Atomic RoadRunners | Andrew Flynn’s High-Energy Fantasy Baseball

John Sickels reviewed Carlos Villanueva in his “Not a Prospect” series on Minor League Ball.  The series should really be entitled “No Longer a Prospect, as They’re Young But No Longer Qualify for Rookie-of-the-Year Voting” or similar.  Some excerpts:

Villanueva opened 2006 in Double-A and pitched well; he continued pitching well in Triple-A, then ended the season with 53.2 strong innings for the Brewers. Last year he pitched 114 innings for Milwaukee with a 3.94 ERA. In 168 career innings entering 2008, Villanueva has a 138/64 K/BB with 144 hits allowed and a 3.86 ERA.

What does the future hold?

PECOTA seems to hate him, giving him a collapse rate of 60% entering 2008. His comparables list includes scary comps like Todd Van Poppel and Ken Cloude, but also a few more successful guys like Mudcat Grant and Moe Drabowsky. Although in the rotation right now, my personal belief is that he is best utilized in the long relief/spot starter role, and that as a full-time starter he would be more likely to get overexposed and fail.

Villanueva is a Grade C/C+ prospect made good, and I tend to root for guys like this. If he stays healthy I think he will have a mixture of good and bad seasons, the kind of guy who will post a 6.00 ERA in a bad year, drift to another team, then turn things around quickly and post a 3.00 mark in a limited role, before being overexposed and struggling again. In the end I think Villanueva balances out as an average major league pitcher overall, but that’s not an insult, and he gives hope to every guy in Double-A who has average stuff and is looking for a break.

Hmm, perhaps I should have said “$6″ on Manny Parra instead.

Chipper Jones went 4-for-4 with two homers, a double, three RBI and a walk Thursday against the Marlins. It could have been a truly monster game if he had some runners on ahead of him. He had an RBI double in the first and a homer in the third, and with two out in the fifth, Jones, Mark Teixeira and Brian McCann hit consecutive home runs in a span of 12 pitches. Jones raised his average to a cool .443 (27-for-61) and has at least one hit in 14 of 15 starts. He figured to be in for something of a decline after turning in one of the very best seasons of his career at age 35 last year, but he’s been as good as ever so far. (Rotoworld)

Brett Myers limited the Astros to one run in seven innings and fanned eight to win Thursday. Myers posted his second-straight quality start on Thursday, picking up a win after going seven innings and allowing just one run off of five hits and one walk. Miguel Tejada’s homer was the only damage. It was the sixth homer he’s allowed already, but he has been sharp in his last two starts, striking out 13 and walking just one in 15 innings. Making the transition back to starter after closing out games for the Phillies for much of last season, Myers struggled in his first two starts in 2008. He appears to be back on track, however, and while he may have the occasional rough outing, he has the ability to shut down opponents while compiling a good number of strikeouts. (Rotoworld, Rotowire)

Prince Fielder had a game-tying RBI double in the top of the eighth and a go-ahead two-run homer in the 10th to lead the Brewers to a 5-3 win over the Cardinals on Thursday. Fielder’s first homer of the year was worth the wait, as he yanked one down the right-field line off Brad Thompson to help the Brewers avoid being swept. Eric Gagne was shaky in the bottom of the 10th, but he got out of the inning without a run scoring. Of guys coming off 50-homer seasons, Fielder took the longest to hit his first homer the next year since his father in 1991. Cecil hit his first bomb on April 18 of that year, though that was in just his ninth game of the season. Prince’s homer came in his 15th game and 54th official at-bat. Fielder’s owners can breathe a sigh a relief now. Fielder went through a similar home run drought to start the season last year (one home run through 15 games), only to hit 13 homers in May. Look for him to get it going sooner rather than later. Fielder had a great series against the Cardinals. He went 3-for-9 (.333) with one homer, four RBI and four walks. He finally looked patient at the plate and could be emerging from his early-season slump. Hooray. Keep the hefty slugger active in all Fantasy formats. (Rotoworld, Rotowire, CBS Sports)

