We’re going to take a pause for the holiday weekend and finish off the top ten on Monday, but wanted to give you guys a chance to see the list up through #11 in one big post. Feel free to put your guesses for the top ten in the comments and we’ll see how well you guys do on Monday.

11 B.J. Upton, CF, Tampa
12 Josh Hamilton, CF, Texas
13 Cole Hamels, LHP, Philadelphia
14 Brandon Webb, RHP, Arizona
15 Joe Mauer, C, Minnesota
16 Justin Upton, RF, Arizona
17 Jay Bruce, RF, Cincinnati
18 Russell Martin, C, Los Angeles
19 Jose Reyes, SS, New York Mets
20 Ryan Braun, LF, Milwaukee
21 Roy Halladay, RHP, Toronto
22 Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Detroit
23 Scott Kazmir, LHP, Tampa Bay
24 Josh Beckett, RHP, Boston
25 Chad Billingsley, RHP, Los Angeles
26 Justin Verlander, RHP, Detroit
27 Dan Haren, RHP, Arizona
28 Geovany Soto, C, Chicago Cubs
29 James Shields, RHP, Tampa Bay
30 Prince Fielder, 1B, Milwaukee
31 Joba Chamberlain, RHP, New YorK Yankees
32 Clayton Kershaw, LHP, Los Angeles
33 Adrian Gonzalez, 1B, San Diego
34 Ian Kinsler, 2B, Texas
35 Lance Berkman, 1B, Houston
36 Curtis Granderson, CF, Detroit
37 Edinson Volquez, RHP, Cincinnati
38 Dan Uggla, 2B, Florida
39 John Lackey, RHP, Anaheim
40 Alex Rodriguez, 3B, New York Yankees
41 Jake Peavy, RHP, San Diego
42 Chipper Jones, 3B, Atlanta
43 Dustin McGowan, RHP, Toronto
44 Jacoby Ellsbury, CF, Boston
45 Robinson Cano, 2B, New York Yankees
46 Ryan Zimmerman, 3B, Washington
47 Carlos Zambrano, RHP, Chicago Cubs
48 Clay Buchholz, RHP, Boston
49 Johan Santana, LHP, New York Mets
50 James Loney, 1B, Los Angeles

A conundrum is loosely defined as anything that puzzles… so it makes perfect sense to use the term when describing the anomaly present in the ERA and FIPs of both Carlos Zambrano and Jeremy Bonderman. We’ve written about pitchers either outperforming their FIP or failing to live up to it plenty of times here, but, in probing the last three calendar years feature recently instituted on the leaders page, it appears that things tend to even out a bit. Except, of course, with regards to Zambrano and Bonderman.

Sixty starting pitchers qualified for inclusion over the last three calendar years and they produced the following averages:

ERA-FIP: 0.12
BABIP: .303
LOB: 71.8%
K/BB: 2.48
HR/9: 0.98

One standard deviation of the ERA-FIP is 0.28, meaning we can expect about 2/3 of the data to fall within the -0.16 to 0.40 range; additionally, 95% of the data can be expected to fall within the -0.44 to 0.68 range. Of the group of sixty pitchers, just two fell beyond the 95% confidence interval: Carlos Zambrano at -0.53 and Jeremy Bonderman at 0.83.

Now, one potential reason that someone like Zambrano consistently posts better ERAs than his FIP would suggest could deal with his BABIP: the average BABIP of this group in this span is .303 and Zambrano comes in at .273, a full thirty points lower. On the other end of the spectrum, Bonderman comes in at .325, over twenty points higher. In fact, when looking at the eighteen pitchers who fell beyond one standard deviation of the ERA-FIP mean, the nine higher than 0.40 ranged from .297-.332 in BABIP while those below -0.16 ranged between .269-.309.

I actually discovered whilst writing this post that a question regarding Zambrano outperforming his FIP was posed in the Inside the Book mailbag, to which MGL mentioned the possibility of him posting a lower than average BABIP after concluding that it is definitely possible for certain pitchers to post certain types of BABIPs. This is definitely the case. As MGL also noted in the mailbag, “FIP is a very good at eliminating the noise in BABIP, which allows us to get a better estimate of a pitcher’s run prevention skill, in the short run. In the long run, ERA, RA or ERC is MUCH better because it captures the differences in BABIP skill among pitchers, as well as the other things I mentioned above that contribute to a pitcher’s run prevention skill but are not addressed at all in FIP (like WP rate).”

