August 16, 2010

• Jeremy Hellickson was once again outstanding, allowing a single earned run and only four baserunners in six innings. However, Rays management is being insistent that his rotation spot is only temporary until Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis get back. It’s possible the team moves Hellickson to relief or back to the minors, although in a tight pennant race, pressure will be mounting to keep Hell Boy in the role he’s so far shown he’s earned. He’s not replacing Wally Pipp, but the team should do what is smart.
• Nelson Cruz has been very good when healthy this season, but unforturtunately his bouts with tendon and ligament issues seems to persist. He’s now day-to-day with a hamstring strain and will be a likely injury-prone risk for the rest of the season.
• Rockies pitcher Jhoulys Chacin will be called up to make a start tomorrow, replacing Jeff Francis in the rotation after the latter was placed on the 15-day DL. In a stint earlier in the season, Chacin showed he’s MLB-ready. Striking out more than a batter-per-inning and inducing a lot of ground balls, Chacin pitched above his 4.05 ERA. A good pick-up in deeper leagues and an excellent keeper.
• The 2B position will receive a huge boost this week when Chase Utley returns, then Dustin Pedroia, and then Martin Prado. We bet this will make a player like Neil Walker a big drop this week through no fault of his own.
• This hasn’t been a good year for Adam Lind, but the Blue Jay has been known to be a little streaky, and he’s now 12-of-his-last-24. Lind has 17 HRs on the year. We’ve seen him on waivers in many shallow leagues and he’s certainly worthy of another shot.

August 15, 2010:

• Alex Rodriguez is in the midst of a season that causes one to wonder whether he’s finally hit the downswing of his career, but yesterday was a bit of a throwback for him with three home runs. This raises his total on the season to 21, which makes him on pace to slug 29. That would be the lowest mark for him since 1997. Of course, it’s not out of the realm that the 3 HRs could be the start of a stretch that might lead some fantasy owners to the promised land.
• Bud Norris had 14 strikeouts yesterday, and although those whiffs came against the Pirates, the young Astros pitcher currently enjoys one of the best strikeout rates in the majors, with 108 strikeouts in under 100 innings. His ERA for the season isn’t pretty (5.42) nor is his WHIP (1.5), the function of both poor luck, bad control, and inexperience. But any fantasy team hurting for strikeouts down the stretch could take a shot on Norris as he’s sure to rack up strikeouts and has a fairly easy schedule.
• What got into catchers yesterday?  Miguel Montero had 2 HRs. Josh Bard went 4-for-5 with a HR. Kelly Shoppach had 2 HRs. Jorge Posada had a steal. Joe Mauer was Joe Mauer. And last and not least, the completely-unowned Bobby Wilson had 2 HRs.
• As expected/feared, Jacoby Ellsbury is going back on the DL. We think that Ellsbury’s injuries this year punctuates our Theory of Diversity. A team drafting Ellsbury this season may have expected to do quite well in steals with Ellsbury alone and thus downplayed the need to draft other players with speed. Meanwhile, a team that drafts a few players with 15-25 SB speeed may find their team more resilient in the face of a single injury. It’s much easier to replace a handful of steals. Finding Ellsbury’s speed production on the waivers or via trade is nearly impossible.
• Best prop bet of the day: Who performs better – Stephen Strasburg against the Diamondbacks or Jeremy Hellickson against the Orioles?

August 14, 2010:

• It seems almost a blink of an eye ago when Jonathan Broxton was hands-down the best closer in baseball, the guy you could count upon not to lose his job. Guess what? Yup. Broxton’s been bad since the All Star Break, giving up nine earned runs, eleven walks, and only striking out five in nine innings. Could be a dead arm or an injury, but it is a small sample set. Indications are that he might regain the role later, but at the moment, the job seems to beHong Chih-Kuo’s, who has been lights-out this year. However, thanks to his medical history, he’ll have trouble doing back-to-back’s with regularity, soOctavio Dotel and Kenley Jansen will also step up. This is actually a pretty deep pen.

• Jacoby Ellsbury is feeling pain again in his left side. Sounds vague, but for a guy who missed several months with vague conditions, it’s not something that’s welcome to hear. (Unless you’re a Bill Hall owner waiting for the return of Dustin Pedroia.) More news should be forthcoming.

• There are also indications that  Bobby Jenks could be placed on DL. If you’re in a league with a competitive saves category — even if you yourself don’t need saves (check if your competitors do), may be time to jump on JJ Putz. We’d give him the edge slightly over Matt Thornton.

• After going 3-for-4 yesterday, Ian Desmond is hitting .300 since the All Star Break. Rather sneakily, he has put together a good rookie season, on pace for 12 HRs and 16 SBs, which as a shortstop is going to translate to  almost universal ownership at the beginning of next season. He’s owned in less than a third of leagues at the moment. On the other hand, consider that Yunel Escobar went in the 12th round of an average draft coming into this season.

• Four hits in five at-bats including a HR, a stolen base, and four runs solidified Josh Hamilton’s place atop the player rater as the best producing fantasy player this season. Speaking of next year’s drafts, where the hell is Hamilton going to go next season? He had a tremendous year in 2008, was a big bust in 2009, and is now special again this season. He’s still an injury risk and a relapse away from being disappointing. Definitely going to be very volatile.

Saturday Special:

Five players singing hallelujahs on the player rater these past two weeks: Carlos Gonzalez, Chris Johnson, Albert Pujols, Daniel Hudson, and Pat Burrell.

Five players cursing the devil on the player rater these past two weeks: Josh Johnson, Ervin Santana, Javier Vazquez, Ben Zobrist, James Shields

August 13, 2010:

• While Johan Santana seems to be a shell of his former strikeout machine self, he has still managed to put up a more than respectable season.  Last night he added a 10 K shutout against the Colorado Rockies.  Can you really complain that much about Johan’s 2.90 ERA.  He’s on pace to throw more innings than he has his entire career, which makes that low ERA all the more valuable.

• Will the real Ricky Nolasco please stand up.  Nolasco has been a sabermetric enigma for almost 2 years now.  With a solid WHIP and low walk totals to go with solid strikeout numbers, the word on Nolasco was that he’s just been unlucky.  How much of that is really luck is another question, but he’s about as easy to predict as dumb luck.  Last night Nolasco shut down the Washington Nationals with 8 K’s in 6 IP.  But last time out?  He gave up 7 to the Cardinals in only 5 IP.  We don’t really know what he’ll do next, but his significantly improved strikeout numbers (9.8K/9) over the past 7 give us a good indicator of him coming around.

• Anyone who drafted Pablo Sandoval this year has been disappointed.  Despite hitting in a better lineup than he had last year, he hasn’t been able to get on track and any power he showed in 2009 has all but disappeared.  However, last night Kung Fu Panda managed to knock one over the fences.  With a 2-4 night, he has 7 hits in his last 3 games.  While he may not be the 2009 version, it seems likely that he’s at least better than what he’s shown thus far this season.  Maybe he’s ready to show it down the stretch?

• Jonathan Broxton had another blow up last night thanks to the Phillies lineup and the scorching hot Carlos Ruiz.  Ruiz is an empty average hitter, but can be useful in fantasy as a backup.  We’re not sure what’s up with Broxton, but his ERA has risen from 0.83 to 3.50 since June 26.  He could just be running into some bad luck, but for a guy that was supposed to dominate the closer position in fantasy, this is unacceptable.

• Who is Jeanmar Gomez?  He’s an Indians pitching prospect who is currently undefeated in the Major Leagues.  Gomez had a solid season in the minors in 2009, but nothing to get excited about.  His 2010 minor league ERA at AAA?  A dismal 5.19.  Gomez doesn’t seem to have much going for him either, as his K-rate has never eclipsed 9K/9 at any stop in the minors.  He might be an option for extremely deep leagues right now, but not much else.  Be careful of guys like this.  Not everyone can be Randy Wells of 2009.

August 12, 2010:

• Matt Kemp is in Joe Torre’s doghouse. On Sunday against the Nationals, Kemp wore the golden sombrero, striking out four times. Since then, he’s managed only two pinch-hit ABs. This isn’t the season that Kemp owners were expecting when making him a top selection.  Kemp teases 40/40 potential, but this year, he’s not even a top 25 OF on ESPN’s player rater. His strikeout rate has climbed from 23% last season to nearly 28% this year and he hasn’t solved right-handed pitchers yet. Sell low? In the name of some stability, some owners might consider it.

• Joe Mauer is considered a bust by many people too, largely on the basis of his disappointing total of just 7 HRs. We don’t consider him a bust. Besides being the top catcher on ESPN’s player rater by a good couple of yards, he’s done pretty much we expected in the preseason to justify a lofty price tag. Namely, he’s a run-scoring machine. Currently, he enjoys an 18-run advantage over the next best run-scoring catcher (Brian McCann). As we said in the preseason, he’s to runs what Carl Crawford is to steals. In almost every league we’ve seen, the team owning Mauer is in great shape in the runs category. And oh yeah, he’s batting .438 since the All Star Break.

• After getting called up, top prospect Michael Stanton got off to a sluggish start and disappeared from radar hype. A 5-for-5 day yesterday begs for some attention. You got it, Mike. The Marlins outfielder is living up to his hype as potentially one of the best power hitters in the game with an average that may be slightly wanting. His 25% HR/FB rate is only behind Joey Votto. And 11 HR in 189 AB translates to…um…30-40 HRs next year?

• Two pitchers yesterday solidified their cases for NL and AL Cy Young Award, respectively. Adam Wainwright notched his 17th win, brought his ERA under 2 and his WHIP under 1. And Jered Weaver added 11 strikeouts to his MLB-league leading total of 182 in a no-decision against the Royals. How impressive is Weaver’s strikeouts this year? He’s not only the leader, but his lead is large enough that he could probably sit out his next two starts and still be in the lead.

• Shane Victorino wants back in on the NL East pennant race. He was a double shy of a cycle in a rehab game in Triple-A last night. He should be activated soon. That probably spells a return ticket to the minors for Domonic Brown, at least until rosters expand at the end of the month. Brown has held his own, but the Phillies will want to give him as much PT as possible. For those wondering, Raul Ibanez has a 1.080 OPS since the All-Star Break.

August 11

• While the Rays managed to keep Jeremy Hellickson under wraps through July, the cat is now out of the bag after last night’s 7 inning, 7 strikeout, 0.00 ERA, 0.43 WHIP performance. It will be really, really hard to send him back to AAA now. The DL stints for Jeff Niemann and Wade Davis will give him a bit more time to mark his territory in the Tampa rotation, but we think he’s proved his worth. Let’s enjoy what we hope will be a great career for Hellickson.

• Speaking of young SP: in what may soon become a very annoying trend, a couple promising young starters are having their arms saved this week. Brandon Morrow, fresh off his 17 strikeout demolition of the Rays, and Mike Minor, who made a promising debut against the Rays, will not start at all this week. Those in weekly leagues should monitor the status of your young starters closely.

• Is Koji Uehara next on the Orioles’ closer merry-go-round? He might be the best pitcher in the Baltimore bullpen right now. In fact, since the All-Star break he’s posted 13 strikeouts, 1 walk, 7 hits allowed and 1 earned run allowed in 11 2/3 innings. Uehara posted nice rate stats as a starter in 2009, so his success in a less-difficult role isn’t too surprising. Pick him up in any deeper leagues.

• Injury news: Ian Kinsler may not return to the lineup until September…Rafael Furcal landed on the DL with a back strain…Jason Heyward was scratched from the lineup Tuesday, but his knee soreness does not appears serious…teammate Chipper Jones appears to have a more serious knee injury, and his status going forward is uncertain…Ryan Braun is day-to-day with a wrist injury.

• Carlos Ruiz presents a good example of someone who is much more valuable in real baseball than fantasy baseball. According to Fangraphs, he posted a 2.2 WAR in just 379 PA in 2009, and he’s followed up with a 2.3 WAR in 277 PA in 2010 (so far). These are very good numbers – in fact, by WAR he’s been the 6th most valuable catcher in baseball this year, based largely on his high batting average and propensity to draw walks. However, he’s rated 17th among catchers on the 2010 ESPN player rater. What explains the discrepancy? Ruiz’s walks matter zilch in a 5×5 fantasy format, and his lack of PAs, low spot in the batting order, moderate power and lack of speed means he is a one-category player – batting average. Are these sort of discrepancies a problem for fantasy baseball, which has utilized the same traditional categories since the 1980s?

August 10, 2010:

• Jim Edmonds was traded to the Reds yesterday and immediately started in center field, further muddying the playing time situation with Chris Heiseyand Drew Stubbs, who were already in something of a timeshare.  As Eric Karabell noted over at ESPN, the greatest beneficiary might be new Brewers centerfielder Lorenzo Cain, who batted .317 with 26 SB between AA and AAA so far this year.  Incidentally, Cain went 2 for 4 with 2 runs last night, batting out of the sixth spot in the lineup.
• Jacoby Ellsbury rewarded owners who stuck by him through his long rib injury by stealing 4 bases yesterday, all of them off Jorge Posada.  While we are excited to see Ellsbury get his wheels back, the real story might be Posada’s in ability to hold baserunners right now–something other teams might look to exploit.
• A day after Trevor Hoffman recorded his first save since May 7, John Axford blew the save last night against the Diamondbacks…and then Hoffman blew the game.  The Milwaukee bullpen could be a full committee situation from hereon out, so plan accordingly.
• Geovany Soto joined the slew of catchers on the DL (Santana, Martin, Buck, Barajas) due to a sprained right shoulder that had been giving him trouble.  Going into Monday, the Cubs expected him to start, so hopefully this is just a minimum 15-day appearance.  As short-term fill-ins, look to Carlos Ruiz, Ramon Hernandez, or Chris Snyder, all of which have been hot lately.
• Injuries and Leave: Both Ryan Braun and Corey Hart missed Monday’s game with a sore wrist and back, respectively and are day-to-day.  As alluded to yesterday, Jeff Niemann AND Wade Davis hit the DL, opening up a start today for rookie Jeremy Hellickson.  Mark Teixeira and Derrek Lee will miss the next three days and possibly more to be with newborn or sick relatives.

August 9, 2010

• It’s likely that Brandon Morrow turned in the best fantasy performance of the 2010 season yesterday with 17 strikeouts and a near-no-hitter against the Rays. For the season, Morrow has an incredible 10.67 K/9 and a 3.69 xFIP. His ERA is a more ugly 4.45. His strikeouts alone qualify him for universal ownership in fantasy leagues, although keep in mind that the Jays have one of the more difficult team schedules down the stretch, with quite a few match-ups against the Yankees, Red Sox, and Rangers. And be mindful of yesterday’s big pitch count as well.

• The award for luckiest season goes to Jason Vargas of the Seattle Mariners. We keep waiting for him to fall apart with his 4.74 xFIP, but he’s taken advantage of a friendly ballpark and good defense to post a 3.12 ERA and 1.2 WHIP this season, good enough to be a top 40 starting pitcher, according to ESPN’s player rater. He’s got 17 quality starts in 22 appearances this season.

