Investing & Maybe Fantasy Baseball

Chris Tillman flashed dominance in his start at Boston last night. During the first three innings he relied heavily on his fastball, throwing it 87% of the time. In the 4th and 5th he started using his curveball and changeup more often, which is when he started to look dominant. Why didn’t he use them earlier on in the game? He was only able to go 5.3 innings because of the pitch count. Throughout the game he had loose command of fastball, which caused his pitch count to be so high.

Dan Haren had a better outing compared to his first one. The box score of 5 innings and 10 hits wasn’t a true indicator of how well he pitched because two of the hits were fluky. A lot of the White Sox batters looked uncomfortable at the plate (i.e. they took bad swings). He showed a glimpse of the old Haren when he threw two consecutive splitters to get out of a bases loaded jam. That said, he would lose his command from batter to batter. He’s a long ways away from the vintage Haren, but he’s a spot starter in the right matchup.

Wade Davis looked a lot better than his first start of the year. He utilized his secondary pitches more – specifically throwing the curveball to begin more at-bats. His command of the fastball was still extremely loose, but in the 5th inning he showed a glimpse of being a viable fantasy starter; his breaking ball and changeup were sharp and was able to locate the fastball while changing speeds on his fastball.

Aaron Hicks looks lost at the plate; he can’t pick up the ball well. A week or two from now he’ll be in Triple-A.

Brad Peacock had a better outing than his first outing. This go-round he had better command of his fastball and utilized his curveball more. However, with the lack of a third pitch (changeup) and an out pitch his fantasy ceiling will be limited to spot starter in big ball parks; big ballparks because he’s extremely homer prone.

Tom Milone is not a good pitcher and yet people refer to his success as “magic” on twitter. Like Peacock, Milone is very homer prone and needs to pitch in a cavernous ballpark, like the Oakland Coliseum, to be effective as he has a below average fastball and relies on command and deception to get outs. In two years Milone will either be a loogy or out of the Majors.

Casper Wells was claimed by the Toronto Blue Jays, which probably means he’ll be the the 4th outfielder. Rajai Davis will probably see a dramatic decrease in playing time if he’s still on the roster a few days from now.

R.A. Dickey’s poor performance a few days ago could have been due to a cracked finger nail.

Brandon Maurer’s box score looks bad; 0.67 innings and six earned runs. I own him in all leagues because I thought he could miss a good amount of bats and he would pitch the majority of his games in the friendly confines of the AL West. He started the game throwing 94 mph fastballs, which gave the illusion this could be a promising start. However, that quickly faded as he hung a slider to Jose Altuve, the leadoff hitter, then proceeded to either consistently miss his location or throw strikes in the middle of the zone. He eventually got pulled after getting hit in the right leg by a line drive. The raw ingredients are there for him to be a quality starting pitcher, but he needs a lot of refinement of his command. He should be dropped in all one year leagues.

Despite the poor box score Roberto Hernandez was fairly dominant. A lot of the hits came from weak contact that snuck between the defenders. He hit two batters, which is a good thing as he was trying to work and control the inner half of the strike zone. The 18.3% strikeout is legit; he throws a changeup/splitter that perfectly compliments the sinker-slider. Like I said a few days Hernandez is someone you should get because easily could have only allowed 1-2 ERs instead of the 5 last night.

Lance Lynn looked like the Lynn we saw the first half of last year; his fastball velocity averaged 92 mph and touched 95 a couple of times. In his first start his fastball topped at 92 so needless to say I’m glad his velocity was back. In his first start he fell off to the first base side towards the end of his delivery, but last night he was finishing his pitches and looked a lot better this go-round.

Tim Lincecum had trouble commanding his fastball the entire game; he walked the pitcher twice. After the first time through the order the Rockies hitters were swinging at the first pitch because they knew it would be something offspeed. At times he looked very dominant, but it was only in short bursts (a couple of pitches at a time). During the latter innings he was visibly frustrated with his pitch location.

Jarrod Parker didn’t look right the entire game. His fastball velocity looked fine (93-95 mph) and he was able to locate his changeup in and out of the zone. Throughout the game he was constantly stretching on the mound; Athletics Pitching Coach Curt Young made at least four visits to mound to talk to him. I think there’s something wrong with him because he hasn’t looked like his normal self in his first two starts of the year.