Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Brandon Lyon and Saves from the Astros Bullpen

I received an e-mail from Steve earlier this week entitled “As a fellow Brandon Lyon owner”:

What are you planning to do with Lyon?  I have 1 more week to figure it out.. I was going to trade E.Sanchez and activate him.. but then Saturday happened (4ER ; not a single out)  It’s probably better to just drop Lyon.. I can’t imagine anyone trading for him??

Brandon Lyon is now back, and the big question confronting fantasy owners is: now what to do about saves?  Well, folks, I am here to tell you to keep doing what you were doing and pretend Lyon never came back, at least for now.

Lyon has been back for all of three games.  Red flag: home run surrendered in each game.  Red flag: one game where he did not even record an out.  Red flag: one strikeout in 14 batters faced.  Lyon has thrown more strikes than balls; the problem is that those strikes are getting creamed.  Eight earned runs in two innings pitched is a good way to wind up in the minors or back on the disabled list with a phantom injury.

Mark Melancon owners, you are safe for now.  In fact, if you take a close look at Melancon’s numbers, you will see he is having a pretty fine year.  While his strikeouts have dropped to a little over 8.00/9IP, the walks have also dropped dramatically.  He is giving up very few home runs, and his FIP and xFIP are 2.40 and 2.49 respectively.  He is keeping the ball in the park, the ball on the ground and striking out a batter when he needs it.  This is a recipe for continued success and continued tenure in the closer role.

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