The Starting Line: Cliff Lee - 5/8/09
The Starting Line
by Evan "the Censor" Dickens
evan@fantasybaseballsearch.com
Cliff Lee v DET, 5/8/2009
L, 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 5 K
I didn't intend to keep such a theme of hard-luck pitchers going, but when it's May 9th and you see a pitcher's season stats of 3.45 ERA with a 1-5 record--and it's a pitcher like Cliff Lee, who everyone had an opinion about preseason, you can't help but write about him.
For the record, my opinion never wavered; I felt Lee was a top ten SP and felt there was a multitude of statistical evidence that his season was not going to be an abberation. Obviously a repeat was not to be expected, but certainly ace-level performance was a reasonable expectation. A ghastly spring training made everyone nervous, and then his first two starts rang up a 9.90 ERA and it was full-blown panic--enough that even I benched Lee for his third start, which just happened to be the new Yankee Stadium opener.
The corner was really turned beginning with that game--in his five starts since, he has thrown 37 IP and given up only 7 ER, striking out 23 with only 7 BB. That is Cliff Lee's signature: he's not a strikeout machine but he commands the strike zone and pitches efficiently; he's averaging a very strong 3.64 pitches per batter faced in 2009, even better than his 3.69 figure in 2008. And you also need to know that he is already one of the unluckiest pitchers in baseball, with a .352 BABIP that has plenty of room for regression.
But of course, the number I keep writing about this month is run support, and Lee is receiving it at a historically miserable level. In 7 GS and 47 IP of work, Lee has received a whopping 12 runs of total support. That's a pretty extraordinary figure when you consider the Indians scored 14 runs in an inning this year. Lee's 2.30 RS/9, fifth worst in baseball, simply cannot stay at this depressed level. His anger in the dugout boiled over after horrid defense led to an unnecessary run.
The bottom line is, Cliff Lee's stock is on the way up and if there's any chance you can still trade for him since he's not getting his owner any wins, now may be your last chance. But all the stats are there--just like they've always been--and Lee is still a pitcher I would love to own for the rest of 2009.
~Evan the Censor
by Evan "the Censor" Dickens
evan@fantasybaseballsearch.com
Cliff Lee v DET, 5/8/2009
L, 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 5 K
I didn't intend to keep such a theme of hard-luck pitchers going, but when it's May 9th and you see a pitcher's season stats of 3.45 ERA with a 1-5 record--and it's a pitcher like Cliff Lee, who everyone had an opinion about preseason, you can't help but write about him.
For the record, my opinion never wavered; I felt Lee was a top ten SP and felt there was a multitude of statistical evidence that his season was not going to be an abberation. Obviously a repeat was not to be expected, but certainly ace-level performance was a reasonable expectation. A ghastly spring training made everyone nervous, and then his first two starts rang up a 9.90 ERA and it was full-blown panic--enough that even I benched Lee for his third start, which just happened to be the new Yankee Stadium opener.
The corner was really turned beginning with that game--in his five starts since, he has thrown 37 IP and given up only 7 ER, striking out 23 with only 7 BB. That is Cliff Lee's signature: he's not a strikeout machine but he commands the strike zone and pitches efficiently; he's averaging a very strong 3.64 pitches per batter faced in 2009, even better than his 3.69 figure in 2008. And you also need to know that he is already one of the unluckiest pitchers in baseball, with a .352 BABIP that has plenty of room for regression.
But of course, the number I keep writing about this month is run support, and Lee is receiving it at a historically miserable level. In 7 GS and 47 IP of work, Lee has received a whopping 12 runs of total support. That's a pretty extraordinary figure when you consider the Indians scored 14 runs in an inning this year. Lee's 2.30 RS/9, fifth worst in baseball, simply cannot stay at this depressed level. His anger in the dugout boiled over after horrid defense led to an unnecessary run.
The bottom line is, Cliff Lee's stock is on the way up and if there's any chance you can still trade for him since he's not getting his owner any wins, now may be your last chance. But all the stats are there--just like they've always been--and Lee is still a pitcher I would love to own for the rest of 2009.
~Evan the Censor
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