• With six home runs since the All Star Break, Bill Hall has as many as Jason Heyward, Jay Bruce, Jason Bay, Corey Hart, Carlos Lee, and Josh Hamilton combined in that time frame. Those in desperate need of power at middle or corner infield could do worse than Hall.

• The return of Jeremy Hellickson? The Rays sent both Wade Davis and Jeff Niemann to get their respective shoulders examined, which makes it likely that at least one will have to go on the DL. Because Hellickson was just sent to the minors last week after a superb performance in his debut, the Rays have to wait a few days before calling him up again. Hellickson could get a start or more soon, and this time, he could be up for good, either in the rotation or as a reliever.

• The Oakland Athletics will call up top prospect Chris Carter to the majors to replace the injured Daric Barton. Like many young players, Carter projects to contribute some great power and wanting batting average in his early MLB career. Eventually, a few years down the line, Carter could be a mainstay in fantasy leagues. He should be already owned in most keeper leagues. We don’t expect much impact from Carter this season, except if he gets off to a quick start and becomes fodder for trades in keeper leagues.

August 8, 2010

• J.P. Arencibia has a very memorable first game in the majors, contributing two of Toronto’s eight HRs yesterday. As we covered last week, Arencibia harnesses massive power potential but also a propensity to strike out. Arencibia’s eye-catching debut comes right before many fantasy leagues make weekly lineup adjustments and just as a few notable catchers (including Geovany Soto) have been hit with the injury bug. Good timing. His ownership percentage in CBS Sports leagues has already jumped from 10 to 50 percent in the course of the last 24 hours.

• James Shields took the brunt of Toronto’s HR parade yesterday. Frankly, we’re surprised to see his ownership percentage stay steady after yesterday’s carnage. His ERA sits near 5 on the season and yet, he has a spectacular 135 K-to-36 BB ratio this year. Shields has always been prone to giving up too many HRs in his career, although this year he’s been victimized by an unlucky HR/FB rate. Unfortunately, these are the lumps that Shields owners are going to have to take. His schedule doesn’t get much easier this season.

• Chris B. Young is now one HR away from a 20-20 season. He hit two bombs yesterday, including a walk-off in the ninth. Young got off to a good start this season, before slumping in May with a .238 average. No doubt, quite a few of his owners had doubts. But Young has been coming around again with power, speed, and a little plate patience. Best indicators of sustained production are an improving strikeout rate and a phenomenal success rate stealing bases.

• Rajai Davis is hitting .339 and has seven steals since the All-Star Break. He certainly hasn’t been steady and consistent this season, but when you look at his base stats, you see a reasonable .281 average with 5 HR and 34 steals. Fantasy owners contemplating a move in the steals category surely will have to consider Davis as a big trade target.

• Jake Westbrook is definitely taking to the National League and pitching for coach Dave Duncan. In two starts since being traded to the Cardinals, he has a pair of quality starts plus 16 strikeouts to just one walk. Westbrook has always induced a lot of groundballs, so if he’s going to whiff more batters in the easier league, this could be a recipe for nice fantasy production. Owned in less than half of leagues, Westbrook has an opportunity to be one of the better pitchers down the stretch.

August 7, 2010:

• We have to make an admission: We weren’t too high on Carlos Gonzalez coming into the season. A player who strikes out about 25% of the time, hardly ever takes a walk, and competes in a crowded Colorado outfield with a couple other good youngsters isn’t our thing. However, there’s no denying that Car-Go is having one helluva season with 24 HR, 16 SB, and a .320 average. In some ways, he’s having the type of season many hoped from Matt Kemp. The Rockies outfielder will surely be a top 3-round pick—maybe higher— heading into 2011, and once again, we’ll be betting against him. Yeah, sad, but he’s got the fifth highest BABIP on the y ear among batters, and there seems to be a rather strong likelihood that like Kemp, he could take a step back.

• Ryan Kalish is one good prospect who has gone a little under-the-radar since being called up a week ago. The Red Sox outfielder enjoyed a very nice season in the minors before getting the call, including a .294 average, 13 HR, and 25 SB. Kalish hit his first major league HR against the Yankees last night and is holding his own with 9 hits in 21 at-bats. He’s only 22 years old. Someone to keep an eye on.

• The market for Carlos Delgado’s services seems to be heating up. He’s worked out for both the White Sox and the Red Sox, the latter team looking for a replacement for Kevin Youkilis. No word on whether the Rays would try him out to fill the shoes of Carlos Pena, who  just went on the DL with a foot injury. Delgado is a flier at best at this point in his career, but those looking for cheap power in deep leagues might be interested.

• Jon Jay has been one of the hottest names being scouted in fantasy leagues over the past week, at least since the Cardinals traded away Ryan Ludwickand opened up some outfield room for a guy who is hitting .375 in 128 at-bats. Jay has always been a pretty good hitter, but with limited power and speed. Right now, he’s been the beneficiary of an unsustainable .425 BABIP. Jay will have some value with a good average, runs, and RBIs, but a lack of statistical upside and still-inconsistent playing time will likely have him bouncing around fantasy rosters for some time to come.

• Matt Garza had a nice start yesterday, shutting out the Blue Jays in an eight-inning effort. This season has been maddening for Garza owners. At times, Garza pitcher teases enormous potential. He has has struck out 7 or more batters on five separate occasions this year. At times, he’s a disaster. He has allowed at least as many earned runs as innings pitched on five separate occasions too. We have a feeling he has some brand value, but truth is that his strikeout rate has slipped from 8.38 Ks-per-9 last season to 6.89 Ks-per-9 this season. It’s hard to trust him.

Saturday special:

Five players on the stairway to player rater heaven these past two weeks: Jose Bautista, Chris Johnson, Raul Ibanez, Carlos Gonzalez, Carlos Ruiz

Five players on the highway to player rater hell these past two weeks: Josh Johnson, Drew Stubbs, Zach Greinke, Jose Valverde, Troy Glaus

August 6, 2010:

• Ryan Zimmerman managed 2 HR in a game against the Diamondbacks last night, but it wasn’t enough as Kelly Johnson and Adam LaRochecontinued their recent hot hitting ways.  Zimmerman seems to be putting up the numbers you want from his draft position, but is a little light in the RBI category.  While we don’t necessarily believe in the huge second half splits, LaRoche seems to again be looking like an exception.  Then again, it could just be confirmation bias.

• In his first start for the Pittsburgh Pirates, former Dodgers prospect James McDonald threw a gem against the Colorado Rockies going 6 IP with 8 K’s and no earned runs.  McDonald has been pushed up and down from MLB to AAA and from the bullpen to the rotation and back again.  It seems like he’ll get a chance to start for the Pirates.  He won’t get much run support, but he could be serviceable down the stretch in deeper leagues.  He likely doesn’t have a terribly high ceiling, but his fastball does have the potential to sit in the mid-90’s and get you some cheap strikeouts.

• Miguel Olivo has looked awful lately.  After a ridiculous start to the season, Miguel has certainly slowed down a bit, as his batting average has dipped 28 points since July 16th.  He still has that raw power, but his luck seems to have run out a bit on the base hits.  If he continues to hit HR, he’ll still be helpful.  And who can complain about a catcher not named Joe Mauer hitting .297.

• Michael Brantley will be recalled today to play outfield for the Indians again.  Brantley can get you some extra steals if you’re hurting in that category, but don’t expect much else.  He’s more of a long-term prospect type.  His .317 BA in AAA this year is promising and he shows good plate discipline numbers at all levels (including 10 BB to 13 K’s thus far in MLB this year).  If you’re in a keeper league, he shouldn’t be available.  But if he is, he should be on your team.

• It has now officially been reported that Stephen Strasburg will make a scheduled start on Tuesday.  That’s good news for Strasburg owners who waited all year for his production only to see their hopes of him contributing down the stretch almost go in the toilet.  It is surprising that the Nationals chose not to shut him down, but it seems like his ‘injury’ was really nothing at all.  Be ready to stick him in your lineup on Tuesday if you are lucky enough to have the uber-prospect rostered.

August 5, 2010:

• Toronto catcher J.P. Arencibia is the latest prospect to make his way to the majors, courtesy of a thumb injury to John Buck. Want power at the catcher position? Arencibia offers some hope, slugging a breathtaking 31 HRs in Triple-A this season. The big question is plate discipline. In the minors, Arencibia whiffed a lot. Just wait until he sees AL East pitching. Is his HR-potential worth the AVG drag? Your team…you make the call.

• Atlanta starter Mike Minor may be the next prospect to make it up, courtesy of an elbow injury to Kris Medlen. If there’s a pitching version of Arencibia, Minor is the guy. He brings some showy minor league stats to the table — 144 strikeouts in 118.2 innings this season in both Double-A and Triple-A. Minor’s stock has gone way up this season, the result of reported increased velocity on his fastball. Ignore the preseason rankings. He’s at least a top 50 prospect at the moment and can contribute to fantasy rosters in the stretch run.

• Unfortunately, the Dodgers have no top prospect to take the catching mask from Russell Martin, who may be done for the season with a torn labrum. Martin hasn’t been particularly great this season, but he’s been good enough to be almost universally owned before his injury. Fortunately, the catching position has gotten a bit deeper this year with the emergence of Buster Posey, Carlos Santana, Miguel Olivo, and John Buck. Bet a lot of Martin owners will be picking up Arencibia soon.

• Vincente Padilla continues to go nuts, striking out nine Padres in a nine-inning shutout last night. For the season, Padilla has a 3.09 ERA, a 0.97 WHIP, and a supremely impressive 75 strikeouts to 19 walks. He’s still owned in less than half of leagues. He should be owned in ALL leagues.

• Jacoby Ellsbury finally returned after a three-month vacation to the Bahamas. Or at least that’s what we’ve been told. He went 0-for-5 and still trailsKevin Youkilis in steals this season. Youkilis is now out, so Ellsbury has got two months to catch Youk.

August 4, 2010:

• BoSox Slugger Youkilis Out for Season? - Kevin Youkilis went on the 15-day DL Tuesday with an injured thumb. There’s no time table for recovery; however, GM Theo Epstein acknowledged that surgery on the thumb would end the season for Youk. The good news for keeper owners is that he should make a full recovery. Meanwhile, fantasy zombie Mike Lowell appears to have risen from the grave. After being left to rot away on the bench early in the season, and going on the DL for over 2 months, Lowell now has a starting role. He responded tremendously by hitting a HR on his first pitch in his first bat in Tuesday’s game.

• Santana Slated for Surgery, Too? - Carlos Santana, a rock star among rookies, headed to the DL with a hyperextended left knee. Like Youkilis, he will be out an extended period of time, and surgery is possible. Here’s where it gets weird: Lou Marson replaced Santana in Tuesday’s lineup and he homered on the first pitch he saw. Moral of the story: anything can happen in fantasy baseball – even Lou Marson homering off Josh Beckett.

• Bourjos Bounces Hunter from CF? – In what appears to be a permanent move, AAA call-up Peter Bourjos started in CF for the Angels on Tuesday, with Torii Hunter shifting to RF. Is Bourjos worthy of this star treatment? While the Angels appear to love him, Bourjos has two factors working against him: he put up mediocre plate discipline statistics for a 23 year old blue-chipper in AAA (24 BB / 78 K) and he played in a notorious hitters’ park (although his home-road split was minuscule). But as a cheap source of steals and perhaps a bit of power, you could do worse than take a flier on him.

• Nationals Ink Cuban Star - Yunesky Maya appears to be a name you’ll want to be familiar with come Draft Day 2011. Maya, 28, is coming off a season where he was the best pitcher in Cuba’s major league. He appears to be on the fast track to MLB, similar to an Orlando Hernandez. Keep an eye on him, and if you’re in a keeper league he may be worth snatching up now.

• Corner ‘Stros – What the #%^@% is going on with the Houston Astros? After Tuesday’s 18-4 beatdown of breakout SPJaime Garcia, the Astros have now won 7 in a row, outscoring the opposition 57-12 during that span. Tuesday’s lineup featured a total of two players who have 1) been in MLB most of the season and 2) hit like they belong there (Hunter Penceand Jeff Keppinger). The rest of the lineup was an assortment of rookies, minor league veterans and underachievers. Outside of the two mentioned above, rookies 3B Chris Johnson and 1B Brett Wallace appear to be the most interesting story lines going forward. Johnson has mashed this year, but does not have a great minor league track record; Wallace does have great minors statistics, but has yet to get a chance at the major league level until now.

August 3

• Travis Wood was the latest guy to shut down the Pirates, and notched his second win of the season.  Though his current 2.42 ERA and 0.87 WHIP look great right now, keep in mind that an extreme flyball pitcher that calls Great American Ballpark home could have some rough days ahead.
• Sticking with the rookie pitcher theme, uber-prospect Jeremy Hellickson made a successful debut last night, giving up only 3 hits and 2 runs to a strong Minnesota lineup.  While this was simply a spot-start debut and Hellickson will be sent back down soon, the outing does bode well for his future prospects for those in keeper leagues.
• Okay, let’s do sophomores next.  Trevor Cahill, come on down, you’re the next contestant to 3-hit the Royals over 9 shutout innings.  With a 2.72 ERA and as the de facto ace of the A’s, this is a breakout we can believe in.  In checking out our guide to pitcher matchups, you’ll see that Cahill’s relative performance was middle of the road, while Hellickson’s was fairly impressive and Wood’s was downright easy.
• A lot of Brewers put up crooked numbers (5 hits, 5 RBI for Prince Fielder, 3 R, 1 HR, 4 RBI for Casey McGehee) last night against the hapless Cubs but the best night may have belonged to Yovani Gallardo, who pitched 6 innings and struck out 12 in an 18-1 victory.
• Adrian Beltre homered two more times to provide essentially all of the offense for the Sawx last night.  That’s now .336 and 19 dingers for Beltre, who is working his way to the top of the 2010 fantasy MVP list.

August 2, 2010

• Adam LaRoche banged out a pair of HRs yesterday. A sign that LaRoche is just about to break into his classic 2nd half form (career: a 900+ OPS)? We’re not convinced.  LaRoche is a fine, underrated player, but one would be foolish to bet on a hot streak.
• Daniel Hudson had the most impressive day of any player recently traded on Sunday. Against the Mets, he only allowed four baserunners in eight innings. Hudson could have sneaky good value the rest of the way. Arizona’s schedule is kind enough and although Hudson doesn’t have ace potential, his stuff is good enough and he seems poised enough to be an instant contributor.
• James Shields didn’t just strike out 11 batters yesterday; he struck out 11 NY Yankee batters, which as we’ve recently covered, isn’t that easy. Before the game, Shields’ ERA was near 5. Now, it’s 4.5. Seems very ugly, but his xFIP of 3.54 indicates tremendous bad luck this season, especially of late. He gives up a few too many HRs and has a brutally tough schedule, but otherwise, he should be rock solid.
• There were a lot of players banged up this weekend including Ryan Howard, Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Pena, Josh Hamilton, and Joe Mauer. These guys all seem day-to-day.
• The Royals may finally be giving Kila Ka’aihue is much deserved shot. The OPS monster has been called up and is assumed to be getting regular DH at-bats. In the minors, Ka’aihue was patient as the Dali Lama, walking more (102 BBs) than sriking out (85) in 441 at-bats. When Ka’aihue was swinging, he was clearing the fence. Time will tell if he turns into Ryan Shelton (remember him?) or Adam Dunn.

