WaiverSharks 2009 Preseason
Fantasy Baseball Rankings:
Starting Pitchers #61 - #80
We don't get too caught up in last year’s statistics. If we did – we would have over paid for players such as Eric Byrnes, Carlos Pena or possibly even Andruw Jones going into the 2008 season. But we didn’t. Wonder how many of these toys are on clearance shelves in Atlanta department stores?
Our Outfielder Rankings are on deck –
let’s hope we dissuade you from choices like this!
Instead we mostly try and focus on upside and potential.
There is nothing more satisfying then plucking a guy off of your waiver wire – and watching him develop into a superstar. To clearly make our point we have absolutely laced our 61-80 rankings group of talented arms with several young prospects who have tremendous upside - a few of whom some of you might not of even heard of.
61) Vincent Mazzaro, Athletics - WaiverSharks loves to seek deep sleepers! Well, the fish finder has honed in on this kid – who won’t astound you with radar love like Trevor Cahill – but he could blossom at the Major League level.
62) Gio Gonzalez, Athletics – Gio failed to impress when given a shot at the end of 2008 – but he still has the ability to one day become a K’s machine.
63) Wade Davis, Rays – After David Price the Rays still have this guy? WOW! The departure of Edwin Jackson bodes well for us possibly seeing Mr. Davis in 2009 – But it’s very difficult to predict when – and in what capacity.
64) Jeremy Bonderman, Tigers – Will “Bondo” ever put it together? Hard to say, but 2009 should garner better results.
65) Jeremy Hellickson, Rays – The Rays are disgustingly deep in first rate arms.
66) Ian Kennedy, Yankees – If the Yankees have any where’s near the trouble they did with injuries to their pitching staff Ian Kennedy could be asked to step it up.
67) Justin Duchscherer, Athletics – Last year ended on season ending injury – let’s approach this one with caution.
68) Andy Sonnanstine, Rays – With so many talented kids down on the farm – Andy may be packing his ping pong table up in a U-haul before too long. For those not aware of Sonnanstine’s ping pong prowess checkout his YouTube videos.
WaiverSharks is still lobbying for an Andy Sonnanstine VS Biljana “Biba” Golic Ping Pong battle of the sexes. (The sport has sometimes referred to the sexy small ball player as the Anna Kournikova of ping pong.)
Keep your eyes on the ball, Biba! And we’ll keep our eyes on you!
It may never approach the infamous level that the Billie Jean King VS Bobby Riggs tennis match did back in the 1970’s – but it certainly would be hotter to watch!
69) Joe Blanton, Phillies – We were pretty shocked at Blanton’s success when he moved from a pitchers friendly park to a hitter’s friendly park last season. Don’t overpay for his services though.
70) Aaron Cook, Rockies – Cook’s 2008 season was about as good as it’s gonna get for the sinkerball specialist. To think he’ll even match last years numbers would be reaching.
71) Armando Galarraga, Tigers – Where the heck did this guy fall from? Adjustments from hitters could remove some of his shine in 2009 – but he pitches in a big park – and has a strong offensive team behind him - So let’s see if he can repeat.
72) Todd Wellemeyer, Cardinals – Another possible over-achiever in 2008. Don’t overpay for his skills.
73) Sean Gallagher, Athletics – Gallagher is a pitcher we like – but we’ll need to see a bit more of him before we are totally on board.
74) Carlos Carrasco, Phillies – Phillies TOP pitching Prospect is a Dark Horse ROY candidate for 2009. Yes, those are strong words – but the Phillies look solid heading into 2009, and if he lands a spot in the back end of their rotation – he could benefit from some sweet match-ups, as well as the Phillies strong offence.
75) Jon Garland, Diamondbacks – We've never been huge fans of Jon Garland - but being sent to the National League West, where he'll face far less potent offences then he opposed in the American League his entire career should bolster his fantasy value. He may benefit from pitching alongside fellow sinkerballer Brandon Webb as well.
76) Homer Bailey, Reds – Remember this guy? Homer was pretty brutal in 2008. Unless he wants to classified as one of those pitchers who just can’t conquer “THE BIGS” he had better figure things out FAST!
77) Luke Hochevar, Royals – Hochevar will enter his 2nd season most definitely in the Royals rotation. He remains a young gun with upside.
78) Chris Hillman, Orioles – We still have trouble getting overly excited about Orioles pitching – but Tillman and Brian Matusz are a couple of solid arms you may be seeing in the not too distant future.
79) Jesse Litsch, Blue Jays
WaiverSharks has occasionally joked that Jesse Litsch reminds us of Hank Hill’s son Bobby Hill from the Mike Judge animated cartoon series King of the Hill. But we never realized that the voice of Bobby was provided by californication
From a fantasy baseball perspective – consider Litsch to be “Kevin Slowey lite”
80) Kenshin Kawakami, Atlanta Braves - Predicting the results of the annual Asian pitching imports is as difficult as finding all 20 bobbleheads hidden in Fallout 3 - but landing on the National Leagues Atlanta Braves is a good start. Welcome to America Kenshin!
