Chicago White Sox SP Mark Buehrle will start the season opener, according to MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, He will set a franchise record for most Opening Day starts with eight.
Our Instinct: Pitching coach Don Cooper wanted Jake Peavy to start on opening day, however it was Peavy who convinced Cooper that Buehrle should get the nod. He’s 2-1 in 7 career opening day starts and the White Sox went 4-3 in those starts. Buehrle finished 13-10 in 2009, with 3.84 era, 105 k’s, 45 BB in 213 innings.
Precision Instinct: Buehrle started the season off with an 11-3 record, with a prefect game on July 27th against the Tampa Bay Rays. After that though, he went on 2-7 streak to close out the season. Overall, he had a solid season, but not one you would want from your ace. Fantasy lleague owner’s should not confuse him with an ace.
The former 1998, 38th round draft picks has a good career, certainly doing better than what a 38th round selection would indicate. He’s 135-97 in 301 career starts and 326 games total, he also has had a career 3.80 era. He’s pitched 9 seasons in a row with over 200 innings and 10+ wins, and while hes no longer a 220-240 inning a season pitcher, you can count on him to pitch 200-215 innings. Over the past 5 seasons his number of walks has been pretty steady (40,48,45,52,45), while his strikeout totals are all over the map (149,98,115,140,105). Don’t expect over 15 wins from Buehrle in 2010, but you can count on at least 10. Expect right at or close to double digit losses and era between 3.70 and 4.00.
Mark Buehrle is currently ranked #64 on our starting pitcher list. Here’s a look at our projections:
INN QS CG SHO W L K BB HR ER ERA FPTS $$
210 21 1 1 14 11 116 46 20 88 3.75 500 $11
Buehrle has long been a solid fantasy starting pitcher. However, that often times get’s confused with fantasy ace, which he is not. He makes for a good 3 or 4 starter on your fantasy rotation, but don’t chase after him. If he goes for over his $11 projected value, let him go. If you are in a keeper league and have good value, it would be ok to pay up to $13, but I don’t think you have to. There are a lot of sp’s in his range and if goes for more than you project his value to be, someone else will fall to you at a lower price. Theres a set number of dollars to spend in fantasy auction leagues, remember that.
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