August 1, 2010

Winners from recent trades…

• Ted Lilly…moves from a non-contender in a hitter’s park to a contender in a pitcher’s park
• John Jay…picks up playing time with Ryan Ludwick gone in St. Louis
• Lance Berkman…moves to a contender; much better lineup support; good hitter’s ballpark
• Chris Perez/Evan Meek/Joel Hanrahan/Drew Storen/Tyler Clippard/Juan Guttierez…more saves thanks to respective team trading away established reliever
• Daniel Hudson…move from AL to NL
• Jorge Cantu…move to contending team, better lineup, and hitter’s haven
• Roy Oswalt…move to contender
• Jake Westbrook…move to NL, contender, and Mr. Duncan’s good graces
• Brett Wallace…move means major league arrival is here
• Miguel Montero…no more Chris Snider

Losers from recent trades:

• Ryan Ludwick & Miguel Tejada…move to pitcher’s ballpark
• Jon Rauch…hello, Matt Capps
• Kerry Wood…hello, Mariano Rivera
• Chad Qualls….hello, Rafael Soriano/Joakim Benoit/Dan Wheeler
• Chris Davis…hello, Jorge Cantu
• Austin Kearns….no more regular playing time

Quickly:

• Jeremy Hellickson will be called up by the Rays for a spot start on Monday. He’s very, very, very good, needless to say. Strikes out batters, has awesome command, and several different plus pitches. His performance could determine his future this season. If he has an A+ start, we imagine the Rays could switch to a 6-man rotation to give young starters like Price and Davis an innings break. If he merely has a B+ start, Hellickson could spend some time being groomed in the bullpen. If he doesn’t have a good start, he’ll probably be sent back to the minors. Worth grabbing if you have room just to see what happens next.

July 31:

-As if they needed more hitters, the New York Yankees added Lance Berkman to their roster in a trade with the Astros.  The deal should be finalized today and the players in the deal announced officially.  Being in a Yankee lineup can only help Berkman, who has had a year to forget after missing most of April with an injury.  He’s managed a .395 OBP against righties, but has looked horrendous from the other side of the plate.  It should be interesting to see how the Yankees slot him in the lineup, and AL Only owners will be bidding FAAB like crazy this week.  The Yanks also addedAustin Kearns.

-David Wright seems to be back.  He’s had 3 hits in back to back games to go along with 2 HR last night.  Wright has had a standard David Wright year, but was in a slump just before blasting these HR.  He’s on pace for .300-27-120 with 25 or so stolen bases.  Sometimes he just seems off his game, but that happens to everyone.

-In an interesting move, the Twins demoted Nick Blackburn to Triple-A after making the trade for Matt Capps.  Capps picked up the Save in his first outing with Minnesota, giving some confidence to his fantasy owners.  Jon Rauch owners may not be happy, though.  Blackburn probably wasn’t a factor for your team unless you’re in a very deep league, so it likely won’t change much.  He wasn’t of much use anyway, with about 35 K’s in 105 IP in 2010.  Yuck.

-Carlos Gonzalez is on fire like nobody’s business.  The young Rockies stud hit his 20th HR of the season, and now has a line of .315-20-66 with 14 SB to boot.  He still has problems taking a pitch (only 18 walks this year), but that just hasn’t caught up to him yet.  Who would you rather have in a keeper league: Carlos Gonzalez or Justin Upton?

-In an interesting move, Daniel Hudson was dealt to the Arizona Diamondbacks while the White Sox receivedEdwin Jackson in the deal.  Hudson is a big time pitching prospect, and the Sox seem to be ready to compete this year alone.  Jackson will have to pitch against tougher opponents again in the AL, but will have a better bullpen to keep any leads he does leave the game with.  The fantasy implications seem minimal unless you are an NL Only league player, in which case picking up Hudson may be a good idea if you lost Edwin.  This is especially true in keeper leagues.

Injury News: Jason Bay was placed on the DL with a minor concussion, while Rich Harden is scheduled to return and start for the Rangers today.

July 30:

• R.A. Dickey for Cy Young?  Okay, just kidding.  But the journeyman knuckleballer shut down the St. Louis Cardinals last night through 8 1/3 IP to lower his ERA to 2.32!  We’re not sure how he’s doing it, but Dickey seems to have mastered the art of knuckleball pitching…finally.  He’s got a great walk rate, which is interesting considering no one knows where that pitch will dance to.  His BABIP doesn’t leave us too concerned about luck at .283, as we might expect plenty of weak grounders from a knuckler.  While this could rise slightly, his LOB% is pretty high at 79.2%.  Still, it seems like he’ll continue to be at the very least a serviceable pitcher for your fantasy team in a number of leagues.

• After the comments in yesterday’s Quick Hits, we figured we would at least give Raul Ibanez a mention.  He hit his 9th HR last night and is actually on pace to post a career high in walks.  He’s batting .333 in July with 3 HR and 13 RBI.  Not bad, but given his splits against lefties the best Ibanez owners can hope for is splitting time in a platoon once Shane Victorino returns.  It’s either that or look for Domonic Brown to become an instant bust.  The first scenario is more likely.

• Yesterday, the Washington Nationals officially placed Stephen Strasburg on the DL.  This seemed like a likely result after being sore before his previously scheduled start.  It’s not clear where the Nats will go from here, but we wouldn’t be surprised to see Strasburg shut down for the rest of the season.  Jim Bunning essentially called Strasburg and the Nationals a bunch of pansies, publicly exclaiming how tough he was back in the day.  Bunning obviously doesn’t understand the value of a $15+ million investment.

• Pitcher Trades: All kinds of trade news last night.  Matt Capps was sent to the Minnesota Twins for catching prospect Wilson Ramos.  This may not be good for Capps owners depending on the Twins’ closer decision, but Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard owners rejoice!  Finally, the Roy Oswalt to Philadelphia trade is official.  The main pieces were Brett Wallace and JA Happ.  Happ isn’t going to get any support in Houston, and while it may slightly help his numbers to stay out of Philly, his chances of putting up his rookie year numbers again are pretty slim.

• Hitter Trades: Miguel Tejada went to the Padres as they make their surprising run toward the playoffs.  That won’t be good for Tejada’s power numbers that have already been dwindling.  Jorge Cantu was traded from the Marlins to the Rangers, which can only help him given the hitters park and lineup there.  And keep an eye on grumblings of Adam Dunn heading off to the Tampa Bay Rays.

July 29, 2010:

• It looks like Roy Oswalt is heading to Philly, pending his approval of the trade. This should be a plus for his value. He’ll be headed to a more hitter-friendly ballpark, but Oswalt’s GB/FB rate is healthy enough he should survive in Citizen’s Bank. Meanwhile, he’ll be getting a lot more run support.
• No word on exactly what the Astros are getting in return, but rumors circulate on J.A. Happ and prospects. Happ came into this season somewhat overrated, the beneficiary of tremendous luck that aided a 2.93 ERA in his rookie season. His upside is limited, but a move out of Philly might aid his value in the long-run. Just look at Brett Myers. Going forward, Happ will be a spot start this season and a back-end fantasy pitcher in future seasons.
• Domonic Brown had an impressive debut after being called up to replace Shane Victorino. He went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs and a pair of RBIs. We’re always a little skeptical of prospects in their first seasons in the bigs, especially ones who have been rushed up, but there’s good reason for optimism that Brown will be more like Jason Heyward than Mike Stanton. Namely, his plate discipline is fairly good (although not as good as Heyward’s) and has been improving steadily. We’ll peg the over/under at 8 HRs, 3 SBs, and a .274 average.
• No sooner than Victorino said “ouch,” was he earmarked for the injury list to make room for Brown. Pretty shoddy treatment for a guy who is nearly on a 30/30 pace this season. But we find it unlikely that Brown is sent down again, except if he struggles mightily. In a couple weeks time, Victorino will be back. This marks the start of the clock on Raul Ibanez’ time as a starter in Philly. If you own Ibanez, stay ahead of the curve and start hunting for alternatives.
• In more trade news, Scott Podsednik was shipped off to Los Angeles. Why can’t teams plan ahead? The Phillies got rid of Cliff Lee and then had to backtrack for Roy Oswalt. Similarly, the Dodgers got rid of Juan Pierre and now are scrambling for Scotty P. He’ll get some playing time now, but when Manny returns, this may kill his value and make him almost droppable.

July 28, 2010:

• Logan Morrison, pre-season top 20 prospect - #14 among top prospects with an ETA of 2010 -made his MLB debut last night, going 1-4 with a strikeout. Morrison owned AAA pitching this year, with a good batting average, solid power, plenty of walks and a lean strikeout total. He was immediately thrust into the #2 spot in the lineup between Hanley Ramirez and Gaby Sanchez, a good place to be. With Chris Coughlan out 6-8 weeks from a shaving cream pie-related injury, expect him to receive the lion’s share of playing time in LF going forward  If you’re in a keeper league, Morrison should have been snatched up a while ago; if you’re not, Morrison could be a helpful 3rd-5th outfielder or corner infield option, depending on league size.

• Danny Valencia, please tell us how you managed to hit .737 over your past four games? You haven’t even managed a .750 OPS over nearly 500 PA as a 24-25 year old in AAA. Once more, you can’t even control the AAA strike zone, with 22 BB to 71 K. Yet you’ve mysteriously managed to attain a much better 8 BB to 11 K ratio in your brief MLB career, albeit with no power (0.111 ISO). If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were toying with us.

• Stephen Strasburg has been diagnosed with shoulder inflammation after being scratched from last night’s start. Just what fantasy players and baseball fans in general wanted to hear. Hopefully the Nationals continue to be very careful with their prize pitcher.

• Jose Bautista’s HR parade just continues with 2 more HR last night. Let’s talk HR for a minute with HitTracker. No Doubt-ers? Bautista leads MLB. Just enoughs? Bautista is tied for the AL lead. Bat speed? Bautista has 6 of the top 50 HR in 2010 in terms of speed off-the-bat. Just for fun, here’s the leaderboard for # of HR in the top 50 of speed off-the-bat:

1. Jose Bautista 6
2. Mark Reynolds 3
3. Nelson Cruz 2
4. Ike Davis 2
5. Jonny Gomes 2
6. Travis Hafner 2
7. Josh Hamilton 2
8. 31 others with 1

• Opportunities for young NL East players: Josh Thole appears to have a clear path to a full time catching role, at least for the time being, with an injury to Rod Barajas. Meanwhile, could Shane Victorino’s oblique injury, and not a Jayson Werth trade, open the door to playing time for mega prospect Dominic Brown? Stay tuned.

July 27, 2010

• After a Brennan Boesch walk, Ryan Raburn grounded into a double play to end the second inning last night.  Little did anyone know, it would be the last time a Tiger reached base as Matt Garza pitched to the minimum 27 batters, posting the fifth no-hitter of the 2010 season.  He threw 120 pitches total, with 101 fastballs and was a far cry from his last outing, a 7-run implosion vs. the Orioles.
• Dan Haren left his Angels debut last night after taking a Kevin Youkilis line drive off his right (pitching) forearm.  He was able to grab his glove and walk off on his own without looking like he was in much pain. After the game, he said the “meat of the forearm” was sore but nothing to be concerned about. We’ll see.
• The Twins put on BP against Zack Grienke last night, battering him for 8 earned runs over 4 innings en route to a 19-1 shellacking.  Nearly every major Twins hitter (sorry, Jim Thome) got a piece of the action, especiallyJoe Mauer, who went 5/5 with a homerun and 7 RBI.  Francisco Liriano also posted his second straight scoreless outing, striking out 6 over 7 innings.
• Matt Wieters homered twice in his second game since returning from the DL, and walked in his other two plate appearances.  The beginning of a big second half for the sophomore?  Luke Scott also homered in the game to continue his hot streak (3 HR in his last 4) while Jose Bautista added to his league-leading homerun total (28) as well.
• 2010 Homerun Derby Champion David Ortiz must really like Angels Stadium.  After bashing 32 longballs total at the All-Star event, Ortiz knocked two more out in his first return to Anaheim last night.  If the Red Sox aren’t interested in that 2011 team option or contract extension, what about the Angels?

July 26, 2010

• Perhaps you heard that Dan Haren was traded to the Los Angeles Angels for Joe Saunders and a few ok prospects. The deal could benefit Haren owners in the short-term. Haren has a 4.6 ERA on the season and a 3.38 xFIP. Quite a difference. Haren’s problem this season has been serving up HRs. His 1.47 HR/9 rate is currently 12th worst among pitchers with at least 100 IP. Moving from HR-happy Chase Field to Angel Stadium seems to outweigh having to face a DH on a regular basis. At least for this season. Heading into 2011, he may no longer be a top-10 SP.

• How will Haren’s trade effect the potential for a Roy Oswalt trade? On one hand, the market for an ace-caliber SP just got a little more scarce. On the other hand, Houston has reportedly asked for a lot in an Oswalt trade and other teams might note that the Angels gave up very little to acquire Haren. Then, there’s the whole “I want my cake and the ability to eat it too.” Roy Oswalt is demanding a trade, yet only to certain teams and only if they pick up a $16 million option year in his contract. Unless something changes, it’s hard to see an Oswalt deal working out.

• One starting pitcher who gets a drip of trade hype here and there is Kansas City’s Zach Greinke. Imagine what the lowly Royals could get for Greinke and Joakim Soria? Don’t be shocked if Greinke is indeed moved.

• A day after covering Jason Kendall’s two SB game, we now have to talk about Scott Podsednik’s 2 HR game. Let’s take a time travel trip back to 2004, a season where Pods put up 12 HR and 70 SBs. Ah, those were the days. OK, back to reality. Pods may never put up another multi-HR game in his career, but he’s remained fantasy relevant this season with a .300 average and nearly a 50-SB pace.

• Players expected to return from injury this week include Victor Martinez, Troy Tulowitzki, Justin Morneau, and Brett Anderson. Thus, there could be some interesting players being dropped in fantasy leagues to make room for these returning stars.

July 25, 2010:

• The Tigers are really hurting with injuries these days. The latest is that Magglio Ordonez is likely to miss most of the regular season with a fractured ankle and that Carlos Guillen is out with an injured calf. The Tigers are a competitive team, leaving open the possibility this shifts their trading priorities. In the meantime, this clears the way for more playing time to those like Ryan Raburn and Don Kelly.
• Cubs SS Starlin Castro was a popular name at the start of the season, a quick rising prospect at one of the toughest positions to fill in fantasy baseball. However, he trudged along most of this season without being particularly bad, but without being particularly good either. He may be a bit forgotten, but he’s been hot lately, hitting nearly .500 in the last dozen games. He’s added an odd steal and HR here or there, but he’s more the Asdrubal Cabrera type.
• Royals catcher Jason Kendall is having an underrated season. Yesterday, he added two steals to his season-total of nine. He’s also hitting above .300 and contributing some runs, hitting in the second slot of the lineup. Back to those steals…He’s definitely not a burner, as he’s been caught seven times, but he does have eight career seasons of double-digit steals, albeit none since 2006. A number of his swipes this year have also come on the back-end of a Scott Podsednik double-steal.
• If you’re in a keeper league, now is the time to trade Madison Bumgarner. He’s been extremely impressive since call-up, notching his fifth consecutive very good start last night versus the Diamondbacks. He’s got pedigree and a decent numbers this year. However, his mediocre strikeout rate, lack of high velocity, and a lack of games played at the majors still point to a player who may struggle to be more than a back-end option in fantasy leagues and whose perceived future value is probably higher than reality.
• Oakland closer Andrew Bailey is dealing with back spasms. This could open opportunity for saves for Mike Wuertz, who hasn’t shown a great ERA this year (4.71) but still has the best stuff in the A’s pen and has been much better of late.

