Fantasy Football

2012 Fantasy Baseball: David Price & The Tampa Bay Rays Starting Rotation Preview

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David Price (Credits Below)

The Rays have quite a dilemma this spring as they try and decide just who exactly will be in their 2012 rotation. We know David Price and James Shields will be 1-2 but after that we have a collection of promising young arms and a ton of question marks. With 2011 American League Rookie of the Year Jeremy Hellickson and 2012 rookie phenom Matt Moore you can see why this staff has the potential to be one of the best in baseball.

DAVID PRICE- Price finished just 12-13 last year as he faced the tough American League East competition. He did compile a 3.49 ERA with 218 strike outs in 220 innings pitched. In his last 10 games he had a 3-3 record and a very low 2.51 ERA. With some luck David will notch the win column up at least five this year and have another solid campaign making him a top 15 mixed league starter and a top six A.L. pitcher.

JAMES SHIELDS- Shields had the best season of his career last year going 16-12 with a 2.82 ERA. He also add a 1.04 WHIP and just a .217 BAA while pitching 11 complete games and four shutouts. My feeling is that Shields will be way over valued this year and be cautious to pay too much for last year's numbers. He should revert to his career norm of 4.00 ERA which puts him in the early middle rounds of most fantasy drafts.

JEREMY HELLICKSON- The reigning American League ROY had quite impressive numbers last year going 13-10 with a low 2.95 ERA. He also had the lowest BABIP in the major leagues with a .224. He only struck
out 117 batters in 189 innings which will not help much in the K’s category. It is tough to gauge Hellickson based on a one year performance so I would advise taking him somewhere in the middle
rounds and cross your fingers for another year like 2011.

MATT MOORE- Moore has two major league starts to his name and both of them were quite impressive against the Yankees and Rangers last year. He will be one of the leading candidates this year for the A.L. ROY honors providing the Rays have him in their 2012 opening day rotation. The potential is there for a break out year for the young lefty. The word will be out on Moore come draft day so the choice is yours on how early you want to take your chances.

JEFF NIEMANN- Niemann finished 9-3 with a 3.41 ERA in his last 15 starts in 2011. He has some history of back problems which could be troublesome especially with an already overcrowded pitching situation
in Tampa. He is worth a late round flier if he makes the starting rotation.

WADE DAVIS- Davis finished 11-10 last year with a 4+ ERA. He has been rumored in trade talks all winter as the Rays attempt to make room for their crop of young hurlers. Even if he makes the rotation in spring training, Davis posts mediocre stat lines at best and isn’t worth drafting in mixed league formats.

ALEX COBB- Cobb another promising young arm for the Rays is coming off post season surgery but does expect to be ready for spring training. In his brief major league stint last year he went 3-2 with a 3.42 ERA. If he makes the spring rotation he is definitely a late round sleeper candidate.

Written by John Marino exclusively for www.thefantasyfix.com

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