PENNY, CABRERA, MORRIS, HEILMAN

[phr3ak]

You think this is a good order..

Cabrera
Morris
Penny
Heilman

What to expect?

[jazzfunk2]

I like Heilman in Shea Stadium (nice and friendly for pitchers),

D. Cabrera will be tutored by Mazzone, but Camden Park destroys ERA, pop-ups are home runs. Wait and see.

Brad Penny - ever since his injury, his numbers run the gamut. Don't stretch to grab Penny.

Morris in San Fran sounds like a decent 4th starter. He won't light the world on fire, but he doesn't have to.

[Yoda]

I like Cabrera the best as well. I think he took a huge step forward last year. He's a ground ball pitcher so I don't think the small park will really make a big difference. His G/F was 1.73 in 2005, among the leaders in MLB.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/s ... yerId=5961

His main problem is control which is the case with most young pitchers with great stuff. But Mazzone should help him in that department to focus more on throwing strikes. He was hitting 100 MPH towards the end of the season and combined with his breaking ball/change up, when he is on, he is unhittable.

He also does poorly against lefties but setting up and locating his change up better should help him.

I think the X factor is Mazzone. After watching him turn out great production out of even mediocre pitchers, I think he will help Cabrera immensely in 06.

[jazzfunk2]

The issue is not whether Cabrera has explosive stuff or not (he does), but will his strikeout totals balance out his 11-13 win total, 4.00+ ERA and 1.35-1.40 WHIP?

In a Keeper League, at 24 years old, Cabrera has definite value.
But, if this is a non-keeper then you better balance out those numbers. The owner who drafts Matt Morris, Freddy Garcia and other boring veterans to fill out the rotation finishes higher than the maverick who grabs Grienke, or Oliver Perez, or Capuano, or Bonderman (All guys on my teams who raised my ERA and WHIP to upsetting levels).

Learn from my mistakes, go for boring, solid numbers and always weigh a pitcher's ballpark into the equation. Yoda is 100 percent correct that Cabrera is a groundball pitcher who has control problems. Good luck and remember, boring wins titles.

[WebHamster]

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