Pitch or Ditch for Friday, October 1
Pitch
or Ditch is a strategy for (ideally) daily mixed leagues in which you
pick up
starters on a day-to-day basis based on how well they are pitching and
their
upcoming matchups, then cut them in favor of new guys the next day. The
concept
is that the shallower the league, the more quality starting pitching is
available on the free agent wire, so rather than drafting expensive
starters,
it’s better to build a strong offense and bullpen and let the free agent
wire
populate your starting staff during the season. As a bonus, a handful of
“PoD”
guys emerge each year as worth keeping all year long, like Jair Jurrjens
last
year or Cliff Lee in ’08.
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2010 All-Surprise and All-Disappointment Teams
CORY’S PICKS
Porcello @
Tillman
Pettitte @ Matsuzaka
- do you trust either? Not me!
Weaver @
Holland
Carmona @ Pena – solid
comeback year for Carmona (Lo12 guy!)
Shields @ Chen – good
matchup for Shields
Romero @ Pavano -
spike in Romero’s walk rate suggests he’s gassed
Cahill @
French
Rogers @
Wood
Maholm @
Mendez
Zimmermann @
Misch
Kendrick @
Beachy
Coleman @
Norris – one more shot on Bud
De La Rosa @
Westbrook
Kroenke @
Ely
Richard @ Zito
- Richard too erratic lately, and on the road, to trust
***Zach says “I’d ditch Pavano in a tough matchup vs. TOR. He’s been flat out awful over his last two starts (12.00 ERA). Richard is a tough call but coming off poor outing I’ll agree with Cory and say ditch.”
mlbtstufantasy411
hey zach…3 days to go and I’m locked in a 5-5 (H2H) tie for the championship. thoughts on whether or not I’d be better suited with a tyler clippard-type setup guy for tonight, or slotting in CC, for a potential relief appearance. Or, would you just cut the un-keepable CC, as his 3-year round 8-10 contract comes to an end)? thanks buddy
your opinion and insights are always valued and appreciated, thanks zach!
I am in a h2h battle for the championship, leading 7-3. I do not trust Pavano tonight, Tommy Hunter is available in my league. Should I grab him or Jake Westbrook? Or should I play conservative since I am leading era and whip and just bench untrustworty pitchers?
jaynew,
I’d lean towards using the dominant middle reliever as we’re still not 100 percent certain that CC will make a relief appearance this weekend. It’s possible he just throws an extended bullpen session and the Yankees deem him ready to go. Plus, the middle reliever might make multiple appearances while CC will pitch in at most one game. Especially if you’re looking for Ks, the middle reliever is a safer bet.
Zach