The Hook

Schmidt's Status Should be key to determining the Giants'/Fantasy Owners' Hopes

Shudders could be seen at Pac Bell Park on Tuesday night when Jason Schmidt, who would appear to be on his way to a runaway Cy Young season, had to leave the Giants 5-4 victory over the Expos. The kicker is that Giants fans aren't the only ones who will feel the heat go up a notch if Schmidt's groin injury hampers him the rest of the way; fantasy owners should take just as big a hit. While Schmiddty claimed that it felt better Wednesday than it did after the game on Tuesday, groin injuries tend to linger a bit. Even if he doesn't miss a start (it's better that he miss one now than later, as head to head owners will attest), chances are that he won't be quite as effective if it's still bothering him in the least.

There are two main players that a prolonged injury problem could affect, though it's possible that the G-men will try and find just a little more depth in their minor league system to fill in if Schmidt needs to skip a start. Then again, do you really want to start three rookies in your rotation in a pennant race? Let's start with the obvious one.

Jason Schmidt - As of right now, it's unknown whether or not he'll make his next scheduled start (Tuesday at Florida), but it's a safe bet that San Francisco will be cautious with him if they let him start. If there's even a hint of a possibility that he could further aggravate it, the Giants may be better off resting him and letting him sit out a turn in the rotation. In the unlikely situation that they don't play it carefully enough, Schmidt could miss quite a few September starts, and the Giants don't really have the team around him to make up for his absence.

Projection: He won't make his next start, as the Giants actually have two days off between now and Tuesday and should be able to reset their rotation so that he can rest up a bit longer.

Dustin Hermanson - It seems like it was only a week or two ago that Hermanson claimed the closer's job in San Francisco, but if Schmidt ends up having to miss a prolonged period of time, I simply can't see them leaving him in the bullpen. It just doesn't seem likely that Felipe Alou would be content to run Brett Tomko, Kirk Rueter, and three rookies (Noah Lowry, Brad Hennessey, and a mystery arm) out there as his five man rotation in a pennant race. While Hermanson's no stud himself, he'd likely become the de facto ace of the staff if Schmidt had to miss a lot of time and he joined the rotation.

Projection: Hopefully the Giants treat the Schmidt situation properly and maybe call up a spot starter for AAA for him if he's not at 100%. Ideally, Hermanson stays in the bullpen (he hasn't been great, but anyone's better than Matt Herges), but it'd be hard to justify leaving him there if the Giants are put in a bad spot.

Starting next week, we'll go over keepers division by division for the rest of the season and through the playoffs, with a couple of possible breaks to go over our pitchers of the month (August) in two weeks and our season awards in the first week of October!

Line of the Week

The pitching line of the week will always be one of three things: a great line (green), a poor line (red), or a bizarre line (yellow)

0.2 IP, 3 H, 5 BB, 5 R, 5 ER, 1 K

Just a couple of weeks after we talked him up in the column, Jaret Wright went out and threw this lemon for the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night. Wright walked five, including two with the bases loaded, as he didn't get out of the first inning against the Pads.

A "Closer" Look
Closers with three or more saves in the past seven days: Jason Isringhausen, Ugueth Urbina, Francisco Cordero, John Smoltz, Dustin Hermanson, Shingo Takatsu (3)

Despite a loss in a tied extra-innings game, Dustin Hermanson has been solid as the Giants' closer thus far, converting four of his first five chances.... Shingo Takatsu tied for the most saves of the week with three, but allowed two runs in two of those three save opportunities... Mike Remlinger notched his first save in nearly three years for the Cubbies on Saturday while closer LaTroy Hawkins was suspended. Don't expect there to be any type of battle here, though it's still a possibility that the Cubs try and pick someone up with a waiver deal..... Speaking of waiver deals, Baltimore apparently tried to pass Jorge Julio through waivers last week, but the claim was blocked. It seems he'll be stuck with the O's, but on the positive side, that means he'll maintain what little value he has as their closer.... With closer Troy Percival on the shelf, the Angels are showing us a glimpse of their future at the back of the bullpen by rotating Francisco Rodriguez between the setup role and closer's role when Percy is unavailable.