July 24, 2010:

• Brian Roberts finally returned after an extended absence from abdominal and back injuries. He’s been away so long under uncertain circumstances that many of his owners likely made alternative arrangements or just plain gave up on him. He didn’t do much in his first game back, and we’ll have to see if the injury takes anything away from his game, especially his speed, but Roberts has always been a consistent producer.

• Speaking of players back, Alex Gordon also returned after an extended absence in the minor leagues. If theAlbert Callaspo trade opened up a roster spot for him, the David DeJesus out-for-the-year injury solidifies his playing time going forward. Gordon has people excited again after posting a 1.018 OPS in the minors  but only time will tell if he’s “figured it out” or got a few more hype-and-bust cycles in him.

• In the realm of meaningless stats, nothing tops hitting for a “cycle.” It’s funny that when a player hits for one, he gets more press than had he hit 3 HRs in a single game. Nevertheless, we’ll note Kelly Johnson’s single, double, triple, and HR last night only to note that he is heating up again with a .379 average, 3 HRs, and 3 SB this month. Where will he be playing in August?

• Believe it or not, had things turned out differently for the Dodgers last night, a guy by the name of Kenley Jansen may have been in line to pick up the save for Los Angeles. Jonathan Broxton is nursing an illness.Hong-Chih Kuo doesn’t pitch consecutive days. And so Torre hinted he would throw Jansen, just called up from the minors, to do the job. Who is he? A converted catcher who has nasty stuff in the mid-90s MPH and struck out an astounding 78 batters in 45 minor league innings this year.

• Dan Haren is definitely going to the Cardinals. No, scratch that. He’s certainly going to the Phillies. Hold on. We have it on good authority he’s headed to the Yankees. Them or the Dodgers. You can take it to the bank!

Saturday Special:

Five players who are most up on the player rater escalator these past two weeks: Geovany Soto, Carl Pavano, Brett Myers, Ryan Howard, Buster Posey

Five players who are most down on the player rater escalator these past two weeks: Carlos Silva, Mike Pelfrey, Brian Matusz, David Price, David Wright

July 23:

• Owners of Yovanni Gallardo should be relieved after he looked solid last night striking out 5 Pirates en route to a Win.  It looked like his oblique wasn’t bothering him too much, and he should be a go for the upcoming fantasy crunch time.  If you’re also a Josh Beckett owner, this week is a good one, as Beckett also returns from the DL tonight to pitch against the Mariners.  While the match-up is about as good as it gets, you might want to wait and see what Beckett has got before putting him out there for your fantasy team.  He was healthy, but not particularly sharp in his rehab outings.

• After last night, Prince Fielder is back on pace for 40 HR this season.  He has hit a HR in 4 of the last 6 games.  Unfortunately, the majority of his HR have been solo shots.  Looks like someone is stealing his RBI chances away, and his .263 average still doesn’t put him near the 1st Round territory he was taken preseason.  But he’s definitely heating up and now may be the time to buy.

• Speaking of stealing Prince’s RBI chances, Rickie Weeks has absolutely been on fire lately.  He smacked another HR last night, giving him a .277-19-62 line on the year.  He has batted .364-4-9 since the All-Star break and shows no signs of slowing down.  Weeks looks like he has been one of the top draft day investments thus far, especially with the incredibly weak Middle Infield positions this season.  It looks like he’s finally healthy and putting all that potential to good use.

• Mike Napoli has certainly hit his stride as well with 4 HR and a .417 average since the break.  If the Angels pick up a first baseman, this could cut into Napoli’s playing time, so let’s hope the Rangers continue to run away with the division.  But even with a new 1B, even Mike Scoscia has to admit that Napoli’s home run binge more than makes up for his defense.  Right?

• Good news on the Troy Tulowitzki front: he had his first rehab game last night.  Unfortunately, he went hit-less.  Tulo has stated that he feels good, and he could be back earlier than we had all expected.  You just never know with wrist injuries, but even a limping Tulowitzki would be better than the majority of fill-in options out there.  With his potential, having Tulowitzki give you the leg up could send you for a run at 1st Place in the second half of the season.  Too bad for the Rockies, Carlos Gonzalez seems to be an on-and-off injury worry in addition to Tulowitzki’s absence.

Bonus Trade News: Alberto Callaspo was sent to the Angels.  While it shouldn’t have too much effect, it might mean he scores a few more runs than he had been on the Royals.  The Royals got Sean O’Sullivan and Will Smith.  Both of those guys can be ignored at this point, especially if they’re pitching for the Royals.  The biggest loss here seems to be owners of Brandon Wood…assuming he had anything to offer this season in the first place.

July 22, 2010:

• Since June 18, Matt Holliday has been on an absolute tear with a .369 BA, 12 HRs, and 32 RBIs. In that time, he leads the league in HRs and is obviously seeing the ball quite well, drawing 15 walks to 16 strikeouts in 103 AB. Keep in mind, this is a player who was one of the most valuable in baseball in the 2nd half last season.

• We don’t normally cover players two days in a row, but can’t ignore that Pedro Alvarez followed a 2-HR game on Tuesday with another 2-HR game yesterday. Temper expectations. Right now, with a 38% strikeout rate, a .344 BABIP, and a 23% HR/FB rate, the hyped third-baseman still seems like he has a lot of work to do before delivering consistently.

• Brett Myers is another player we’ve covered again and again here, and after yesterday’s 8-K outing, we’ll do it again. The fact that he’s gone at least six innings in every game this season is simply amazing. His 3.24 ERA and 1.26 WHIP have certainly been the result of a little luck, but still…how is it possible that Myers is only owned in 21% of ESPN leagues currently?

• Bobby Jenks has been suffering from Qualls-itis this year, sporting really nice peripherals that should add up better than a 5.09 ERA. Unfortunately, relievers can have a short leash, and after blowing a lead against Seattle last night, manager Ozzie Guillen indicated that change might be on the way. The White Sox have two very good candidates to take over including Matt Thornton and J.J. Putz. The White Sox lead the AL Central so obviously, a new elite closer for a winning team may be huge news in fantasy leagues.

• Scott Sizemore was picked by some analysts in the preseason as a sleeper candidate for AL Rookie of the Year. A very cold start and injuries derailed such notions. The Tigers have now recalled Sizemore to replace injured Brandon Inge at 3B. Sizemore has flashed some power/speed promise in the minors, including 6 HRs and a .392 OBP this year. A pick-up in AL-only leagues and a guy to watch in deeper mixed leagues.

July 21, 2010

• Phillies to acquire SP, move Werth? - with dubious rotation depth and possibly the most promising hitter not in MLB waiting in the wings, the Phillies appear keen on making two trades. The first would be to acquire an SP, possibly Roy Oswalt. Oswalt would move to a better team, but he’s not changing leagues or moving to a dramatically different run-scoring environment. The real fantasy impact would come from trading Jayson Werth, opening up a full-time role for consensus #1 hitting prospect Dominic Brown. If you’re a junkie, you can follow the news at http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/ (MLBTR).
• Happ Returns - Speaking of the Phillies, J. A. Happ, one of 2009’s breakout rookies, has been called up after a AAA rehab stint. His ZIPS projection, however, identifies him as more of a back-end starter than what his 2009 stats indicate. According to MLBTR, he could be in line to start Saturday. He may also be part of one of those trades we mentioned earlier.
• The Promise of Aramis - after struggling mightily through the first three months of the season, Aramis Ramirez has come alive in July. Last night, he belted 3 HR, good for 7 RBI. For the month, he’s slugged 9 HR and 24 RBI. Ramirez is Exhibit A of why it pays to be patient with studs. Hopefully he continues to make up for lost time.
• A-Cabs Activated - The Indians activated Asdrubal Cabrera in time for yesterday’s game against Minnesota. Cabrera appears ready to resume his starting role, and if he can remember how to steal a base he will once again be a viable fantasy shortstop in any format.
• Alvarez Stays Afloat - despite striking out 2 times every 5 at-bats, Pedro Alvarez seems to be surviving life as the Pirates new 3B. Last night, he hit 2 HR, including a grand slam, giving him 5 HR and 17 RBI in 29 games. Just pro-rating these statistics, we come up with 25+ HR and 85+ RBI over the course of a full season. Of course, he offers no BA or SB potential right now, and his run-scoring has been mediocre for a mixed-league fantasy starter. Be patient with him, because he has a long ways to go to fulfill his middle-of-the-order potential.

July 20, 2010:

• Here’s a personal scouting report from a trip to the Mets-Diamondbacks game last night:  Mike Pelfrey was simply unable to locate any of his pitches against a free-swinging Arizona lineup.  Pelfrey was mercifully pulled in the middle of the second after having given up 4 runs and two inherited runners would go on to score.  Pelfrey was originally pushed back from Saturday with a stiff neck, but don’t be surprised to see a DL stint in his near future.

• How many fantasy owners will be pushing the panic button on Ubaldo Jimenez?  That was his fourth start in his last 5 games to give up 4 or more earned runs, pumping his ERA up more than a run over that period (albeit only to 2.38 on the season).  Josh Johnson looks to be taking over as the leading NL Cy Young candidate.

• Nelson Cruz was a beast last night, accounting for all of Texas’ RBI from late in the third inning onward, as he powered the Rangers to a 14-inning win with a late homerun and even had a stolen base to boot.  In that same game, Ian Kinsler showed signs his power could be returning with his fifth homer while Josh Hamilton had a regular day at the office: 4/6 with a walk.  Hamilton’s average is now up to .353 on the year.

• Drew Stubbs won’t cooperate with the sabermetric folk: Despite striking out more than 30% of the time, putting the ball into play as a groundball nearly 50% of the time, and in general, surpassing every preseason projection, Stubbs continues to get it done, going 3-for-4 last night. He’s on pace for 22 HR and 31 SB.

• The Injury Front: Brandon Inge broke his hand last night and will probably be out until September.  Andy Pettitte and his strained groin is looking at a simlar 5-week timeline to return. Manny Ramirez will have an MRI on his calf today.  Scott Kazmir landed on the DL with my-manager-left-me-out-there-to-give-up-13-runs-to-the-A’s-osis (shoulder fatigue).

July 19, 2010:

• It’s an understatement to say that Andres Torres was on nobody’s radar at the beginning of the season. A good amount of speed at the top of the San Francisco Giants lineup got him onto fantasy rosters nearly everywhere. He’s continuing to surprise these days, with four home runs in his last seven games. His seasonal stats to date (8 HR, 17 SB, .278 average) roughly make him as valuable as Bobby Abreu or Andrew McCutchen.

• Similarly, Angel Pagan came out of nowhere to be a strong option this year. His seasonal stats to date (6 HR, 20 SB, .305 average) are extraordinary, reportedly the result of working hard in the off-season with Carlos Beltran. His teammate is back from injury right now, but he’s been hot enough this month that Mets manager Jerry Manuel is sticking with him in the lineup over the dreadful Jeff Francoeur.

• After being traded to Toronto, Yunel Escobar hit his first HR of the season. Escobar has always been a tad overrated thanks to flashing some pop, making good contact, and a chipping in a handful of steals, but the truth is that Escobar tends to be an extreme groundball hitter without much speed (17 steals to 13 times caught stealing). Certainly, Toronto has been a good atmosphere of late for breakout power (see Jose Bautista, Alex Gonzalez, Vernon Wells…), but we wouldn’t count on much.

• Carlos Pena has gone slug-happy since the beginning of June, cracking off 12 HRs in that time. Most people will see it as a sign that Pena is living up to the vast power potential he’s shown in previous seasons. But — and here’s a big but — Pena is getting unbelievably lucky as his skills have actually declined in the past six weeks. His groundball rate has gone WAY UP and his flyball rate has gone WAY DOWN. His HR/FB% is an absolutely astonishing 40% in the last six weeks. That’s four times the major league average and two times his career average. Sell!

• Geovany Soto has been having a remarkably underrated season. He still drives Lou Pinella nuts on the defensive end, but can you ask better of a catcher who may hit 20 HRs this season with a .400+ OBP? His peripherals indicate a small amount of good luck, but at the moment, only Brian McCann and Miguel Olivo have posted a better WAR (“wins above replacement”) this season.

Quick Hits for July 18, 2010

• Surprise, surprise…Kerry Wood is going to the DL. Obviously, this means that Chris Perez is the new Indians closer, confirmed by some late inning work yesterday. That said, Perez’ strikeout rate is way down this year and his walk rate is up. He may be showing a nice 2.48 ERA, but his xFIP is a dangerous and risky 5.15 at the moment. At the moment, though, Cleveland doesn’t have any other options. This could be a good moment to acquire Wood.
• Edinson Volquez’ first start after a lengthy absence from injury was a resounding success with nine strikeouts and just five base-runners in a six-inning victory against the Rockies. He’s owned in about 80% of CBS leagues, 42% of Yahoo leagues, and 36% of ESPN leagues.
• With the ascension of Buster Posey and Carlos Santana to the majors, this has been the year that rookie catchers have made a mark in fantasy leagues. Might we soon add another name to that list? J.P Arencibia has an astonishing 27 HRs at Triple-A this season at age 24. Arencibia came into the season as the second biggest prospect in the Blue Jays system, according to Baseball America. He has nine HRs this month. His plate discipline leaves a bit to be desired, so we may be looking at a player whose comparable could be Mike Napoli. Right now, John Buck is the Blue Jays catcher and is having a fine All Star season, which could make him trade bait.
• In the next two weeks, keep Evan Meek in mind, otherwise known as the Pirates rep at the All Star Game. Meek has incredible numbers this season in middle relief, including 48 Ks to 14 walks in 51 innings, a 1.07 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP. It’s no secret the Pirates would love to trade Octavio Dotel, which would thus result in the promotion of a guy with both the stuff and numbers to be a top relief option in all leagues.
• After being caught stealing 30% of the time, Elvis Andrus recently told ESPN’s Jason Grey about taking a more measured approach to stealing. Translation: less aggressive. Other players in danger of being given a yellow traffic signal by managers: Torii Hunter (7-for-17), Brandon Phillips(11-for-19), Matt Kemp (15-for-25), and Alex Rios (23-for-32)

July 17, 2010

• These next two weeks will be filled with rampant rumors as the MLB trade deadline approaches. Two pitchers who stand a high chance of being moved, Chicago’s Ted Lilly and Houston’s Brett Myers, each pitched fantastic games yesterday. These are two of the more underrated pitchers in the game today. Lilly struck out 10 Philly batters but still didn’t get the win. Only three wins this year. Meanwhile, Myers allowed just six base-runners in 7 and 2/3 innings. He hasn’t lasted less than six innings all season but only has seven wins to show for it. Both Myers and Lilly could use more run support, and a trade could make it happen.

