Shields @ Boston?

[GiantsFan14]

he pitched against Boston in his last start and did well against them but he seems to have a history of getting crushed in Fenway. Anyone starting him tomorrow?

[botown10]

It depends on your matchup. Im leaning towards sitting him because ill only be down 1 strike out and will have a better era, whip, and k/9 than my opponent. I also have Linecum, Wandy, and Dempster making starts to round out the week. My opponent is sitting on Greinke and Danks so it is going to come down to the wire. I just dont want to take the chance of him getting beat up. The sox just put up 13 tonight and Bay and Youkilis are tearing it up at fenway. This conservative approach could also bite me in the ass because Shields did have a solid start last outing. I recommend analyzing your matchup and if you need a win and are down in strike outs and k/9 go ahead and start him. Hopefully this helped you out.

[GiantsFan14]

thanks for the post, this is a roto league, however, in a h2h league i would be taking that advice for sure. the thing is it's a IP max league so i do have to watch my innings count so i'm thinking of benching him in this match up. it's pretty close though, i hate ever benching my stud pitchers.

[The Mighty Trow]

i hate to bench mine, too. but i look at Shields' last start against hte Sox as an abnormality. i was thrilled when pitched that well (even though he was benched for me) but idon't see this becoming a habit of his.

fwiw, many of the talking heads have been arguing to sell him based on FIP - k's are down, walks and HRs are up. something isn't right, that much is for sure. maybe too many innings last season?

whatever the case, i'm benching a home run prone hitter against a home run happy lineup.

[GiantsFan14]

i hate to bench mine, too. but i look at Shields' last start against hte Sox as an abnormality. i was thrilled when pitched that well (even though he was benched for me) but idon't see this becoming a habit of his.

fwiw, many of the talking heads have been arguing to sell him based on FIP - k's are down, walks and HRs are up. something isn't right, that much is for sure. maybe too many innings last season?

whatever the case, i'm benching a home run prone hitter against a home run happy lineup.

after his last start he mentioned that it was the first time this season he felt he really had his change up working and was controlling it well. he said once that happens everything tends to fall in line. i'm not too worried about him this season, i think he'll be fine, he just has a pretty poor record at fenway so i think i'm gonna keep him benched.

[The Mighty Trow]

i'm with... not looking to sell just yet. it woudl be too early imho. i'll panic around the ASB. but definitely a bench at Fenway... the potential for disaster is just too big...