Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.Hahaha. Get it? The Who? Tommy? Yeah. Dated cultural references mixed into fantasy baseball news FTW, eh? Sorry. Anyway, Tommy Hanson made his debut yesterday for the Atlanta Braves -- and while he was perfect through two innings, yeah, notsomuch the rest of the way: Hanson ended up getting knocked around for six hits and six earned through six innings (sign?) while striking out five and giving up three gofer balls.
The thing here is that Hanson's great, and fantastic and his name carries a ton of value, but is he going to be as good as, say, Rick Porcello, this year or in the future? I might argue "no" and I'm a Braves fan. However, he'll certainly have his moments at the professional level, so if you're the type of person who's willing to accept some risk, Hanson is a prime pickup in the event that his owner gets scared.
Additionally, Hanson seems like a nice buy low at this point (as does Porcello -- more on that in a bit) because the Braves should be able to provide him with the offense to pick up wins, they cut Tom Glavine which means Hanson should be here to stay, and there's nothing -- seriously, absolutely nothing -- about a pitcher's first start that can ever make us say "HE DOES OR DOES NOT HAVE IT."
Because the truth is that Hanson does have "it" or something like "it" and if you have a scared owner, you need to take advantage.
Bits From the Box Scores
• Erik Bedard, one of my favorite sleepers this year based on draft price, continues to put up solid numbers for the M's; Sunday he picked up a win over five innings, allowing two earned and striking out four, setting his ERA at a fantastic 2.47 for the season with his fifth win. I still feel like he's flying under the radar a bit, and a lot of owners who grabbed him late might not have been as enthused as I was before the season; if you can get him relatively cheap, it's not a horrible time to take a stab.
• Russell Branyon has 13 home runs, though, so perhaps it's just a weird year.
• Vin Mazzaro won his second straight start and is undefeated 4 EVA. Of course, he's only pitched in two games, so perhaps it's a bit premature to freak out. Still, the A's are going with the youth movement, so the guy's gonna see a chance to pitch and win games, even if he won't have any offense behind him by the time the trade deadline comes along.
• It's probably a bit premature to say that Nate McLouth is responsible for Chipper Jones' two home runs yesterday (and, in fact, it makes zero sense in terms of pure logic to connect the two) but I think that it the recent flurry of activity from the Braves will at least in part motivate some guys to step up their play, and Chipper will be one of them. Lord knows they'll need his offense to make a run.
• Roy Halladay won again in a dominant fashion Sunday, going the distance on a CGSO, while allowing seven hits and K'ing six. Let's just go ahead and give him the Cy Young ... Also, you have to wonder how much he thinks about winning -- I know the Blue Jays aren't out of the race, but there's no way Canada's getting a playoff team this year and right now, Toronto could score a TON for him. As could any fantasy owner -- but I think the play is to hold tight and hope he lands on a playoff team with a bunch of bats. Plus, you know, he's freaking awesome.
• Speaking of the aforementioned Porcello, he picked up a ND yesterday (grr.) giving up two taterjacks and four earned runs, while walking three and striking out only two over five innings. In other words: "not super awesome." And that was his second straight start like that; with all the fuss over the kid through his first five wins, now is as good a time as any to go out and make a play for him.
• The guy who did get a win in that game, Joel Zumaya, has been more or less of the fantasy radar -- it probably relates to his three walks/1 K in 1.2 innings yesterday. But he's still got 17K in 18 2/3 IP, and if you need help on strikeouts and can clear out an ERA/WHIP killer from your lineup, Zumaya's a pretty nice MR substitution.
The Afflicted: Joey Votto appears to be out for quite some time -- it appears to be some sort of depression that he's stuck in, so best wishes to him. (Yes, this is where I refrain from making a "If I had to play for Dusty Baker ..." joke.) Evan Longoria pinch-hit on Saturday and Sunday. I'm activating him -- the Rays seem to think he's close and at least they did the smart thing in terms of giving him rest. Justin Upton's likely out today. Don't start him, but weekly leagues can probably gamble.
Tuesday's Ace in the Hole: Jordan Zimmermann. Lil' Zimm hasn't won a game since his initial two starts but a few promising things stand out to me in his matchup against the Reds tomorrow: first of all, the Reds aren't scared of striking out (even without Adam Dunn around). Secondly, in Zimmerman's last three starts, he has 22 strikeouts. That's mildly decent. Thirdly, the game is not at Cincy. Love that. And finally, the Reds have never seen "J-Z," so I'm loving his "first impression" chances here and will predict a win and eight strikeouts, with two earned runs allowed.
