Author: Brandon Funston

There was but one noteworthy blown save on Sunday, and it was only noteworthy because of the unlikely victim. For just the fourth time in the past 143 trips to the hill in a regular season game, Mariano Rivera(notes) blew a save opportunity.

Called on to preserve a 3-1 lead against Minnesota with the bases loaded and two outs in the eighth inning, Rivera walked in a run before giving up the grand slam to Jason Kubel(notes). For Rivera owners, this is a big "Whatever." It could be months before we see another blown save from Rivera. But that Kubel was the one to do the damage is intriguing.

I took some flak for putting Kubel at No. 100 on my Big Board this preseason. But I had what I believed were valid reasons. For one, he was coming off a .300/28/103 breakout campaign. He also sits pretty in the Twins lineup, closely following OBP machines Joe Mauer(notes) and Justin Morneau(notes). And he happens to share my birthday, and I always look out for my fellow Gemini. But what really piqued my interest with Kubel this offseason was when a friend from Inside Edge, a company that does insanely in-depth charting of every MLB pitch during the season, showed me a list of "Well Struck" leaders from ’09 that had Kubel among the top five, right next to Mr. Albert Pujols(notes) and other A-list hitters. Inside Edge came up with criteria for determining when a player teed off on a pitch, whether the result was a base hit or not. And Kubel was among the leaders in this category. Regardless of how much subjectivity may go into deciding a "Well Struck" ball, any player that winds up surfacing to the top of this list over the course of a 162-game season demands attention.

Unfortunately for Kubel and his owners, he’s endured a rough start to 2010, entering Sunday with a .224/2/11/8/0 fantasy line. But Sunday might be the start of nice turnaround. Kubel has a long track record of April/May struggles – his career OPS for April is .695 and his May mark is .712, while he sits in the mid-.800s for the remaining four months of the season combined. The ball he stroked over the fence against Rivera was low and inside and it was impressive that Kubel was able to drive it out of the yard. I’ve got a hunch that this could be the kind of confidence booster that sends Kubel on a roll. He only had five home runs through two months last season and then blew up with eight June bombs. If you are in the hunt for power, it’s probably a good time (although, admittedly, any point before today was better) to pitch a low-ball offer for Kubel in hopes that the June lightning strikes twice.

• If a Kubel deal seems implausible or too involved given your current situation, Luke Scott(notes) is another power play possibility – he’s available in roughly 90 percent of Yahoo! leagues. Scott hit his fifth home run of May on Sunday – it was the only blemish for Indians pitcher Jake Westbrook(notes) in his complete game victory over Baltimore. Scott has averaged 16 home runs from May through July the past two seasons, so it jibes historically that he’s starting to hit his stride now. It’s no secret that he’s available to any contender looking for some left-handed pop, and I suspect we’ll start hearing his name more prominently in the coming weeks as the trade rumor mill kicks into a higher gear.

• Storm clouds are forming around the current No. 1 player in Yahoo! leagues, Andre Ethier(notes). As an invested owner, his fractured pinky suffered Saturday night during batting practice is a potential kick in the groin with Sebastian Janikowski-type force. The Dodgers are planning to give Ethier another day to see what the level of pain is going to be before deciding on Tuesday whether he’ll require a DL stint. It’s the type of injury that will have to heal on its own, so Ethier can keep playing if he can deal with the pain and swing the bat effectively while doing so. After reading Ethier’s comments in describing the pain, I’m betting on the DL stint.

• Last week, Philly manager Charlie Manuel said it was time to start using reliever J.C. Romero(notes) more often and that he could be employed anywhere from the seventh to the ninth inning. On Sunday, with Jose Contreras(notes) having worked the two previous games, Manuel turned to Romero to close out a 4-2 game against Milwaukee. Romero proved up to the task, pitching a perfect ninth inning. Of course, facing Gregg Zaun(notes), Jody Gerut(notes), Craig Counsell(notes) isn’t exactly a high-pressure set up. But give Romero credit nonetheless. With Brad Lidge(notes) on the DL, Romero will likely continue to get the occassional ninth-inning opportunity.

