Sheets out, Gallardo in

Ben Sheets is now expected to miss four to six weeks after partially tearing the tissue around the tendon in his right middle finger. While this will hurt a lot of fantasy staffs, it presents an opportunity for many.

Yovani Gallardo will now have a full-time rotation spot and should keep it the rest of the year. Assuming he pitches pretty well, he should keep the spot even if Sheets were to come back in the middle of August. Claudio Vargas (or possibly Dave Bush) would then likely move to the bullpen. It should probably be Jeff Suppan, but after the contract they gave him last winter, I don’t see it happening.

We’ve talked about Gallardo a lot in the past, so I won’t go over too much about him. I will post his line so far in the majors, though.

LAST	FIRST	G	GS	IP	ERA	LIPS ERA	WHIP	DIPS WHIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	xGB%	LOB%	BABIP	HR/FB	LD%	LIPS ERA – ERA	DIPS WHIP – WHIP
Gallardo	Yovani	6	3	28.7	2.83	3.63	1.05	1.15	8.48	2.83	3.00	40.79	73.43	0.263	3.57	24.36	0.80	0.10

Not a large sample size, and three of the games came in relief, but Gallardo’s numbers look pretty good. As I’m sure you know, he was a great pitcher in the minors, too. Expect continued success, although not to the extent he’s enjoyed so far. It will be interesting to see his next few starts. He should be owned in all but the shallowest leagues, for now.

For fun, I’ll finish off with the numbers for the rest of Milwaukee’s starting rotation.

LAST	FIRST	G	GS	IP	ERA	LIPS ERA	WHIP	DIPS WHIP	K/9	BB/9	K/BB	xGB%	LOB%	BABIP	HR/FB	LD%	LIPS ERA – ERA	DIPS WHIP – WHIP
Sheets	Ben	19	19	119.3	3.39	3.74	1.16	1.21	6.79	1.89	3.60	36.76	79.66	0.274	9.15	18.04	0.35	0.05
Capuano	Chris	16	16	82.0	5.16	3.84	1.54	1.44	7.68	3.95	1.94	44.84	70.70	0.332	10.00	18.08	-1.32	-0.10
Bush	Dave	18	17	107.3	4.86	4.11	1.33	1.24	6.71	2.01	3.33	45.05	67.41	0.331	8.70	20.52	-0.75	-0.09
Vargas	Claudio	17	15	83.7	4.52	4.46	1.49	1.42	7.85	3.76	2.09	32.31	82.02	0.307	13.93	21.29	-0.06	-0.07
Suppan	Jeff	19	19	117.0	5.00	5.14	1.50	1.48	4.69	3.15	1.49	45.98	71.00	0.319	8.89	19.90	0.14	-0.02

Without even looking at their numbers, if you own Vargas or Bush, it might be a good idea to trade them now if you can get good value. You could wait for Bush’s ERA to drop closer to his LIPS ERA level, but don’t wait too long. Once your league-mates realize that one of these guys probably will be out of a startingh job for the final month of the season, their market value will drop.