clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Fantasy Notes: Adam Lind, Johnny Cueto & Joba Chamberlain

By faketeams

The Toronto Blue Jays released DH Frank Thomas ahead of his vesting his 2009 option for $10MM.  The signing turns out to have been as short-sighted as any fantasy players could have told the Jays last Spring when Thomas was brought aboard to block top prospect Adam Lind.  As a matter of fact, the Jays went ahead and double blocked Lind by signing LF Shannon Stewart.

As a result of this organizational behavior, I have a hard time getting excited about Adam Lind.  I am not a fan of the Blue Jays front office actions, but even I can read the writing on the wall.  People paid to know do not believe Lind is legit.

*

In the Baseball Notebook Newsletter (sign-up here), there was a question about Johnny Cueto and his 2008 projection prior to yesterday's start, there was this info:

...to further put Cueto's start into perspective, he has looked fantastic but there's also been some good luck in there too.  For example, of the balls he's allowed hitters to put in play, setting home runs aside from the equation, just 17% of them have fallen in for hits.  To put this in context, the typical pitcher usually allows about 27-28% in this category and it is almost unheard of for a pitcher to have a rate below 22% over a full season, meaning this rate is almost certainly unsustainable.  In fact, Chris Young of the Padres was tops in all of baseball last year among pitchers with at least 162 innings with a rate of just 24%.  In other words, Cueto should be allowing about 40% more hits and that's if he's already an elite and typical league-leader in preventing hits on balls in play....

Seems Baseball Notebook always has some saltpetre for the priapusic fantasy owner.

*

Does anyone think Joba Chamberlain can stay in the bullpen if Ian Kennedy continues to emulate Mike Mussina circa 2008?  Throw-in Phil Hughes' less-than-impressive season so far, and one can't help but believe Joba will have to be a starting pitcher despite his middle relief dominance - one earned run over 30+ innings in his brief career.

Next Up In Fantasy Baseball