• You have to feel good for Jeff Francis(notes). Because of arm troubles, he’d gone 20 months without kicking a major league rubber in a regular season game before facing off with Washington on Sunday. Francis held the Nationals to just one run, striking out six and walking two in a seven-inning no-decision. Rookie Ian Desmond(notes) was the only Nats player to produce an extra-base hit against Francis, who allowed seven hits in total.

• I’m not recommending that Francis warrants attention in anything other than very deep leagues. But his opponent on Sunday, Scott Olsen(notes), might. Olsen pitched 6.2 innings of one-run ball against Colorado, allowing five hits and one walk, while striking out three. In his past five starts, Olsen owns a 1.11 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and a 25/7 K-to-BB ratio in 32.1 IP. Olsen is relying heavily on his slider this season – throwing it nearly 30 percent of the time – and for good reason. In terms of pitch value, Olsen has produced one of the top 10 sliders among starters this season. Olsen is expected to face Baltimore next. The O’s have scored the fourth-fewest runs in the league. After that, Olsen gets the Giants (10th-fewest runs) and Houston (fewest runs). The conditions couldn’t be better for an Olsen test drive.

• Troy Glaus(notes), who homered off Bob Howry(notes) on Sunday after Atlanta rudely kicked Arizona starter Dan Haren(notes) to the curb, has received repeated mentions in my MLB Skinny columns, so I’m not going to paint the big Glaus picture here once again. I’ll just point out his Yahoo! ownership (12%) and his May numbers (.400, 3 HR, 16 RBI, 8 R, 14 games) and let you plan your own course of action.

• As a Mariners fan, I never cared much for Brandon Morrow(notes). Certainly much of my disdain for Morrow was born when M’s GM Bill Bavasi selected him instead of Seattle-area high school/college star Tim Lincecum(notes) in the ’06 MLB Draft – I’ll never relinquish the dream of a Lincecum-King Felix top of the rotation. But I always felt like Morrow had too much Nuke LaLoosh to his game. He often looked lost on the hill and his control was a threat to team mascot, the Mariner Moose. But on the occasions that he’s properly breathing through his eyelids like the lava lizards of the Galapagos Islands, like Sunday when he whiffed eight, walked one and allowed just two runs in six innings to beat the Rangers, you see why he’s a special talent. Full disclosure of Sunday’s outing, Morrow actually wasn’t breathing through his eyelids. He actually credits Shaun Marcum(notes) for correcting a mechanical flaw. Said Morrow of what Marcum discovered:

"When I’m really bad mechanically, like I was in Boston (his previous start), I have a tendency to break down on my back side and become really rotational and spin open. Today I was just a lot slower mechanically. To anybody who watched last week and this week, that was probably the biggest difference, staying tall with my body and slowing down my mechanics."

He also went on to say that the difference on Sunday was noticeable from the get-go and was like "night and day" from his previous start. He also said the performance felt "… kinda radical in a kinda tubular way. You know? But most of all it’s out there."

• In case you missed it earlier today, Andy Behrens covered the latest hot-button closer situations.

