Friday’s trade of Scott Kazmir should be a warning to us all. Even a team with a payroll conscience like the Tampa Bay Rays would never trade away a 25-year old stud pitcher unless something was wrong. Yes, the Los Angeles Angels will pick up the $22M that he is owed over the next two seasons, but his peripheral stats show an alarming development.
His career strikeout rate is 9.8 per game, but has dropped to 7.4 per game and his ERA of 5.92 during the 2009 season. Something is wrong with Kazmir’s arm and the Rays got out from under it while he still had trade value. The Rays got value in return and an astute fantasy owner will pull the trigger on a wounded fantasy player while they can still get value.
Now, the projected 2-starters for this week. For those of you in leagues who require you to set your lineup at the beginning of the week, these are guys you should strongly consider:
Rick's best bets amongst 2-start pitchers for Week 22
American League
| BAL | Jeremy Guthrie |
| BOS | Jon Lester |
| CWS | Gavin Floyd, John Danks |
| CLE | David Huff |
| DET | Jarrod Washburn, Edwin Jackson |
| KC | Luke Hochevar, Kyle Davies |
| LAA | Joe Saunders |
| MIN | Nick Blackburn |
| NYY | Andy Pettitte, A.J. Burnett |
| OAK | Gio Gonzalez, Edgar Gonzalez |
| SEA | Luke French, Doug Fister |
| TB | James Shields, Wade Davis |
| TEX | Derek Holland, Tommy Hunter |
| TOR | Brett Cecil, Scott Richmond |
National League
| ARI | Doug Davis, Yusmeiro Petit |
| ATL | Tim Hudson, Javier Vazquez |
| CHC | Rich Harden, Randy Wells |
| CIN | Johnny Cueto, Justin Lehr |
| COL | Josh Fogg |
| FLA | Josh Johnson, Anibal Sanchez |
| HOU | Roy Oswalt |
| LAD | Randy Wolf, Vicente Padilla |
| MIL | Braden Looper, David Bush |
| NYM | Mike Pelfrey |
| PHI | Cole Hamels |
| PIT | Paul Maholm, Charlie Morton |
| SD | Tim Stauffer |
| SF | Jonathan Sanchez |
| STL | Joel Pineiro |
| WAS | Livan Hernandez |
Rick’s Picks (5 best bets for double-start pitchers this week):
1. Rich Harden has been very good in the second half and battles two teams that are out of contention (vs HOU, @ NYM).
2. Javier Vazquez has been dominant all season and faces two opposing starters that are rather shaky (@ FLA, vs CIN).
3. Randy Wolf has been excellent for the Dodgers in since the All Star Break and pitches at home against two opponents that are mailing it in (vs ARI, vs SD).
4. A.J. Burnett goes on the road to face two opponents that are counting the days until the season is over (@ BAL, @ TOR).
5. Derek Holland is young, but is also legit. Go with him against the same two slugs that Burnett will mow down (vs TOR, @ BAL).
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