So, one reason these two guys are constantly posting ERAs much better or worse than their FIP would suggest could be that they have posted above or below average BABIPs with enough regularity to show they have some type of control over it; in that regard, their ERA would be a better indicator of run prevention. Then again, they might not have control over their BABIP and this could all even out, but it would seem that this is a very likely cause at this juncture.

Continuing on in the week long series on the 50 most valuable assets in major league baseball. If you missed the introduction, it can be found here.

Ranking, Player, Position, Franchise, 2006-2008 WPA/LI
15. Joe Mauer, C, Minnesota, 6.09 WPA/LI
14. Brandon Webb, RHP, Arizona, 8.14 WPA/LI
13. Cole Hamels, LHP, Philadelphia, 4.65 WPA/LI
12. Josh Hamilton, CF, Texas, 3.37 WPA/LI
11. B.J. Upton, CF, Tampa Bay, 1.99 WPA/LI

In some circles, Mauer is considered a disappointment because he simply hasn’t developed the home run power that people thought he would grow into. However, if we focus on what Mauer doesn’t do, we’ll miss what he does exceptionally well, and that’s everything else. He’s a 25-year-old outstanding defensive catcher with a career .397 OBP. His command of the strike zone is impeccable, and he has enough juice to drive the ball into the gaps and rack up a significant amount of doubles. Behind the plate, he controls the running game and pitchers love working with him. He’s heading into his physical prime as an elite catcher already. He doesn’t need to add power to be a star – he’s already one.

The best pitcher in baseball checks in at #14 simply because he’s only under contract through 2010. If the D’backs could have locked him up for several more years without paying market rate, he’d have been in the top ten. You can’t really build a pitcher much better than Webb – extreme groundball nature from his diving sinker, good strikeout stuff that he can use for a punch out when he needs it, solid command, and extremely durable. He’s thrown 1,200 innings in just 180 career starts. There are no ups and downs with him – you know exactly what you’re getting, season in and season out. He’s the definition of an ace.

The first time I ever saw Hamels pitch, he was throwing for low-Class A Lakewood in the South Atlantic League. I was sitting behind the plate with some scouts (including Dave Winfield) and was wondering what the big deal was. He was sitting between 88-92 with a fastball that didn’t move all that much and he left up in the zone, and his curveball was just okay, but nothing special. Then, out of nowhere, he throws a change-up that was so ridiculously awesome that I literally jumped out of my chair. He then threw about 15 more while we all felt pity on the poor 18-year-old kids trying to hit this pitch. That change-up is still amazing, and still making hitters look foolish five years later. Durability will likely always be a concern, but talent never is.

Hamilton was another guy who was tough to place on this list. On one hand, he’s established himself as one of the premier left-handed hitters in baseball over the last year and a half, displaying ridiculous power and using his unique physical gifts to complete an offensive package that is tough to match. His raw ability is as good as anyone in baseball, and it’s remarkable how good he is right now considering how much development time he lost. He’s also just in his second year of service, so he’s four and a half years from free agency. However, we can’t overlook the fact that he’s 27, and unlike some of the people ahead of him on this list, he probably doesn’t have a full decade of greatness in front of him. As much as I like Hamilton, the peak is probably going to be too short for me to get him into the top ten.

Upton is quite the interesting player. We know he’s got power – he posted a .209 ISO last year and has 96 career extra base hits. We know he has a good approach at the plate – He’s got a 13.5% walk rate dating back to the start of the 2007 season, and he’s cut his strikeout rate dramatically from last season. We know he can run, as he’s stolen 45 bases in the last year and a half and has made the transition to center field well. The physical abilities are all there, and at times, they’ve all been manifest in his performances. But he’s yet to put the whole package together, and that’s the scary part – at just 23 years old, he’s still got a good bet of room to improve, and he’s already a highly valuable player. Tampa should work on locking him up sooner than later, because the longer they wait, the more its going to cost them. He isn’t going to get less valuable any time soon.

Brewers prospects such as Mat Gamel and Matt LaPorta get a great deal of attention, and deservedly so. However, the Brewers have a few ‘B-level prospects’ that are intriguing, including Michael Brantley and Cole Gillespie.

