Fantasy weekend review

05/12/2008

BY Aaron Gleeman



Jays' Wells suffers broken wrist There's a ton of stuff to get to from this weekend's action, so let's get right to the notes from around baseball ...* Manager Ned Yost announced Sunday morning that the Brewers had taken closing duties away from Eric Gagne, but declined to name a replacement. Faced with a save opportunity just a few hours later, Yost surprisingly turned to Salomon Torres rather than Guillermo Mota to begin the ninth inning. However, when Torres allowed a double and a walk while recording two outs, Yost brought in southpaw Brian Shouse to get the final out versus lefty Skip Schumaker.Schumaker beat the odds by getting a hit off Shouse, who then remained in to face righty Yadier Molina. Molina delivered an RBI single that brought the winning run to the plate in the form of lefty Adam Kennedy, but Shouse induced a game-ending ground ball to pick up his first save since June 15 of last year. Mota seemed somewhat likely to take over for Gagne, but for one game at least he wasn't even in the picture as Yost mixed and matched Torres and Shouse.Whether or not Mota can overtake Torres on the depth chart, if Yost continues to bring in Shouse to face lefty-heavy portions of lineups saves will be frustratingly hard to predict. For now at least you'll want to have Torres on yo! ur roster first, followed by Mota and Shouse, but the closing ! situatio n in Milwaukee is definitely worth keeping a close eye on. Given the $10 million they've invested in him and lack of other options, don't be shocked if Gagne gets back in the mix too.* Hiroki Kuroda held the Astros to one over 6.2 innings Sunday afternoon and continues to make me look somewhat smart for tabbing him as one of my favorite sleepers heading into the season. Signed to a three-year, $35.3 million deal by the Dodgers this offseason after a lengthy and very successful career in Japan, the 33-year-old right-hander now has five Quality Starts in eight tries and sports a solid 3.59 ERA through 47.2 innings.Unfortunately, Kuroda picked up his first victory on Opening Day and hasn't won since, leaving him with a 1-2 record despite solid numbers across the board. Jonatha! n Broxton is to blame for Kuroda's latest no-decision after he imploded in the eighth inning, coughing up six runs on six singles while recording just one out. He came into the game with a sparkling 1.00 WHIP and 21-to-6 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 15 innings, but watched his ERA balloon from 1.80 to 5.28.Six runs are the most that Broxton has allowed in 180 career appearances with the Dodgers. His second-worst outing came on June 7 of last season, when he allowed five runs (four earned) and also recorded just one out. Broxton followed that horrible game by going six weeks and 21 straight appearances without giving up an earned run, lowering his ERA from 4.15 to 2.44 in the process. In other words, he should be just fine and you'd be smart to target him in most leagues.* Ichiro Suzuki still has a sub-.300 batting average despite notching three hits Sunda! y, but he's made up for hitting "only" .292 by swiping an AL-l! eading 1 6 bases. With 272 career steals at an 80-percent clip heading into this season Ichiro has always been a tremendously effective base stealer, but he's cut down on his attempts since going 56-for-70 as a rookie. From 2002-2007 he averaged 45 steal attempts per season and never attempted more than 47 in a single year.However, after stealing a base Sunday for the third straight game he's now 16-for-18 through 39 games, which puts him on pace for around 65 steals on 75 attempts. Toss in 26 runs that put him on pace to score 100-plus times for the eighth straight year and he's maintained excellent fantasy value despite what are for him at least some struggles at the plate. Once he gets back to hitting .330 or so-and with Ichiro it's really only a matter of time-he'll be on track for a huge season.* Rich Harden came off the disabled list Sunday and struggled against! the Rangers, allowing five runs on eight hits over 3.1 innings while handing out four walks. While certainly not a positive thing, a rough outing following more than a month on the shelf isn't hugely concerning and so far at least Harden has yet to cease performing like an elite pitcher when healthy enough to play. In other words, he's not in Mark Prior territory yet, although that only helps if he stays off the DL.AL Quick Hits: Gavin Floyd followed up his near no-hitter by getting chased from Sunday's game in the fourth inning after allowing five runs on nine hits . Francisco Liriano had a positive outing Saturday at Triple-A, allowing two runs over six innings . Scratched fro! m the lineup Sunday with a sore hamstring, Manny Ramirez had the game-ending ground out off the bench . Emil Brown had a homer and four RBIs Sunday, amazingly giving him 33 RBIs on the year despite a modest .721 OPS . Brian Bannister came into Sunday's game 0-4 with an 8.02 ERA over his last four starts, but tossed eight shutout innings against the Orioles . With Chone Figgins (hamstring) heading to the disabled list Saturday, Brandon Wood has a chance to claim regular starts at third base ! . Craig Monroe homered twice Sunday and figures to begin taking more playing time away from Jason Kubel . According to manager Joe Girardi, the Yankees plan to stick with Kei Igawa as their starter Wednesday despite his ugly outing Friday . Curt Schilling (biceps) threw from flat ground Saturday, but there's still no timetable for his return . Unfortunately for the Twins and their fans, it looks like Pat Neshek is done for the season.NL Quick Hits: Greg Maddux's victory Saturday made him just the ninth pitcher in MLB history to win 350 career games and puts him four wins from Roger Clemens . Meanwhile, pitching for the first time this month Trevor Hoffman closed out Maddux's win for his 530th career save . Hunter Pence hit just .161 through 15 games, but after going 3-for-4 with two RBIs Sunday he's 27-for-76 (.355) with four homers and 19 RBIs over the past 21 games . Out since April 8, Dm! itri Young (back) is scheduled to begin a minor-league rehab assignment Tuesday . Dan Uggla went deep twice Sunday and already has seven homers this month . Jose Reyes went 3-for-5 with two steals Sunday and now has 10 multi-hit games despite a .259 batting average . Former No. 2 overall pick Greg Reynolds made his big-league debut Sunday, taking the loss while allowing four runs over 5.2 innings versus the Padres . Manager John Russell said Sunday that Freddy Sanchez will remain in the leadoff spot indefinitely . Luis Castillo left Sunday's game with a strained quadric! eps and is considered day-to-day, but that's nothing new for him.