• Those who stuck with Aramis Ramirez, good job. He certainly seems back to his ol’ self. He’s 18-for-45 (.400) in July with 5 HR. On the other side of Chicago, Gordon Beckham has his third consecutive multi-hit game. There’s hope in the windy city after all.

• Those who drafted Yadier Molina certainly have to be disappointed with the results so far. The Cardinals All-Star is most known for his fantastic defense, but with back-to-back seasons hitting .293 or better, he seemed to be a low-risk guy who could be drafted late and provide decent-if-not-spectacular production. Molina’s BABIP is terrible, which has dragged his average through the floor. We’ll see if Molina’s nice game last night (2-for-4 with 1 HR and 4 RBI) carries forward.

• Dan Haren had a typical 2010 Dan Haren Game last night. Eight strikeouts and only one walk.Fantastic. Two home runs allowed and six earned runs. Yuck. His peripherals point to a terrible streak of bad luck. But this keeps happening…Is he tipping his pitches?
• All eyes on Cincy today as Edinson Volquez makes his long-awaited return from the majors from Tommy John surgery. He’ll be facing Jorge De La Rosa. Who punches out more batters?

Saturday Special:

Five players most on the player rater upswing in the last two weeks: Buster Posey, Aramis Ramirez, Bronson Arroyo, Aubrey Huff, Carlos Quentin

Five players most on the player rater downswing in the last two weeks: Scott Kazmir, Mike Pelfrey, John Ely, Ricky Romero, Clayton Richard

Five Things for Friday:

-The Rangers came out of the break with a bang last night as 3 players ended the game with 3 hits each, and Bengie Molina rocked his first Texas HR.  Now with Cliff Lee leading the rotation, there isn’t much chance of the Angels catching up.  Bengie should see his numbers improve from what they were in San Francisco this year…not that improving on his line is all that difficult.  He could be in for a decent second half at the catcher position in Fantasy terms.

- Clayton Kersahw stumbled out of the second half gate last night, giving up 5 runs (4 ER) in only 4 and a third IP.  Kershaw should continue to dominate, and this stumble isn’t too worrisome.  Doug Fister didn’t fare any better, but this was expected.  After a strong start, the balls don’t seem to be bouncing his way anymore.  Be wary of sticking him in your lineup when he starts.

-R.A. Dickey just won’t slow down.  While he was stuck with a loss last night, the knuckleballer went 7 innings and only gave up a single run to the Giants last night.  Unfortunately, Tim Lincecum was on the other side pitching as his usual self.  NL hitters just haven’t seemed to be able to figure Dickey out, and his ERA now sits at 2.63.

-Manny Ramirez returned from the DL last night, but didn’t look sharp going 0 for 3.  He’s a good bet to sit more than you’d like, but he’s still got the ability to hit over .300.  If he’s healthy, he could have a big second half coming into his contract year.  He’s a good stash for now and a good start if he’s playing regularly.

-The Red Sox have some good news and some bad news these days.  Josh Beckett may return after his very next rehab start.  Owners that were highly invested in him to begin the season are a bit scorned.  But Beckett has a good chance of coming back strong to finish out the year.  You might want to bench him for a start or two to see how he’s doing.  Reports say Dustin Pedroia could be back earlier than expected, but there isn’t much timetable there.  And Jacoby Ellsbury could begin rehab in as little as two weeks.  Unfortunately putting on a glove puts Victor Martinez in a lot of pain.  That’s bad news for someone who catches pitches for a living.  Keep an eye on this situation.

The All-Star Break is here. Three days to contemplate potential improvements to your fantasy roster.

Five things for July 12, 2010:

• The U.S. beat the World in the Futures Game yesterday. Jeremy Hellickson got the win and made another strong case on why he deserves to be in the majors now. Angels catching prospect Hank Conger hit a three-run HR. He seemingly has been a prospect forever now, but he’s only 22 years old. Another Angels prospect Mike Trout was the youngest player in the game at age 18 and left scouts in awe with his speed. Peter Gammons tweeted that Trout could be in the majors next year as Angels manager Mike Scioscia was “thinking sooner.” Phillies prospect Dominic Brown, who recently garnered the top spot of Baseball America’s Midseason Top 25 Prospects, left the game with a hamstring strain, though it doesn’t seem serious. We’d bet that Hellickson is up before the end of the month and that Brown is up in mid-August. As for Trout, he just got moved up to High-A, so late 2011 would be the conceivable earliest for a player who stands a good chance of being the #1 prospect in baseball very soon.

• Since coming back from injury on June 25th, few pitchers in baseball have been better than Vicente Padilla. Yes, Vicente Padilla. Last night, he allowed only three base-runners in a shutout of the Cubs. Since returning from injury, he’s struck out 27 batters, allowed three walks, given up just five earned runs in about 29 innings.

• It’s been three games since Chris Davis was recalled to the majors after the Texas Rangers traded Justin Smoak and prospects for Cliff Lee. In those three games, he hasn’t struck out once. He hasn’t hit a HR either, but yesterday he went 3-for-3 with a SB, raising his batting average 44 points on the season, which might be enough to get owners unjustifiably excited for the future. Who knows, though?

• A month ago, owners were nearly getting ready to give up on Carlos Quentin. The White Sox outfielder has rewarded patience. In the last four games, he’s smacked six home runs. He’s now on pace for 35 HR and 113 RBIs and incredibly, he’s still suffering from a .223 BABIP. His hot streak certainly has raised his price tag, but he still may be a good buy-high candidate.

• Good news for Shin-Soo Choo owners: Cleveland manager Manny Acta says he believes that his star outfielder could be back by the end of the month. Choo holds a lot of uncertainty in that thumb of his, so fantasy owners should be mindful of their risk threshold when making decisions on Choo.

Five things for Sunday:

-Adam Lind has a 5-game hit streak going right now, turning up the heat with a 3-hit, 1 HR performance last night against the Red Sox.  Lind sits every now and then, but with 3 HR in the last 5 games played, it could be a sign he’s starting to turn things around.  His BABIP is still awfully low, so it’s not out of the question that he hits .280 plus from here on out.  He could still reach 25 HR and ZIPS has a second half of .260-12-43.  A lot of owners have given up on Lind, so you might be able to find that production on the waiver wire.  Given his track record, the .260 could be higher if he lowers the strikeouts.  Keep an eye on him.

-Lately, it seems there seems to be a pattern of starters using actual games to get their bullpen sessions in.  First, it was Matt Garza getting a Save, and now Kevin Slowey pitched two solid innings in relief against the Tigers last night.  Slowey won’t be getting many relief spots, but the extra scoreless innings are always a bonus.

-Outside of Josh Johnson, there aren’t any SP hotter than Jason Hammel right now.  He hasn’t had a loss in almost two months (May 21st was the last one) and he’s lowered his ERA from 7.52 to 4.08 during that stretch.  The Rockies are providing him with plenty of support, as he also has 5 Wins in his last 7 starts (with one last night).  It might be too late to hop on the bandwagon in deeper leagues, but if you’re in a keeper league with Hammel on waivers, this would be the time to make sure he’s yours.

-Are you hurting in the middle infield?  Do you need a player with multi-position eligibility that can at the very least not give your team negative value?  Then the answer may be Jeff Keppinger believe it or not.  The 30 year old has spent his career as a journeyman utility guy, but this year has been given the chance to start for the lowly Astros.  The result?  A perfectly useful .279-3-39 line in a season where 2B and SS is very thin.  Throw in that he’s also available to back up your 3B slot, he might be a good addition in deeper leagues.  Yes, it’s gotten this bad.

-Gordon Beckham managed to hit his 3rd HR of the season yesterday against the Royals.  Beckham has been miserable all season, and he’s one of the reasons that Keppinger is can be defended as a usable player.  His BABIP is a measly .247, making us think the average could improve somewhat.  His K rate isn’t much worse than last season, but he just hasn’t been able to hit for power.  He might find his stride once he finds his power stroke, but be cautious until that happens—if it happens at all.

BONUS HIT: If you’re in weekly lineup leagues, be sure to double check your rosters today before the deadline sets in.  Many managers had not announced the SP rotation following the All-Star break before today (and some may not have done so yet).  You’ll want to make sure the guys in your lineup are actually scheduled to play before next Sunday!

Five things for Saturday:

-Cliff Lee has officially been dealt to Texas.  Justin Smoak will head to Seattle.  What does this mean for Lee owners?  Well, it’s probably not the best thing that could have happened.  Lee has been pitching for a Mariners team built for speed and defense, taking full advantage.  Now, he’ll be going into Arlington where the ball flies like Colorado circa 1995.  The Rangers don’t have the greatest defense, but they should provide runs for Lee to grab some extra wins.  While it’s not the best place for a pitcher, Lee is still a top tier option.  He starts tonight against Baltimore, which is always an advisable start.  As for Smoak, leaving Texas can’t help his batting line, but he still has some solid potential for keeper leagues.

-Get ready for Endinson Volquez.  He struck out 9 batters last night, and should be returning after the All-Star Break.  He has sported a 1.96 ERA in his rehab stint, and should give the Reds an extra little push from here on out.  Check to see if he’s on waivers, as he’ll be able to provide plenty of Ks for your team.  Volquez has had some control issues in the past, but he’s shown that when he harnesses his stuff he can be as dominant as anyone in the game.  Other returns that should come soon are Josh Beckett (rehab game Sunday), Shaun Marcum (likely to start July 18th), Yovanni Gallardo (was able to throw from 90 feet) and Clay Buchholz (2nd to pitch after the All-Star break).

-Jonny Gomes has been somewhat overlooked this season, but he shouldn’t be.  While Gomes hasn’t been particularly hot of late, he’s currently 12th in the majors in RBI with 60 (5th for OFers).  Last night he added to his total with 3 hits including a 3-run homer.  He’s only owned in 47% of CBS leagues, but that number should be higher with a .285-11-60 line on a run-producing Reds team.

-Francisco Liriano has been one of the best pitchers in baseball this season, but last night certainly wasn’t his best showing.  Liriano gave up 7 ER in less than 2 IP against the Tigers last night.  Some would say Liriano has had back luck, as his xFIP stands at 2.98 (FIP at 2.19) but he’s sporting a 3.86 ERA after his forgettable Friday night outing.  Continue to roll with Liriano, as all signs point to him actually improving on his first half if you can believe that.

-Jorge de la Rosa returnd last night with less than a bang–unless you’re speaking of that sound coming off the Padres’ bats.  Jorge gave up 7 runs in less than 5 IP, but did strike out 6 batters.  He was on the righ track last year and was decent before being injured in 2010.  He’ll help with the strikeout numbers, and could have the upside to be a solid add for your team, despite the rough return.

-EDIT: There was a mistake in our Gordon Beckham hit.  He’s not currently heading to the minors, very sorry about the mistake.

Five things for Friday:

-After a HR-friendly Wednesday, plenty fantasy starters managed stellar outings last night.  John Danks keeps solidifying his place at the top of the White Sox rotation with a shutout and 7 K’s.  Roy Oswalt continued his resurgence with the same feat, and continues his great strikeout rate with 8 K’s. Clayton Kershaw continued his rise toward the top of the ranks of fantasy pitchers with 12 strikeouts against the Chicago Cubs.  And Ubaldo Jimenez kept himself in Cy Young contention with his 15th win.  This year’s Cy Young race should be interesting…especially in the NL.

-Carl Crawford had 2 HR last night as he continues to roll through 2010.  That puts him at 10 for the season and on pace for .321-19-91 with 125 R and 55 SB.  His career high in HR is 18, and it looks like he’ll get there this season.  The RBI’s are a nice bonus, though, from a guy that usually has 65-80 each year.  Not sure if he’ll keep that pace up, but if he ends up with 20 HR and 60 SB one could argue Crawford for the 2010 Fantasy MVP.

-We’ll have to give a hat tip to FBJ favorite Joey Votto, who smashed another HR (his NL leading 22nd) last night on his way to being the final player voted into the All-Star Game.  Votto is arguably the top player in fantasy and went as late as the 5thRound in some leagues.  In other news, Votto’s slugging AL outfield counterpart, Josh Hamilton (7th or 8th Round ADP) also hit his 22nd last night.  These guys are almost certainly winning leagues for those who showed confidence in them.

-In what many have dubbed the year of the prospect, another hit his first HR last night for the Indians.  Michael Brantleyisn’t a power guy (he has 15 career minor league HR), but is projected to provide speed for the Indians (48 SBs last year in AAA).  Cleveland seems plenty ready to take play into the next generation of super-rookies, and with a healthy Grady Sizemore in 2010 they should be a fun team to watch.  If you’re really hurting for steals Brantley might be able to help, but don’t expect much more at this point in his career.  If you’re in a keeper league and he’s available, you should probably stash him for 2011 as well.  Speaking of super-rookies, is Buster Posey a legitimate ROY Candidate if he continues this pace for the rest of the season?  He hit another HR last night and is playing every day.  Let us know what you think in the comments!

-The Phillies activated Ryan Madson from the DL last night, only to watch both he and Brad Lidge blow it last night.  The closer situation in Philly is pretty tenuous.  While Madson did not start out the season well, it may be important for Lidge owners to keep an eye on him if he’s on waviers.  His track record before 2010 was solid and he could be a place to find a couple Saves in a close end-of-season Roto race…meaning ‘a couple’ almost literally.

July 8, 2010:

Daniel Hudson may be called up to take Jake Peavy’s spot in the White Sox rotation. Hudson ranks as the club’s top pitching prospect and has excellent minor league numbers. This year, he’s struck out 108 batters in 93 innings. Some scouts think his stuff lacks ace potential but with a good strikeout rate and nice control, he probably poses less downside risk than most mid-season call-ups. A definite add in keeper and deeper leagues.

As fantasy enthusiasts can attest, it’s always nice to have a player on the trade block have a massive game to wet the appetite of an interested potential trade partner. It’s been rumored that the White Sox are lusting after Adam Dunn, who broke out three home runs last night. Dunn has been unbelievably consistent these past years. He hit 40 HR in 2006, 40 HR in 2007, 40 HR in 2008, 38 HR in 2009, and he’s on pace for 38 HR this season. The big difference this year is a .280 average, well above his .251 career mark. Don’t expect the average to continue, however. His strikeout rate hasn’t changed, his walk rate has dipped, and he’s been aided by a generous batting average on balls hit in play.

For a while, we have to admit, we thought David Price was a prime sell-high candidate. At the end of May, Price was sitting on a wonderful 2.57 ERA but only 50 strikeouts in 67 IP. Regression seemed inevitable. But maybe not. Since the beginning of June, Price has been even better: In that time, he has a 2.22 ERA, completely supported by 50 strikeouts and only 16 walks in just less than 49 innings.

