Today's Starters to Watch

Fix your Bullpen for the 2^nd Half of Fantasy Baseball!

The All-Star Break is nearing and your bullpen is looking weak going into the second half of the fantasy season.  


Two Free Agent Pickups could change your season and Thursday offers the chance to watch to starting pitchers who won’t be free agents much longer:
SP Trevor Cahill– Oak Athletics (owned in 49% yahoo fantasy leagues)

SP Carl Pavano – Minnesota Twins (owned in 57% of yahoo fantasy leagues)

Trevor Cahill is the young right hander you may not have heard about yet, if not, he’s the one who’s been picking up the slack for the disappointing Ben Sheets. In the past month, he’s averaged nearly a 1K/per inning and has held a 2.50 ERA. Cahill holds a record of  7-2 on the season with an ERA of 2.88 in only 12 Starts.


GAME PREVIEW:Facing Baltimore Orioles 

Game info: 7:05 pm EDT Thu Jul 1, 2010 vs. Orioles J. Arrieta (2-1, 6.20 ERA) 

TV: CSCA, MASN2

Carl Pavano - Don’t forget Pavano was an all-star in 2006, and was a big and expensive acquisition by the Yankees only a few years ago. Pavano  was the hampered by injuries but didn’t take his upwards of $40 million from the Yankees and retire. Pavano has battled back and fought hard to regain his fastball and a changeup that looks better than ever. Pavano recently mentioned how being injuried had set the team back while his contract had locked the team up financially. He felt bad for the position it had put his team in but they stuck with him through it all and he is making it worth wait for the Minnesota Twins.

GAME PREVIEW: Facing the Tampa Bay 

Game info: 8:10 pm EDT Thu Jul 1, 2010 vs. Tampa Bay Rays J. Niemann (6-2, 2.72 ERA) 

·     TV: SUN, FSNO

The Ace Up Oakland’s Sleeve - SP Trevor Cahill

Trevor Cahill 

LAST SATURDAYS GAME 26th vs the Pittsburgh Pirates, the 2006 second-rounder Trevor Cahill had 10Ks improving to 7-2 on the season and quickly is becoming the ace in the Oakland Ahtletics bullpen 

Read more on how Barton's four RBIs back Cahill's 10 K's as A's blank Pirates 

Trevor Cahill is an young ace, and potentially an all-star. Cahill had a stress reaction in his right shoulder toward the end of spring training and opened the season on the disabled list, and quite frankly wasn't sure if he’d be back in Oakland this year. 

Cahill allowed two hits and struck out a career-high 10 in 7 2/3 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cahill walked three as the A's won two in a row. 

After suffering his first loss of the season on his second start Cahill has gone 6-0 with two no-decisions (ND - W3-2 vs STL; ND - L3-4 vs. MIN). Cahill has been locating his sinker well and going inside and out to both righties and lefties. 

Cahill pitched for a season-high 15 swinging strikes, that’s three starts in a row he has either set or matched his career high. 

Of 30 off-speed pitches thrown, hitters missed on 11 of 13 swings (84.6 percent), the highest single-start percentage in baseball this season (minimum of 20 off-speed pitches thrown). 

104/ 113 pitches were on the inside and outside corners; hitters went a combined 1-for-21. 

Cahill retired 19 of 21 hitters until tiring in the eighth when he gave up a leadoff hit to Lastings Milledge. The Pirates lost their 16th consecutive road game, their second-longest streak in the past 25 years, and have lost 17 of 19 overall. 

In addition, yahoo fantasy sports, ranks Trevor Cahill as a top-50 player in yahoo fantasy leagues with a 2.50 ERA and nearly a K per inning. In the June 28th article MLB Skinny: Summing it up, discusses Cahill’s rookie to sophomore season improvements, saying: 

“He was a miserable strikeout pitcher as a rookie last season, but he had a fantastic minor league track record in that department, thanks in no small way to a nasty curveball. One thing you’ll notice, though, is that Cahill hardly threw his curve as a rookie, but he’s now throwing it nearly nine percent more often. I don’t think it’s a small coincidence that we are seeing his K rate rise as he’s throwing more breaking balls – nor is it a coincidence that he is inducing a higher percentage of swings at pitches outside the strike zone. Coming up in the A’s system, Cahill was always considered on the same level as teammate Brett Anderson(notes). Now that he’s turning the corner on the major league level, he’s moved beyond spot-start territory and warrants a more permanent position with fantasy clubs.” 

For the skinny on the rest of the MLB 

Read More: MLB Skinny: Summing it up JUNE 28th