Friday’s Roto Roundup: Big Z and His Big Meltdown

This article was originally posted by Jason Hunt over at Fake Teams

Well, aren't the Cubbies having some fun now? If you haven't seen the highlights of the meltdown by now, you should definitely check them out. The guys over at Bleed Cubbie Blue have their thoughts on what to do next for the Cubs, but what fantasy impact does this have for you?

I think that if he's still available in your league, you need to look at picking up Tom Gorzelanny, especially if you have the unfortunate luck of owning Carlos Zambrano. They say he has been suspended indefinitely, and Gorzelanny really didn't do anything to earn the demotion to the bullpen other than make less money than Big Z. As a result, he could end up back in the starting rotation for Zambrano's next turn.

Amazingly, Edwin Jackson also threw a no-hitter, the 4th one of the season. Also it was clearly the ugliest of the season as well, as he walked 8. EIGHT! So, for those keeping score at home (which is what we do to some extent), that was still a WHIP of 0.89 for a NO-HITTER! I saw him get picked up in a couple of my leagues where he had been unowned, but I'm still not sold. Seeing some of the highlights, he really didn't look all that sharp to me either. I'm still not buying Jackson.

Also in the Rays-Diamondbacks game, Carl Crawford pinch ran late in the game, and was caught trying to steal 2nd base. They then proceeded to replace him in the lineup when the team went back on defense. I benched him in a daily league, and it looks like they're not wanting to put Crawford on the disabled list just yet. You're going to have to watch the news and see if anything changes with him unfortunately.

Zack Greinke recorded his 3rd win of the season yesterday, striking out 6 over 8 innings and only allowed 9 baserunners. I think you're going to be lucky if he gets back to 16 wins this season, but he could still provide excellent ratios and solid strikeouts. I'm not sold he's going to be in the top 5 starters for me when our rankings for that position come out.

A pitcher I may have to consider for my top 10 is Jered Weaver of the Angels. He got a no-decision yesterday, but struck out 11 and only gave up 2 earned runs over 7 innings. He now has 118 strikeouts in 101.2 innings pitched, and a 3.01 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. His FIP was even lower than his ERA when he went out to the mound tonight. Be happy if you've got him, and he could be a top-5 starter by the end of the season.

Dustin Pedroia left the game early yesterday after fouling a ball off the side of his foot. The Red Soxhave reported that the x-rays were negative, but that he was still having a hard time putting pressure on the foot. I would not be surprised if this ended up as a DL stint, which would be too bad for the extremely hot hitting Pedroia.

A couple notes from Ray Guilfoyle

Edwin Jackson threw a whopping 149 pitches in his no-hitter last night. wow. Lets see how he pitches in his next outing.
I watched alot of the Dodgers-Yankees game last night, and Matt Kemp looks lost at the plate. I am curious if Torre will sit him a few more times in the near future. Xavier Paul is hitting well in AAA,
Astros third baseman Chris Johnson went 4-5 with 3 RBIs and it appears he will be getting the bulk of the starts at 3b for the Stros going forward. He has some pop.
Is Drew Stubbs the outfield version of Mark Reynolds? Well, with not as much power. He hit his 8th HR last night, and had 4 RBI and his 16th SB. The .236 BA hurts, but could he go 15-30 this year?
Trevor Hoffman pitched the 9th inning of the Brewers 8-3 win last night and struck out 2? Prelude to a save opportunity?
Colby Rasmus went 2-4 with a run scored, a double and a single. Don’t look now but Rasmus has a higher SLG% than Albert Pujols-.556 vs .538.
Nationals reliever Tyler Clippard came in to hold a 3-run lead and proceeded to give up 4 runs, 3 earned run for the loss. Drew Storen threw a scoreless 1.1 innings before Jim Riggleman handed the ball to Clippard.
Pirates rookie Pedro Alvarez had the first Golden Sombrero of his young career, striking out 4 times in the Pirates 14-4 loss to the A’s. Ooof.
After striking out just 10 batters in his last 4 starts, Ben Sheets struck out 9 Pirates last night. Lucky for him it was the Pirates. Sheets has an uncharacteristic 70-37 K/BB ratio this season.