Fantasy Mlb Kids Are Alright

Bobby Cox has seen the entire career of John Smoltz up close and personal, and he has seen very many great outings by Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux. Let's not discount some of the starts that Steve Avery had back in the day either, when we compute just how many amazing pitching performances he has seen over the years.

So when he throws a compliment to a young pitcher -- or any pitcher for that matter - then you would think that compliment has a lot of merit to it. If that's the case, Jair Jurrjens should be beeming after his eight inning win tonight, because Cox dropped all kinds of hyperbole on him.

"I don't think you can pitch better than that," Cox said. "That was one of the best games I've seen pitched, ever."

This success didn't exactly come as a total surprise. Since turning his ankle while leaving Wrigley Field on June 10 and missing his start the next night, Jurrjens has made three starts and worked 21 1/3 innings without allowing an earned run.

I mean, dang. Ever? That is a stout compliment to the youngster. Of course, he's in the zone right now, as evidenced by above, and he certainly has the pedigree to be a great pitcher.

Fantasy Spin: It's tough to make Jurrjens any sort of sell high/buy low right now, because he's a legit talent. Still, it's hard to see him keeping this up for the rest of the season; if I was in a single season league, I would be looking to move him assuming I got good value back. Keeper league? Hold, please.

Finally, mercifully, the San Diego Padres have decided to bring their top prospect, Chase Headley, to the major leagues. Headley got the call this weekend and will start his first game Tuesday when the Fathers face the Bronx Bombers in Yankee Stadium. So, you know, no pressure.

'He's on his way,' [GM Kevin] Towers said before Saturday's Interleague game against the Indians.

[...]"I think the environment is much better than it was three weeks ago," Towers said. "We have got a lot of guys contributing offensively. When he gets here, he shouldn't have to feel like he's got to carry this ballclub. We're playing good baseball now.

"To me, now is kind of the right time to have him here, when things are going well."

And by "going well", what Towers means is "after his June 1 arbitration date; well enough after, in fact, to make sure everyone forget that's why I kept him down in the first place."

Although, in fairness, the Padres have won seven of their last ten while leapfrogging the Giants and Rockies and somehow climbing within 6.5 games. Additionally, Jake Peavy is back, so maybe things aren't as bleak as they were earlier. Convenient, really.

Fantasy Spin: Headley is going to be OF eligible and likely 3B eligible as he'll spell Kevin Kouzmanoff. He's an impact player, who I would grab in most leagues (if you need 3B help), especially keepers. Of course, he is also a rookie and an OF, so be patient and don't expect him to pull a Ryan Braun or anything.

In with the old and out with the new. And all that business. Pedro Martinez, making a rehab start in Single A, squared off against number one draft pick and uber-prospect David Price today, and Price got the better of him. Pedro went six innings, giving up four hits and two earned while striking out six. Price, meanwhile, gave up only two hits over six shutout innings while striking out nine.
Pedro was impressed.

'He's amazing, that kid. He's amazing,' Martinez said. 'That kid is very mature for his time in [the pros], and very talented.

'Oh my God.'

Pedro went on to say that Price was "superior" to the Cy Young winner at that age, which isn't that surprising when you compare their development throughout their careers, talent aside.

But Petey is still going to beat him to the majors, at least this year. Martinez could be back as soon as next week (this being his final rehab outing) while Price won't be in the bigs until later this year, at the earliest.

Fantasy Spin: Pedro is probably a free agent in your league and even at his age, pitching for the [would-be] contending Mets makes him a viable starter. If he's unowned, make a move. Price, for seasonal leagues, shouldn't be owned right now, unless you have a really deep bench. But keeper leagues should be all over him already, in anticipation of a call up should the Rays stay in the hunt.

Just a few short hours after I mentioned that Ian Stewart was getting no love from fantasy circles -- or real world circles -- he might suddenly be getting a lot more value in both worlds. With the return of Garrett Atkins, and the continued absence of Clint Barmes, Troy Tulowitzki and about eight other middle infielders, Stewart is getting starts at second base.

Stewart field five ground balls, including a pair of impressive plays in the sixth inning, in Colorado's 7-4 loss to Philadelphia, and finished 1-for-3 with a double. It was Stewart's first career start at second base.