Steve Pearce hit his first two homers and drove in five runs Thursday for Triple-A Indianapolis. Pearce was off to a slow start following his strong spring, but that’s of little concern. The Pirates could eventually open up a spot for him this year by trading Xavier Nady, Jason Bay or Adam LaRoche. He’s currently batting .279/.318/.475. (Rotoworld)

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Peter Moylan might require reconstructive elbow surgery. If so, he’ll miss the rest of the season, but the Braves are going to wait two weeks to determine if it’s necessary. Moylan has a bone spur pressing against the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, which has “compromised” the ligament. The Braves hope that with rehab he’ll be able to avoid the knife, but it seems unlikely. There’s a small chance he won’t need Tommy John surgery, but even then he’d likely miss a significant amount of time. Manny Acosta will get the first chance at closing games with Moylan and Rafael Soriano out, but the Braves may use a closer-by-committee system as well. (Rotoworld, Rotowire)

The Brewers made some minor changes to their lineup Thursday against the Cardinals. With Gabe Kapler (shoulder) sidelined and Bill Hall getting the day off, J.J. Hardy moved into the second spot in the lineup for Kapler and Corey C. Hart hit fifth for Hall. However, both Hardy and Hart were hitless in four at-bats, with Hart at least drawing a walk. Hart has spent most of the season hitting sixth and has done a solid job. He came into the game hitting .314 and had seven hits in his previous 12 plate appearances. He will likely be back hitting sixth as soon as Friday, but no matter where he hits, as long as Hart is active he is worth using as a No. 3 Fantasy OF in mixed leagues. (CBS Sports)

Overall Standings

Rank Team                Batting Pitching Total Dif  Behind
---- ------------------- ------- -------- ----- ---- ------
 1   Goodfellas          35.5    43.0     78.5  7.0  0.0
 2   Shoeless Jews       41.0    28.5     69.5  4.0  9.0
 3   The Pi Train        26.5    34.5     61.0  -5.0 17.5
 4   X-Men               22.0    36.0     58.0  -2.0 20.5
 5   Misogynistic Padres 37.5    15.5     53.0  0.0  25.5
 6   Get Off Kong!       25.5    25.0     50.5  6.5  28.0
 7   Atomic Roadrunners  17.5    32.0     49.5  1.0  29.0
 8   Stanimals           33.0    14.5     47.5  1.0  31.0
 8   Uncle Lester        12.5    35.0     47.5  -3.5 31.0
 10  Cover Zero          24.0    11.0     35.0  -9.0 43.5  

Yesterday's Stats

Atomic Roadrunners Players Yesterday (4/17/08)
Player                        BA HR R RBI   SB
------------------------- ------ -- - --- ----
Barton, Brian OF STL      0.0000  0 0   0    0
Bowker, John OF SF        0.0000  0 0   0    0
Dewitt, Blake 3B LA       0.0000  0 0   0    0
Fielder, Prince 1B MIL    0.4000  1 1   3    0
Hart, Corey C. RF MIL     0.0000  0 0   0    0
Jones, Andruw CF LA       0.0000  0 0   0    0
Jones, Chipper 3B ATL     1.0000  2 3   3    0
Phillips, Brandon 2B CIN  0.0000  0 0   0    0
Reyes, Jose B. SS NYM     0.3333  0 1   0    0
Ruiz, Carlos C PHI        0.0000  0 0   0    0
Spilborghs, Ryan CF COL   0.0000  0 0   0    0
Teixeira, Mark 1B ATL     0.2000  1 1   1    0
Theriot, Ryan SS CHC      0.2000  0 0   0    0
Valentin, Javier C CIN    0.0000  0 0   0    0

Atomic Roadrunners Players Yesterday (4/17/08)
Player                       ERA  K S   W WHIP
------------------------- ------ -- - --- ----
Lieber, Jon SP CHC         18.00  0 0   0 3.00
Myers, Brett SP PHI         1.29  8 0   1 0.86