2010 Rebound candidates - version 1

by pedrophile on Feb 23, 2026 9:33 PM EST Comment 52 comments

Francisco Liriano - I don't think there is a pitcher in all of baseball with the upside of Liriano. He had an electric fastball and an unhittable slider before the surgery. Now his changeup is vastly improved. His control was never good but last year set new lows. But that's ok, with TJ surgery that was expected. It sounds like his stuff has recovered but not to the point it was before injury. That's ok with his improved change.

He was bad last year but that was more about making too many mistakes. This year those mistakes should be less and with more velocity - so they will be punished less. Expect anywhere from a 4.25 ERA to an 3.25 ERA.

Jeremy Bonderman - He had surgery 2 offseasons ago for thoracic outlet syndrome. A fancy way of saying his rib was impeding a nerve causing loss of feeling in his pitching hand. He was having a breakout year and then halfway through the season couldn't have any feel. His slider suffered and then his movement on his fastball went down.

He had surgery and came back last season. But an offseason without any throwing put him way behind everyone else. Muscles do atrophy. I think we forget how fine tuned pitchers bodies become. Anyways, he struggled all season to recover his velocity but never really recovered his stuff.

From reports it sounds like he has the movement back on his fastball. If he has this and his slider he can become a dominant pitcher once again. I am still worried as he is a bit behind other pitchers. This doesn't match with the rest of the info we are reading, why is he behind?

Dustin McGowan - will he ever recover to the potential he has?

He had rotator cuff problems at the end of his first successful season. But JP kept this quiet and had Dustin pitch the next year. And he hurt the shoulder further with capsule damage I believe. I think the labrum damage was minor. We shall see. ps:I hate JP.

Last season Dustin was rehabbing and injured his knee and had to shut down for the year. That's probably a good thing. At least now he might be protected.

I really have no idea what kind of stuff he will have. Before the injuries his stuff was as good as just about anyone. The only concern I had was his stiff landing which really messed up his location at times. Hello Billingsley.

Bedard - for this season I wouldn't be counting on him. It looks like there is a good chance he misses 2-3 months

Bedard is certainly intriguing because of his stuff for a lefty, high k's, and stretches of utter dominance. I'm not high on him because of too many injury concerns combined with stretches where he looks just average. Nothing wrong with that but in any league someone will always be paying for that ace potential

Any thoughts or other candidates? More to come...

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Chien-Ming Wang

He probably won’t be a popular pick to be a rebound guy, but I believe in him. He was hampered early last year due to the poor advice the Yankees gave him on rehabbing from Lisfranc (Cashman indicated that they told him not to rehab based on some belief they had on Lisfranc recovery, or something like that - was on the radio, during the spat with Nero). The Lisfranc was a fluke injury. Prior to the shoulder issues, he was finally coming to form a bit. The game against the Blue Jays, his stuff looked close to what it once was, with the fastball velo sharper.

Yes, I’m concerned about the shoulder, but he’s had ample time off. He’s moving to the NL, to a park that gave up less home runs last year. I admit I have my bias here, but I believe he’ll bounce back and have a strong season for the Nats, setting up the Nats for 2011 when they might be looking at a rotation of Strasburg/Zimmerman/Wang/Lannan/Marquis, and a pen anchored by Storen.

by toonsterwu on Feb 24, 2026 12:12 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

+1

I think Wang could rebound significantly.

by jar75 on Feb 24, 2026 10:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

isn't the Nats infield defense pretty poor outside of Zimm?

baseball rules.

by doublestix on Feb 24, 2026 4:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Adam Dunn is

But 2B/SS shouldn’t be too far away from the average.

by jar75 on Feb 24, 2026 4:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I had been hoping

to see Ian Desmond get short, as I believe he would’ve been an upgrade. But I think they are going to trot Cristian/Adam out there to start, decent but eh.

by toonsterwu on Feb 24, 2026 8:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Scott Kazmir

by alskor on Feb 24, 2026 1:25 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

velocity was back up once he was in LA

Im pretty bullish on him for 2010

by alskor on Feb 24, 2026 1:25 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I keep hearing about Kazmir...

But his late season surge in LA looks completely based off an abnormally low BABIP and a microscopic home run rate.