'Is he going to be as athletic as Jonny [Herrera] or Q [Omar Quintanilla]? Probably not," Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. "They're just a little more nimble. As far as athleticism, he did some nice things in Spring Training. We'll see how it works out. He made plays that were there for him.'

If Stewart can step in and play second, and one would think he could, he would instantly become a tremendous asset to the Rockies on the offensive end. He would also instantly have everyone saying "It took you this long to figure this out?"

Stewart has been -- pun intended -- pining on the bench behind Atkins for some time now and despite no real power option at second, the Rockies decided to develop him in the outfield.

Fantasy Spin: If Stewart is going to start and stick at second for the Rockies, he is a must add. Unless you have Chase Utley and Brandon Phillips or something. He has a ton of power and positional eligibility there would give him the upside of being a pretty stout option for fantasy owners.

Fantasy owners are constantly sweating Ian Stewart. He is a tremendously talented prospect who has flashed power, a little speed and decent discipline throughout his career as a minor leaguer. More importantly though, he has always been blocked from playing at the MLB level, mainly because of Garrett Atkins' emergence.

This season, in 171 ABs at the Pacific Coast level, he hit 10 taterjacks, stole six bases and rocked out a .281/.374/.614 line. And now suddenly, because of the rash of Colorado injuries, he has been in the bigs for close to a week, and there has been little to nothing said about his promotion.

Part of the reason for that is he has only one hit, so he hasn't set the world on fire. The other part is that Atkins should return to a starting gig soon and Stewart is seen as a future outfielder. But the Rockies are horrible this year and are not getting any better with those injuries and Atkins has to be seen -- especially when you consider his full season home/away splits from 2007 -- as a pretty tradeable commodity.

The Rox might not move him, but Stewart might get some playing time anyway. And he is talented. And he is the future. But the future isn't shining particularly bright right now, and that makes him a pretty cheap buy option.

You can't reasonably expect huge returns from the young Rock right now and he could be headed back to the AAA sooner than later, but his owner has to at least be concerned, and that means you have a shot to creep in and steal him away while the getting is good.

"My mind is aglow with whirling, transient nodes of thought careening through a cosmic vapor of invention."

Some ingenious pundits thought that the San Diego Padres would call up Chase Headley soon enough for him to make an impact in the NL ROY race. Even after releasing Jim Edmonds, it appeared as if the Fathers would rather wait and let "Lamar", as I will be calling him from now, develop at AAA instead.

But with the Pads in dead last in the MLB and Jake Peavy DL bound, Kevin Towers has intimated that changes are afoot. So maybe, that NL ROY hope is still alive, since some of these changes will likely include calling up youngsters for a full on pot of joe.

Chase Headley will likely be one of those call-ups. Right, Kevin? Right?

Despite all signs pointing towards Dodgers uber-propsect Clayton Kershaw getting the call to start this weekend, it appears as if he will not be promoted to the majors anytime soon. Tony Jackson reports that people inside the Dodgers organization believe Kershaw needs to wait a little longer in order to not exceed his innings ceiling for 2008.

Saturday's fifth-starter assignment will almost certainly go to either Kuo or Park, with no chance of it going to Kershaw. Torre said, 'To me, it's doubtful.' I got a more definitive 'no' from another source within the organization.

Torre also pointed out that in the effort to have Kershaw throw no more than 170 innings this season, that has to be projected not through Labor Day, when the minor-league season ends, or through September, when the big-league season ends, but through October and the major-league postseason. 'It would be unfair if we didn't consider October as part of his innings.' That means they have to be even more conservative with him.

Wonk, wonk. If you're a fan of young, ridiculously talented pitchers and freakish upside, this is sad news. On the other hand, if you're a Dodger fan, you should be happy. Sure, the club could use him now, but just be glad they're thinking of the future.

It could be much worse. Seriously. You could have hired Dusty Baker. Kershaw would have thrown five complete games by this point if that was the case.

Fantasy Spin: Single year leagues can hold off on grabbing Kershaw ... for now. Maybe. If you're in a league where you've got a guy who's jumpy on prospects, and you have an open spot on your bench, it wouldn't hurt to grab him now and plan to trade him. Keeper leagues absolutely want this guy.