Quick hits: Although he picked up a loss, Wade LeBlanc(notes) allowed just one run in seven innings against the Dodgers, the fourth time in his past five outings that he’s pitched at least six innings and allowed two runs or less … Joel Pineiro(notes) pitched a complete game shutout against the A’s, allowing four hits and striking out five. He has a 0.84 ERA in his past 21.1 IP … Chad Billingsley(notes) continues to shake off the funk of a couple sour mid-April outings. He picked up his third win in his past five outings on Sunday, blanking the Padres for seven innings … Bronson Arroyo(notes) usually waits until August and/or September to become relevant in fantasy leagues, but he’s won three games in his past four starts, including a complete game, two-run effort against St. Louis on Sunday … Cliff Lee(notes) was masterful (8 IP, 2 ER, 10 K) in a 2-1 loss to Tampa on Sunday. The Mariners have little hope of righting their ship and you can all but count on Lee getting moved sometime in the next couple months … If you only needed 5.2 innings instead of six innings to qualify for a Quality Start, Atlanta’s Tim Hudson(notes) would be a perfect 8-for-8 in that category. He held Arizona to a run over eight innings on Sunday and only his 5.2 IP, two-run victory over San Diego on April 15th stands between him and Quality Start perfection … Howie Kendrick(notes) went 3-for-4 on Sunday. He’s been hitting in the No. 2 spot in the order of late and any kind of positive reinforcement Kendrick can give manager Mike Scioscia for making that lineup change is a good thing.

Alright, I’ve got my weekly MLB Skinny to piece together starting as soon as I awake tomorrow and knock back some Grape Nuts. So I better leave myself something to write about. Until then, the floor is all yours …

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Photos via Getty Images

The Rangers had no need for a ninth-inning relief hero in its Sunday afternoon route of the sinking Mariners, but had they required the services of a closer, that man would have been 21-year-old Neftali Feliz(notes). The fireballer with the 96 mph average fastball has been appointed the team’s temporary closer while Frank Francisco(notes) works through his generosity issues – 7 H, 2 BB, 6 ER allowed in his past 1 IP.

Feliz was two-for-three in save opps and whiffed 39 batters in 31 IP in his two-month Texas debut last season. Simply put, he has the makings of a fantastic closer. But Rangers manager Ron Washington went out of his way to emphasize the fact that this will only be a temporary gig for Feliz.

"He’s our closer until I get Frankie back there," said Washington before Sunday’s game. "Frankie will be the closer of the Texas Rangers. We’re just giving him a chance to get himself together."

Washington actually explains in greater detail than you typically get from a manager his expectations for a Francisco return in this AP story.

In terms of actionable fantasy advice, the obvious point here is to grab Feliz, if he is available. But he entered the day rostered in 80 percent of Yahoo! leagues, and you can count on that gap having closed considerably throughout the course of the day.

As for Francisco owners, you should probably keep him around in competitve leagues of 12 teams or more. If we’re to believe that Washington won’t end up falling in love with Feliz as the ninth-inning option, then Francisco may only be a couple weeks, or a handful of quality outings, away from getting his job back.

• Cleveland’s Chris Perez(notes) hoped to close out Detroit on Sunday, but instead he walked three batters, allowed a single and a double along the way and let the Tigers’ winning run score from third on a wild pitch to rookie Scott Sizemore(notes) with two outs. After a seemless two saves in as many opportunities coming into Sunday, we finally got to see the dark side of Perez. Control issues have been his bugaboo during his short career – 53 walks in 101.2 IP. If he’s going to Wally Pipp the injured Kerry Wood(notes), his control lapses have to be at a much more manageable level. He could have survived a couple hits and a walk on Sunday. But instead, after he walked Ramon Santiago(notes) to load the bases with two outs, he let the situation consume him. The next batter, pinch hitter Johnny Damon(notes), was walked on four pitches and then the wild pitch to Sizemore followed to end things.

"I can’t walk Santiago in that situation," Perez said. "He’s a bench player, and I’ve got to make him hit the ball with two out, but everything was leaking away from me, and I just couldn’t make the right adjustment. The same thing happened with Damon."

In reality, Perez could afford to walk Santiago in that situation – first base was open and the lead was still in tact. His comment about Santiago being a bench player leads me to question his focus. Bench players end up hurting opposing teams on a daily basis in the majors. He shouldn’t be dwelling on the fact that he let a "bench" player get the better of him. His sole purpose is to preserve a lead, and he still had it even after walking Santiago. But it seemed clear that the walk to Santiago messed Perez up in a big way.