I’m not doubting that his velocity could be back and he could regain some of what he was, but if the velocity was back last season it doesn’t look like it really did much for him.

by oplaid on Feb 24, 2026 5:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Im buying what he's selling

His velocity wasn’t back last season - it was back post trade. There were clearly stretches when he wasn’t healthy last year.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/fantasy/article/waiver-wire-al-0219/

by alskor on Feb 24, 2026 11:35 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Fastball

Velo appeared to be back, but command is his key. . . it seemed like teams were sitting on the FB in the playoffs and he got hit pretty hard. You can say this about most pitchers, but he really needs to command his secondary stuff, especially if his slider isn’t as sharp as a few years back.

by SoCalSoxFan on Feb 24, 2026 1:16 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

coco crisp

monster year coming up.

baseball rules.

by doublestix on Feb 24, 2026 2:21 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Boy do I hope so

"Chicks dig the long ball, although fat chicks will settle for warning track power" - Nick Diamond

by hero66 on Feb 24, 2026 11:48 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

i was fronting the wagon on wanting KC to resign him

great defender and showed an improved plate approach last year. will need to stay healthy though.

baseball rules.

by doublestix on Feb 24, 2026 4:07 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

lol

by daveh33 on Feb 24, 2026 5:17 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

you watch out DUDE

.280/.370/.420 with elite defense. it’s coming

baseball rules.

by doublestix on Feb 24, 2026 8:40 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think your definition of "monster"

needs some refinement…

by oplaid on Feb 25, 2026 5:33 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

not really

.370 OBP plus elite defense is quite monstrous.

baseball rules.

by doublestix on Feb 26, 2026 5:37 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Not to mention, 25 points better than

his best season ever in the big leagues so far.

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Feb 27, 2026 9:36 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

a somewhat normal BABIP would have put him in that range in 2009

baseball rules.

by doublestix on Feb 27, 2026 10:09 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Wait, you mean if he had hit the ball harder,

he ~~would have~~ might have ~~had~~ almost had an OBP that high?

C’mon — the guy is an established veteran who has always had an OBP of right around .345 or right around .320. Except the one year he was a lot worse than that.

The best reason to think he’ll OBP .370 is your gut. That’s fine. But the evidence suggests this is highly unlikely.

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Feb 27, 2026 10:34 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Edwin Encarnacion

Fully recovered from injury and without the bad luck on balls in play he suffered the past two seasons, Encarnacion is a good bet to have a decent season - something along the lines of .280/.360/.480. Right now he’s not even getting drafted in many standard leagues.

by oplaid on Feb 24, 2026 6:19 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I was on board the bandwagon and he had a nice PECOTA... but hopped off when I heard he had wrist surgery this offseason.

That’s a big red flag for me - especially when the only area I really saw plus potential for him was power

by alskor on Feb 24, 2026 11:36 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

That is a bit of a red flag

Surgery was early in November. He’s supposed to be fully recovered by now, but we all know how wrist injuries seem to sap power for long periods.

Either way, it should be easy to take a bit of a wait and see approach - he won’t be on very many rosters this season, so it would be good to keep an eye on him early and if he starts hitting some dingers it should indicate that everything is fine with him.

by oplaid on Feb 24, 2026 3:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ollie Perez

A return to his 2008 numbers (194 ip; 180 ks; 4.22 era; 1.4 WHIP) would represent a big bounce-back from last season’s contribution. The Mets need Perez to return to this kind of performance if the team plans to compete with the Phils.

by Mizur29 on Feb 24, 2026 10:15 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

I don't buy it

I’m a hopeful Met fan, but I really think Ollie is a tough case for a comeback . There are so many things to go wrong with him - knee injury, loss of arm angle, his temperment. If he can stay calm and consistently throw for strike like in 2007 I’d be thrilled, but I have lost hope for him.

I’d actually say that John Main could make a nice comeback from his injury . If he’s completely healthy, we could see a high 3, low 4 era and 15 wins.

by napes22 on Feb 24, 2026 1:14 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ollie is

5% chance of brililance, 40% chance of below averagish and 55% chance of DFA.

by RollingWave on Feb 26, 2026 6:43 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Shawn Marcum, Tim Hudson

I think both could have good seasons…

by Dfarth on Feb 24, 2026 10:52 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

Marcum scares the hell out of me with his bad mechanics and high 80's velocity

I doubt either one can stay healthy or pitch a full season of innings. Plus, Toronto’s defense is going to be abysmal - which won’t help Marcum.

by alskor on Feb 24, 2026 11:37 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think Hudson has peaked

He’s at the tail end of his career. A full rebound might be difficulty, but I could easily see him having a decent season. Just nowhere near what he used to produce.

by napes22 on Feb 24, 2026 1:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I don't

He was great during his brief return last year (62% GB rate; 3.47xFIP) and I full expect him to pitch like he has for his entire career. I wouldn’t classify him as a bounce back guy though because he’s never been anything but consistently good.

by jar75 on Feb 24, 2026 1:19 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I think the Jays should move McGowan to the bullpen immediately (if they haven't already)

They might actually get some useful innings out of him that way. I just can’t see anybody with his injury history lasting a single season in the rotation.

by jibs on Feb 24, 2026 12:47 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Jake Westbrook?