Let's Play Two
The following is a list of all starters who are scheduled to make two starts in the following fantasy week (8/23-8/29). All home games are in CAPS.

American League

Bartolo Colon - KANSAS CITY, MINNESOTA
Rodrigo Lopez - Oakland, Texas
Sidney Ponson - Oakland, Texas
Pedro Martinez - Toronto, DETROIT
Tim Wakefield - Toronto, DETROIT
Jose Contreras - Detroit, Cleveland
Jon Garland - Detroit, Cleveland
Cliff Lee - NEW YORK YANKEES, CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Scott Elarton - NEW YORK YANKEES, CHICAGO WHITE SOX
Jeremy Bonderman - CHICAGO WHITE SOX, Boston
Wil Ledezma - CHICAGO WHITE SOX, Boston
Jimmy Serrano - Anaheim, Seattle
Mike Wood - Anaheim, Seattle
Johan Santana - Texas, Anaheim
Carlos Silva - Texas, Anaheim
Javier Vazquez - Cleveland, Toronto
Mike Mussina - Cleveland, Toronto
Tim Hudson - BALTIMORE, TAMPA BAY
Mark Mulder - BALTIMORE, TAMPA BAY
Ryan Franklin - TAMPA BAY, KANSAS CITY
Ron Villone - TAMPA BAY, KANSAS CITY
Mark Hendrickson - Seattle, Oakland
Rob Bell - Seattle, Oakland
Kenny Rogers - MINNESOTA, BALTIMORE
Ryan Drese - MINNESOTA, BALTIMORE
Ted Lilly - BOSTON, NEW YORK YANKEES
Miguel Batista - BOSTON, NEW YORK YANKEES

Start of the Week (gulp)

Another week, another no-brainer who will probably flop. If you'll recall, we took Tim Hudson earlier this season because he's owned them throughout his career, only to watch Hudson allow eight runs (six earned) in seven innings. The gut tells me this is an easy choice, though, as Hudson is strong at 5-1 with a 2.88 ERA against them lifetime. As good as Hudson is against the Rays, he's even better against Baltimore (8-1, 2.03), so we'll take him with what figures to be two incredible starts.

Stats to be posted later tonight
National League

Casey Fossum - Pittsburgh, Cincinnati
Paul Byrd - COLORADO, SAN FRANCISCO
Carlos Zambrano - MILWAUKEE, HOUSTON
Matt Clement - MILWAUKEE, HOUSTON
Josh Hancock - ST. LOUIS, ATLANTA
Shawn Estes - Atlanta, Florida
A.J. Burnett - SAN FRANCISCO, COLORADO
Carlos Hernandez - PHILADELPHIA, Chicago Cubs
Odalis Perez - Montreal, New York Mets
Kazuhisa Ishii - Montreal, New York Mets
Ben Sheets - Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia
Chris Capuano - Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia
Kris Benson - SAN DIEGO, LOS ANGELES
Al Leiter - SAN DIEGO, LOS ANGELES
Corey Lidle - Houston, MILWAUKEE
John Vanbenschoten - ARIZONA, ST. LOUIS
Oliver Perez - ARIZONA, ST. LOUIS
Brad Hennessey - Florida, Atlanta
Woody Williams - Cincinnati, Pittsburgh

Start of the Week

Though he has just a 7-6 record combined against the Brewers and Astros, Carlos Zambrano has put up strong overall numbers against them, with a 3.10 ERA lifetime. Zambrano should come back strong from Tuesday's startagainst the Brew Crew and return to the dominance that's led him to a 3.07 ERA in six starts lifetime against them.

stats to be posted later tonight

Posted by James Meyerriecks: Aug 18 at 11:03 PM

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