Brantley is interesting because he is a ‘small ball’ player who has actually embraced the role. The speedy outfielder is only 21 and succeeding at the Double-A level. He is currently hitting .324/.405/.412 in 306 at-bats. He has 39 walks and just 18 strikeouts. Brantley has stolen 25 bases in 31 attempts and has scored 62 runs in 74 games.

In his career, Brantley has a .314 batting average and .404 on-base percentage. He has walked 180 times and struck out just 129 times in 1,221 career at-bats. Defensively, he is a little raw and relies on his speed to make up for his mistakes. The left-handed batter was drafted in the seventh round of the 2005 draft out of a Florida high school.

Gillespie, 24, is a much different player, although he shares the outfield grass with Brantley in Huntsville. Gillespie is currently hitting .273/.376/.491 with 10 homers and 28 doubles in 293 at-bats. He has also shown some patience at the plate with a .395 career on-base percentage.

He is considered a gamer and has solid all-around skills although no one tool stands out, which could limit him to a fourth outfielder role in the majors, as he has enough defensive ability to play all three spots. Gillespie has just enough offensive potential to spend a few years playing every day for a mid-level team. He was originally drafted out of Oregon State University in the third round of the 2006 draft.

Back on April 22, I wrote a post titled “Nasty Nate McLouth“, dissecting the hot start of the Pirates outfielder. He had a ridiculously high BABIP at the time which led to quite the inflated slash line. Additionally, while sustaining a very similar walk rate he had drastically reduced his strikeout percentage. Here are some of his numbers at the time of the first post and his overall numbers as we speak:

Apr 22: .403 BABIP, .375/.444/.639, 1.082 OPS, 12.5 K%
Today: .288 BABIP, .281/.361/.523, .885 OPS, 13.8 K%

As expected, his BABIP dropped significantly, and his slash line fell as a result. His strikeout rate has increased a bit but the 13.8% is still much lower than the 23.4% of last year. Speaking of the 2007 season, McLouth now has virtually the same amount of at-bats this year as last. Here are his numbers from the last two years:

2007: 85-329, 48 1B, 21 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 39 BB, 77 K, .258/.351/.489
2008: 92-327, 46 1B, 28 2B, 3 3B, 15 HR, 34 BB, 45 K, .281/.362/.523

Things appear very similar with the exception of the strikeouts and added power; McLouth’s increase in doubles and home runs has led to not only the higher batting average but the higher slugging percentage as well. His ISO in 2007 was .201 compared to the .242 so far this year. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you are a Pirates fan, he actually gets lost in the shuffle a bit because the entire Bucs outfield is producing at a high level.

Amongst NL outfielders, McLouth ranks 8th in WPA (1.54) and 7th in WPA/LI (1.56). Jason Bay and Xavier Nady rank ahead of him in both areas. McLouth’s 22.58 BRAA and 2.24 REW rank third amongst NL outfielders, though, higher than both of his teammates. He has cooled off quite a bit since riding the coattails of a 19-game hitting streak early in the season but he is still producing at a high level; or at least much higher than we might have expected entering the season. I also would not be surprised if he has earned his first All-Star berth given his solid numbers and the fact that surprising players make good stories.

Continuing on in the week long series on the 50 most valuable assets in major league baseball. If you missed the introduction, it can be found here.

Ranking, Player, Position, Franchise, 2006-2008 WPA/LI
20. Ryan Braun, LF, Milwaukee, 5.05 WPA/LI
19. Jose Reyes, SS, New York Mets, 3.40 WPA/LI
18. Russell Martin, C, Los Angeles, 4.04 WPA/LI
17. Jay Bruce, RF, Cincinnati, 0.23 WPA/LI
16. Justin Upton, RF, Arizona, 0.17 WPA/LI

Braun is just a tough nut to crack. The power is ridiculous, and as we saw last year, he can succeed with his aggressive approach at the plate. However, since he just refuses to walk, he has to make his contact count. He’s just 24, and there’s room for growth, but he’s already had to shift down the defensive spectrum once. The bat is going to carry him, but the way he approaches his at-bats is going to keep him from being as good as he could be otherwise. There’s room for more, but for right now, I can’t put him any higher than this.

