PIRATES - 4.19.03

8-8 Record, 2.5 Games Back of Division Leaders Chicago Cubs

Fantasy Information Centrals Local Focus:

Randall Simon sat out Friday night’s game because of a minor car accident he got in near PNC Park on Thursday night. It’s nothing serious, but the Pirates didn’t want to take any chances.

When I last reported, Brian Giles was a healthy fixture in the outfield for the Pirates on a daily basis, but a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee forced him to go on the 15 Day Disabled List as we all know. Giles is of course disappointed, but he remains to have an upbeat attitude and understands its part of the game. He recently responded to a reporter when asked about the details of his rehab program, "I'm trying to work on my tan and my beach muscles. I can't do anything [else], so I hope I can be tan and bigger when I come back."

Pitching Analysis:
Without Brian Giles in the lineup, pitching has become key for the Pirates. Kris Benson is slowly showing us all that he is over his shoulder troubles. In 27+ innings of work, Benson has a 1.98 ERA with a record of 2-2, striking out 19. Maybe nothing stands out to you besides the ERA, but for Benson these are all amazing numbers considering his career ERA numbers are above 4. Benson has not pitched over 200 innings since 2000, but if Kris can get some more run support you can expect the wins total to rise.

Jeff Suppan has been nothing short of brilliance for the Pirates in his first three starts. He’s 3-0 with a 1.40 ERA, only giving up 3 Earned Runs so far. Bear in mind that in 33 starts last year for the Royals, Jeff’s ERA was well over 5 and only won 9 games. He’s already a third of the way to his win total for last year, so he’s made Dave Littlefield, the Pirates General Manager, look like a genius for acquiring the veteran talent like Suppan. You can’t expect Suppan to go 6 innings and just give up 1 run every time out, but watch him closely and see if he can build off his success so far.

The Pirates have been able to trust their bullpen so far this year, as Scott Sauerbeck has pitched 5+ innings and has yet to give up a run. He’s a solid pitcher who can come in and pitch against right and left handed batters. Salomon Torres has been the most frequently used member of the pin, pitching 9 innings thus far giving up just 3 runs. Torres has the best endurance of all the relievers and Lloyd McClendon is not afraid to keep him in for two or three innings. Closer Mike Williams has been one of the best closers the first couple of weeks, given 5 save opportunities and has converted them all. Mike has yet to give up a run too, proving that it has been tough to score off this bullpen so far, and that most of the damage is done in the early innings.

In The Limelight:
Jason Kendall, Catcher

With the offensive performance of Reggie Sanders and the injury to the biggest offensive weapon Brian Giles, Jason Kendall’s name has not come up on the tongue of many fantasy owners. Batting .281 with 3 Homeruns and 8 RBIs, he has really been a big asset to the leagues that have more than your conventional 5X5 stats. Jason’s On-Base Percentage is .379 and has a monster slugging percentage at .456. When Giles returns, you can expect Kendall to just keep collecting better numbers when he bats in between Giles and Lofton.

Fantasy Guidance

Matt Stairs has been getting the most playing time in the absence of Brian Giles, but has yet to put up numbers anywhere close to Brian. Stairs is just the short-term solution in Pittsburgh, and should not even be considered on your fantasy roster right now.

While Benson and Suppan have been the aces of the staff, Kip Wells and Jeff D’Amico have been underachieving. D’Amico ERA looks like it belongs in Coors Field, while Wells is 0-1 with an ERA slightly under 4. Continue to watch these guys, and if you have Wells on your team don’t drop him, just see his numbers for the next start or two and make a decision on whether or not Free Agency is the place to turn. If you have D’Amico on your team, I can only see two reasons why. 1) You are Jeff D’Amico or 2)….well, wait no, only Jeff D’Amico should have himself on his fantasy team.

Thanks for reading, any questions or comments can be directed to the Pirates Message Board or you can e-mail me.

[Insert Catch-Phrase]
Josh

Posted by Josh Brady at 02:17 PM | Comments (2)

Ask Josh Brady a question here.
Discuss sports on the message board!