Sunday, April 19, 2009

Blue Sox hit hard by injuries...and just plain hit hard

The Blue Sox are in third place in the bgal, 3 1/2 games out of second and 8 points ahead of fourth. 14 points out of first. The biggest problem, era. I'm last in era by more than 2.5 runs from ninth, and almost five runs out of first. "Leading" the way is Chien-Ming Wang, with a 34.50 era (not a typo). I've got a lot invested in him, but at some point I'll have to cut him loose. Right now, I'm hoping he either turns it around or gets put on the D/L so I can replace him.

My relievers also stink in era, with Fuentes at 9.00 (2 saves, one blown), Ray at 7.71 (in limited work, but not really making the case to move into the closer role as I had hoped), and Percival at 6.75 (2 saves, one loss).

Brad Penny's at 11.00 era, and Jessie Litsch, before he went on the D/L, had a 9.00 era. I picked up Andrew Bailey (based on a tip from Advanced Fantasy Baseball) who has a zero era with 2 wins and 11 k's in over 8 innings of relief. He's not likely to keep up with his wins pace, but should provide some filler innings. Who knows, now that he's a Blue Sock maybe he'll start sucking.

Even my good starters are bad, with Kevin Slowey posting a 5.89 era so far. He does have two wins and 12 k's. Beckett does have an era under 4.00 (3.79) and has won 2 games with 20 k's.

The problem here is that I don't see any good way to improve my standing in era other than hope that my guys turn it around. There is no one of note available on the waiver wire (even Ryan Perry just got picked up) and I don't really want to pursue a trade right now unless it's giving up minor leaguers for starters and I think other owners will be reluctant to do that. Maybe I'll have to throw top prospects at mediocre pitchers. But in a keeper league, I really don't want to do that.

Regarding injuries, besides the aforementioned Litsch, Alex Gordon went on the D/L with the same hip problem that has sidelined A-Rod. The current prediction is 10-12 weeks. He was on fire in spring training, but again started slowly out of the gate, batting .095 with 1 home run, 3 rbi's, and a stolen base. I added Melky Cabrera to replace Gordon (moving Branyan from DH to CI) and he promptly hit a home run. DeWayne Wise was also D/L'ed, which was no big loss. I added Felix Pie, but he hasn't done much. With my current era, I'm going to have to do well in every other category. I know you've heard of punting a category, like saves or steals, but have you ever heard of punting era?

2 comments:

VeniceLover said...

I hate to play a game of one-upsmanship when it comes to which one of us is having worse luck, but I think the Grim Rippers have been hit just about as hard as anyone. I had counted on having two closers. One, Joey Devine, is out for the season. Ervine Santana, my top returning starter hasn't thrown a pitch so far. Scott Baker has been slowed by an injury and hasn't done much since coming back. And, I won't even mention Nick Adenhart. This season ranks as my worst ever for players on the DL after two weeks.

Dave Zahniser said...

I think my big point was that my team was getting hit (and also hurt). The D/L is full and no one is available on the waiver wire. Time to start making some trades to updgrade the staff.