He’s suposedly finally healthy. He’s had a long break from Tommy John and might be another year away; but he’s a good guy to count on for a rebound.

by napes22 on Feb 24, 2026 1:16 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Bonderman

has he ever really been a “dominant” pitcher? I like Bedard If/When healthy over these other guys. He’ll be pitching behind Lee and Felix in the three spot. Gotta love pitching in SEA and w/ a very solid D . . . main question is when will he be healthy. . .

I’ve always had issues w/ Ervin Santana, more of a focus thing than a stuff thing, but he should bounce back, he’ll probably be pitching out of the four or five spot for the Halos.

It will be interesting to see what Rich Hill can do under Duncan’s instruction, wonder if he can figure it out. . . same w/ Penny to an extent, he was much better in the NL

by SoCalSoxFan on Feb 24, 2026 1:27 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I think Bonderman has generally been overrated

He’s a lot like Chad Gaudin, and that’s not a high compliment.

I like Cindi. A. She never pretends to know more than she does. B. She has unbridled enthusiasm for her "Hotties," and isn't afraid to show it. -IM4Oakgal

by Nico on Feb 27, 2026 9:38 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

question on CFers

last year, i drafted Rick Ankiel, Elijah Dukes and Chris Young to fill my two CF slots on my fantasy team. all of them busted harder than you can imagine.

does anyone foresee any of these three bouncing back? (going by REAL stats, not fantasy stats.)

by bleedjaxblue on Feb 24, 2026 1:36 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I like Ankiel to bounce back

He was battling injuries all of last year. He is finally healthy, and was actually a rare good pickup by KC. He will never post a high OBP, but shoudl hit for good power.

I keep thinking Dukes will break out, but he never actually does. I am about ready to give up. I have no idea what to think of CY. He looked like he lost his confidence at the plate last year, which is both scary and promising at the same time. As long as he regains his confidence, he should be fine. That is far beyond a certainty though.

by guru4u on Feb 24, 2026 1:58 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I agree with Dukes

I think he can be a nasty major league if he gets his confidence back and stays out of trouble.

by napes22 on Feb 24, 2026 2:04 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

+1 Dukes

baseball rules.

by doublestix on Feb 24, 2026 4:05 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Dukin' Dukes nuttin; but a wet dream

Elijah hasn’t been able to keep his anger in check nor his trouser snake in his pants. He’s a heck of an athlete who will never get a peak at his real potential because of it.

Baseball isn’t his game. He should go pro in the NFL. He’s got linebacker written all over him

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by jammerjoe on Feb 26, 2026 3:25 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

wow, dude

just wow.

i’ll just leave it at that because you’re either a troll or genuinely oblivious to yourself. and i don’t really want to get into it either way.

by bleedjaxblue on Feb 26, 2026 3:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Chris Young

I’m more inclined to believe that Chris Young is going to bounce back than the other two. He’s still only 26 and he posted a pretty solid .278/.355/.546 after Sept 1st, with 8 homeruns in 108 at bats. I don’t think he’ll be able to manage that type of pace all season, but I don’t think .250/.320/.480 is unrealistic for a player with his skill set. Whether or not it’ll happen is another story entirely. I’m a huge fan, and I’ve all but lost my hope for him entirely, but I still like him better than the other two.

by ajake57 on Feb 24, 2026 9:47 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Mike Pelfrey?

He wasn’t injured, but his 2009 was just plain terrible, especially considering how good he was in the 2nd half of 2008. I personally think that 2008 was a significant drain on him jumping from 72 innings in 2007 to 200 in 2008. I think he can reproduce the stats from the 2nd half of 2008.

I personally think his success depends on limiting his walks.

by napes22 on Feb 24, 2026 2:03 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

He was not terrible

xFIP: 4.52
tERA: 4.56

He was hurt by luck and defense to some extent… I think league average or about there is about how good he is, maybe a little better.

by alskor on Feb 24, 2026 2:15 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Joey devine

I’m interested to see how he does off tj surgery. Great stuff, but injuries. They can take it slow since bailey, wuertz,and ziegler will be slotted ahead of him in the bullpen. Devine might even have to compete with former top prospect Jon Meloan for some innings too.

by Asfan4ever723 on Feb 24, 2026 7:49 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Gosh, Meloan was messed up by the Dodgers

He looked like an amazing reliever, until they moved him to the rotation…

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by cwhitman412 on Feb 24, 2026 8:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs