The Morning Offering - March 14, 2005

Written by Worm on March 14, 2005

Good morning.

To start off the week, I figured I’d reach into the mailbag and answer some readers’ questions. This first one comes from Philo, Ohio:

Worm,

What are your picks for the Final Four?

AJ
Philo, OH

Well, AJ, I’d love to tell you, but I’m afraid I don’t know. Isn’t Final Four a video game of some sort? I love to play those games when I’m at a friend’s house or something, but I don’t have a system at home, so I don’t really keep up to date on them. Also, they give me really nasty blisters on my thumb. I hate popping that shit, it’s just, well, really nasty.

Hope I answered your question. Alright, this next one is from Jill in Nice, California:

Wormy,

Have you heard anything about Eric Gagne recently? First his knee pops, and then he can’t pitch because he’s “sick”? Should I be worried?

Jill S.
Nice, Cali

The latest I’ve heard is that Gagne is getting back on the mound, and will probably be pitching in games by next weekend, so nothing to worry about. Even if he isn’t 100% sharp by the beginning of the season, well, frankly, it isn’t fair to the other team when he is 100%, so it would make the game more fun for non-Dodgers fans. They will still go home disappointed, but at least their team stands a chance of not looking plain dumb in the ninth.

Here’s one from a reader in Seattle:

Dear Worm—

Where’s your closers ranking articel. Also which overated starters should I avoid at my draught this year?

XQJZK,
Seattle, WA

Interesting spelling there… interesting name, I might add. Anyway, I don’t remember mentioning my article ranking the closers, but yes, I’m planning to have one out sometime during the week, to complement The Fool’s set of position rankings thus far. Thanks for the reminder, I won’t keep you waiting much longer.

As for starters to avoid, I’d bring up a few to think about. Former Big-Three aces Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder now get to enjoy pitching in the NL, but they may not be the number-one-type pitchers many make them out to be, at least in the fantasy sense. They will probably put up better than average numbers, but you can get more productive players for their value. Also fitting in this category are Mark Buehrle and Brad Radke. Both are dependable starters, but not the bulwark of a winning fantasy rotation.

Other pitchers who may be suffering from an inflated value are Carl Pavano, Rodrigo Lopez, Chris Carpenter, and to some extent Oliver Perez. All these pitchers had significant performance spikes last year, and shouldn’t be expected to replicate those numbers. Perez may not quite fit in with these other players; I still expect him to be plenty valuable, just not necessarily in the same dominant way as last season.

This last one’s from He:rbEre:ctus2 in Zlatitsa, Bulgaria:

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Interesting question, He:rbEre:ctus2. Maybe we should ask Raffy Palmeiro about that one. Or maybe we can get Congress to ask him for us. Still waiting for that image to load, by the way.

Well, that’s all for today. Keep those questions coming, and I’ll get to as many of them as possible.

Worm’s e-mail address is worm@rotogods.com

-- Written by Worm on March 14, 2005