As we get closer to opening day, we also get closer to our two fantasy drafts. Now we have two leagues that we run through Yahoo. We have a straight up snake style draft league and then we have an auction league. We do have some openings in these leagues, but not too many. If your interested in playing in one or both of these leagues send us an e-mail to SportsTimeRadio@Hotmail.com and will send you the link to sign up for the league you’re interested in. It is free to play, but I have to warn you these are deep 20 teams leagues; so you have to be a serious fantasy player to get into these leagues.
One of the things that you have to find in our leagues are those middle of or back of the rotation starters that are going to give you some innings and hopefully add up some other stats as our leagues are category leagues. With the addition last season of the 7-day DL teams aren’t afraid to out any player on there let alone a pitcher with a minor issue. With this being the case you have to look closely at any pitching injury that comes up and there where a few late in the week that didn’t look like a big deal, but you never know.
Drew Pomeranz of the Boston Red Sox left his last start with what was described as forearm tightness in his pitching arm. Pomeranz himself told reporters that he’s not concerned about the injury being serious, but at this point of spring training it’s better for the Red Sox to be cautious with him.
Pomeranz made 32 starts for the Red Sox last season going 17-6 with an ERA of 3.32 over 173 2/3rd innings. Those where all career highs for Pomeranz and he also posted the second best strikeout total of his career with 174. It was a big bounce back year for Pomeranz after he started just 13 games, appearing in 14 games in 2016 due to injury. Look for Pomeranz to be slotted as the Red Sox 4th starter where he could get some good match ups and with the backing of the Red Sox offense could put up a good number of wins this season.
Bud Norris made a spot start for the St. Louis Cardinals filling in for Carlos Martinez who missed the start do to a personal matter. Norris lasted 2 1/3rd innings in the start before having to exit with hamstring spasms after allowing 5 runs. It’s unclear right now if this will be an injury that could linger for Norris or if it’s just an early spring training bump in the road.
Until last season Norris had always been a starting pitcher, but after signing with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for the 2017 season a myriad of injuries forced Norris into the bullpen. Norris ended up pitching in a career high 60 games last season, but only 3 of those where starts. Norris went 2-6 with an ERA of 4.21, but did pick up 19 saves. It appeared as Norris could fill a significant role in the Cardinals bullpen; so you’ll have to monitor his injury.
While it’s unclear right now what type of injury Los Angeles Dodgers right hander Tom Koehler it could be the most serious of the three we’re talking about here. Koehler was pulled in the middle of the inning in his last appearance and is scheduled for an MRI. Koehler suffered from shoulder bursitis last season which limited him to just 72 2/3rd innings.
Koehler has been a starter for the majority of his career, but the Dodgers where hoping to plug him into their bullpen as a full time reliever. Koehler did have some success coming out of the bullpen for the Toronto Blue Jays last season. The Blue Jays acquired Koehler in August of last season and he made 15 appearances for them with 14 of them as a reliever. Koehler went 0-2 in those 15 games covering 17 innings, but had an ERA of 2.65. It looks like will have to wait for the results of the MRI before we know where to rank Koehler.
Are the Philadelphia Phillies going to try and upgrade their starting rotation? There have been reports that the Phillies talked to Jake Arrieta, but they where only willing to go three years on a contract with him.
The Phillies where also in touch with free agent Lance Lynn, but it doesn’t appear that talks went very far. It’s seems as though the Phillies didn’t want to meet Lynn’s demands of $50 million dollars guaranteed in a contract.
While it hasn’t been reported, but you have to wonder if Philadelphia also checked in on Alex Cobb. Cobb recently said that he’d accept on contract of 4 years at $70 million dollars with $50 million dollars being guaranteed. Cobb has originally stated that he wanted $20 million dollars a season in his contract; so his demands have come down a little, but have they come down enough for a team to sign him.
The Phillies are coming off a disappointing 66 win season in 2017. Right now the average age of their projected starting rotation is just under 26 years old. Jerad Eickhoff is the oldest projected start for the Phillies and he’ll turn 28 in July.
If the Phillies aren’t able to come to contract terms with Arrieta, Lynn or Cobb maybe they could bring back Jeremy Hellickson who was with Philadelphia the past two seasons and was their opening day starter last season before being traded to the Baltimore Orioles at the trade deadline. Hellickson turns 31 in early April; so while he’s not that much older than the projected rotation guys he does have 8 years in the big leagues.
Speaking of the Orioles it’s being reported that they’ve shown some interest in Lynn and Cobb along with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Minnesota Twins. It does appear as Minnesota’s interest in Lynn may be waning. There where some contract talks between the too early, but the Twins offer was considered well shy of what Lynn was looking for in a deal.
We’re slowly running out of time and before you know it opening day will be here. How much longer will it be before Arrieta, Lynn or Cobb sings with a team. How much of a possibility is it that they could all still be looking for contracts when the season starts?
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