There’s been a lot of attention on Reyes the last few years for his attitude and issues that people have had with how he plays the game, but lost in that shuffle is that he’s still a pretty remarkable player. By any measure, he’s an above average hitter, and he plays a pretty nifty shortstop. He’s also 25, and he’s got the skillset that ages very well. He’s heading into his prime as an all-star up-the-middle player, and the Mets have him locked up through 2011. Unless they finish the season well, there is going to be pressure on the Mets to make some changes to their roster this winter – Jose Reyes shouldn’t be one of the things they should be changing.

Martin doesn’t have a normal catcher’s skillset, which shouldn’t surprise us much since the Dodgers converted him from a third baseman into being a catcher. It’s worked well, as his work behind the plate draws rave reviews from pitchers and scouts alike, and his command of the strike zone and contact ability have turned him into an on base machine as a hitter. No, he doesn’t have much power and he never will, but he’s doing a terrific Jason Kendall impersonation.

Bruce announced his presence with authority after the Reds called him up, but after a ridiculous start, pitchers started to take advantage of his aggressiveness. Don’t let the slump fool you, though – Bruce is a legitimate major league hitter at age 21, and his ceiling couldn’t be any higher. The comparisons to Larry Walker might not be fair, but they’re not that far off the mark. Bruce is a monster, and he’s going to be a devastating hitter for a long, long time.

Take the above paragraph and replace Bruce with Upton, and then change “age 21” to “age 20”. Both made an instant impact, have experienced growing pains, but both are legitimate major leaguers at a very young age. Upton might not match Bruce for raw power, but he’s going to be a better defensive player and draw a few more walks. Trying to pick between which of these two kids would rank ahead of the other was rough, but in the end, you can’t go wrong either way. They’re both great.

Continuing on in the week long series on the 50 most valuable assets in major league baseball. If you missed the introduction, it can be found here.

Ranking, Player, Position, Franchise, 2006-2008 WPA/LI
25. Chad Billingsley, RHP, Los Angeles, 2.03 WPA/LI
24. Josh Beckett, RHP, Boston, 6.22 WPA/LI
23. Scott Kazmir, LHP, Tampa, 4.40 WPA/LI
22. Miguel Cabrera, 1B, Detroit, 9.55 WPA/LI
21. Roy Halladay, RHP, Toronto, 8.84 WPA/LI

Billingsley is a terrific young pitcher who is coming into his own in ’08, raising his strikeout rate even further while cementing his spot in the Dodgers rotation. At just 24, and with not even two full years of service under his belt, the Dodgers have control over one of the game’s best under-25 arms through 2012. However, there are still questions about him – can he improve his command in order to reduce his pitch count and work more innings? Can he hold up over a 200 inning season? We simply don’t know the answers to these questions yet, so as talented as he is, he can’t be much higher on this list. Given a season to answer some of those questions, he might find himself much higher at this time next year.

At 28, Josh Beckett is in his prime. The walks are a problem of the past, and he’s managed to command the strike zone without losing his strikeout stuff, making him one of the game’s very best pitchers. He’s on track to throw 200 innings for the third straight season, and since the Red Sox have him under control through 2010, they have to be quite happy with their ace. Flags fly forever, and all that, so there’s no way they can wish they hadn’t acquired Beckett and Mike Lowell, but man, was the price ever high. We’ll get to that guy later.

After providing a spring training scare with yet another arm injury, Kazmir has sparked since returning, with better control of his stuff allowing him to pitch like a true all-star in 2008. This is the guy that everyone has always expected Kazmir to become, and at just 24, he’s heading into the prime of what should be a very productive career. However, the questions about his durability linger, and while the Rays were able to lock him up through 2012, it was at a per year salary of over $9 million. He’s not the financial bargain that some others are, but on talent, there aren’t many guys you’d want before Kazmir.

The Tigers paid a king’s ransom for Cabrera this winter, and why not? Heading into his age 25 season, his most comparable players through the early part of his career read like a stroll through the Hall of Fame. His career averages were staggering, and he had cemented himself as the game’s greatest young hitter. But, things haven’t worked out for the first few months of his Detroit career – the experiment with him playing third base has ended with the inevitable move across the diamond, and his offense is down across the board. There’s no reason to think this is his real talent level, but that doesn’t help alleviate the disappointment. He’s going to hit better than this, but now, as a first baseman making huge money, he has to.

