Week 10 ass hDLes

Three a-hDLes have plagued us this week with their general dickishness and overall inability to keep them selves from breaking.  One was yet another mercy killing, the second was a player who was already dropped, and the third is a former All-Star OF who hurt himself playing a position he hadn't played since 2010.

SP Francisco Liriano - Dustys Nustys
Liriano hit the DL on Wednesday with a strained left oblique muscle; there has been no time table placed on his return.  Liriano has tantalized baseball aficionados since he first garnered regular playing time with the Twinkies in 2006 with his combination of hard running fastballs and sweeping, biting sliders.  He rode those offerings to a .205 batting average against, over 10 K/9, less than 2.5 BB/9and a 3rd place AL ROY finish (behind a couple of guys you might have heard of, Mr. Kate Upton, Justin Verlander and The Dancing Idiot, Jonathon Papelbon).  He was a superstar in the making; a running mate (and near clone pitching wise) for perennial All-Star Johan Santana.  But that damn Plato and his ideallic UCL got the best of him in August of 2006, he underwent TJ surgery in November of that year and missed the entire 2007 season.  Since then, he has been erratic with his control at best.  Only once, in 2010 (2.7/9), has Liriano approached the walk rate that he had in his rookie season.  Even last season in what was considered by many to be a bounce back performance, he still walked 3.5 men per 9 innings.  This year that has risen to 4.5 while his hit rate has remained constant (almost thoughout his entire career, which is remarkable and further reinforces that his command is what drives his value), meaning that his WHIP has spiked from 1.22 in 2013 to 1.45 so far this season.  When Dusty was assembling his pitching staff, he was looking for upside and low $$$ investments, and Liriano was a great gamble.  But that gamble hasnt paid off.  He isnt winning games (1 so far this year) and he has 3 quality starts out of 14.  The strikeouts have been there, as they always have, but a 1 category assest does not a winning team make.  If Dusty were to drop Liriano this week, would anyone pick him up other than other potentially nostalgic Twins fans (I am looking at you Tom and a little at you John).  Unfortunately for Dusty, he doesnt have a SP on his bench (or a P of any variety on his bench) which means he will roll into week 12 short a starting pitcher.  And who does he face?  Fucking BOB.  I am starting to think that the universe is conspiring to pave Bob's way to the Crispy Crown.

C Wilson Ramos - Huckleberries/Impending Free Agent

This is Jeff Franceour pitching for a team called the Chihuahuas, sadly not
from Beverly Hills.

Ramos has a strained right hammy, which is never an injury you want to have happen to a player who spends 65%+ of every single game crouched over and having to quickly get up in some circumstances.  Since he isnt a rostered player anymore, I am not going to spend a whole lot of time on this injury other than to say that the Nationals greatly disappointed me by recalling Sandy Leon to be the back up catcher over Jhonatan Solano who is hitting 304/355/511 with 9 2Bs and 9 HRs in 49 AAA games, and is the leading vote getter at catcher for the International League for the upcoming AAA All-Star game (Jeff Francouer is holding down one of the spots in the OF for the ILs opponent in the game, the Pacific Coast League, which is awesome.  Also, Francouer has apparently made 7 relief pitching appearances this season as well.  I want Frenchy back in the Bigs as a relief pitcher and I will stop at almost nothing to make this happen.  And by almost nothing I mean that I will do absolutely nothing to make this happen).

OF/3b(?) Michael Cuddyer - UCCMA
Dear Colorado Rockies,
We get it.  You have been decimated by injuries in a way that only John could understand.  You've had position players go down, you've had pitchers go down and apparently you dont have enough talent ready in the minor leagues to replace them.  We also understand that, despite Carlos Gonzalez needing to have a "tentacle-like tumor"removed from beneath the sheath around the muscle of his left index finger, you have a glut of over producing talented outfielders and are seeing a miracle resurgence great production from Justin Morneau.  However, please, please, please do not take any more 35 year old career outfielders and try to make them play 3rd base for the first time since 2010 (14 games) and regularly for the first time since 2005.  This is why you cant have nice things.
Thanks,
Fantasy Baseball Players everywhere.

The Rockies have been getting great OF production from unexpected sources like Mars Blackmon, Brandon Barnes, Drew Stubbs and Corey Dickerson, so when Nolan Arenado went down with an injury, it makes some sense that they would look to fill his spot on the field with a player they knew could hit and wouldnt kill them on defense (because, lets face it, the Rox could give 2 shits about defense, their fans - and their fan's munchies - demand 7 runs and free tacos every night).  Cuddyer came up as a 3b/1b in the Twins system and while he has never been confused with a gold glover, he can hold his own with the leather...oh yeah, and he won the NL batting title last season.  Makes sense right?  Wrong!  Cuddy probably could have played 3b when he was in his 20s, but now, as a 35 year old he definitely wasnt a long term solution.  In the 3 games (2 starts) he played there, the defensive metrics were not kind to him, estimating that he would give up 182 runs more than the average 3b over the course of 135 games.  Small sample, but still, was he playing 3b with concrete in his shoes?  Maybe, because he fractured his shoulder diving for a ground ball and will now miss the next 6 to 8 weeks.  Tough blow for the Rox, tough blow for Paul Simon, sweet revenge for Art Garfunkel.  Fuck that Garfunkel.