I am late in getting to the roundup today, but two youngsters were the stars Friday night as Starlin Castro's major league debut was crazy. He homered and tripled driving in 6 runs vs the Reds. Padres starter Mat Latos was dominating on Friday night, limiting the Astros to two hits in 8 innings, striking out nine in the process.
Here are the rest of my thoughts after reviewing Friday's boxscores:
For those of you who have Starlin Castro, i hope you had him in your lineup last night. With that said, his value may never be higher this year, so if you have other needs on your team, see what you can get for him.
Latos won his second game by shutting out the Astros for 8 innings, lowering his ERA to 4.19 in the process. He induced 10 ground ball outs, to go along with his 9 strikeouts.
The Rockies may want to consider moving Todd Helton and his .272-.364-.315 slash line down in the order. His SLG is pretty poor for a guy hitting 3rd in their lineup.
Yankees starter Phil Hughes is pitching very well now, as he limited the Red Sox to 2 runs in 7 innings while striking out 7, in winning his 4th game of the season. He is the pitcher the Yankees thought he could be a few years ago.
Red Sox starter Josh Beckett was rocked by the Yankees, giving up 9 runs in 5+ innings. Beckett was wild as he walked 3 and hit two batters. Beckett's ERA is north of 7 no, and his LOB% is only 56% as he is allowing a BABIP of .365 this season. All of these numbers should regress as long as he is not injured. See if you can buy him on the cheap.
The Rangers offseason signing of Vlad Guerrero has to be one of the better FA signings to date, as he is hitting .349-.383-.560 for the season with 6 HRs and 25 RBIs.
Phillies starter Jamie Moyer threw a complete game shutout vs the Braves on Friday night, limiting the poor hitting Braves lineup to 2 hits in the process. I suggest using any starter vs the Braves until they start hitting.
The Braves lineup is reeling at this point, with Yunel Escobar on the DL, Chipper Jones and Brian McCann not hitting to expectations, and rookie Jason Heyward possibly hitting the DL within the next few days. McCann is having blurry vision problems again this year, as the LASIK surgery he had last year apparently wasn't the cure for his problems.
Braves future closer Craig Kimbrel threw one inning in relief, allowing one hit and striking out 2. Keeper league owners should grab him if he is still in the free agent pool.
The Rays are good. Starter David Price won his 4th game of the season, limiting the A's to one unearned run on 3 hits and 4 walks, while striking out 6. He lowered his ERA to 1.91.
Mets rookie first baseman Ike Davis hit 2 HRs on Friday night. What's notable is that he hit both off lefty starter Jonathan Sanchez. One of the knocks on Davis was his difficulty hitting lefties. He silenced his critics on Friday night.
Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg dominated in his first AAA start last night, limiting Columbus to one hit in six innings. He is not long for the minor leagues. He should be up in the majors by early June.
Strasburg's teammate Drew Storen threw a scoreless inning in relief allowing one hit and walking none. Will he get the call with Strasburg? I think he will, but the Nats bullpen has been solid to date, so they may wait a bit.