For the first three months of the season, Aramis Ramirez was striking out like crazy and not showing much power, with few indications he’d get it going. But the downtrodden superstar has a long track record of success in the majors and isn’t particularly old. So three HRs in the last two games either represents (a) the start of something or (b) a statistical blip in a down season. It’s that sort of uncertainty that propels interesting risk-taking in fantasy leagues.

Since being called up, neither Buster Posey nor Mike Stanton has made the kind of noise that justified the hype. It’s still early, however. Posey went 4-for-4 with a pair of HRs and 6 RBIs yesterday. Stanton has hit two 3-run HRs in two consecutive games.

Bonus: Matt Garza got a save last night. From time to time on this website, we love to ponder the law of large numbers. Somewhere out there, in the millions of fantasy leagues, an owner is going to win his league by the margin of one Matt Garza save.

July 7, 2010:

Resurgent Wandy Rodriguez demolished the Pirates Tuesday, allowing just 6 base runners and striking out 10 in 7 innings. In his last three starts: 20 IP, 19 K, 0.90 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 1 HR allowed. Is he back? It looks like his next two starts will come Sunday opposite Blake Hawksworth and after the All-Star Break against those same Pirates, so perhaps he doesn’t have to be.

Unfortunate Jake Peavy strained his back against the Angels on Tuesday. It’s a disappointing encore to his brilliant June, when in 36 IP he pushed Cliff Lee for AL Pitcher of the Month honors: 29 K, 1.75 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and just 2 HR allowed (none in the US Cellular Field bandbox). He appears headed to the DL. It’s been a wild first full season on the South Side for Peavy – take a look at the month-by-month splits – and the injury concerns make us a bit leery of relying on him at all.

Returning Jorge De La Rosa expects to come off the DL and start Friday against the Padres. De La Rosa has seemed on the verge of a breakthrough for some time, but it may be best to rest the fireballing lefty for his first start. Jorge’s notorious for his bouts of wildness, and we don’t believe he’ll be too sharp after a layoff of over 2 months.

Promising Madison Bumgarner has earned a prime location on your fantasy radar today. Bumgarner added to his impressive 2010 MLB resume with 8 shutout innings against the Brewers on Tuesday. This comes on the heels of long, effective outings at Coors Field and against the Red Sox. Much ink has been split on MadBum over the past few years, some good and some bad, but hopefully we can accept him for what he is: a 20 year old who appears to be an above-average MLB pitcher. His next start is against the Nationals, so this gravy train should have some nice momentum going into the break.

The Next Big Thing among Fantasy Pitchers? No one can know for sure, but we have a guess. See if you can snoop out who he is:

• He was graded a B- prospect on John Sickel’s website and just the #6 prospect in his organization by Baseball America.
• He’s split time between AA and AAA this year. In his most recent AAA start, he threw six perfect innings to open the game.
• He’s fought elbow problems in the past, but it’s been smooth sailing in 2010.
• A right-handed pitcher, he throws a mid-90s fastball with good control and a promising slider.
• His parent club is one of the worst teams in baseball and is almost certain to have a rotation spot open soon.

Answer in the comment section…

July 6, 2010:

• You think Joey Votto wants on the NL All-Star team now? After 2 more homeruns yesterday, Votto is now up to 21 on the year to go with 59 RBI and a .318 average. In fact, he’s first among NL first basemen on the ESPN 2010 season player rater. Yes, even in front of Prince Albert.
• Roy Halladay had been looking very mortal of late, having given up 10+ hits in 3 of his last 6 games. However, against the Braves yesterday he only gave up 5 hits in a 9-inning win. The combination of a 1.08 WHIP with a league-leading 139 IP still does wonders for a fantasy team’s ratios, even if he does look hittable on some days.
• Ian Kennedy had a rough turn yesterday, giving up 7 earned to the Cubs. That’s 4 straight outings of 3+ ER in under 7 innings for Kennedy to go along with an ugly 3-7 record. However, his strikeout rate is still great (8.07) while his HR/ FB ratio is a bit inflated, so it might be worth buying low in keeper leagues and dynasty formats if he’s available.
• A couple of pitchers are going to miss the All-Star game and a few weeks of real baseball time as well. Boston’s Clay Buchholz was placed on the DL yesterday with the Sox hopeful to get him back right after the break. Yesterday, Brewers skipper Ken Macha also ruled out the Summer Classic for Yovani Gallardo, saying he won’t resume baseball activities for at least 10 days after sustaining his recent oblique injury.
• The DL-dwelling Erik Bedard reported some stiffness in his throwing shoulder during an examination last night and will not pitch today (or probably even this week) as was originally expected. Owners in deep leagues should still track Bedard as his return is eminently close, but isn’t here quite yet. Owners with daily transactions should look to find a replacement for Tuesday’s game.

Saturday, July 3

• Clint Barmes is getting it going at exactly the time that owners of injured middle infielders are searching for a hot hand. For the fourth consecutive game yesterday, he went 2-for-4. Add three HRs in the last week and there’s the recipe for an addition off of the waiver wire. This season, Barmes has improved both his strikeout rate and walk rate, although his current hit streak is certainly fueled by luck on balls hit into play. For now, though, we’ll take it.

• Chris B. Young is having a season that might certainly fuel future preseason post-hype sleeper articles. (Got that?) Yesterday, he added a HR, a SB, three hits, and 5 RBIs to his total. He’s now on pace for, gulp, 30 HR and 28 SB with a respectable .267 average.

• James Loney didn’t do anything in the “sexy” categories yesterday. No HRs. No SBs. But he did go 3-for-5 and is now flirting with a .300 average. As a first-baseman without much power, Loney doesn’t get much attention, even though he’s top 10 this season at his position according to ESPN’s power rater. What’s more, as we’ve pointed out before, the scarcest commodity in baseball is a player who can both steal bases and hit RBIs, and right now, gulp, Loney is on pace for 116 RBIs and 18 SBs.

• Huroki Kuroda has been solid much of this season. In fact, he’s been one of the best pitchers in baseball. But he got bombed last night, allowing six runs and failing to get out of the second inning. This marks the second consecutive game where Kuroda has struggled, though keep in mind the two games were against the Yankees and in the hitters’ haven of Arizona. With a 78 K:29 BB ratio on the season and only 8 home runs allowed, we’d give him a pass and probably would acquire him if available for trade.

• More dreaded injuries: Miguel Cabrera day-to-day with back troubles; Shin-Soo Choo day-to-day with a hand injury; Manny Ramirez going to the DL; Jose Reyes still day-to-day with an oblique problem

Saturday special:

Five players who have most ascended on player raters in the past two weeks: Felix Hernandez, Ian Kinsler, Jered Weaver, Coco Crisp, Max Scherzer

Five players who have most descended on player raters in the past two weeks: Tommy Hanson, Matt Cain, Manny Corpas, Brett Cecil, Evan Longoria

Friday, July 2, 2010

• Chase Utley is having surgery  on this finger and won’t return for about 8 weeks.  Translation: Gone till September.  Given that Utley wasn’t hitting well even before this injury, who knows what he’ll do then. With Dustin Pedroia, Utley, and Troy Tulowitzki out for extended periods (and who knows about Jose Reyes), middle infielders are becoming more scarce by the day.  At this rate, Jeff Keppinger and Jerry Hairston will be owned in 100% of 10-team leagues by the end of the season.

• Good news for Manny Ramirez owners, as he was found to just have inflammation in his hamstring.  No DL trip.  He had been hot before his injury, and hopefully there will be more news about his recovery before lineups are due for next week.  Even if he’s back in the lineup, don’t expect him to play more than 4 or 5 games during next scoring period.  Torre likes to rest him anyway, and with a nagging injury, he’ll want to sit him more.

• Trevor Cahill continued to roll through batters last night against the Orioles en route to a 7th consecutive win.  Cahill was a solid minor league prospect, but didn’t impress in his 2009 rookie season. He seems to have found his groove in 2010 with an improved strikeout rate and a 2.74 ERA (though, he could stand to strike out a few more). Much of his success has to do with a low BABIP and low walk rate, but his xFIP still sits at a solid 3.99.  Cahill seems like a safe bet to give solid performance in the coming weeks.

• Matt LaPorta hit his 4th HR of the season —and 3rd in three games—last night as Shaun Marcum blew up in the 4th inning of what was looking like a gem of an outing (Marcum still had 7 Ks through 4 IP).  LaPorta has been a pretty big disappointment thus far, and the focus in Cleveland has turned to the impressive Carlos Santana.  Maybe with the pressure off, LaPorta will step up. Oh, and Marcum is going on the DL too with elbow inflammation.

• Bad news for Red Sox fans: now Jason Varitek is out for 6 weeks! Varitek broke his foot after fouling a ball off of it.  The Sawx recently traded for Kevin Cash, and it looks like he’ll get the bulk of the playing time until V-Mart gets back.  Martinez should be back sooner than Varitek, which is at least good for fantasy owners.  As for a fill in between now and then, there have got to be better options than Kevin Cash to put at your catcher slot.  But you already know that.

Five things for the first day of July. Three months left!

• Trading season in the MLB is underway. The Texas Rangers acquired Bengie Molina for Chris Ray and a player to be named later. This trade is tremendous news for Bengie owners. The catcher now doesn’t have to wrestle with Buster Posey for playing time and moves from one of the friendliest pitcher parks to one of the friendliest hitter parks. Molina only has 3 HR on the season, but is weighed down by an unlucky 3.7% HR/FB rate. A power surge could be coming. We’ll give the over/under at 14.

• Erik Bedard could be pitching as soon as Tuesday for the Mariners. In two rehab outings, he’s struck out 11 batters and walked none in 6 2/3 innings. Only owned in 65% of CBS Sports leagues, 42% of Yahoo leagues, and 13% of ESPN leagues. Time to pick him up if he’s available. He’ll be pitching in the friendly environment of Safeco Field, although he’s a prime candidate to be traded by the Mariners before the deadline.

• Just when we gave up hope, Wandy Rodriguez had an impressive outing against the Brewers yesterday, allowing just one earned run in seven innings. More impressively, he struck out six batters and only walked one. It’s the second consecutive quality start for Way-Rod, who gets the Pirates next in an opportunity to go for three and build some confidence. Wandy certainly is a risk and will either reward or punish those who decide to write off the first three months of the season as an aberration. Decision-making in fantasy leagues doesn’t get more tough than this.

• Third base is thin enough this season that Chris Johnson’s amazing run since call-up has been generating some attention. He went 4-for-4 yesterday to bring his average up to .333. We can’t say we’re as impressed as some. He’s taken just one walk in 51 at-bats and shows a BABIP of .447. He hasn’t hit a HR yet and plays on one of the worst offensive clubs in the majors, which limits his RBI/R production. Right now, he’s empty average, and even that may be a mirage.

• Ten strikeouts for Clayton Richard yesterday against the Colorado Rockies. He’s gone underneath the radar and posted a phenomenal season with a 2.74 ERA and a 1.27 WHIP. He hasn’t gotten particularly lucky with balls in play. His HR/FB rate is fairly low, although we should remember he plays in Petco Park. Right now, his FIP of 3.43 probably speaks to how well he’s been doing better than his xFIP of 3.87, but both numbers show a solid option.

Five things for 6/30:

• Dexter Fowler was recalled from AAA yesterday after a very successful month of May. He started in CF, bumping FBJ favorite Seth Smith to the bench. Fowler, Gonzalez, Smith, Hawpe – will the Rockies EVER trade one of these guys?

• Following up on Chase Utley’s thumb injury – he’s been placed on the DL. This comes at a particularly inopportune time for his owners as he was batting .395/.419/.553 in his last 10 games. The Phillies’ brass admitted to being unsure about the duration of his stay.

• Gavin Floyd seems to have flipped a switch in June. In his last 5 starts (35 2/3 innings) he’s allowed a minuscule 1.27 ERA, struck out 33 and walked 7. Of course, three of these starts came against some of the worst outfits in baseball – WAS, CHN and KC – so don’t go overboard with enthusiasm.

• Coco Crisp has smoked the ball since coming off the DL a week ago. He’s posted a 1.216 OPS with runs, RBI, extra base hits and SB galore. He’s even sporting a nifty 4/5 BB/K ratio. The A’s love to rotate their OF, but since none of his OF colleagues have managed more than a .725 OPS on the season, we think Crisp will get a lion’s share of the PT going forward.

• One of the few player’s who’s had a more impressive debut than Crisp is Carlos Santana. He’s rocking a nearly 2/1 BB/K ratio, flashing tremendous power, and not striking out much. Even taking into account how he fared in the minor leagues, his is a pleasantly surprising debut. If he’d been called up a little bit earlier, he’d be the runaway favorite for AL Rookie of the Year. While the Indian’s may have secured themselves an extra year of service time by holding him back, they probably cost him some hardware.

Five things and one fun fact for 6/29:

• After an MRI exam on Monday, Jason Heyward was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a deep bone bruise.  Heyward has been cold of late, with his average down to .251, and hand injuries traditionally sap power in the short term: all great points to bring up to pull off a trade in dynasty/keeper league formats.
• Victor Martinez is also likely to be placed on the DL today with a thumb fracture.  Jason Varitek will likely get the majority of starts while Martinez is out.  Chase Utley also injured his right thumb sliding into second base in the fourth inning last night.  While he remained in the game a few more innings, he was pulled in the ninth for a pinch hitter and will undergo an MRI today.
• Joel Zumaya also left last night’s game with a scary injury to his right arm.  There has been no official diagnosis yet, but it’s clear that he will probably be out for a few weeks at the minimum.  He’ll have an MRI this morning on his right elbow.
• Steven Strasburg showed a small kink in the armor last night, giving up four runs in the seventh.  The Braves’ strategy against the phenom seemed to be to simply try to square up the fastball whenever possible and after a leadoff walk to Chipper Jones in the seventh and a misplayed ball by SS Ian Desmond, they finally got a chance to knock in some runs.  He still struck out 7 and went 6 1/3, so it wasn’t a horrible outing, and he should be raring to go in his next start.
• If they only played 8 innings, the Diamondbacks record might look a lot different.  Seemingly scared to hand his closer a 2-run lead, manager A.J. Hinch sent Dan Haren out to finish a 5-3 game in the ninth and he promptly gave up 2 singles to put the tying run on.  After Aaron Heilman finally did come in, it was a comedy of errors for the Snakes, as the first run scored on a throwing error by Heilman, then the tying and go-ahead run scored on a throwing error byAdam LaRoche.  Props to skipper Tony LaRussa, who employed the rarely-used death by pitcher technique: Adam Wainwright pinch-hit and Jaime Garcia pinch ran in the inning.  It’s tough to be an Arizona fan these days.  Heilman has blown the save in two of his last three opportunities.  Meanwhile, rookie Sam Demel, acquired in theConor Jackson trade, still hasn’t given up a run in 4 2/3 innings.  Hmm…
• Fun fact of the Day: After his second multi-HR game of the season last night, Jason Bay now has as many multi-HR games this year as he does single-HR games.  Sadly for Bay owners, his season total still sits at just 6.

