WHIP It, WHIP It Good!

Time to kick it old-school, Devo-Style. Break out the red plastic flowerpot hats everybody!

See, I have a WHIP problem. My ERA has been as good as 2nd in the league for much of the year (it's down to 5th now) but my WHIP has remained in 2nd to last. That's a big divergence. Everybody else in the league is ranked nearly the same in the two categories, except the Ticks, who get 12 points for their WHIP and only 5 for their ERA. I can offer no explanation for this anamoly, except to assume it will even out in the end. Meanwhile, I'm WHIP hunting in an attempt to mitigate my position.

Among pitchers with any kind of innings, relievers dominate the WHIP leaderboard. I see names like Putz (0.64), Soriano, Neshek, Betancourt, Isringhuasen, Saito, Shields, Okijima, Hoffman, and Fuentes. Now kids, what do these all have in common? That's right, they're all relievers! (The first starter you see when sorting by WHIP is Danny Haren, (0.88). I'm not likely to pry him away in a trade.)

Good news here is that I own Neshek and Okijima. Bad news is, I'm still 2nd to last in the category. Jason Schmidt, Felix Hernandez, and other struggling starters have really dug me a hole, and it's clear that, although helpful, Neshek and Okijima aren't going to be able to fix my problem an inning at a time.

I had added Casey Janssen last week, hoping for a vulture W or save along with his superb ERA and WHIP (both are 0.97!), but as a shortman, he's not helping, and at 3% ownership, he's expendable. I've also got Ryan Doumit, who I like for his power, average, and C eligibility, but he's not been playing consistently and is 1% owned. These guys I can drop for two spot starters.

We're looking for sleeper starters on the waiver wire with super-low WHIPs. Here's what I found:

IP H ER BB K W ERA WHIP Owned
Jeremy Guthrie, Bal 73.2 55 21 13 47 3 2.57 0.92 18.7%
Justin Germano, SD 42.0 34 11 5 17 5 2.36 0.93 13.5%

Guthrie I've been watching out of the corner of my eye, and Germano has already made one spot start for me, so I've already done my homework on them. I added both without hesitation for their upcoming starts, which happen to be today. Against each other. In San Deigo. Yes, if you see my light on at 1AM, you'll know I'm watching Baseball Tonight for highlights of the late games!

Ongoing Obsessive Post-Trade Analysis:
Berkman is 7 for 23 with 4 runs scored, a .304 BA, and (inexplicably) a steal thus far for the Squirrel Squad.

Lowell is 6 for 29, 3 runs scored, a homer, 3 RBI, and a .207 BA for the Tick-Killers.

The TKs remain atop of the standings, while I remain in 6th some 15 points behind. But I'm only 3 homers away from passing him in that category. Of course, without the trade, I'd be 1 homer behind. Oh well, it's still early.