April 25, 2008...5:40 am
AL Central begrudgingly agrees to conform to pre-season expectations
Three weeks into a bizarre standoff, the members of the AL Central have finally agreed to play, within a reasonable margin of error, to their abilities. Cleveland’s C.C. Sabathia ended his protest Tuesday, after being informed of Kansas City’s intention to play sub-.500 baseball the rest of the season. They appear to be good for their word — they just completed their 7th straight loss, after starting an unreasonable 8-6. The Tigers have started to do their part as well — with 37 runs in their last three games, they’re now back on track to score those 1000 runs we were promised.
Fantasy Impact
Pitchers: Sabathia and Verlander have notched their first wins, and for those who bought low or held despite the growing urge to drop/sell these two fantasy studs, good job. With Santana in the NL, these two should be competing for the AL Cy Young. As I’ve said earlier, I don’t believe Sabathia will be as consistent or as durable as last season, so I give the edge to Verlander, who has the stuff plus the offense behind him to win 20+ games. Everyone else in the AL Central — from the now-injured Westbrook, to the apparently not-unbeatable duo of Bannister and Greinke — will regress a bit back to the mean. I still like Greinke for a sub-4.00 ERA and double-digit wins, but he’s a headcase on a crappy team, so he’ll have more than his fair share of rough outings and hard-luck losses mixed in there. Bannister has the smarts and composure to handle the lesser offenses, but don’t trust him against the Yankees or Tigers. Cliff Lee has been ridiculous, but I doubt anyone really believes he’s going to stay this good — ride this hot streak as long as it lasts, and if you can get something for him when he cools, great. Javier Vasquez might be the most predictable pitcher in this bunch — he’ll get you 175+ strikeouts and 12+ wins, but the Yankees will beat him up almost every time.
Hitters: We all drafted heavily from the Detroit lineup for a reason - top to bottom, they can rake. Magglio Ordonez went 3-for-4 Thursday with 2 home runs, Granderson has 3 RBIs and 4 runs in two games back, Miguel Cabrera has 16 RBIs in the last 10 games…. Elsewhere in the middle states, Grady Sizemore went 4-for-5 with a home run and stolen base in the first half of Wednesday’s doubleheader, in case anyone forgot why this sexy young outfielder was drafted in the mid-2nd round in most leagues. David DeJesus had a great doubleheader as well, and has hit well in those few games he’s started. Minor injuries have reduced his playing time, but if he can stay healthy a couple days in a row, he might be a good temporary pickup for batting average. I’m not sold on Nick Swisher — OK he has power and he can work a walk, but that batting average (currently .232 ) combined with that strange growth on his face…
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