• Drew Stubbs(notes) is a thing of beauty on the base paths. He stole two bases against Cubs lefty Tom Gorzelanny(notes) on Sunday. In doing so, he displayed excellent timing on his jumps, a smooth stride and little wasted motion from start to finish. Oh, and I should mention that the dude can flat out fly. He’s a special base stealing talent, no doubt. Unfortunately, his ability to make consistent contact is not so special. He whiffed three times on Sunday, his second straight game with a K hat trick.

• Reds manager Dusty Baker opted to go with Jay Bruce(notes) as a pinch-hitter in a 1-1 tie, one-out, bases loaded situation in the bottom of seventh inning against Cubs lefty Sean Marshall(notes). Consider this just more fuel for the fire for all the Baker second-guessers – and, let’s be honest, isn’t that pretty much everybody? Bruce is a career sub-Mendoza Line hitter against southpaws and he stepped into the box on Sunday with an 0-for-3 line against lefties this season. The Reds announcers speculated that Baker might have been trying to get Bruce’s confidence going considering that if Bruce ended up putting wood on the ball, there was a very good chance he’d drive in a run even if he got out. Of course, Marshall ended up striking Bruce out, and the way Bruce was seen muttering to himself and pacing when he got back to the dugout, you have to think that his confidence against lefties has sunk even lower.

• Gorzelanny put forth a nice effort in the Cubs’ 3-1 loss to the Reds, striking out seven and not allowing an earned run in 6.2 innings of work. He did allow an unearned run when left fielder Alfonso Soriano(notes) let what should have been an easily-caught fly ball by Jonny Gomes(notes) bounce out of his glove with one out, two-on in the seventh inning. Said one of the Reds announcers of Soriano’s glove work, "That’s just embarrasing." Soriano also struck out twice and went hitless to lower his season average to .143.

• Not to belabor the Reds-Cubs affair, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Reds starter Mike Leake’s(notes) major league debut – the Reds’ top draft pick last year became the first pitcher since Darren Dreifort in 1994 to make his MLB debut without having played in the minors. Among other things, Leake is lauded for his composure, no doubt one of the main reasons the Reds felt he could handle bypassing the minor leagues. He showed that cool under pressure by pithing out of multiple jams on Sunday to finish with just one run allowed in 6.2 innings. But he walked seven batters and, from my way of thinking, he spent way too much time and energy trying to nibble the outside corner on Sunday. Leake’s a control pitcher with a deep bag of tricks but he’s not overpowering, and it might not be an unreasonable approach for him to try to live on the outside. But I’d feel a lot better about how he pitched today if he had shown an ability to work inside on ocassion.

• Florida closer Leo Nunez(notes) managed to close out the Dogers with a scoreless ninth to preserve a 6-5 lead. He allowed a hit and walk to make things interesting, but he knuckled down when things got tight and relied on seven straight change-ups to finish out the game unscathed. In the process, he got the benefit of some questionable calls from the home plate umpire. But there’s nothing that says a save has to be pretty.

• Speaking of knuckling down, Dodgers starter Charlie Haeger(notes), a knuckleballer, fanned seven of the first 10 Marlins he faced and finished with 12 strikeouts, and three earned runs allowed, in a six-inning no-decision. I watched a couple innings of his outing and he definitely had his floater jumping – twice he allowed batters to reach first base after a swinging Strike 3 because the catcher wasn’t able to hang on to the ball. Haeger also flashed the ocassional mid-80s fastball, which is a notch above your average knuckler’s fastball velocity, so it’s at least something for hitters to think about. But Haeger has less than 60 IP at the major league level and his minor league track record is a bit spotty (control-wise), so don’t consider him much more than a curiosity yet.

• After a diving catch by left fielder Willie Harris(notes) bailed out Washington closer Matt Capps(notes) from a bases loaded situation on Saturday, Capps worked a perfect ninth Sunday to pick up his third save of the season. Capps was roughed up last season and this spring, marking him as an early-exit closer by many in the fantasy community. And, man, did you see teammate Tyler Clippard(notes) blow away seven Mets in three innings of relief on Saturday to set up Capps? It’s easy to envision Clippard’s high heat filling a ninth-inning role for the Nats. But give Capps credit. He hasn’t allowed a run in four outings this season and, for now, there’s no closer controversy in Washington.

