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June 29, 2012

Weekly Planner

Week 14

by Paul Sporer

I have noticed that there are often times when players are listed as two-start pitchers but don’t end up following the plan and reappear on in the WP a week later. I apologize for these, but I am just going off of the data culled together from a few outlets. Obviously those outlets and myself are at the mercy of teams who make changes on a whim, so keep in mind that two-start pitchers are always tentative.

We’re off to a bumpy start in the AL with Matt Moore getting pushed back (and starting twice next week), Felipe Paulino suffering a setback in his rehab, and Felix Doubront getting knocked around by the Blue Jays. Justin Masterson survived Yankee Stadium but needs to be better against Baltimore to save his week.

Conversely, the Yankees had to be encouraged by Hiroki Kuroda and Phil Hughes throwing gems given their rotation’s horrible week of news off the field. Jason Vargas had a great outing against the A’s that included a season-high 10 strikeouts.

I hope you leaned on the “sit” side for Justin Grimm, who I could only muster a “consider” for last week given his pair of starts in Arlington. Gavin Floyd and Luke Hochevar looked excellent in their first starts of the week. Floyd gets a trip to New York this weekend that could tell us a lot about whether or not he is really back, while Hochevar gets a Twins squad that Floyd carved up earlier in the week.

In the NL, neither Johan Santana nor Dillon Gee was particularly special in Chicago, but thankfully they get a neutered Dodgers offense this weekend to see if they can rebound. The Daniel Hudson saga came to an end this week as we finally learned that injury was a likely cause for his disastrous season… which is now over.

Both Jake Westbrook and Joe Blanton were sharp in their first start of the period, and now each faces the other’s first opponent for their second start, giving each a chance at a great week. Westbrook gets the Pirates, who aren’t doing anything at the dish these days, and Blanton gets the Marlins, who have been playing like an expansion team in June.