Halladay is tied for the American League lead in complete games in 2008… with the Cleveland Indians. He has, by himself, more complete games this year than 29 of the 30 teams in baseball. Only the Indians pitching staff has been able to match his six complete games, and, you know, they’re a pitching staff. He’s one guy. It’s hilarious how much better he is at this than the rest of the world. If he was signed longer than the next two and a half years, he’d rank a lot higher on this list, because he’s as much a sure thing as any pitcher alive. His combination of strikes and groundballs have already earned him one Cy Young, and he’s doing his best to get another this year.

Jeremy Jeffress has one powerful arm. Unfortunately, he also allegedly has one powerful love of… ’90s Cypress Hill music, shall we say, which has resulted in more than one suspension from baseball and the Milwaukee Brewers. The right-hander was originally drafted 16th overall in the 2005 draft out of a Virginia high school.

Back from his latest suspension, Jeffress has started nine High-A ball games with mixed results. He is still touching the upper 90s with improved command and control (6.68 BB/9 in 2006, 4.59 in 2007, 3.40 in 2008), but consistency remains a work-in-progress. Here is the breakdown of his nine starts, including three bad performances and six good ones:

The Bad:  11.2 IP | 21 H | 06 BB | 22 K | 20 ER | 16.07 ERA 
The Good: 36.0 IP | 18 H | 12 BB | 43 K | 03 ER | 00.75 ERA

By those numbers above, it is clear that when Jeffress is on, he is on. That is a ridiculous split on the ERA. It is interesting, though, that Jeffress’ strikeout rate is actually better when he is struggling: 16.85 K/9, compared to 10.75 K/9 when he is pitching well. The control is less impressive when he struggles: 4.60 BB/9, compared to 3.00 BB/9, but it does not seem that extreme. Perhaps Jeffress is tipping pitches during his bad starts, which allows hitters to sit on a certain pitch. Even when you know what’s coming, it can be hard to hit a high-90s fastball, especially in A-ball.

One thing is for sure… If Jeffress can stay healthy and, more importantly at this point, on the straight-and-narrow, then the Brewers could have something very special.

In case you have not yet heard, the Phillies optioned struggling starter Brett Myers to Triple-A Lehigh Valley yesterday. The move followed a very disappointing more-than-start to this season in which expectations were quite high. In light of this development I decided to take off my unbiased analyst cap and discuss this from my perspective as a Phillies fan. Quite simply, in terms as layman as layman can get, I think this is stupid. I feel the Phillies have completely mishandled Brett Myers since signing his three-year/25-million dollar deal following the 2006 season.

This wouldn’t even be the first time they have mishandled a player in the last few years either, as both Ryan Howard and Chase Utley were brought to the bigs later than they should have been. As it stands, both of these stars are currently approaching 30, rather then the perhaps 26-28 mark fans might expect given their service time. With Myers, however, it all started last year, with his shift to the bullpen. In 2005 and 2006 he posted the numbers below, more than proving he was a well above average major league starter:

2005: 3.72 ERA, 4.06 FIP, 215.1 IP, 68 BB, 208 K, 3.06 K/BB, 1.21 WHIP, .289 BABIP
2006: 3.91 ERA, 4.14 FIP, 198.0 IP, 63 BB, 189 K, 3.00 K/BB, 1.30 WHIP, .309 BABIP

He got off to a bad start last year, when, in 15.1 innings he allowed 16 earned runs to the tune of a 9.39 ERA. The strikeouts were still there at 19 but he had surrendered 5 home runs and walked 9 batters. Unfortunately, with Tom Gordon’s injury, the Phillies panicked and moved Myers to the bullpen. While there he actually performed quite well: 53.1 IP, 46 H, 17 ER, 4 HR, 18 BB, 74 K, 2.87 ERA. Despite the relative success this was a terrible move for Myers in the long term considering what he had proven himself capable of and how quickly the move was made; a drastic move like this should not be done after just three starts.

Myers then fell in love with the bullpen, where he could really let loose and throw his plus-fastball without having to pace himself. A combination of adapting to this new hard-throwing environment and perhaps being used too much resulted in an injury last May. Upon his return he continued his success and his love for the crucial moments grew, almost becoming addictive to Myers. It came as no surprise, then, that he did not welcome a move back to the rotation this season with open arms. In acquiring Brad Lidge the Phillies found a closer and could move Myers back to the rotation, where he truly belonged. Never one to shy away from his feelings he admitted how much he enjoyed the bullpen and his hesitancy to become a starter again. In fact, I can recall working in the television truck with my father during a Ricky Bottalico rehab start a while back in which Myers verbally expressed anger at Bottalico pitching the first couple of innings, delaying his (Myers) start to the game.

