Pitching Can Wait

There is a lack of top flight pitchers in this year's draft and an abundance of quality, above average ones. If I were you, I would hold off on drafting your pitchers until the early-middle rounds and even the late rounds. Stack your offense up! In a recent draft I went with offense in the first 7 rounds. In the 8-12 rounds I was able to get Justin Verlander, John Smoltz, Cole Hamels, Bronson Arroyo, and Matt Cain respectively. In even later rounds I was able to get Randy Johnson, Anibal Sanchez and Adam Wainwright. If you're gong to draft Johan Santana that's one thing. But there is not a big difference in the stats of the guys I mentioned before and guys like Roy Halladay, Chris Carpenter, Brandon Webb or Roy Oswalt. For example, Halladay got 16 wins last year while striking out 132 in 220 innings. Verlander got 17 wins last season while striking out 124 in 186 innings. Brandon Webb got 178 K's in 235 innings while Hamels had 145 K's in just 133 innings as a rookie. See what I'm getting at? I'm not saying my guys are better pitchers because they're not. I'm just saying they'll give you better value. I'd rather take a guy like Lance Berkman who is 1B and OF eligible instead of Carpenter. I'd also rather have a guy like Jason Bay or Adam Dunn instead of Hallady, especially with a group of outfielders this year that is seriously lacking 100 RBI producers. The same goes for auction leagues. Spend your big bucks on the power hitters and get guys like Harang, Verlander, Arroyo, Schilling and Haren on the cheap. Look for the sleepers! Look at guys like Scott Olsen, Anibal Sanchez, Rich Hill, Anthony Reyes, Chad Billingsly and Matt Garza. Spend your picks and your money wisely. Get the best value you that you can.

That's the word.

Future Fantasy Stud

The Cubs 6'5" lefty starter, Rich Hill, has a tremendous upside. After dominating hitters in the minors for the past five seasons he finally got his shot with the Cubs last season. Last season with Triple A Iowa, Hill went 7-1 with an ERA of 1.80. He also struck out 135 hitters in just 100 innings while only walking 21. He struggled early in the season and Cubs fans were wondering if this guy was even going to pan out. However, Hill had a breakthrough second half of the season after his call-up back to the majors. He went 6-3 in the second half 2.93 ERA and went 3-1 in September with a 1.93 ERA. He also recorded the Cubs only complete game last season with a complete game shutout. Hill has a decent fastball to go along with a devastating curve and an above average changeup. He does need to work on a fourth pitch, most likely his slider. Hill will be turning 27 in March and is considered a sleeper this season. However, this will be the last season he will be called a sleeper. He has been going in the 21-23 rounds of all the mock drafts I've seen this year. Be sure to grab him in these rounds but not too late or you'll be sorry. I think he will get you more fantasy value than anyone else taken in those rounds and maybe even in the couple previous rounds. He will probably be the Cubs no. 3 or 4 starter but is the second best pitcher on the team. Hill will benefit from a much improved Cubs offense that added Alfonso Soriano, Cliff Floyd and Mark DeRosa to go along with Derek Lee, Aramis Ramirez and Michael Barrett. Also, between Triple A and the majors Hill pitched 200 innings so don't worry about lack of big innings experience. I believe that when the season is all said and done Hill will be a top 20 fantasy pitcher and will be in the top 10 in the NL in strikeouts. America, look out for Rich Hill.


2007 Predictions for Rich Hill

W-L ERA Ks WHIP
14-7 3.43 188 1.25

The New Guy

Hey what's up everybody. I'm the new guy at Fantasy Baseball Express. My name is Chris Mulligan and I'll be here to give you my opinions and predictions for the upcoming fantasy season. I'm going to do to the best I can to give you fresh opinions up to date fantasy news. If you ever have any questions relating to fantasy baseball feel free to email me. I would just like to thank Mike for this opportunity and let me say, I'm gonna have fun with it.


Chris Mulligan
fistoflegend22@yahoo.com