Warning Track Power is moving to a new home at wtpblog.com. I’ve got a new post up there today titled “The All-Unlucky Team”, where I pick an all-star team of unlucky players based on things like BABIP, HR/F, Contact Rate, and LD%. Go check it out, and don’t forget to change your bookmarks. I’ll be posting there from now on, and you’ll see some more (hopefully) great content coming down the pipe soon.
I’m still working on a new project that should be unveiled pretty soon. I have an idea for a write-up that I know you’ll all love, and I wanted to post it today–but I gotta wait until this project is finished. Hold tight, we still have a long season ahead of us.
Meanwhile, take a look at J.P. Howell. He’s probably going to be called up to take Casey Fossum’s spot in the Tampa Bay rotation, and he’s a good young pitcher with solid stuff and great command. If you like the high-GB/high-K pitchers like I do, you’ll be happy to know J.P.’s running a 49% ground-ball percentage in AAA, which is pretty tough to do when you’re averaging over a K an inning. He could start for the Rays as early as Sunday.
Anyway, back to work…
You can’t stop him, you can only hope to hit him with an errant throw.
4IP 3H 0ER 1BB 7K and 5GB:0FB before getting plunked by a Ted Lilly throw on his way to first base. He was taken out of the game, but it shouldn’t be serious.
Good Lawd Sergio! What do you eat for breakfast?
I’m back from the vacation and ready for action, starting tonight with a question I recently received from a reader.
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Nathan asks…
I know you like Mitre, but how would you rank the following pitchers available in my 10-team 5×5 Yahoo league –
Sergio Mitre
Sean Marshall
Orlando Hernandez
Greg Maddux
Chuck James
Fausto Carmona
I don’t usually deal with questions in a league so shallow on this site, but I think those guys are a mediocre enough group that you’re going to find many of them in deeper leagues–or at least be able to acquire them without giving up much. Let’s take a look at the group in order of their value this year: Keep reading →
WTP sleeper fave Sergio Mitre was in control facing the Mets tonight, putting up a 7.2IP 8H 0ER 1BB 8K line, and getting 12 groundball outs to 1 flyout (two outs came off of outfield assists). He now has a 56% GB-rate (it actually dropped thanks to all the K’s) and 6.4K/9, putting him among Gil Meche and Brandon Webb as the only pitchers with rates that high in both categories.
The real development in Mitre’s game, and the reason he’s running a 1.89ERA, is that he’s only walked 1.6 batters per nine so far this season. It’s been 55 innings now, so the small sample-size argument is getting weaker–especially since these peripherals vary a lot less than something like ERA or batting average. We’ve got to start looking at this as a new skill pretty soon, and it’s one that makes him a pretty dang good pitcher.
Mitre shouldn’t be availabe in anything but a 12-team mixed league, and his gaudy ERA probably guarantees he isn’t. If you didn’t grab him when I suggested it earlier, you probably won’t have the chance. I think he’s for real though, and we might see a solid 2005 Brandon Webb/Derek Lowe type of season out of him this year.
As I’m sure you’ve seen in five or six different places before you came here, Ryan Braun was called up today. I just wanted to take a moment to point back to my April 15th 
write-up about Braun’s imminent promotion. An injury knocked my early-May prediction back a bit, so I’ll still count it as a win for me.
I expect Braun to be the impact 3B many of us thought Alex Gordon would be this year. He could easily be a top-10 guy at the position the rest of the way. I’ll say .285 with 15HR, 8SB, and a potentially high number of RBI if he gets a chance to hit near the middle of the order.
With him and Gallardo hitting Yahoo leagues in the next few days, I hope you keeper leaguers saved your waivers. There’s a lot of fun on the waiver wire this week.
Hong-Chih Kuo struck out four in four scoreless innings last night, and is expected to start for the Dodgers on June 2nd. He now has 23K in 15.1 AAA innings.
Did you listen to me the other day? It’s on Rotoworld now, so you better hurry.
One of my favorite offseason sleepers this year was Kevin Kouzmanoff. Kouz was the prototypical late-bloomer prospect, spending four years in college before getting drafted, only to spend another year-and-a-half getting through A-ball. After finally reaching AA in 2006, the power-hitting third baseman rocketed to the majors–logging only 346AB in the high minors, and ending the year with a .214/.271/.411 stint for the Indians in 56AB.
Since prospect hounds never really take to 25-year-olds who haven’t sniffed AA, Kouz didn’t get much attention before the 2006 season. That made him a virtual unknown for many fantasy players before his 2006 call-up, even with a .332/.395/.556 career minor league line. Everything changed when the Padres dealt Josh Barfield for Kouzmanoff, virtually handing him their starting 3B job for 2007.
Kevin was suddenly a popular sleeper pick for deep leagues coming into this season, as a lock for a full-time job combined with his minor league numbers had many (including myself) projecting a .280AVG and 25HR. However, his stock plummeted as he hit a dreadful .113/.171/.183 in April, and hit rock-bottom as he was hitting .121/.178/.209 as recently as May 13th. Then something clicked. Keep reading →
Two players I mentioned in my on the mend write-up a month ago are finally back getting regular playing time. If you read that article at the time, you might’ve picked up Dan Johnson for next to nothing and been pretty happy with his production so far. Well, Hong-Chih Kuo finally returned to the Dodgers a week ago, and Kaz Matsui made an appearance at second base for the Rockies last night for the first time in five weeks. Both could easily match Johnson’s value over the rest of the season. Keep reading →
Yankees pitcher Tyler Clippard made his big-league debut on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball last night against the team with the second-best 
record in baseball, the New York Mets. He pitched quite well, dropping a 6IP 3H 1ER 1HR 3BB 6K line on the NL’s best offense, and landing his first W in the process.
Clippard’s minor league success makes him something of a polarizing figure in prospect circles, as his fantastic minor league numbers are undermined by his underwhelming stuff. As a Yankees prospect, he has a hard time flying under the radar, and is undoubtably being followed by many owners in your keeper and dynasty leagues.
While Clippard is supposedly only up for a start or two, another good showing could make it hard for the Yankees to send him back down. Either way, it appears he doesn’t have much left to learn in the minors. Is Clippard the kind of pitcher that can succeed long-term in the big leagues? Keep reading →
