Mastersball Fantasy Forum

I hear Blackburn is hurt, and he is pitching like it. Any word out there? Should I ride it out? Decision due by tonight, or I'm stuck another week. If I FAAB, I have to waive him per league rules.
Should I just drop him from my 5X5 AL-only, 10-team squad in favor of one of the following best available of a thin crop? (He is not a keeper.)
See team below; I have no closers except for a flyer on Frasor. Oops. If I pick up a reliever, I will try to pry Rodney loose using Branyan on my reserve list to get a few saves:

Balfour
Cecil
Linebrink
Neshek
Wheeler
Ziegler

Pitchers: F. Hernandez, Garza, Floyd, Hughes, Niemann, Blackburn for starters (must have wins unless I can weasel some saves), plus Frasor, Downs and Guerrier.

Hitters: Posada, Fox, Pena, Kotchman, Kinsler (Arias rep), E. Aybar, Tejada, Gordon, Guerrero, Damon, R. Davis, Dejesus, Swisher, J. Rivera.

Thanks for input.

i grabbed him as a reserve pick in todd and my nfbc team, but i drafted him as a back up to fill a hole. he is not dominating and guys who are not are always prone to getting knocked around. eg, buehrle last week. and, well, blackburn is not mark buehrle, either.

the guy makes me nervous. i would sit him (i did) and find someone who won't hurt you (a middle guy like listed) or maybe grab cecil.

A healthy Blackburn is the type of guy you use in deeper AL only leagues or mixed leagues where you have a ton of K's from your front 3 or 4.

Except for extreme strong or troublesome matchups, you have to have a season-long end-result in mind that you are willing to accept, and just put him in there and let him have the lows and highs even out.

With such a small margin of error, any hint of injury really puts him at risk for struggling.

As for the replacements, are there any starters available?

Only starters available are Cecil, David Hernandez, Kyle Davies, Talbot and Palmer; aka, the Pu-Pu platter.
I picked Blackburn because I had the K and win guys in a deep AL-only league to carry him, and for 40 cents and 11 wins based on your 60-cent valuation, I said, OK, give it a shot.
So, Cecil. Hernandez, or Wheeler/Balfour, or to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and ride it out?
My inclination is Wheeler, to be honest, but I'm open to further suggestion.
Also, do we think Rodney will eventually pick up saves? Is it worth giving up Branyan for him or keeping him on hold for a better deal?

special k wrote:.
Also, do we think Rodney will eventually pick up saves? Is it worth giving up Branyan for him or keeping him on hold for a better deal?

Eventually???? He already has five......and Fuentes failed in his first game back
I would keep Rodney all day long over Blackburn

Of the starters, I think Talbot is the best bet - he has pitched VERY well in two of his three starts this year (took an injury, correcting that and getting out of Tampa Bay to another organization for him to finally start to deliver on the promise of the prospect he once was).