Expensive in 2010 - Mark Buehrle
In trying to come up with an unoriginal idea, Ryan will try the contrary argument to Aaron Murray's "Cheap in 2010"...Coming off a perfect game and a flirtation with another one, fans might believe that Mark Buehrle is the next fantasy ace for their team. However the wheels on the wagon fell off in a dismal 0-3 August with a 5.54 ERA and only 10 strikeouts. Is this rust or more of the same to come?Thankfully I found a comparison to him. Each player going into their age 31 season in 2010.Player A: 13 wins, 3.84 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 105 Strikeouts and a career 5.19 K/9 ratePlayer B: 15 Wins, 3.49 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 105 Strikeouts and

Cheap in 2010 - Ricky Nolasco
Ricky Nolasco had a year of extremes in 2009. His BABIP was 3rd highest in the majors while his LOB% was the lowest by a wide margin, but he also had a K/9 in the top ten, BB/9 in the top twenty, and the fifth best K/BB in the game. All of which led to another extreme - his FIP-ERA was highest in the league by a mile. Ricky got very unlucky in '09.The perception is that Nolasco started the year poorly, got sent to the minors to work out his problems, and then pitched well when he returned. While his slow start is not entirely a mirage (he did have two of his three lowest K/9 and K/BB months in April and May) it was mainly a product of terrible BABIP numbers, .393 in April an

Young Power Lefties for 2010
Head over to THT for my new Clone Wars as I look at Jonathan Sanchez and Clayton Kershaw. This was a bit different from my usual post as I went for pitchers who are very similar in numbers like K/9 and BB/9, but had much different results so far. This could be very useful in 2010.

Derek Jeter wins Gold Glove in "most improved" category - assist to Mark Teixeira
Derek Jeter won his fourth Gold Glove this week and it wasn't even that bad of a choice by the voters. Unlike '04-'06 when he also won Jeter actually had a positive UZR/150 this year and although there were three AL SS's with better UZR/150 numbers - Cezar Izturis, Elvis Andrus, and Adam Everett - Jeter still wasn't a terrible choice. Izturis and Everett each started in only 107 games this year while Andrus committed twenty-two errors which is hard for some people to overlook. I'd have voted for Andrus this year but at least Jeter wasn't a terrible choice.If you're discussing the issue with a non UZR lover just point out that Jeter made fewer plays per inning than any SS in t

Two Guys Walk Into a Bar...
Okay so two guys walk into a bar. One pitched in the playoffs and starts talking about how much he's going to make in free agency this offseason. One talks about how he hopes to turn the corner next year and be an ace like starter. The bartender asks for their last 3 years stats (oh, just play along with me) so both say their stats. The playoff starter says he went 42-22 with a 3.48 ERA, 1.23 WHIP with 448 strikeouts in the last 3 years. The other player says he went 27-34 with a 4.15 ERA, 1.29 WHIP with 353 strikeouts in the same span.The bartender, not the biggest baseball fan in the world, still can't tell who they are. So he asks "how many home runs did y