The Mapes Fantasy Special

I figured it’s time to bring it over to the blog: The Mapes Fantasy Special.  It’s for fantasy baseball players in daily leagues that are looking for a starting pitcher to pick up that is widely available.  The standard for me is the pitcher must be available in at least 50% of Yahoo! fantasy leagues.  It all started with Orioles “ace” Jason Hammel (49% owned) picking up a quality start against the Twins with 6 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 2 K, and getting a win.  Nothing too great, but you’ll take the WHIP and a win any day.

And then good things started to happen.

Milone’s line: 7 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, Win

He settled down after giving up two early runs and was great. I love Milone and a lot of the Athletics when they pitch at home.

Guthrie’s line: 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 9 K, Win

This was my pick of the week; he was available in 99% of leagues! Guthrie has since been bumped up to 13% owned in Yahoo! leagues, but his dominance over the White Sox continues. He’s going to be a future pick I’m sure, especially when facing Chicago.

Straily’s line: 6.2 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 11 K, Win

I like Straily and his make-up. It’s why he was my American League Rookie of the Year pick. He sadly got sent down to the minors after this start due to Oakland’s current six-man rotation, but man, was he fantastic blowing away Astros hitters. I’m in the court of starting any pretty good pitcher against Houston this year.

Colon’s line: 6 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K, Win

Do I feel bad picking on Astros again? Yep. Do I feel good picking a 97% available pitcher for a win and quality start? Yep.

This is where I started realizing things are going quite well, but there weren’t a lot of options for Sunday and went with a guy who was facing off against the American League Cy Young winner.

Masterson’s line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 8 K, Win

Sometimes the Rays offense is non-existent and Sunday was one of those days. Masterson was the best pitching surprise of week one, going 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA and 13 K in 13 IP. Even more impressive, he picked up wins while squaring off against each of last year’s Cy Young winners.

For Monday, I’m going with a pitcher I feel won’t be under the 50% threshold for much longer in Paul Maholm. The Marlins offense is pretty weak and Marlins Park is a pitcher’s park.

The final lines on Mapes Fantasy Special for the week. 38.2 IP, 27 H, 11 ER, 6 BB, 36 K, 6-0 W-L, 6 Quality starts, with 2.56 ERA, 0.85 WHIP. Not bad at all for guys available in at least half of leagues. Hopefully I can keep it going for all of 2013.

Follow me on Twitter for a daily Mapes Fantasy Special to (hopefully) help out your teams!

-Bryan Mapes

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