As to pitching, last week Jared Weaver had his expected blow-up/correction and this week Garza, Danks, and Shields had theirs. Their three combined "Corrections" generated 14.3 IP, a 12.558 ERA, a 2.302 WHIP with only 8 K's. Strangely enough and to the overall credit of my pitching staff, the other seven starts plus Soria and Villanueva generated a 1.376 ERA, 0.803 WHIP, 39 K's, a 3.25:1 K to BB ratio, with five wins and two saves. So my pitching week ended up actually pretty good (total 3.780 ERA and 1.125 WHIP).
Week Nine Free Agents - In my opinion, the FA pool was picked as clean as a rack of ribs around me. I would like to have had a decent option to pick up a SP, but none were better than what I had still off the DL. I did pick up Hundley (another part-timer) to replace Bard. Despite my troubles, I am basically standing pat rather than toss good "money" after bad.
Week Nine Plans - My pitching could be in for a rough week with two games in TEX, one in TOR, one against NYY, and one against PHI. One against CIN could be trouble too. However, I do not have enough options to cover all the risks. Just one of those weeks where you have to trust that your best starts are that way for a reason.
I get Guillen and Ethier back. While Ethier is a no brainer, until Guillen gets 2B eligibility (if he plays all seven games this week which is unlikely he could get the dual eligibility by the end of this week), in order to get Guillen into my line up I have to sit down Andruw Jones (CWS six home games against all right handers), or DeJesus (seven home games with only one left hander planned). DeJesus is not a star but he is pretty consistent, although last week except for the two SB, his BA was pretty empty. I just do not know what I will get out of Jones and even with the abundance of RHers, he will start maybe five games. If I sit Jones, he is guaranteed to go off, however. Right now I am leaning on benching DeJesus.
Getting Furcal back last week is a step in the right direction for my decimated MI. Jason Donald has so far been a decent little find, so when I finally get Roberts back, I can regulate Guzman back where he belongs...the bench.
CM is a mess as Votto has a stiff neck (I can only hope that is all) and Ramirez has been a waste. Tejada is serving as my CM but would be more valuable as a MI. It would be nice if there was an upgrade out there.
Week Ten Planning - Since Quahogs asked, I will give a little insight into my planning a little early...for the next several weeks, I plan on not sucking so bad.
