Posts tagged GilMeche at FanHouse

To fans and the media, what a team does in the MLB Draft pales next to a big free-agent signing or blockbuster trade.

Part of that is the gaudy figures thrown around during the hot stove season. The Red Sox, this year's top spender in the draft, couldn't even buy one year of Gil Meche if they shifted their draft outlay to the open market. Most of it stems from immediacy, though. A big winter signing answers the question who will help me today? A big haul in the draft answers who will help me tomorrow, but in most cases tomorrow is years away, if it ever comes at all.

Still, as the cost of free agents escalates, the draft continues to become the most important way to ensure long-term success. With that in mind, and with the deadline to sign picks in the books, here's a look at three teams who won and three teams who lost in the 2008 draft

Spot Jobs gambles by picking five spot starters for the week and five usual starters to avoid. The success rate is usually around 50%, but the risk level is always through the roof. Obviously, though, you always start Brandon Webb (when healthy) and sit Dave Bush.

Five Down

Randy Johnson, DBacks, @ Boston -- As I assumed would happen when he was going well, he's in the middle of a free-fall. He's done. I wouldn't start him again the rest of the season anyway, but getting the Red Sox in Fenway is a rough task for anyone. Do not let him destroy your ERA and WHIP just for a few Ks.

Roy Oswalt, Astros, vs. Rangers -- I don't trust him anymore, and the Rangers lead the majors in runs scored. He's already disappeared from "must-start" territory, so why would you let him go against a team that mashes like Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Milton Bradley, and company?

Daisuke Matsuzaka, Red Sox, @ Houston -- That last debacle of a start was enough to scare me temporarily, and the Astros definitely have the potential to take advantage of mistakes in that park. I like him for one sit and then he's back to a must-start.

Kansas City Royals starter Gil Meche hasn't exactly been living up to that $11 million price tag of his this season. Meche is 3-8 with an ERA of 5.54, a WHIP of 1.47, and nearly halfway to matching last season's walk total of 62 already.

So when a pitcher costs a lot, is struggling, and plays for a small budget team who is in last place, the rumors start to swirl that he may soon be on the move. This is the case for Meche as teams like the Cubs are interested in his services, but Gil and Dayton Moore want you to know that it's not going to happen.

Right-hander Gil Meche just laughs at those rumors circulating regarding a possible trade sending him to the Chicago Cubs.

"How's that going to happen?" he asked.

Meche has a no-trade clause in his contract and said he hasn't been asked to waive it. Furthermore, he has no interest in doing so.

General manager Dayton Moore declined to comment on the rumor, but club officials privately dismissed it. One said, "If we're going to make a run at this thing in 2010, how are we going to do it without Gil Meche?"

Meche had a chance to be a member of the Cubs before joining the Royals, as they were one of the teams bidding for his services before last season, but he chose Kansas City. It doesn't look like a year and a half of losing has done anything to help change his mind.

Still, if you ever thought you'd hear a general manager question how a team could win without Gil Meche, well, you must be his mother or something.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Philadelphia Phillies (35-26) vs. Cincinnati Reds (29-31) - 1:05PM Est.

You can't blame the Reds for trying to strike while the iron is hot, especially given the way that Jay Bruce has lit the world up since making his debut with the big league ball club last week, and they'll hope that success carries over to the pitcher's mound as well. Today the Reds will be handing the ball to Homer Bailey as they just called him up from Louisville and they're hoping he'll do a lot better in his second tour of duty.

Bailey was supposed to be Edinson Volquez when the Reds brought him up last season, and though he showed some signs of why the Reds are so high on him, his first season in the Majors wasn't that great.

He'll look to get his career started this afternoon against one of the most potent offenses in all of baseball.

Oh, and there's the whole Ken Griffey Jr. looking for homer # 600 as well.

Over the last few seasons since Dayton Moore took over the general manager's job in Kansas City, I've been a pretty big fan of what the Royals are doing as an organization. Yes, they overpaid for some free agents like Gil Meche and Jose Guillen, but in order to convince free agents to come to Kansas City, you have to pay them more than they're worth. That's what happens when you routinely finish in last place in your division.

Of course, finishing in last does have some benefits as well, as it gives a team a lot of high draft picks, and the Royals have used them to find players like Alex Gordon. The Royals aren't tearing things up by any means this season, as they're currently 21-23, but they're only 2.5 games behind the White Sox for the division lead.

All of which has gotten Royals legend George Brett to start talking about a division title.

"Why couldn't they contend?" Brett said. "In our division, I think they can. No one is head-and-shoulders above anyone else."

"If you live in Kansas City right now," he said, "and you're not excited, then you're not a baseball fan."

Yeah! Get excited Royals fans!

As odd as it may sound to hear Brett or anybody involved with the Royals talking about a division title this season, what George said is right. The AL Central is wide open this year as nobody has really stepped up and taken control of the division. The White Sox may be on top right now, but it's not like they don't have problems that could cost them in the long run, and the same can be said for Cleveland, Minnesota, and Detroit.