Nick Pierco and the AZ Republic got Inside Edge to pass along a scouting report from Max Scherzer's horrific start against the Philadelphia Phillies, and well, it's pretty freaking telling, in terms of figuring out why he struggled so badly. As Pierco points out (and I wholeheartedly agree) it was the lack of any offspeed stuff that really killed Scherzer's ability to dominate.

You can scope the report card here for yourself, but he's right -- the biggest factor out of everything you see on here is that 71% of his fastballs were thrown for strikes while only 39% of the offspeed stuff crossed the plate. Which means that the Phillies did a pretty outstanding job of scouting him. It doesn't mean that Scherzer can't be dominant, but it does prove the point that no one is going to get big league hitters out with just a fastball.

The other interesting thing is that 71% (an A+) of his 2-0, 2-1 and 3-0 counts ended in an out. That would seem to be good, until you realize that the Philadelphia hitters were more or less under strict order to not touch anything that wasn't a fastball, leading to Scherzer getting behind in counts. Which led to fastballs when he was behind. Which led to contact. Some of them (just a shade under 3/4, in fact) ended up as outs.

What it basically boils down to is that Scherzer has to develop better off speed stuff; you better believe there are plenty of major league teams who got an eyefull of what the Phillies did to him.

Fantasy Spin: I'm still starting him for his next start, because of my stupid weekly lineups. It's against the Cubs who have been raking and while he could pile up K's, he could also punish your ratios. H2H leagues should keep an eye out heading into the weekend to make the call.

The feeling you get out of Los Angeles, at least on the Dodger side of the monorail tracks, is that Clayton Kershaw, a.k.a. Public Enemy Number One, needs to be called up now. That guy who yells a lot on ESPN everyday at 5:30 inked a column about it a while back and now Esteban Loaiza is disabled list bound, which will create an opening in the Dodger rotation on May 17. Yhency Brazoban is scheduled to take his spot for the immediate moment, but it sounds like Dodger fans could get their wish sooner than later.

Kershaw, 20, could replace Brazoban or another reliever on the active roster the next time the Dodgers need a fifth starter -- probably on May 17. The spot belonged to Loaiza, whose move to the disabled list is retroactive to Sunday, making him eligible to be activated May 18. Hong-Chih Kuo has also pitched in that role, but Manager Joe Torre said he wants Kuo to remain in the bullpen.

A place for Kershaw on the 40-man roster can be opened by moving Jason Schmidt from the 15-day to 60-day disabled list. Asked Wednesday about the possibility of Kershaw's being called up, Torre replied, 'You'll have to wait and see.'

Oh, Joe ... you're so cryptic. And full of candy. But mostly cryptic. Color me, for one, friggin delighted at the prospect of seeing Kershaw buckle knees with this curveball. Bear in mind though, that even Torre has been more or less pointing out the similarities between young Clayton and some Sandy Koufax guy. Who may have been good or something.

Just because Jo-Jo Reyes doesn't have a great "baseball name", doesn't mean he won't be successful in the bigs, especially his second time around. Reyes struggled badly last year, but was dominant in the minor leagues in 2008, prompting the Braves to call him and start him on Saturday.

Sample Size Alert time, but Reyes dominates left handed batter. He hasn't allowed a hit to one in the majors (admittedly 2.2 innings) and only allowed two hits to lefties throughout his run in Triple-A this year (again, only 7.2 innings). Although in fairness, he was pretty impressive against righties this year as well, holding them to a .228 BAA while posting a 1.76 ERA at Richmond.

Pitching coach Roger McDowell worked with him on his footwork before he headed back down to the minors this season, and it's apparently paid off.

'We moved last year to the third base side at the end of the year,' recalled Reyes, who began the season with a 20-inning scoreless streak. 'It was a big part of it. Just keeping my leg lift smooth and not so violent and that's helped a lot.'

Clearly, Reyes made a significant change in his physical approach to pitching. That should make a difference in your thoughts on rostering him as well. He pitched against Cincy on Sunday, going five and a third with five K's, while allowing four hits and walking three. The walk totals need to stay down, but the 3:1 ground to air out ratio is certainly a positive sign.

Long and short of it is that you can expect much better numbers than the 6.27 ERA and 1.69 WHIP he posted last year. You can also expect him, because of injuries to stick; and with the Braves bullpen quietly dealing and the offense being quite potent, he should have some nice fantasy value for owners as a back-end of the rotation guy.