First Impressions

If you missed it (and if you're fantasy baseball fanatic, you didn't), the Matt Wieters Era finally began on May 29. His sidekick in hype, David Price, made his season debut just a scant four days earlier. Perhaps inspired by seeing Orioles and Rays fans stampeding to the ticket counter, the New York Mets, Atlanta Braves and Chicago White Sox all followed suit by calling up their own franchise saviors, Fernando Martinez, Tommy Hanson and Gordon Beckman seemingly within minutes of each other. Let's take a look at the first impressions these kids are making on the fantasy baseball owners burning up the waiver wires to add them to their own rosters... Matt Wieters: I'll leave the hyperbole up to the folks at the hilarious Matt Wieters Facts website, but let's just say that those possessing a Y chromosome haven't been this excited since Jessica Biel finally revealed her true talents in Powder Blue. But don't start casting that Hall-of-Fame plaque just yet. Wieters was batting just .229 as of this writing, without a homerun or RBI to his name. He does sport an unsightly 8:1 K:BB ratio, mildly surprising given his minor league track record of patience. Those expecting "Joe Mauer with power" to be their fantasy savior this season may be sorely disappointed. He plays the most physically and mentally demanding defensive position on the diamond, so any extra work he does this summer will be dedicated to learning about the Orioles pitchers and opposing hitters, not adjusting his own swing. He'll have to survive in the batter's box on talent alone and, while that talent is prodigious, that may not be enough for a 23 year old with barely a season's worth of professional experience. For perspective, here's how some of the best hitting catchers in major league history fared in their real exposure to the big show: Mike Piazza - 21G, .232 1 HR 7 RBI Carlton Fisk - 16G, .283 2 HR 6 RBI Johnny Bench - 26G, .163 1 HR 6 RBI There are exceptions (both Mauer and Brian McCann got their careers off to solid statistical starts), but regardless, patience will be the order of business for Wieters owners. They may have to wait until 2010 for their investment to truly pay off. David Price: Though he made is major league debut last season, Price is still a rookie and, perhaps excepting Hanson, the most hyped pitching prospect in all of baseball. Rays fans and fantasy baseball owners surely questioned Tampa's decision to send Price to Triple-A Durham to open to the season, but the prudence may well have paid off. Not only did the Rays delay Price's service time clock (no small factor for a small market team like the Rays), not only did Price gain valuable experience while pitching for the Bulls, not only will they be better able to control Price's innings load this season, but they also got a good look at what Jeff Niemann and Andy Sonnanstine could offer the big club this season. Since in Sonnanstine's case the answer is "not much," expect Price to stick around Tampa even after Scott Kazmir returns from his injury prompted hiatus. That said, don't expect miracles. Other recent, similarly talented young arms have experienced plenty of growing pains once they started facing major league hitters: Max Scherzer - 115.1 IP, 2-8, 3.59 ERA Clayton Kershaw - 171.2 IP, 8-10, 4.35 ERA Going back a little farther, we begin to see a trend developing: Jon Lester - 81.1 IP, 7-2, 4.76 ERA Chad Billingsley - 90 IP, 7-4, 3.80 ERA And how about some future Hall-of-Famers: Tom Glavine - 50.1 IP, 2-4, 5.54 ERA Greg Maddux - 31 IP, 2-4, 5.52 ERA Frankly, it almost behooves Price to start slowly as many pitchers who came out of the gate dominating (Dwight Gooden, Fernando Valenzuela) ultimately flamed out more rapidly than Paris Hilton's "acting" career. Since this post is already obscenely long and I'm running out of clever celebrity comparisons, we'll cover Martinez, Hanson and Beckman in the next edition of Fantasy Tipster's First Impressions early next week.

Fantasy Baseball - the Daily Dirt for Monday, 5/25

by Todd Lammi

It was a painful loss for the Tampa Bay Rays, as the blew a 10-0 lead in an 11-10 loss to the Cleveland Indians. The blown lead was the largest in team history. The Rays used four relievers in the ninth inning, the last one being Jason Isringhausen, but none of them could stop the bleeding as the Indians rallied for seven runs to pull out the come from behind win. Rookie David Price, getting the start for the injured Scott Kazmir, displayed the same wildness that had been plaguing him in the minor leagues, as he walked five and allowed four hits in 3 1/3 innings while throwing 100 pitches. He did manage to strike out six and only allowed two runs, but his high pitch count limited his innings. Ryan Garko hit two home runs for the Indians and drove in five runs to pace the Tribe's offense. In other fantasy baseball happenings around the diamond on Monday...

