Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.By now we all know of the greatness of San Francisco pitcher Tim Lincecum. He's the best pitcher in baseball this season, with a 2.34 ERA, 1.02 WHIP and 233 strikeouts in 200 1/3 innings. But there's another hard-throwing young kid in the Giants organization that, like Lincecum, has a shot to be one of the league's best very quickly. He's a guy you want to burn that No. 1 waiver priority on, in case he sticks in the rotation for the rest of the season. He is Madison Bumgarner.
You want to paint a picture of dominance? In 2008, Bumgarner's first season in professional baseball, he went 15-3 in 24 starts, earning a 1.46 ERA and 0.93 WHIP while striking out 164 guys and walking 21 in 141 2/3 innings. He started 2009 at the Class-A Advanced level but quickly proved he was too advanced for that league as well, posting a 3-1 record, 1.48 ERA and 0.99 WHIP in five starts and notching 23 Ks and 4 BBs in 24 1/3 innings. He was promoted to Double-A, where he continued to dominate.
With Double-A Connecticut, the recently-turned 20-year-old Bumgarner suffered a huge decrease in Ks but found a way to still perform, turning in a great 1.93 ERA and 1.03 WHIP in 19 starts, striking out 69 batters with 30 walks in 107 innings. His 9-1 record makes him 12-2 this season and 27-5 overall in pro ball. The Giants decided to bring him up for a cup of coffee in the big leagues.
He was supposed to work a bit out of the bullpen, but Lincecum was scratched from Tuesday's start with back pain, and manager Bruce Bochy turned to Bumgarner. Despite allowing solo homers to Chase Headley and Kevin Kouzmanoff on balls left up in the zone, the rookie was largely effective, throwing 76 pitches in 5 1/3 innings and striking out four batters. Dynasty-league owners, as well as teams that play in leagues with many keepers, need to spend that No. 1 waiver priority on this kid, as he has a Lincecum-type ceiling in his future.
As far as Lincecum, he'll be reevaluated within the next 24 hours. You can pencil him in for his next start for now, but even in the middle of a playoff-spot race, expect the Giants to use kid gloves with their ace.
Bits From the Box Scores
• The Rangers and Indians played two games, and the Rangers won both, with a combined score of 21-14 in the two games. Tony Romo threw for -- wait, scratch that. The Rangers out-homered the Indians 5-4, with two coming off the bat of Julio Borbon in Game 1 and one coming as part of a 3 for 4 day by Chris Davis, who has three HRs since returning to the bigs despite not seeing any progress in his K-rate. Borbon was 1-for-12 before Tuesday's game, but his fantastic August should earn him a starting job in 2010.• In another game that featured a barrage of homers, the real story was the performance of Clay Buchholz, who shut the Orioles out for seven innings, striking out five while allowing three hits and one walk. This is Buchholz's third straight quality start, and he's looking usable in mixed leagues. As for the homers, Dustin Pedroia smacked two, which was great to see as the Boston second baseman started September in a 3 for 26 funk.
• In a shocker, Eric Young Jr. hit his first home run before recording his first stolen base. The speedster had 56 steals and seven homers in 472 Triple-A at-bats this year before being recalled in August. Playing in Colorado, you can expect a few homers from Young every now and then, but his future value will be in his SBs. He also hit his first double in Tuesday's game.
• Also in that Rockies win, Jason Marquis continued his fantastic 2009 season, striking out seven while allowing one run to move his record to 15-10. I would have never expected a sub-4.00 ERA from Marquis pitching with Colorado, especially without an improvement in his K/BB ratio, but here he sits at a 3.75 ERA on the season. Franklin Morales closed out the game for his fifth save, rewarding his owners with a nice run while filling in for Huston Street.
• After an extended run of disappointing fantasy lines, Raul Ibanez has likely found his way to many fantasy benches and quite a few waiver wires. He hit a solo homer in Monday's game at Houston, and launched two more Tuesday against the Nationals, giving him 30 HRs on the season. After a .193, one-HR August, he's hitting .304 with three HRs in a little over a week in September. Chase Utley also contributed his 30th HR, as well as his 18th steal, in the win.
• With Pedro Martinez's fourth win on the line, Brad Lidge put two runners on while only recording one out, and manager Charlie Maunel turned to Ryan Madson, who shut down the rally for his fifth save of the season. So Charlie, is Lidge the closer or not? Because he definitely looked like the third-best reliever Tuesday, behind Madson and Brett Myers (1 1/3 IP, 1 H, 2 K). All stubbornness could cost you is an early exit in October -- do the wise thing and make the switch now, before it's too late. Owners in all leagues should add Madson pronto.
• Nick Swisher hit two homers in the Yankees' 3-2 win over Tampa Bay, with the second being a walk-off shot in the bottom of the ninth inning. He's on a big hot streak, with four homers in September (and another on August 31) and a .333 average in 30 at-bats this month. Across the diamond, Evan Longoria reached the 30-HR plateau in the game, while Jason Bartlett hit his 13th bomb of the season. The slumping Carl Crawford picked it up by going 3 for 4 in the loss.
• Just another day at the office for the Cardinals: Albert Pujols hit his 45th HR of the season in the seventh inning, and Matt Holliday followed it up with a game-winning HR against Milwaukee closer Trevor Hoffman in the top of the ninth. John Smoltz turned in another solid start, giving up three runs in five innings while striking out seven and walking none. Kyle McClellan earned a rogue save, his third of the season.• Scott Kazmir turned in his second consecutive great start with the Angels -- did they fix him? The lefty allowed one run in seven innings, giving up just three hits and two walks while striking out four. Brian Fuentes gave up a HR to Mike Sweeney to blow the save, but a game-winning RBI single by Erick Aybar in the tenth preserved the win. Torii Hunter recorded his first SB since August 24.
• Rajai Davis and Garrett Jones are proving to be two awesome waiver-wire pickups. Jones smacked his 19th homer of the year, and he's the leader in the clubhouse to garner Chris Davis-type hype in 2010. Davis went 3 for 6 with three runs and another steal, his 32nd of the season and 17th since the beginning of August. If either of these guys are free agents in your league, drop that slumping slugger and add 'em.
The Afflicted: Carlos Beltran has finally returned! He hit a double in his four at-bats on Tuesday, and his presence in the New York lineup gives the team a pretty solid 1 through 4 for now. Corey Hart also returned as a pinch hitter, staying in the game after his seventh-inning appearance. Adam Jones has been placed on the DL and don't expect him to return this season. He made for a great pick near the end of your 2009 draft. J.A. Happ will miss another start with an oblique injury; I wouldn't be against cutting him if you have decent options on your wire. Manny Parra only pitched an inning Tuesday due to neck spasms, but if you're still using him your season was likely over anyway.
Lineup Lock Time: Texas and Cleveland square off at 12:05 PM ET, followed by a Cubs-Pirates game at 12:35 ET. Adam Wainwright goes for his 18th win at 2:05 ET, while San Diego and San Francisco are also scheduled to start in the afternoon.