Five things for 6/28:

• Tommy Hanson struggled for the second consecutive game. He’s giving up 14 earned runs in that time period, bringing his ERA for the season up to 4.5. What’s going on? We could pin it on bad luck and facing American League ball-clubs, but who knows? Hidden injury, tipped pitches, your guess is as good as ours. Right now, he earns a yellow traffic signal, but no one should overreact until seeing more.
• Victor Martinez has a fractured thumb as the Red Sox continue to reel from injuries just as the team has made a nice comeback in the AL East to overtake the Rays in the standings. Supposedly, V-Mart won’t be put on DL, though our guess is he might very well end up there. It’s hard to replace a catcher of V-Mart’s caliber, although fortunately this is a year when the talent pool at the position has gotten deeper. Plus, Jason Varitek isn’t horrible.
• David Wright seems to be on the right track again. Not only does the Mets third-baseman have 14 HR and 13 SB for the season (adding one of each yesterday), but he’s making contact with the ball recently at a much greater rate. Going into June, his contact rate was a woeful 60%. In the last 28 days, that’s up to 75%. This is important because Wright was danger of seeing his batting average drop as quickly as England’s hopes in the World Cup.
• Another edition of our Wade Davis vs. Jeremy Hellickson watch. Davis was ok yesterday, allowing only two earned runs in seven innings. A quality start, although his strikeout-to-walk rate was a rather bleh 5-3. In Triple-A, Hellickson pitched six shutout innings, with seven strikeouts and one walk. Interesting that the Rays have lined these two guys to pitch on the same day, and as we’ve already covered, the Rays are now behind the Red Sox for the last playoff spot.
• Martin Prado is hitting .358 this month. He also has contributed 3 HR and 2 SB in June. Not surprisingly, the NL-leader in batting average is being helped by a fortunate hit rate, although we’d be curious to know how many Dustin Pedroia owners would do a straight-up swap right now.

Five things for 6/27:

• Dustin Pedroia has a non-displaced fracture of the navicular bone and will be put on the DL. Typical recovery time for an injury of this time is six weeks. Bill Hall is expected to get most of the playing time at 2B for the Red Sox in Pedroia’s absence.
• In his first career start, Madison Bumgarner allowed four runs on five hits in seven innings against the Red Sox. Five strikeouts. Not bad. His ownership is at 50% on CBS Sports, 7% on Yahoo, and 1.3% on ESPN. Quite a difference.
• Gaby Sanchez had his fifth consecutive multi-hit outing versus the Orioles. The Marlins 1B is now hitting over .300 with 8 HR and 3 SB. His BABIP is slightly high, but he’s showing good contact/ fly ball/line drive rates. Only owned in 43% of CBS Sports leagues, 28% of ESPN leagues, and 15% of Yahoo leagues.
• Since the beginning of June, Orioles OF Adam Jones has brought his batting average up 20 points and slugged 6 HRs, including another yesterday. He’s hot but he hasn’t improved his plate discipline much. Just 8 walks for the entire season. The worst walk rate in baseball. Now might be a good time to sell. Jones is currently owned in 89% of ESPN leagues, 82% of CBS leagues, and 68% of Yahoo leagues.
• Max Scherzer struck out 8 batters in 5 IP. Trevor Cahill struck out 10 batters in just under 8 innings. Scherzer is owned in 78% of CBS leagues, 63% of ESPN leagues, and 37% of Yahoo leagues. Cahill is owned in 63% of CBS leagues, 35% of ESPN leagues, and 33% of Yahoo leagues.

What have we learned today? CBS Sports leagues are the deepest of the bunch and ga-ga over prospects; Yahoo leagues give up quickly when players hit a speed bump, don’t take to new players very quickly, and have diversified rosters; ESPN leagues care about a player’s name value.

Five things for 6/26:

• Edwin Jackson threw one of the ugliest no-hitters imaginable, walking 8 batters in a 1-0 win against the Rays. Jackson played a little bit above his head last season with a sterling 3.62 ERA despite peripherals that would indicate an inferior line. This year, until last night, he hasn’t been as lucky. The no-hitter brought his ERA down to 4.62 and it’s surprising to see he’s still owned in 75% of CBS Sports leagues.
• Madison Bumgarner is being called up to make a start for the San Francisco Giants. This would be much bigger news if Bumgarner’s star hadn’t dimmed somewhat in the past year. Formerly, Bumgarner was arguably the top pitching prospect in the minors, but he’s had some troubles and lost some velocity. Lately, he’s been doing much better with a 3.175 ERA in Triple-A. However, his strikeout rate of 6.15 per 9 IP this year leaves an incredible amount to be desired for fantasy purposes. Monitor for now. No more.
• Speaking of pitchers not known for high strikeouts, Mark Buehrle pitched his third consecutive quality start. In three games against the Cubs, Pirates, and Braves, Buehrle has allowed only four runs in 20 innings and has struck out 17 batters to 2 walks. When Buehrle is going good, he increases his strikeouts to at least a respectable rate and has stellar command. He appears to be on one of those streaks right now. Not a long-term guy you want, but his next game is against the Royals.
• A tale of two Chicago pitchers: Carlos Zambrano got bombed, erupted in rage, has been suspended indefinitely, and can safely be dropped in most leagues. Jake Peavy pitched a shut out and struck out 7 in his third consecutive nice start.
• If you’re not a Mets fan and don’t own Angel Pagan, you probably haven’t realized what kind of season he’s been having: a .302 average, 4 HR, 14 SB, 41 R, 35 RBI. Pretty impressive. However, Pagan could be losing some playing time soon. He’s nursing an injury and could be a playing time casualty of Carlos Beltran’s imminent return.

Saturday Special:

Five players who have zoomed up player raters in the past two weeks: Dustin Pedroia, Jose Reyes, Joel Pineiro, Jake Peavy, Gavin Floyd

Five players who have dropped like a stone on player raters in the past two weeks: A.J. Burnett, Kevin Slowey, Brett Cecil, Ryan Zimmerman, Kelly Johnson

Five things for 6/25:

• Small in stature, but big-on-the-diamond Dustin Pedroia smacked 3 HR last night at Coors field en route to a 5 for 5 night.  Pedroia began the year hot only to go into a slump for a bit.  He’s certainly busted out of that.  Pedroia’s power is way up this year— something he told reporters he was planning on doing in the preseason. His K’s and HR/FB% have also increased dramatically, making us wonder if he’s up there just swinging for the fences.  His BABIP is actually 20 points lower than his career mark, so there could even be some improvement in the .293 BA he’s putting up right now.

• Vernon Wells also enjoyed a multi HR game last night.  Since his scorching start, Wells has put up more modest numbers.  While he is only batting .230 in June, he’s managed a .500 SLG, so the power still seems to be there thanks to a HR/FB% three times what it was last year.  He likely won’t sustain that pace, but at this point he seems like a safe 3rd or 4th Outfielder at worst.

• Yovanni Gallardo threw a complete game shutout with 12 K’s, leading MLB in strikeouts against the hard-hitting Twins.  At least one writer here picked Yovanni as Fantasy MVP based on draft position.  However, with plenty of incredible ERA’s going around the same time preseason, Yovanni has managed to go less noticed than he would have in any other year.  Not only is he leading MLB in K’s, but he’s reduced his HRs, reduced his BBs, and sits on a 2.36 ERA.  Gallardo is riding some luck with respect to runners left on base (80.0 LOB%).  But we think it’s safe to say he’s officially an elite pitcher.

• Matt Cain has been phenomenal recently.  Unfortunately, he gave up 7 ER in less than 3 IP last night.  To put in perspective, Cain has given up 7 ER in his last 7 starts combined.  While Cain has been somewhat lucky this year, it seems like he just ran into a rough day.  Cain is a curious case, as he has a career xFIP of 4.52 but a career ERA of only 3.44.  He’s played long enough with plenty of success to make us believe it’s not all luck.  Unless there is report of an injury somewhere, he’s probably safe to throw in his next start against Los Angeles, though his 0-7 lifetime record against the Dodgers is nothing to brag about.

• Tom Gorzelanny picked up his first Save last night in an extra inning game against the Mariners.  Gorzelanny has pitched relatively well this year, striking out 56 batters in just 54 plus IP.  Not bad for a soft-tossing lefty.  This was a one-time bonus for owners who are implementing his relief appearances at their SP slot.  Even if you have any doubts about Marmol, Gorz isn’t the answer.  He was quoted last night as saying, “Closing is a little too stressful.”

• Bonus Hit: Phillies prospect Dominic Brown was just promoted to Triple-A today.Baseball America recently hinted that Brown was in contention for its Minor Leaguer of the Year Award. Recent winners include Jason Heyward, Matt Weiters, Joe Mauer, and Josh Beckett. Brown is on track to be the #1 prospect in baseball heading into 2011 — that is, if he doesn’t get called up to the major leagues and surpass the eligibility standards. There’s been some murmurs about whether the Phillies will stick with Raul Ibanez as a starter with a current average of .246 and just 5 HR. In the minors this year, Brown has 15 HR, 12 SB, and a .391 OBP.

five things for 6/24:

• Miguel Montero has been making up for lost time. In ten games back since rejoining the team off the DL, Montero is batting .405 with 2 HR and a healthy on-base percentage. Just as importantly is the fact he’s been hitting in the cleanup spot too. That’s phenomenal opportunity for a catcher. His ownership dipped from a near-universal own to 75% during his absence. Those who cut Montero could be regretting the decision.

• Speaking of lineup moves, Joe Torre is annoying Matt Kemp owners once again. Kemp no longer has a solid hold on the #3/4 slot after putting in a disappointing .255 average. He’s now being bounced all around the lineup and has even recently hit at the #9 spot. Kemp hit a HR on Tuesday and a RBI double last night, but still disconcerting is to see just 10 steals to 9 times caught stealing.

• Carlos Quentin may have had some people in the sabermetric community concerned that the White Sox outfielder’s perpetually bad BABIP was more than poor luck. For the season, Quentin is hitting .227 but his average in balls hit in play is .223. Not every player should be expected to have a BABIP at .300, but still, Quentin’s BABIP was low. Or maybe not? Quentin has a career BABIP of .250, so maybe the long period of misfortune is something else. Then again, Quentin is 11-for-his-last-26 (including 2 HR last night). A sign of regression at long last?

• R.A. Dickey is a force, turning in his sixth quality start in seven outings and lowering his ERA to 2.33 in a shutout of the Tigers last night. The knuckleballer has decent peripherals but obviously not this good.  Plus, he’s got a history of poor performance and as a guy who primarily relies on one pitch, he’s a tremendous risk going forward.

• Brett Myers is still unowned in a third of leagues despite having a decent track record of success in the majors and showing an ERA under 3.2 this season. Myers hasn’t failed to go at least six innings in any game this season. His strikeout rate has gotten better each month thus far. He’s limiting walks and home runs. He may be getting somewhat lucky and plays for a team that doesn’t offer much run support, but he should be owned in all but the shallowest leagues.

6/23

• Can life get any better for Mat Latos? He’s a beast of a 22 year old rookie on a contending Padres club. He’s been at his best in June, with a command ratio (K/BB) over 4 and nearly 11 K/9. Pitching can be a little bit like throwing darts – if you can throw tricky pitches for strikes in the minor leagues, you can also do it in the major leagues. And when your minor league season consists of a command ratio over 6, a K/9 over 9 and one HR allowed in 72 innings, well…

• Aubrey Huff has been doing a very good Albert Pujols impression in June, walking 11 times against 5 BB and smacking 6 HR in just 64 AB. According to CBS sports, he is the top point scorer among 1B over the past month (the point system accounts for walks as well as 5×5 hitting categories). We’ve seen hot streaks from Huff before, but his 35/27 BB/K ratio is a new trick from an old dog. What gives? We’re noticing a career high contact rate and career low % of pitches in the zone. He’s not seeing any more pitches than he usually does, though.
• Jason Vargas seems to have rediscovered his groove from April. Not to say that he was bad in May, but his command ratio declined from over 3 in April to slightly less than 2 in May. After last night’s gem against the Cubs, it’s nearly 4 in June. His biggest weapon is a changeup that caught Cub hitters fishing 29% of the time yesterday (31 changeups, 9 swings-and-misses). While Vargas’ xFIP (4.73) is far less robust than his ERA (2.66) due to a low BABIP against, high stranded% and low HR/Flyball ratio, keep in mind that his ERA should be lower than his xFIP given that he’s a flyball lefthanded pitcher in Safeco Field. He’s not this good, but he has a shot to be Jarrod Washburn.
• Speaking of lefties, Trevor Cahill is looking like a real major league pitcher this year. Well, really, Cahill has looked like an MLB pitcher this June, with an impressive 22/7 command ratio in 25.2 innings. Last night may have been his best start, with a career high seven Ks. Here’s adetailed analysis of Cahill’s growth from a forgettable 2009.
• Mini-hits: Ubaldo Jimenez is questionable for today’s start with dizziness. Not that you should have him out of the lineup, just saying…Jarrett Hoffpauir looks to take advantage of an opportunity as a full-time player…Is Angel Pagan’s time as a full-timer drawing to a close with the return of Carlos Beltran in a few weeks?…Control artist Doug Fister will return from the DL on Saturday.

Five things for 6/22:

• Gio Gonzalez continued his breakout season with 7 sterling innings against the Reds, allowing only 1 walk while striking out 9.  Sadly, his bullpen couldn’t hold on for the win.  He continues to look like the AL version of Jonathan Sanchez, lots of strikeouts with a high WHIP, but his home ballpark helps with that.
• A.J. Burnett gave up three homeruns in the first vs. the Diamondbacks before departing after 4 innings having given up 9 hits and 7 ER.  That’s the fourth straight L for Burnett, and the third time in his last 4 games he’s given up 6 or more runs (9 homeruns in that span).  Shallow mixed leaguers should bench Burnett until he comes out of his current funk.
• Justin Upton was the biggest beneficiary of Burnett’s bad night, as he finished with 2 HR, 1 SB, 4 R, and 4 RBI.  While his average is nothing to brag about (.256), he now has 13 HR and 11 SB, putting him on pace for 30 HR and 26 SB this season.
• Gerardo Parra also went 3-for-4 and is hitting .350 since the departure of Conor Jackson to the A’s.  He looks to be the everyday leftfielder going forward and if the Diamondbacks also trade Kelly Johnson, he could make a move to the top of the lineup.
• Erik Bedard made his first pitching appearance of 2010 in the Arizona Rookie League yesterday, collecting 8 outs while giving up a run and striking out 3.  If there are no setbacks, he should be increasing his pitch count for his next outing this Saturday.  Owners with DL and bench spots should look to stash Bedard, who might be coming off the disabled list sometime around the July 4th holidays.

Five things for 6/21:

• Welcome to 2010, Matt Holiday. Two home runs yesterday on top of one on Saturday and one on Friday. Holliday is now hitting over .300 too. Currently, the Cardinals outfielder is just the 23rd most valuable OF, according to ESPN’s player rater, but he’s moving up. Last season, he had a 1.047 OPS in the second half.

• Welcome to 2010, Dustin Pedroia.  Two stolen bases yesterday on top of a pair the previous week. Pedroia is now the 4th most valuable 2B, and surprisingly, it’s based mostly on power (9 HR) and speed (8 SB). The career .304 hitter is batting just .284 this season.

