Investing & Maybe Fantasy Baseball

After a shaky first two innings, Brad Peacock settled down looked like a solid pitcher, retiring eight Athletics hitters in a row before being pulled in the 5th inning. At the beginning of the game he was only throwing a curveball and fastball, which allowed hitters to sit dead red on a pitch. However, at the start of the 3rd inning, also when he began his hitless streak, he started throwing his changeup, which allowed his fastball to play up. His fastball sat in the low 90s and the curveball sat 73-75 mph. By utilizing the changeup, which sat 79-81 mph added a wider separation in the velocity of all his pitches. If he’s going to be successful he’s going to need the changeup. His next three starts are at Seattle, at Oakland and home against Seattle. In 12+ team mixed leagues, Peacock should be picked up.

Dan Straily did not pitch as well as box score would suggest. He missed a lot of bats, but 7 out of the 11 strikeouts came from Brett Wallace and Rick Ankiel, both of which are struggling on fastballs high in the zone. Despite the great performance the A’s optioned him to Triple-A to make room for Bartolo Colon, who will pitch today. Straily should be owned 12+ mixed leagues because he’ll be the first one called up when there’s an injury.

Wade Davis’ couldn’t locate his pitches in his brief outing against the Phillies last night. When he missed, he missed in the middle of the zone. The average velocity of his fastball and its other variations were down compared to 2011, the last time he was a starting pitcher, 90.6 mph and 91.4 mph respectively. I’m not sold on Davis as a starter because all of his pitches are thrown with the same velocity except for the curveball, which he only threw four times. If there’s no separation in velocity hitters will gear up for one speed the entire game, making the pitches more hittable.

Ivan Nova stayed at the “in” yesterday as he was inefficient and ineffective. He looked in bursts but he was unable to go for the jugular, instead trying to be cute by hugging the corners. Checkout the Nova’s heat map for the game yesterday.

Brandon Mauer has miss bat stuff, but he learned a valuable lesson: if you make a mistake, big league hitters are going to punish those mistakes. He throws a low 90s fastball and knockout slider. His control of his changeup and curveball is still pretty loose, especially the curveball. I unfortunately started him in all my NFBC leagues so my ratios are going to be the dumps the next couple of weeks and I’m still on up in the air if I’ll start him again. Next week he’s scheduled to play against Houston and Texas at home next week.

Jose Valverde signed a minor league deal with the Tigers yesterday. Valverde is the pitcher you want to own in the Tigers bullpen if you’re looking for saves. Valverde is not a good pitcher, but the closer position is a fantasy position bred out of opportunity and the Tigers will give him every opportunity to succeed.

Kris Medlen looked nothing like the Medlen we saw at the end of last year; he had trouble commanding his pitchers (only 62% of his pitches were strikes) and left some balls up. The biggest thing I noticed was the lack of a feel for the changeup, his best pitch; too many times it was thrown out of the zone. Medlen doesn’t overpower hitters, but instead relies on movement to generate outs. If his changeup doesn’t improve his upside will be limited. The cold and wet conditions could have contributed to his poor performance, but I think this performance is more of an indication of who he is than what he did last year.

No timetable for Jason Motte to come off the DL. Mitchell Boggs is the pitcher you want now, but I believe Trevor Rosenthal will have the most saves for the Cardinals this season.

Stephen Drew has been cleared for baseball activity; he could be ready to play on Monday.

The biggest takeaway from Lance Lynn’s start last night was how low his velocity was. Last night his fastball averaged 91 mph and touched 92.7 mph. Last year his fastball sat at 92.7 and touched as high as 96.9 mph; also, his fastball sat at 92.8 mph in his first start in 2012 so his fastball velocity was considerably down. Last year he relied on his plus fastball to setup his secondary offerings. On their own, the secondary stuff (curveball, changeup and slider) is average. His next start is a bad matchup, at home against the Reds. I’m going to bench him in my leagues so I can get another look at him.

If you read my fantasy guide you will have seen I did not believe in Chris Davis, but so far this season he’s been locked in and has looked really good.

Greg Holland got his first save of 2013 today, but it wasn’t pretty; after getting out the first two hitters, he lost control of his fastball. What proceeded next was he walked a hitter and have up a solid single to Gordon Beckham after falling behind 2-0.

With the news of Scott Kazmir going to the DL,Trevor Bauer will start on Saturday at Tampa Bay.

Hiroki Kuroda is expected to make his next start on Monday.

Brian Roberts left the game today with a knee injury. He hurt it trying to steal a base.

Ervin Santana, a deep mixed league sleeper, only gave up five hits in six innings. Unfortunately, three of those hits left the ballpark. All the home runs were hit on fastballs, two of which were exactly in the middle of the zone. Yesterday his fastball sat at 90 mph and maxed out at 91.9 mph. Last year his average fastball velocity was 91.7 mph and topped out at 95.6. Home runs were a big problem for Santana last year; if his fastball velocity doesn’t improve he may not be ownable in a deep mixed.