• Bobby Jenks(notes) avoided a blown save against Minnesota on Sunday, thanks to negligent base running by J.J. Hardy(notes). With Hardy on first base with two outs in the ninth and Chicago protecting a 5-4 lead, Twins pinch hitter Jim Thome(notes) drilled a two-strike offering by Jenks into the left-centerfield gap. But Sox left fielder Juan Piere got the ball in to cutoff man Mark Teahen(notes) quickly – in fact Teahen got the ball just a beat after Hardy hit third base. Hardy, who didn’t think third baseman Teahen, or any other Sox infielder for that matter, would be in position to cut the ball off because of the big shift put on for Thome, continued home as the throw to catcher A.J. Pierzynski(notes) beat him by roughly half a baseline.

"It just turned out that Teahen goes back out there as the relay guy. It’s probably a play that no one’s ever practiced it and it worked out for them," Hardy said.

• Tip of the cap to old school ace Roy Halladay(notes), who became the first pitcher to record a complete game this season. In the 2-1 victory over the Astros, Halladay needed just 111 pitches (0 walks). In addition, he yielded 11 ground balls to just 5 fly balls and Houston did not record an extra-base hit.

• How bad is the Houston offense? Well, consider this: The Arizona Diamondbacks scored as many runs (13) in one inning against Pittsburgh on Sunday as the Astros have scored all season. You could argue that a better question would be, how bad is the Pirates pitching? Pittsburgh now sports a jumbo-jet sized 7.47 ERA after its 15-6 shellacking on Sunday.

• Albert Pujols(notes) and Matt Holliday(notes) hit back-to-back, two-out ninth inning home runs off Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman(notes) to erase a three-run deficit and tie up the score with the Brewers at 7-7. I was tempted to push this Closing Time live before the conclusion of this last game of the day, but I knew better than to assume any lead is safe when Pujols is involved. Casey McGehee(notes) bailed Hoffman out with a walk-off shot in the bottom of the ninth, but after blowing a save on Friday to the Cards, Hoffman surely can’t head out to Chicago for the next series fast enough.

Quick hits: Colleague Andy Behrens called Aroldis Chapman’s(notes) Triple-A debut on Sunday "dazzling." But a blunder by Chapman cost him the win, as Behrens explains … You might also be interested in Behren’s take on another mega-hyped pitcher making his Triple-A debut on Sunday … outfielder Jose Guillen(notes) was one of Sunday’s top hitting stars, banging out two home runs and driving in four runs in a loss to Boston. If Guillen gets bumped back up into a clean-up role, he becomes a very interesting waiver wire commodity, if he hasn’t already. He battled injuries last season but he had back-to-back seasons of 20-plus home runs and 97-plus RBIs prior to ’09. He’s healthy now at a not-yet-over-the-hill 33 years of age and he’s in a contract year … Good day for owners of Arizona’s Chris Young (HR, 4 RBI). Bad day for owners of San Diego’s Chris Young (DL – shoulder tightness) … Colorado’s Carlos Gonzalez(notes) had to leave Sunday’s 4-2 victory over San Diego after three innings because of tightness in his hammy. Boston’s Jacoby Ellsbury(notes) left Sunday’s victory over Kansas City in the ninth inning after taking an Adrian Beltre(notes) knee to the ribs after the two collided while chasing a fly ball. While both are likely minor injuries, as a fantasy owner, I’ll take the bruised ribs over hamstring tightness any day.

Before I turn things over to y’all, I’ve got to give props to Phil Mickelson, who outplayed Tiger woods, Lee Westwood and a host of others on Sunday to win his third Masters title. I’m not a huge fan of watching golf, but that changes for the majors and especially The Masters. And I’m always willing to stop and watch Mickelson anytime I happen to catch him on the tube. To me, he’s the most exciting golfer in the game. Sure, when Tiger is on, he’s an unrelenting machine and his intimidation factor is off the charts. But there’s an unpredictability to Mickelson’s game – his ability to shoot a ball into an impossibly bad situation without warning and an equal ability to make an unbelievable rescue shot to save himself – that makes him more interesting to watch than anyone else out there.

Alright, I’ve had my say. What say you? — Photo via Getty Images

Nothing warms the heart of a fantasy player quite like the promise of a young pitching ace, and with that in mind we’re here to discuss a couple of Cy Youngs in Waiting, Tommy Hanson and Yovani Gallardo(notes). When it’s time to add a Young Gun to your make-believe staff, which way are you gonna go? Brandon Funston and Scott Pianowski are here to sort through it, using around 250 words each (we had Jim Leyland do the counting).

BeFun Opens: Tommy Hanson(notes) is just 23, but don’t get too comfortable using the inexperience card against him: Yovani Gallardo is the same age, and Hanson showed little of the typical concerns you’d have with a rookie. His first-pitch strike percentage, according to FanGraphs.com, ranked 10th among all starters (120 IP min.). And he clocked in at a solid 36th among starters in K/BB ratio (2.52), 14 spots ahead of Gallardo (50th).

It’s Hanson’s ability to locate his pitches that makes his slider and curveball so special. And they were special. Both pitches ranked among the top 22 most valuable among starters (again, we’re talking about a rookie), and both were more valuable than any pitch-type offering from Gallardo last season. And while not as impactful as his breaking stuff, Hanson’s fastball, at an average of 92.3 mph (same as Gallardo), is far from chump change. 

Special talent can accelerate the learning curve – Tim Lincecum(notes) and Justin Verlander(notes) are good recent examples. Hanson looks exceptional in every way. He’s delivered a 3.03 ERA or less and more than a K per IP at each professional stop. He’s also got the ideal physique (6-foot-6, 220) and repertoire of an ace.

Gallardo’s not going to treat you wrong, but there’s a wart or two that can’t be dismissed  – he followed up a lost season due to an ACL tear by finishing third in the majors with 94 walks in ’09.

With Hanson, there are strong indicators of a cathedral-like ceiling, and I’m willing to chase it.

Pianow Responds:  It’s foolish to argue against Hanson’s resume and upside, though you can find minor flags in his stat profile if you poke around. He’s a fly-ball pitcher who was somewhat lucky with his FB/HR rate last year (6.9 percent), and his BABIP (.280) and strand rate (80.3 percent) were more favorable than league averages. The stats under the hood suggested that Hanson’s 2009 ERA should have been in the mid-3s, but instead it checked in at 2.89.

I’m fine to project a strong year from Hanson, but there’s no way I’m going to expect Tim Lincecum’s 2008 season or Mark Prior’s(notes) 2003 campaign. Let’s recall a few can’t-miss sophomores who have let us down in recent years: Felix Hernandez(notes), Zack Greinke(notes), Brandon Webb(notes), any number of Florida hotshots (Willis, Johnson, Sanchez, Olsen), Joba Chamberlain(notes), Matt Cain(notes). Heck, I’m still trying to get over the 1990s scars that I got from Jason Isringhausen(notes), Bill Pulsipher and Aaron Sele(notes), sophomores gone wrong.

I realize we’re presenting Hanson vs. Gallardo as an either-or proposition, but let’s see the big picture for a moment. Early ADP returns suggest you can get Gallardo at least a round later, and I bet the gap is wider in some circles. Every logical batch of projections has these guys set to return similar numbers; Hanson might be the better ERA bet, but Gallardo’s generally pegged for a better K/9. If it comes down to a coin flip situation, give me the player with less buzz tied to him, the guy who will cost a little less. Maybe you don’t concur, but I see Bernie Brewer and the gang at Arnold’s nodding in agreement.

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