Ever looked at your team and thought you had a good day… that is until you continued scrolling down and saw your pitching? In my Yahoo league (my only league) I see my entire batting stats before I see any of my pitching. Well to my surprisingly over confidence in Ian Snell, my whole day was ruined. My batting was solid at 9/34, 4 runs, 2 doubles, 1 HR, 4 RBI, 1 SB, and 2BB. Nothing to write home about, but definitely could be worse (that and my team was struggling in hitting homers and driving in runs until about a month ago). So when I remembered that I had Snell start against the Southsiders, I hoped for an average day. Knowing that he has pitched awful this year, but has shown recent improvement I didn’t want to miss out on any possibilities of another Snell of old performance (and by old I mean last years potential he showed). Enough ranting, as my heartburn has subsided as I remove Snell from his next scheduled start.
Ian Snell- Who was in his bandwagon to start the year (you know you are out there, start shamelessly raising your hand (me)). I figured he would have turned his season around after having a good game against the D’Backs, and then against Washington. Oops, big mistake! How could I think that he could pitch well against the struggling South-Siders (5-5 Win-Loss in the last ten and their 6 game win streak against KC and MIN did not prove much in my books)? I guess I was wrong. I am starting to think that he is a bust for this year. Tonight he walked 6, allowed 9 hits and 7 runs all in 4 innings of work. That takes talent to perform so poorly. Keep him on your bench if you still have faith in his potential for striking people out (next start is against Toronto, who he should sit anyway), but until he proves himself against top teams, he might be worth dropping in almost all format.
Hiroki Kuroda- Is having a MRI on his pitching shoulder following his worst performance of the season. This could be bad news for owners everywhere (and I held on to him after his CG SHO, and his next best start). If you sold him, great job. If not, you’re SOL.
Michael Bourn- Don’t look now, but he is nine for his last 20. They have all been singles, but he has scored only four times, which is more a product of his team (though 4 of the 10 times he is on base in this streak he has scored which is still good). The best part though is that he has stolen 3 bases. Although not stealing as many bases as he was in the beginning of the seasons, he is now back to at least getting on base to have a chance for those steals.
Ty Wigginton- Last year his best months were June and July, and so far this June he is pretty shaky. Look for a bit of a rebound and the best part is his multiple position eligibility that he has.
Robinson Cano- As most dedicated fantasy players know he is a Post-All-star beast. Look to buy low, and reap the benefits in the second half. I know I did and am looking forward to his +.182 second-half slugging that he has(.906 slugging post compared to .724 pre-all-star break).
Jason Bartlett- Stole his 15th base last night and went 2/4 to boot. He now has a mini hit streak going on of four games (7/13 in that span, with two runs, four RBIs, and four stolen bases). His slugging and OPS is off by a hundred points from last year, and he had a July swoon with a massive August. However, he is on pace to pass his 23 steals from last year.