Hitters:

Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira continue to lead the surging New York Yankees offense, as the team pounded out 19 hits in an 11-1 win over the Texas Rangers. A-Rod went 5 for 5 with 4 RBI and Teixeira went 2 for 4 with three runs scored and two RBI.

Who needs Manny Ramirez? The Los Angeles Dodgers pounded out 19 hits en route to a 16-6 pasting of the Colorado Rockies. Matt Kemp, Juan Castro and Juan Pierre each knocked in three runs.

The Chicago White Sox made short work of Ervin Santana, banging out 23 hits on their way to a 17-3 win over the Los Angeles Angels. Jermaine Dye (12), Jim Thome (8) and Paul Konerko (7) all went deep for the White Sox. The lone bright spot for the Angles was the return of Vladimir Guerrero to the line up.

Nelson Cruz hit his 12th home run of the year for the lone score for the Rangers. Cruz has homered 5 times in his last six games while driving in 10 runs. He has now collected an RBI in six consecutive games.

Ryan Howard hit two home runs and drove in three to provide all the offense for the Philadelphia Phillies in a 5-3 loss to the Florida Marlins. Howard now has 12 home runs on the season and 33 RBI.

Jonny Gomes went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI for the Cincinnati Reds in their 8-5 win over the Houston Astros. Gomes is a good pickup in National League only leagues as he should see playing time against left-handed starters.

Adrian Gonzalez hit his 17th home run of the season in the San Diego Padres 9-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks in 10 innings. Scott Hairston went 3 for 5 and is now batting .333. With the trade of Jody Gerut to Milwaukee earlier in the week, Hairston should be someone to target if he is still on the waiver wire in your fantasy baseball league.

It took him 100 at bats but Travis Ishikawa finally hit his first home run of the season in the San Francisco Giants 8-2 win over the Atlanta Braves. Ishikawa went 4 for 4 and drove in three runs. He is going to need more games like that if he does not want to lose at bats to recent call up Jesus Guzman.

Freddy Sanchez went 6 for 6 and scored four times to lead the Pittsburgh Pirates to a 10-8 win over the Chicago Cubs. Sanchez drove in three runs and hit his fourth home run of the season.

Pitchers:

Justin Verlander pitched seven shutout innings with eight strikeouts in a 13-1 win over the Kansas City Royals. It marked the sixth consecutive game that Verlander has notched eight or more strikeouts. The outing was the most economical Verlander has been with his pitches all season, making it through seven innings on 96 pitches.

Jeremy Guthrie allowed one run in seven innings with four strikeouts to pitch the Baltimore Orioles past the Toronto Blue Jays 4-1. Guthrie's biggest problem this season has been the home run, allowing 11 in 53 2/3 innings before his start on Monday.

The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 1-0 in 10 innings on a RBI single by Bill Hall. Both starting pitchers were superb in the game, with Chris Carpenter tossing eight scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts for the Cardinals, and Yovani Gallardo hurling eight shutout innings for the Brewers with six strikeouts.

Phil Hughes scattered three hits in eight shutout innings to pick up his third win of the season. Hughes struck out six while allowing only one walk to lower his ERA to 5.16.

Brett Anderson allowed one run in six innings with four strikeouts to gain his second win of the season. It marks the second consecutive good start for the rookie who may be on the verge of turning things around for good.

Jonathan Sanchez, subject to some trade rumors earlier in the week, allowed two runs in five innings with six strikeouts to earn his second win of the year.

John Maine allowed one run in six innings with four strikeouts to get his fourth win of the season. Despite his 4.18 ERA he continues to be bothered by walks. With a 30 to 36 walk to strikeout ratio, Maine is on pace for 108 walks this season which would be a career high.

Closers:

Jonathan Papelbon picked up his 12th save of the season, but it marked back-to-back games that he surrendered two runs and a home run.

Francisco Rodriguez (back spasms) returned to action for the New York Mets and picked up his 13th save of the season.

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