Don't stick a fork in Conteras

There are certain things you swear you'd never type.

On top of the list is the admittedly shaky advise to pick up White Sox SP Jose Contreras.

(Pause for laughter of obligatory how-old-is-he-really joke).

I think the over/under is 40, although the birth certificate says Contreras is 36. This year he's pitching like he's 26 again as the forkball is snapping and Gary Matthews Jr.'s knees are buckling.

Thursday night in Anaheim, Contreras allowed just 1 run, 4 hits and 3 BB, improving to 4-2 on the season. His numbers of 3.35 ERA and 1.19 WHIP are hardly believable.

You keep waiting for the bottom to drop out, but the only thing falling that fast is Contreras' split-finger.

Don't confuse Contreras' out pitch to Chien-Ming Wang's but when he's on, it's a pretty close facsimile. The question with any forkballer is how often it's forking.

In eight outings, Contreras has given up four runs and one run, four times each.

At this rate, you can count on a mid-3 ERA on a team with a rock solid back end of the bullpen (Dotel, Linebrink, Jenks) and an above average offense.

Fifteen wins this season seems reasonable but Contreras will kill you in a 5x5 as you'll be lucky to squeeze 120 Ks out of that lumbering right arm.

But in all 4x4 or shallow 5x5 leagues, this pitcher should be owned.

Yes, that's right, I said this pitcher. I can't get myself to type it twice on one blog entry.