Erik Bedard 2009

I've been touting Erik Bedard as a great sleeper for 2009 up until now. That was based on his having been the most dominant pitcher in baseball in 2007, and the hope that he'd be back to full health in time for the start of the season. That apparently isn't the case, as Bedard has struck out 7 batters and walked 9 in 11.1 innings pitched. Pitchers coming back from injuries are one of the situations that I've discussed before, where you SHOULD pay attention to statistics. And in this case, the stats agree with reports that say that Bedard hasn't looked good. If you can get him in the very late rounds of a draft, he still probably has enough upside to be a worthwhile pick anyway. But just be aware that if he doesn't turn things around in a hurry, you're likely to need to either drop him or stash him away on the bench, and hope he follows a similar recovery pattern to Francisco Liriano's 2008 season.