It's been a while, but below is our current list of pretenders and contenders when it comes to pitchers and their BABIP. A quick scan of the pitchers that are getting the luckiest has some popular names like Cueto, Jackson and Gallardo. I believe in Gallardo, but I'm not sold on the other two, so you might want to try and sell high on those guys right now.

Scanning the unluckiest pitchers thus far I see Lester as a possible great pick up. His K/9 are off the charts, his BABIP is obviously too high, and his FIP is at 3.88 while his ERA is at 5+. With numbers like that, you have to think he is going to come back to the norm and reap big rewards.

Zobrist a possible StarThroughout the year I am constantly scouring the waiver wire looking for the next big thing, or at least someone that will help fill in a gap that I overlooked during the draft, or as the result of an injury.  Last year I was able to get Ryan Ludwick, and enjoyed about 25 of his 37 Homeruns.  The amazing thing is that I was probably the 3rd or 4th person to pick him up, but I held on, and reaped the rewards.  This year I am thinking Ben Zobrist may be another one of those types of players, not that he will hit 37 Hrs, but he should be a good fill in with positive numbers.

Here is another addition to our pretenders and contenders story line. As you can see there are some definite contenders (Lincecum) that are just getting robbed out on the baseball diamond. Others, like Volquez and Wolf, are getting luckier than they should. A new category that you should pay attention to is FIP, which is basically what there ERA should be. The formal definition is "Fielding Independent Pitching, a measure of all those things for which a pitcher is specifically responsible. The formula is (HR*13+(BB+HBP-IBB)*3-K*2)/IP, plus a league-specific factor (usually around 3.2) to round out the number to an equivalent ERA number. FIP helps you understand how well a pitcher pitched, regardless of how well his fielders fielded." Anyways, here is the current list of Pretenders and Contenders.