2011 Fantasy Baseball Pitching Preview: Jered Weaver & The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
Despite these limited additions, and it pains me to say this, Mike Scioscia is a great manager who can squeeze every last ounce of talent from his players, so you can’t count out the Angels as a team or their individual players. It’s true, aside from Jered Weaver this staff has a lot of question marks, but with Scioscia at the helm, the Angels and their pitchers could be a surprise.
Jered Weaver had an excellent season last year. He ranked sixth in fantasy, second in quality starts, third in the AL in WHIP, fifth in the AL in ERA, and first in AL In strikeouts. He improved in all statistical areas except for wins and losses over the previous season.
Jered was amazingly consistent last year, as his ERA was never more than 3.66 in any month. With the Angles sliding as a team, Jered stands to slide back with them, probably ranking somewhere in the teens this year. One other bad thing about Weaver (paraphrasing “Top Gun”) “his name isn’t the best in baseball”, is you can’t really feel too comfortable with anyone having the same genes as Jeff Weaver. Fortunately for fantasy owners, he’s proven very consistent during his tenure with the Angels; double digit wins every season, reducing his ERA each of the last two seasons and consistent strikeout numbers.
There’s no reason to believe that Weaver won’t continue to be a consistent force in 2011.
Dan Haren
Despite finishing the season ranked at a respectable no. 20 in fantasy points, last year was a disappointment for Haren’s fantasy owners as they had become accustom to top-ten finishes.
But there is good news, after starting the season very poorly in Arizona he seemed refreshed by the southern California air. His first half ERA was 4.36, but he shaved over a run off of that (3.34) after the all-star break, with the majority of that improvement coming in Anaheim.
Haren’s poor start can probably be attributed to a dismal situation in Arizona and he was MUCH better in his 14 starts with Anaheim. Haren could be a solid target as a sleeper as a lot of people were probably scared off with his start from last year and likely forgot about him.
Bottomline, there is no reason to believe Haren can’t once again be a top-ten pitcher.
Ervin Santana Ervin hit his high fantasy mark in 2008 when he finished as the no. 7 fantasy pitcher. Arm injuries in 2009 seemed to rob him of some velocity, which led to fewer strikeouts in 2010 and an ERA near 4.00. But he still produced 17 wins, which made him a pretty solid fantasy starter. Santana, like the next pitcher, just seems like a guy that never quite lived up to his potential.
Scott Kazmir
I feel like Scott Kazmir has been on the verge of a breakout season for the better part of a decade. He’s never quite lived up to the promise.
In 2007 and 2008 he was a solid fantasy player, but last year was not good, finishing 9-15 with a 5.94 ERA and a mere 93 strikeouts. The good news is that he shaved over 2.5 runs off his ERA post-all-star break (unfortunately that only lowered his season ERA to 4.37). A lot of the drop-off is probably related to arm troubles over the last few years. At 27, he’s no longer the young guy with “potential,” he’s entering the stage of his career where people “are what they are”. Furthermore, he seems to be regressing, when he should be peaking.
Joel Pineiro
At times Pineiro is a solid no. 5 pitcher, and if he is your fifth starter you are feeling pretty confident that on most days he’s going to give you a chance to win. From a fantasy perspective, he’s been useful over the last few seasons with double digit wins, low hits, walks and a sub-4.00 ERA.
Written by Chris Summers exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com
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