Qualls Quandary

It's very easy to say, "Here we go, again," year after year, but it's also just as hard to have to deal with it.

Qualls is again in question and we have to wonder if this guy's hiding an injury, just having a rough time budding from a long winter slumber, still not fully 100% from the knee surgery, plain dead (arm- and skills-wise), or all of the above.

I say it's a combination of some of the mentioned factors (coming back from the surgery, having a rough start to the season - seems like his sinker isn't sinking as much and his slider isn't as sharp - and a case of poor luck: .444 BABIP) plus being poorly managed.

Last night A.J. Hinch brought in Qualls to start the top of the ninth in a 4-4 tie game at home to face lefty Colby Rasmus, the Cardinals' no.5 hitter who'd gone 2 for 3 with a triple and a homer.

Bringing in the closer in a tie game at the top of the ninth at home? By the book, right? Sure, but when we consider that the said closer had pitched two straight nights for a total of 37 pitches and is off to the worst season start since 2006 (to the tune of 7.11 ERA and 1.58 WHIP in 5 1/3 IP), it's justified to question and second guess Hinch's decision to bring in Qualls.

If Qualls were an elite closer, then perhaps Hinch's attempt at nurturing Quall's damaged confidence - imagine if everything worked out as Hinch had planned: Qualls comes in, goes 1-2-3, with 2 K and a ground out, and gets the win thanks to Chris Synder's 2nd home run of the year, the Diamondbacks' manager is smart for believing in his closer and Qualls owners rejoice - but the fact is that he's a mediocre closer coming off a knee surgery ruined the possible fairy tale ninth.

One of my fellow dynasty league manager pointed to what's happened to Brad Lidge (don't look now, but he's KILLING it in his rehab appearances!), how a knee issue can render even the near-elite into a Joe Borowski.

Obviously, go pick up your Gutierrez. But don't go crazy and straight drop Qualls. I have a feeling Qualls will be the saves leader on the Diamondbacks at the end of this season. Yes . . . here we go, again! Bring on the balloooooned ERA and WHIP (for a handful of saves)!

Qualls Must be a Bad Word in Some Countries

When I moved Alex Rios for Chad Qualls about a month ago, I thought I got a sweet deal. One of my manager friends in our dynasty league still calls it a "slam dunk" in my favor, but I still have to cry about him today.

Since the acquisition, he's posted the following line for Team Inchon (Not including this afternoon's BS):

12 IP, 2 SV, 4 K, 6.75 ERA, 1.31 WHIP

Okay, honestly, I still feel that I got a sweet deal. But I'd be lying if I said that I've been impressed with Qualls. I'd still be lying if I said that I'm content with Qualls. I'm starting to basically hate the man. I definitely fully resent him right now.

Going into the ninth with the Diamondbacks nursing a single-run lead, I IM'd the above mentioned friend:

Watch Qualls fuck up this one, too.

Sure, I dearly hoped that I'd be wrong and I was just protecting myself from the coldest, most heartless closer known to fantasy baseball owners, but I honestly believed that Qualls was not going to be able to protect the one-run lead.

After starting out the bottom of the ninth with a nice 1-2 count, Qualls allowed a single, as he wasn't able to coax Jerry Hairston to swing out of the strike zone. The 2-2 pitch was very close to a called strike but of course, it was not, and on the 8th pitch of the at bat, Qualls served up a fastball high and middle of the zone and Hairston pulled it into left for a single.

After Hairston got on, Joey Votto blasted a fly ball all the way to the wall that Alex Romero flat-out missed. I mean, the man, filling in for the injured Eric Byrnes, simply lost track of the ball as he backed into the digital scoreboard in left. Where do I write hatemails to Romero?

To make things worse, Jose Lopez was not able to turn a possible double play, as he dropped the ball (!) while transferring it from the glove to his throwing hand, after Mark Reynolds made a great diving stop of a sharply hit ball by Brandon Phillips.

And the tying run scored on a grounder up the middle that Qualls got a piece of with his foot and, well, that was that. I couldn't even finish watching the inning.

Sure, it wasn't entirely Qualls's fault, but I can still blame him for refusing to strike out anyone. The decrease on his K-rate is alarming to say the least (less than 5 per 9).

On a related note (another downer), I lost the arms race for the sole SP-qualified closer-type in Dan Meyer, as another owner moved about half his team for Adrian Gonzalez and Meyer.

On a positive note (but with a slight downer), Derrek Lee took it out of Wrigley Field twice tonight, appeasing the pain of the open wound that was the homer Reynolds ripped on my bench.