Tag: Bartolo Colon

Wire Watch- Colon/Worley

Bartolo Colon allowed 5 earned runs in 6 innings pitched in his last start against the Pirates. Prior to that bad start he had pitched seven consecutive games without allowing more than 3 earned runs. Vance Worley is now three starts into his 2014 campaign and he already has 2 wins with a 1.74 ERA.

Analysis: Bartolo Colon is the 42nd best fantasy starter this season. Over the last month of the season Colon has been the 12th best fantasy starter. He has a 3.88 ERA, 3.70 xFIP and a 1.16 WHIP. His 1.16 WHIP is good for 19th best in baseball, his 5.27 K/BB rate is 7th and his walk rate is 3rd best in baseball. Colon is available in 20-40% of fantasy leagues.

Vance Worley is one of the most interesting pitchers on the wire right now. He does have a 1.74 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP but his xFIP is a pedestrian 4.14. His 4.00 K/BB rate would be 21st in baseball but he only has 20.2 innings under his belt thus far. The twenty-six year old Worley has a career 3.92 ERA, 3.98 xFIP and a 7.1 K/9 rate. He is not a fantasy savior but he is certainly worthy of some attention over his next few starts. Worley is available in 85-95% of fantasy leagues.

Bartolo Watch

Bartolo Colon recorded his third win of the season Tuesday against the Boston Red Sox.

Analysis: Bartolo Colon has made four starts and has pitched 26.0 innings this year yet he has only walked one batter… one batter! That is great for the WHIP in roto leagues and he’s sporting a 0.92 WHIP this year(1.21 in 2012). His 0.35 BB/9 should not come as a surprise, he posted a 1.36 BB/9 mark last year over 150 plus innings.

Colon does have a 5.88 K/9 rate this year but you’re not picking him up for his strikeouts. The wins are hard to project as well but picking up Colon means having an innings eater in roto leagues that can help your ratios. His ERA this year is 2.42 with a 2.82 FIP while last year he sported a 3.43 ERA with a 3.82 FIP. His ERA will bump up some considering his strand rate is 8% above his career average thus far this year. Regardless, his ERA and WHIP seem stable enough to provide value yet he’s only owned in 2-35% of fantasy leagues. He’s pitching in a great park and locating his fastball… what more do you want from a lower tier fantasy starter?

Bartolo Colon a Virtual Shoe-In For Yankees Rotation

After coming into camp as a longshot on a Minor League deal, the former Cy Young Award winner has dominated this spring.

Analysis: Last night’s outing against the Rays most likely sealed the deal in the competition for the Yankees fifth starter job, a position that has come down to a dogfight with fellow veteran Freddy Garcia. It appears that young Ivan Nova has the fourth spot locked up, so the two are battling it out for the last job available. Retiring 18 of the 20 batters faced yesterday, Colon looked outstanding while racking up five strikeouts over six innings. Many of his 64 pitches thrown, 52 for strikes, were clocked in the 91-93 MPH range with a bevy of impressive changeups and cutters mixed in. Nobody is expecting Colon to return to his All-Star form, but so far his command and overall stuff has caused the Yankees brass to reminisce on the past. A 2.40 ERA to go along with 17 strikeouts and only 1 walk over 15 innings will do that.

Projection: Colon’s performance over the past two weeks has been surprising to most, including myself. You cannot argue with the results, however, and he has earned a coveted spot in the Yankees rotation. Garcia’s recent struggles have only cemented this projection even further. Although both could essentially wind up on the Opening Day roster, Garcia’s spot would be as a long man at best. Barring an injury between now and then, bet on Bartolo Colon starting every fifth day for the Yankees. The chances of him staying healthy for the entire season are somewhat slim, though, so he isn’t worth picking up too early. As a late round sleeper, however, Colon could prove to be a very valuable acquisition for your Fantasy squad during the early months of 2011.