To show Myers how committed they were to him as a starter they even handed him the ball on opening day. He has not come close to expectations this year, posting a 5.84 ERA/5.71 FIP, 1.56 WHIP, and a league high 24 home runs surrendered. His K/BB has dropped to 2.00 as well. Plenty of us analysts have attempted to deduce the reasoning behind his struggles, finding that he has lost velocity and has struggled with location, but the Phillies are 4-13 in his starts (1-11 in his last 12) and his 3-9 W-L record is actually very indicative of his performance level so far.

The Phillies again found themselves in a Myers dilemma because he was hurting more than he was helping but another move to the bullpen could perhaps typecast him in that role. Essentially, because they miffed a decision last year, it is truly coming to haunt them this season. Perhaps a move to the minors can fix his mechanics or whatever the actual cause of his struggles is, but if Myers cannot rebound from said struggles, the blame from this Phillies fan goes towards their management for truly mishandling the situation. I personally felt the solution posed by Mitch Williams was better than a minor league demotion: lock him in a room somewhere or leave him in an empty clubhouse and just let the hot-headed guy go crazy, breaking things, and hope he gets that bulldog mentality back. The club went the other way and I am not too optimistic. I surely hope I am wrong though.

Continuing on in the week long series on the 50 most valuable assets in major league baseball. If you missed the introduction, it can be found here.

Ranking, Player, Position, Franchise, 2006-2008 WPA/LI
30. Prince Fielder, 1B, Milwaukee, 7.32 WPA/LI
29. James Shields, RHP, Tampa, 3.20 WPA/LI
28. Geovany Soto, C, Chicago Cubs, 1.14 WPA/LI
27. Dan Haren, RHP, Arizona, 3.45 WPA/LI
26. Justin Verlander, RHP, Detroit, 3.91 WPA/LI

Fielder hit .288/.395/.618 as a 23-year-old and he makes $670,000 this year. On a per dollar basis, there aren’t many players who are earning less for what they produced last year. Concerns about his size and how well he will age, as well as the fact that Milwaukee wasn’t able to buy out any of his free agent years with a long term deal, suppresses his value a bit. He’s going to become decently compensated once he hits arbitration this winter, and getting a deal done now is going to be a lot harder.

When describing Shields a few years ago, I called him the new Brad Radke, and while he’s posting a bit better strikeout rate, the comparison still holds. Shields has a devastating change-up and impeccable command, and the combination has been a great one for the Tampa youngster. He’s proven to be a durable, consistent starter, and while he doesn’t have lights out stuff, his level of production makes him one of the league’s best young starters. Toss in the fact that Tampa signed him to a contract extension that will pay him at most $38 million through 2014, and you have one of the league’s great bargains.

Soto had 87 plate appearances as a major leaguer heading into the 2008 season, so it says something for how good he’s been this year that he finds himself in the 28th spot on this list. Offense from a catcher is a huge advantage, and Soto hasn’t stopped hitting since arriving in Chicago last year. His offensive surge is one of the main reasons the Cubs have the best record in the National League, and as a 25-year-old backstop who won’t qualify for free agency until after 2013, some might say that Soto is too low at this placement. However, we can’t ignore the fact that two years ago, he was struggling to hit Triple-A pitching and his track record is pretty mixed. I’m pretty sure Soto is for real, but I’m less sure about him than I am the guys in front of him.

Another player who was fairly easy to place on the list considering that he was traded last winter for a bevy of prospects, giving us a pretty good idea of what teams would give up to acquire Haren. Oakland received six players, including several who are making key contributions this year, in a much better package than what the Twins got for Johan Santana. Arizona decided it was worth the significant haul to get Haren into their rotation, and since he’s signed through 2010 at bargain basement prices, it’s easy to understand why.

Verlander was a bit tougher. As we documented early in the season, his velocity didn’t leave spring training with him, and it’s never good when a young pitcher suddenly loses his fastball. However, Verlander has shrugged off the injury concerns, rebounded from a poor start, and is reminding everyone why he was in every conversation about the best young pitchers in baseball. He signed a major league contract coming out of college that locked him up for nothing through 2009, but it contains a clause that lets him void the deal if he’s eligible for arbitration, which he will be.