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[DOUGHBOYS]

Once upon a time I played in a reverse Fantasy baseball league. We had to meet minimum's of at bats and innings. Last place was first place.

You wouldn't believe how much fun it is to root against players that are on your roster!



It is with that spirit that this post is written....



Apparently, Ted Lilly forgot to pay his dues to the 'Crafty Lefties Club'. Lilly, not only led left handers in giving up stolen bases, he led all of baseball.

Lilly gave up 35 stolen bases. Worse, only two thieves were nabbed off his stylings. That ratio tied another less than crafty lefty, Randy Wolf for second worst stolen base ratio's among pitchers. First, among pitchers with 15 attempts against them was Edwin Jackson. Jackson, who has never been accused of being crafty nabbed one base stealer out of 23.

When Rod Barajas and Jonathon Lucroy were asked to comment, they responded, "No F****** comment!"



Just because Lilly, Wolf, and Jackson are who we want our speed guys on base against, does not make them bad pitchers.

Let's take a look at a few good bad pitchers...



How would you like a hitter with these numbers?

.286/119/46/111/9

Fantasy goodness, right?

Those are the numbers that Bronson Arroyo gave up last year. If you saw Joey Votto shaking his head after Arroyo gave up a homer, it wasn't because of the Reds deficit, it was envy that he couldn't hit against Arroyo.



In 199 innings, Arroyo gave up 418 total bases. More than a double an inning.

Arroyo accumulated these eye popping stats after the All-Star game-

21 homers, 22 walks, 45 strike outs.

This is fantasy gold in a reverse league!

When homers and walks equal strike outs and that pitcher is going out there every fifth day, it's like Ed McMahon coming to your door every fifth day with a big check. That would be a little creepy now, since McMahon has gone to that Publishers Clearing House in the sky.



Arroyo wasn't the only bad pitcher. Kyle Drabek had 55 walks and 51 strike outs before the Jays realized that he didn't even need home runs for the bad bb/hr to k ratio.



AJ Burnett had 25 wild pitches last year. Second was a pitcher with an excuse, knuckleballer Tim Wakefield with 15.



Analysts love their ground ball pitchers. Last year the top three sinker specialists were Carl Pavano, Jake Westbrook, and Trevor Cahill. All with WHIP's over 1.35 and ERA's over 4.15.

Top 10 flyballers were Verlander, Weaver, Haren, DHudson, Carpenter, and Colby Lewis. All had a great deal of success. Maybe a fly ball pitcher is the way to go.

Oh, I did leave a name off that list, Bronson Arroyo.



Met fans, did you get that queazy feeling when DJ Carrasco entered the ball game after the All-Star break?

Mets Management didn't.

They ran him out there for 25 innings.

Hitters hit .380 against him in those innings.

Move the fences? Move Carrasco!



But, when looking for the worst pitcher for a reverse league, we are seeking an Arroyo type, not a Carrasco.

Somebody, who is making too much money to pull from the staff and has enough experience that their Managers cannot send them to AAA.

Arroyo came close and is a first round pick for next year, but he came up a little short for our MVP award (Believe me, that doesn't mean Most Valuable Player award).



Brad Penny and John Lackey.

Penny started 31 games and had 74 strike outs. Position players forced to throw the ninth inning had better ratios.

Hitters hit .306 off Penny for the year in an era where .300 hitters are not common.

Penny (men's first name, girl's last name) had a ratio that more than equals Arroyo's.

Penny had 74 strike outs last year and served up 75 extra base hits. Well done, Brad!

Penny could be a first round selection next year or not drafted at all. The off season will determine his status. If he gets signed by the Royals, he becomes an instant top five pick. Odds are that he won't be signed at all. Leaving a void in reverse leagues and hitters averages.



John Lackey was special last year. He is so cocksure of himself that while he berates an outfielder for not catching a ball near the wall, he lets himself forget how that ball got out there in the first place!

Perfect for reverse fantasy.

The mind set looked for in a reverse fantasy pitcher is to get bombed every fifth day, then tell the press, "Well yeah, me and the boys like our beer and chicken, whats it to ya?"



Lackey backed up his ego and bravado with equally bad numbers.

Lackey had 28 starts and gave a .308 average to hitters lucky enough to face him.

Lackey had 108 k's, but we were more likely to see runs off of him. He gave up 119.

Yep, his starts were less than six innings per start and the runs were more than four per start. Tough to do over a whole season.

What prevented Lackey from having a all time bad year was the pesky run support that the Red Sox offered in his starts.

Lackey had over nine runs of support in his starts. (He wasn't upset at his position players then).

He didn't let the runs deter him though.

An average pitcher like Ivan Nova would finish 16-4 with that kind of run support.

Lackey eked out a 12-12 season.

Of pitchers throwing at least 160 innings last year, Lackey's ERA of 6.41 was almost a full point over the competition.

Even in throwing a lot less innings than Lilly, he gave up a monstrous 33 stolen bases

His 1.62 WHIP was only rivaled by Penny's 1.56

Lackey's temperment was beneficial to reverse owners in other ways. After balls would zoom in and out of the park, Lackey being peeved felt that plunking a hitter would soothe him. He would lead the league in hitting batters while throwing less innings.

More reverse Gold.

Lackey hit 19 batters last year.

Although 33 pitchers gave up 200 hits last year, no pitcher did it with less innings.

A magical year.



Lackey will be undraftable next year. He had Tommy John surgery undoubtedly caused by the 'What are you guys doing to me' arm flailing'.

Carl Pavano and Arroyo look to top lists for next year. And anybody who throws for the Royals. Hitters will probably remain the same. Theriot, Brendan Ryan, Jack Wilson, and Paul Janish will be drafted high.

But, the big question is, does Adam Dunn follow up that career year with another superdud performance?

Any team that drafted him last year finished near the top of their leagues.

A true, sleeper.

[751542]

great read!

[Quahogs]

Bad pitchers and no talk of Matusz ? Hope the new MB has a hold nose graemlin



Matusz gave up two homers, bringing his total for the season to 18 in 49.2 innings, a record 3.6 HR/9 for any pitcher recording 40 IP in a single season. His 10.69 ERA also breaks the record for high ERA with at least 40 IP.(rotowire)

[DOUGHBOYS]

Sure, we know that NOW

Going into the season, Matusz was only a must start vs. Eastern Division foes. Although he pitched on the right team, it was hard to tell that he would follow up his horrible year from two years ago with a great one last year!

By the time the dust had cleared, he was sent back to the minors.



By the way, getting sent to the minors is a double whammy in reverse leagues. In the NFBC, a guy sent to the minors is more or less saving ourselves from starting him and his sorry stats.

Those stats are gold in a reverse league and we lose our best (worst) hitter!

[DOUGHBOYS]

You're right though, I should have mentioned Matusz, he was a boy amongst men last year.