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Smaller Giants. Bigger Reward? A look at Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez

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Jonathan Sanchez

Tim Lincecum is king. Has been for the past two years. He dominates like no other and theoretically will only get better. But there are two stars on that rotation that easily get overshadowed and are trying to prove to the league that they should be feared too. Enter Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez. 

Here’s the stats so far:

LINCECUM
 5-1 / 
80K / 3.00ERA / 1.12WHIP / .205BAA

CAIN
3-4 / 
51K / 2.50ERA / 1.01WHIP / .197BAA

SANCHEZ
2-4
 / 56K / 3.00ERA / 1.09WHIP / .186BAA

Two big things are putting Lincey slightly ahead this year – the fact that he is 5-1 and also that he is leading the league in Ks with 80. The truth is that Sanchez and Cain have been jipped wins with practically no run support. Cain's 1 hitter was phenomenal but it was predeceased by 2 losses which he only gave up 2 runs and received 1 run in return. In 3 of Sanchez's losses he's given up 7 hits/4runs in 22 innings and received ZERO runs! Comparatively the Giants have scored in every game Lincecum has pitched in and actually outscored opponents 58-40. 

Lincecum will undoubtably lead the league in strikeouts again this year. Barring any injuries I’d be shocked if he doesn’t hit his 250+ mark again. Sanchez though is going to put up very respectable numbers too. He has K’d 11 twice and 10 three times in his short career and should have a very good chance to reach the 200 mark this year. Cain on the other hand has averaged slightly over 200 innings the past 4 years and the closest he has come was 186K. Forget the strikeouts with Cain though – last year his ERA dropped 87 points, his WHIP by 18 points and his BAA by 19 points. So far this year he has lowered all those categories by 49/17/35.

Try to build your team with players like Sanchez or Cain who cost a quarter of the price of Lincecum but at the end of the year will hopefully give you 3/4 of the performance or better. Now I'm not telling you you're stupid to have Lincey on your team – I'm just saying be a bargain hunter. 

How do you think Sanchez will pitch today? Who do you think is better Matt Cain or Sanchez?
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Tags: Fantasy Baseball Advice, Fantasy Baseball Blog, The Fantasy Fix, MLB, NL, Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez, San Francisco Giants


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