Fantasy Baseball Around the Majors: Jimenez, Peavy, and More, May 3

Ubaldo Jimenez looks like the best pitcher in baseball.  Rich Harden and Jake Peavy appear to have turned things around.  Adrian Beltre homered for the first time.  Let’s look at these stories and all the rest from yesterday’s games:

Pitchers:

• Brett Cecil (8.0 IP, 1 ER, 1 H, 2 BB, 10 K, W) - He carried a perfect game into the seventh inning before walking Grady Sizemore.  Three batters later, he lost the no-hitter and shutout.  As disappointing as that is, what a performance.  He does have the potential to pile on the Ks (9.0 K/9 over his minor league career), so don’t assume that number is an aberration.  The skill is there.  He also does a great job of generating groundballs (59.7 percent in the minor leagues).  If he played in any other division he’d be a solid pickup in all formats.  Unfortunately, it’s hard to trust him against the Rays, Red Sox, and Yankees, meaning, for now, he’s a spot starter in all formats, but one worth having on your bench.
• Ubaldo Jimenez (7.0 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 13 K, W) - He’s now 6-0 with a 0.87 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, and 44 K over 41.1 innings.  There was a lot of talk prior to the season of him taking that next step, but at this point that looks to be an understatement.  It appears like the next true fantasy ace has emerged, doesn’t it?
• Joba Chamberlain (1.0 IP, 0 ER, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K, SV) - Obviously, I wouldn’t read too much into this with Mariano Rivera ahead of him on the depth chart.  We all know that Chamberlain will pick up a few saves when Rivera is unavailable, so this is nothing special.  According to Marc Carig via Twitter, Rivera is day-to-day with stiffness in his side.
• Max Scherzer (4.1 IP, 10 ER, 8 H, 4 BB, 1 K) - His second consecutive start against the Twins and his second consecutive ugly outing (16 ER over eight IP).  Take out those two starts and he’s sporting a 2.63 ERA and 1.17 WHIP.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t work like that, so he instead is saddled with a 6.47 ERA.  Is it the opponent or is something wrong?  With his next start coming in Cleveland, I’d be willing to roll the dice and find out.
• Jake Peavy (7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 9 K, W) - That’s certainly the type of start owners have been waiting for.  You knew he wasn’t going to continue on with a 7.85 ERA and 1.81 WHIP, so it shouldn’t come as a big surprise.
• Rich Harden (7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 9 K, W) - Considering he had struck out just 14 over his previous four starts, this is the type of start fantasy owners desperately wanted to see.  With the Royals next on the schedule, you have to think that he can continue this positive roll.  If you benched him (only started in 69 percent of CBS leagues), you likely want to get him back in there.
• Frank Francisco (0.1 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 K) - He was given the save opportunity and nearly blew it before Neftali Feliz came in and cleaned up the mess.  We’ll have to see how it affects the trust he had rebuilt or if he’s back to square one in attempting to regain the closer's role.

Hitters:

• David Freese (2-5, 3 RBI, 1 R) - He just continues to hit and, at least for this day, was flipped with Colby Rasmus in the batting order.  Hitting fifth behind Albert Pujols and Matt Holliday will likely lead to more RBI opportunity, though I wouldn’t expect it to last forever.  Tony La Russa has always gone with the hot hand, so once he cools off the two could likely be swapped once again.  Still, at least for now, you have to ride the hot hand at a shallow position.  He’s now on a seven-game hitting streak, going 14-27 with three HR, 14 RBI, and five R.
• Adrian Beltre (2-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 3 R) - When you score 17 runs, there are certainly a lot of offensive stars.  Beltre gets the mention here, however, having hit his first home run of the season.  He was a sleeper selection on draft day and one that you shouldn’t give up on quite yet.  As he showed last night, he has the potential to get hot in a hurry.
• Chris Snyder (1-3, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R) - Last year he lost significant playing time when he got hurt and Miguel Montero stepped up.  Could he be repaying the favor?  Snyder is now hitting .266 with five HR and 16 RBI.  Over his last four games he’s gone 4-15 with three HR, seven RBI, and four R.  Consider using him while he’s hot as a short-term fill-in.

What are your thoughts from yesterday’s games?  Which of these stories interests you most?  Did anything else catch your eye?

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