Matt Harrison 2009

Rotoprofessor recently made the 'crazy prediction' (his words, but I agree) that Matt Harrison would be in the top nine in American League Cy Young voting in 2009. I will be absolutely, completely shocked if that happens. I'll be somewhat surprised if Harrison remains in the Texas rotation for the whole season. In 2008 in the majors he struck out 4.3 per nine innings while walking 3.2. His groundball rate was 40.1%. None of those are good numbers. In addition, there's little in his minor league record to suggest that 2008 was a fluke. While some of the minor league numbers look better on the surface, they really aren't once you make some allowance for the much weaker competition.