I don't think it's going to happen this season, unless the Royals offense starts hitting anyway, but at this point they're just as likely as anybody else to pull it off. They're basically only a five-game win streak away from climbing to the top.

For those of you that don't know, Joe Posnanski of the KC Star does these "Banny Logs" on his personal blog, where he chronicles each of Royals pitcher Brian Bannister's starts. Joe -- and everyone else -- is infatuated with Bannister for a few reasons.

First, he's a good pitcher. Second, he's smart as hell. He combines both of those to be a rare breed of baseball player -- one who truly cares about the pajama/basement Sabermetric numbers, and a guy whose mental approach to the chess-like game of pitching is similar to that of Greg Maddux. That's not a direct comparison, but it's certainly valid. Anyway, Joe mentions a hilariously awesome text message exchange after the game.

It was like that. Banny was mostly working fastball as he does when he's successful, but his secondary pitches were generally not coming in the red-zone 84-85 mph range. Plus, it looked like Banny had a really good fastball. He got 11 swinging strikes, which is a lot for him, and most of those came on fastballs. He had his command too. I sent him a text after the game, and he wrote back to say: "Just had to let my Babip regress before I started dealing again."

Seriously, how can you not love this guy?

No. Seriously. How can you not? A major league pitcher -- arguably the ace on a major league team, depending on how you feel about Gil Meche -- totally monitors his BABIP. Most regular baseball fans don't monitor BABIP, but Bannister, he is all over that mess. The guy knows his stats; instead of some tangent about the changing world of baseball, I'm just going to sit back and enjoy it.

Via Vegas Watch

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Kansas City Royals (9-10) vs. Cleveland Indians (7-12) - 8:10PM Est.

Nobody is sure what the problem is with C.C. Sabathia right now, but everybody agrees that there is most definitely a problem. Is he too busy thinking about free agency at the end of the year? Did he just throw too many innings last season? Have they stopped serving donuts in the Indians clubhouse before games?

What is it?

I can't pretend to know, but what I can pretend to do is see the future. When I looked into that future, I saw Sabathia picking up that first win of the season tonight. He has to win a game at some point, so why not tonight? He's had some decent success against the Royals in his career, going 13-8 with a 3.38 ERA, but he will need some help from his teammates.

While I chose to make fun of Cleveland's left fielders yesterday, the truth is the entire offense is struggling. A lineup that scored 811 runs last season is currently worst in the American League with a .235 average and only 79 runs scored.

Woo. There is a glorious abundance of non-horrible two start pitchers this week. Brandon Webb and Jake Peavy highlight the top of the list, including what better be a nationally televised start against one another later in the week.

The top 20 on our list this week are all pretty close to "must-start" status, and then after that, there are even some pretty good options, some of which might be available in your league.

Gil Meche stands out as a guy who is still a good pitcher skills wise, but is just walking too many people. Starts against Cleveland and Toronto aren't locks to turn him around, but he's still a good start.

Manny Parra has "meh" ratios, but he's K'ing over a batter per inning, meaning he's pure gold in any sort of H2H league. A lot of owners are bailing on him early anyway, and he's a legit prospect and worth starting in almost any league this week, particularly with starts against St. Louis (Kyle Lohse) and Florida. Mmmm. Lohse.

Armando Galarraga, a.k.a. the "Little Big Cat", gets the nod twice this week as well, drawing Toronto and Anaheim. I'm not expecting a pair of one hit outings like he pulled against Cleveland, but I think you can pencil in at least one win this week with good ratios.

Pitcher	Team	First Start	Second Start
Brandon Webb	ARI	v. SF, Zito	at SD, Peavy
Jake Peavy	SD	at HOU, Backe	v. ARI, Webb
Felix Hernandez	SEA	v. BAL, Loewen	v. OAK, Blanton
Josh Beckett	BOS	v. ANA, Weaver	at TB, Shields
Carlos Zambrano	CHC	v. NYM, Maine	at WAS, Chico

Damage Control is a list of injuries that you need to be thinking about as you're sitting at work, trying to set your fantasy lineup for week two. I'm categorizing the injuries in three pretty obvious slots below (good, worth the risk, don't bother) for your perusal the rest of the afternoon prior to submitting your lineups.

If there is anyone you have a question about, drop a note in the comments or send the Fantasy FanHouse crew an email. Please note that as injury news regarding the upcoming week is released, this list will be updated.

Safe to Roll
Francisco Rodriguez, CL, LAA -- He pitched Sunday, so you kind of have to start him if you own him.
Carlos Guillen, SS, DET -- Supposedly he's questionable, but I see no reason to bench him. He hits too well and is too valuable in terms of positional eligibility to keep on the bench.
Elijah Dukes, OF, WAS -- How you gonna bench me, dawg? (Seriously, if you are so inclined to own/use him, he should be back, dawg.)