No not a fat man that likes to draw penises on the teleprompter. The Devil Rays Manager Joe Madden does not believe in Fantasy World. This week for the vast majority of fantasy leagues is either the Championship Round in head to head leagues or the absolute stretch run in Roto Leagues and Joe Madden has decided to kick a few people in the groin and shut down one of the Devil Rays best pitchers, James Shields, for the remainder of the season.So for what reason is Shields getting shut down? Because he has pitched a lot of innings, so he obviously needs to stop or he might get hurt. That's pretty much the reasoning. He might get hurt, even though there is nothing wrong with him and his last three starts he's given up 4 runs over 22 innings and picked up 2 Wins. So he's pitched some of his best baseball the past two weeks, he has no soreness and no injury and he needs to get shutdown. Right...
Shields certainly didn't agree with the move, and he didn't know coming into today since he has a bunch family and friends attending the game thinking they were going to watch him.
"I was pretty shocked. I'm not real happy with the full decision," Shields said. "All they told me is they want to protect my arm and protect me for next year. ... I guess they're looking out for my best interests and whatever."
Of course he was shocked, considering this came out of nowhere. Had Joe Madden mentioned this on perhaps Monday I would have been able to drop Shields and pick someone else up. Instead I'm stuck with Shields rotting on my roster for the next two weeks. At least in my other league I'm facing him in the finals...
Ah fantasy sports, the only reason why the Devil Rays matter to anyone.
Comments
there is a very high rate of injuries in pitchers arms in the year AFTER a season in which they increase there career high in IP by 15% or more. And the pitchers that dont get hurt usually have dead arms and crappy years.
And he's already eclipsed that 15%. 186 * 1.15 = 214. He's thrown 215.
I just think teams are being way too cautious for no real reason. Limit him to a 100 pitches. Why shut him down when he's experiencing no problem at all. Is throwing extremely well and doesn't want to be shut down at all.