eaters or pitchers you like your fantasy hitters to be facing, they include, Kendrick, Blanton, Niese, Cecil, Bonderman, Volstad, and Wade Davis. These pitchers all have questionable abilities in one area or another, don't expect the same amount of wins next year as well.



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23 pitchers had an eight strike outs to nine inning ratio. Only one had a E.R.A. that was north of four. That statistic accentuates what a pitchers year it was. Not only a pitchers year, but a power pitchers year.

The lone pitcher that didn't join the party?

James Shields. And it wasn't close. Shields E.R.A. was 5.15. As if that wasn't bad enough, Shields led the Majors in giving up hits, runs, earned runs, and home runs.

Is there a reverse Cy Young Award winner?



[ January 24, 2011, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo, you're saying we should target Yunesky Maya types?

Originally posted by NorCalAtlFan:

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo, you're saying we should target Yunesky Maya types?

Originally posted by NorCalAtlFan:

Sooooooooooooooooooooooo, you're saying we should target Yunesky Maya types? Shhh, that's his sleeper. He got it from an expert.

Since you brought up the subject, Emory



Emory is referring to my previous posts in which I've decided not to buy any publication that has the words 'expert' or 'sleeper' on the cover.

I feel that neither exists, unless, we are all experts and all players are sleepers at one point of our lives....which come to think of it, is a lot more viable than somebody being at the top of the heap all the time, but I digress.



I am not reading Shandler, for some reason, they think they are 'real experts'. I guess that makes them the only experts and everybody else is lying....it is all so confusing.



So far, I have picked up two publications, 'The Bill James Handbook' and 'lindys'. As always, the Handbook is a must read for the baseball fan more so than the fantasy guy. Good Stuff.

Lindys didn't use the 'words' and was not worth the purchase price. It was chock full of information that should be commonly known to most in the NFBC.



I haven't missed the publications. For the most part, they organize information for us. I've found that it is more fun diving in and organizing my own information.



Of course, this puts one's mind in several places at once and if drafting at the same time, it is possible to get 'Maya'd'.



The inside joke on Maya is that I thought he was the minimum, a four dollar player in the contract draft. He was actually $20. In the stroke of a keyboard, Yunesky Maya became my third highest paid player.

I could have bought eight bags of Doritos with that money.

It was like seeing a pair of cheap jeans at the store for four dollars, only to have the register ring up $20. Upon questioning the tranaction, you are told that THOSE jean's weren't on sale and being also shown the 'No refunds or exchanges' sign over the door.



[ January 24, 2011, 06:09 PM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]

Well.... the best GM make mistakes. Do you think you should be fired?

Originally posted by LONG GONE:

Well.... the best GM make mistakes. Do you think you should be fired? Kelly, you seemed to have a one track mind.



But, since YOU brought the subject up...

Signing Butler for four years was a good move by your favorite GM.

Not that Butler is great or is going to be great, but, it sends a message that somebody of competence WANTS to play in KC.



This is one of those deals where the player or owner doesn't necessarily 'win'. But, it is good for the fans and more importantly, to the crop of kids coming up that you have so/too much faith in.



[ January 24, 2011, 06:44 PM: Message edited by: DOUGHBOYS ]

dans cost 16 buckeyes. daytons 50 million of 'em. dan could build 2 dorito plants with that "dough"