• Welcome to the majors, new Houston Astros. In a roster overhaul, the team has called up two of its top prospects — catcher Jason Castro and third baseman Chris Johnson — who are both expected to play mostly every day. Both batters are nice contact hitters whose upside shows no better than average pop. Think A.J. Pierzynzki and a lateMiguel Tejada, respectively. At best. In other words, deeper leagues only. The team also called up Jason Bourgeois, whose playing time isn’t as certain but will qualify as a cheep speed option.

• Welcome to the majors, Brennan Boesch. The Tigers rookie OF is staying hot, slugging another HR yesterday afternoon to bring his total to 10. Certainly, he’s not a .337 hitter by any stretch of the imagination, but after leading Double A with 28 HR last season and now displaying a reasonable 81% contact rate in the middle of the Tigers’ lineup, he could be a nice #3 OF in fantasy leagues ala Ryan Ludwick.

• Welcome back to relevancy, Max Scherzer. Eight strikeouts and just one earned run in seven innings yesterday on top of consecutive quality starts. He now has 24 strikeouts in his last three games. He also finished the 7th inning in two of them — a feat only accomplished seven times in the 47 career starts before his recent hot streak.

Five things for 6/20:

• Chris Coghlan went 2-for-5 yesterday with a HR. His slash stats in June are now a ridiculous .431/.513/.738. Um, sell? YES! Maybe some will see the NL Rookie of the Year trophy sitting on Coghlan’s shelf and assume he’s back to normal, but we see nothing different except tremendous good luck, pure and simple. This month, his BABIP is .531 and his HR/FB rate is more than twice his career norm. Sell, sell, sell, sell, sell…

• Colby Lewis was one of our favorite sleepers coming into the season and he hasn’t disappointed in the slightest. Complete game last night. Nine strikeouts. No walks. He’s now striking out nearly a batter per inning with a strikeout-to-walk rate of 3:1.  His HRs-allowed has actually been tolerable, too. Only cause for concern from here on out is the summer heat and his schedule. So far, Lewis has faced one of the easiest schedules in baseball. That will change.

• Sticking in Texas, Justin Smoak is starting to reward those owners who stuck with him, with two HRs in as many days. Smoak’s average is still being dragged down by a slightly low .250 BABIP. He’s striking out too much, but then again, he’s showed a lot of patience at the plate, with a healthy walk rate too. That’s a very rare skill for a prospect his age. Nobody was sure whether Smoak would provide anything more medium pop and nice average, but 8 HR in 205 PA signals there could be some 30 HR seasons in him as he gets older.

• Hanley Ramirez left yesterday’s game with a hamstring injury and is questionable for today. Meanwhile, Jimmy Rollins is on track to return from his calf injury sometime early this coming week. With Tulo’s injury too, it’s getting harder than ever to get elite production out of a SS these days. Best strategy may be just to accept replacement value and focus on improving elsewhere on offense.

• Howie Kendrick has HRs in back-to-back games and has slowly been getting much better of late. Actually, he isn’t doing much differently. But when you’re a high contact batter like Kendrick — hardly ever striking out nor taking walks — you tend to be streaky as your success depends on luck on balls hit in play. What was going bad for Kendrick at the start is now going well. Conversely, Alberto Callaspo profiles as a similar batter yet has had the opposite season to date with a hot start and a recent cool-down.

Five things for 6/19:

• How to replace Troy Tulowitzki, who will miss about two months with a broken wrist? Probably one of the hottest adds in fantasy leagues over the past few weeks is Juan Uribe, who so far is providing a good average and nice pop, increasing both his walk and fly ball rate from a year ago. In slightly deeper leagues, Alexei Ramirez may be on the waiver wire after a horrendous start. Recently, the Cuban missile has been a lot better. Going much deeper, owners will have to look at players like Ian Desmond,Mike Aviles, and even gulp, Yunieki Betancourt. Tulo’s injury may be the most devasting of the year.
• Mets SP Hisanori Takahashi continues to be bedeviling. Two ugly starts against the Padres and Marlins destroyed any confidence that one could have about throwing the old Japanese dude onto for a start, but he’s rebounded with two great starts against the Orioles and Yankees, and now sits on a 3.13 ERA. He’ll continue to be high risk. He gets the Tigers next.
• Mike Stanton hit his first HR of his major league career — a grand slam off of Matt Garza. Surprisingly, Stanton has a pair of steals on the season, but hasn’t done too much else. He’s .257 in 35 AB and is striking out a ton as expected. He’s probably got a nice streak in him; on the other hand, he’s also bad streak away of seeing that 85% ownership dip drastically.
• Torii Hunter doesn’t get nearly enough credit as being a top-flight OF in fantasy leagues. He hit a HR and stole a base yesterday. He’s now on pace for 25 HR, 13 SB, 108 RBI, 94 R, and a .291 average. He quietly does his job and has gotten better in the late stages of his career.
• Derrek Lee has 3 HR in the last three games. This year has been a disappointment to Lee owners who may have expected better after Lee’s resurgent 2009 season of 35 HR. This year, he’s got 10 and a .232 average. He hasn’t been particularly unlucky at the plate. Owners just have to hope that Lee can turn it on the way he did in the latter months of last season. He makes an interesting trade candidate in fantasy leagues for bothsellers and buyers.

Saturday Special:

The five hottest players who have most risen on player raters in the past two weeks: Josh Hamilton, Jonathan Niese, Jason Hammel, Gavin Floyd, Carlos Pena

The five coldest players who have most fallen on player raters in the past two weeks: John Ely, Austin Jackson, Alex Rodriguez, James Shields, Jose Bautista

Five things for 6/18:

-Troy Tulowitzki left the Rockies game early last night after being hit on the hand by a pitch.  The X-Rays came back negative.  He may be out of the lineup for a day or two, but it seems like having him active for next week should be fine.

-Jimmy Rollins is scheduled to play in an entire rehab game tonight.  The report is that if things go well, he could be back with the big club on Sunday.  That means Rollins owners need to keep a close eye on the situation when setting next week’s lineup in non-daily leagues.  Rollins owners have been hurt badly by his boo-boos, and we know they’re ready to have him back.

-While it was first mentioned last night watching MLB Network, it’s worth mentioning here: with his HR last night, David Ortiz currently has the second most HR (14) through his first 55 games of a season in his entire career.  Granted, his 55 games this year have come through 68 team games.  Ortiz has picked it up a little earlier than he did last year and seems to remain as a force in the middle of the Red Sox lineup.  He won’t help your batting average, but the way he’s hitting seems to indicate he can continue from his second half of 2009 when he hit 27 HR from June on.  He should be active in your lineup and especially so in OBP leagues where his Average won’t hurt you.  If anything, just start him against righties.  His line against them in 2010 is .277-13-35 (.380 OBP and .631 SLG).

-John Ely had another rough start last night, giving up 7 ER in less than 5 IP.  Ely was a surprise in the first place, has never had a great K-rate, and could be on his way out once Vicente Padilla comes back.  The Dodgers rotation seems like a mystery though, with Chad Billingsly on the DL.  It could be a good time to sell him while he still has a little value.  If he’s been on your roster for the last few weeks, you likely got all the best of him anyway.

-Preseason hype speed-machine, Julio Borbon certainly didn’t start off the season on a good note.  While he’s still not stealing bases as much as you’d like, he’s batting .417 so far in June (20 for 48 at the plate).  Getting on base means he could get more steal attempts, but he’ll need to take some more pitches as his OBP sits at .301.  You know he’s going to put the ball in play (on pace for only 62 SO), and his BABIP has room for improvement for a slick-legged ground ball hitter (currently at .321 with a career of .338 and .442 in June).  Keep an eye on Borbon in the coming months if you’re in need of Stolen Bases.  He only has one this month but has the speed to go on a tear.

BONUS: Dayan Viciedo was called up today by the White Sox.  Viciedo is an impatient hitter with a high strikeout rate, but has managed to make the most of it when he hits the ball.  He may be worth picking up in very deep and keeper leagues, but we’d go after Pedro Alvarez first.

Five things for 6/17:

• Joe Mauer may seem like a disappointment this season with just 2 HR and a .311 batting average, but frankly, he’s only been one to those who short-change runs and RBIs as real fantasy categories and those who ignore positional value. Mauer has been the 3rd best catcher in baseball this year, which might not sound impressive, but let’s look at the relative fantasy values of some other 1st round picks:Albert Pujols has been the 3rd best 1B this year, Ryan Howard has been the 12th best 1B this year,Prince Fielder has been the 16th best 1B this year, Mark Teixeira has been the 18th best 1B this year, Chase Utley has been the 9th best 2B this year, Alex Rodriguez has been the 8th best 3B this year, Matt Kemp has been the 10th best OF this year, and Tim Lincecum has been the 13th best SP this year. (At least according to the player rater we’re using.) Cust kayin’.

• Jonathan Niese puts in his fourth QS in a row, although he only struck out three batters and faced the Cleveland Indians, aka The Almighty’s Gift To Pitchers. Not totally sold that his recent streak of success isn’t just fueled by a .219 BABIP in the month of June, but apparently, he’d go a long way tobringing Cliff Lee to Queens.

• Speaking of deities and trade targets, David DeJesus is on the trade block and also heating up at the right time. Ten hits in his last 13 AB to bring his average up to .329 on the season. DeJesus also contributes some lazy power and speed…but, he’s been just as valuable in fantasy leagues this year as the Upton brothers and always manages to finish the season as an unrecognized top 50 OF.

• John Buck has 12 HR. John Buck has 12 HR? John Buck has 12 HR!  John Buck has “12 HR” (and a 20% HR/FB rate). John Buck has 12 HR (and Jose Bautista has 18 and Vernon Wells has 16 and Alex Gonzalez has 13). John Buck has 12 HR.

• For the time being, the answer to the question, “Who is Sam Demel?” is “The guy the Diamondbacks got back in the Conor Jackson trade.” Before long, however, the answer could be, “The guy who came out of nowhere this season to replace the sucky Aaron Heilman after the sucky Chad Quallscouldn’t get the job done.” Arizona called up the relief prospect yesterday and he responded by pitching a perfect 8th inning. In Fenway. Someone to keep an eye upon.

Five things for 6/16:

• Conor Jackson was traded from ARZ to OAK yesterday. Manager Bob Geren sees him as a right-handed Daric Barton and the A’s starting LF. The fallout: Eric Patterson, Gabe Gross and eventually Coco Crisp will see reduced playing time, and Gerardo Parra gets his first real crack at a full-time gig.
• Sneaky SP pickup: Tommy Hunter, who acquitted himself well in 2009 and has looked even better in 2010, putting up a 9/3 K/BB ratio in two starts. But the main reasons to pick him up are two juicy matchups: 6/22 against PIT/Zach Duke and 6/27 against HOU.
• Jake Arrieta has won his first two starts in the majors, limiting the Yankees and Giants to 4 runs in 13 innings. However, his success is based on a flukey hit rate and HR rate – his xFIP sits at 4.91. Prior to the season, we cited Arrieta as the last of the BA Top 100 Prospects with a majors ETA of 2010. Keep tabs on him, but don’t expect much from the non-phenom Orioles rookie SP.
• Has Delmon Young finally become a solid major league player at age 24? After his sizzling start to June, we’d like to think so. He’s made concrete improvements to his batting profile across the board: contact, plate discipline and power. While he’s hacking as much as ever, he’s making much more contact – his contact rate is 83.7% versus a 75.9% career average. This leads us to think he might be fouling off more pitches, driving a much improved BB/K ratio of 0.64, versus a miserable career average of 0.24. What’s more, his isolated power is up to .205 against a career average of .134. It’s time to look at Delmon not as an overhyped failure, but as a useful component of a fantasy outfield.
• Injury update: A DL stint could be in the cards for Erick Aybar, who injured his knee in a collision during Monday’s game. Maicer Izturis is the primary beneficiary…Chad Billingsley landed on the 15-day DL with a groin strain. This means John Ely and Carlos Monasterios will keep their rotation spots for the time being…Marco Scutaro is day-to-day with a neck injury. He’s been hot in June so let’s hope he returns in the next day or two…Huston Street is hoping to return on Sunday, which means owners in weekly leagues should have his status on their front-burner.
• Following up on bullets from the last two days - Pedro Alvarez will officially be called up to MLB today and Aaron Heilman will start to get “the majority of save opportunities” in Arizona.

Five things for 6/15:

• Andres Torres continues his remarkable out-of-nowhere season. Last night, he went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks. On the season, he’s hitting .302 with 3 HR and 11 SB. Torres spend more than a decade in the minors before getting his chance to shine as a 32-year-old. His minor league career was awfully inconsistent and though he flashed some good averages with speed, he also was prone to striking out. There was hardly anything to indicate he’d be a solid regular major leaguer. We’re encouraged by a strong 13.4% walk rate, but we still think it’s a poor bet he keeps up this pace.

• Reds GM Walt Jocketty believes that Brandon Phillips won’t require a trip to the DL. That’s good news for the superstar who has been red-hot of late, hitting .591 in the past week. Only Robinson Cano has been a better 2B this year. Phillips hasn’t really improved his skills from previous season, but he’s gone from a .284 BABIP in 2009 to a .333 BABIP in 2010, which has fueled the value spike. Regardless, Phillips has become very reliable for those core power-speed skills.

• Pat Burrell hasn’t been thought of lately in fantasy circles, especially after he was cut from the Tampa Bay Rays. But he’s enjoying his new digs in San Francisco, hitting .407 with 2 HRs for the Giants. Keep in mind that before last season, he hit 32 HR, 29 HR, 30 HR, and 33 HR in the four prior seasons. Throughout his career, he has also been one of the streakiest players alive.

• Jonathan Sanchez has been superb this season with a 2.78 ERA and a 1.15 WHIP. One could also make the case that there may not be a better sell-high candidate in baseball. He’s definitely improved his control this season, and he enjoys a very pitching friendly ballpark and a great defense behind him. On the other hand, he seems to have earned better command by not trying to strike out so many batters. His strikeout rate has slipped. A low hit rate and a low HR/fly ball rate contributes heavily to his surface stats. Going forward, there could be some regression, plus he’s young, and won’t get much run support from the Giants batters. He probably commands more trade value than prospective value at the moment.

• Many people were prematurely throwing Kevin Gregg off the ship after a four run ninth inning on June 1st, when it appeared that his grip on the closer gig could be in jeopardy. Since then, he’s only appeared in three games, but has saves in two of them. Gregg has earned some more rope as the Blue Jays closer, and he’ll likely be up-and-down throughout the season.

Five things for 6/14:

• Is Chad Qualls reign (of terror) as Arizona’s closer over? That seems to be the indication from the manager. Currently, Qualls sits on a disgusting 8.46 ERA and has blown 25% of his save opportunities this year.  His walk rate is up, his fastball velocity is down, he’s allowing more HRs, and batters are making more contact with pitches outside the zone. That said, his strikeout rate is up too and there isn’t a tremendous difference in his fly ball-to-ground ball rate this season from last. His xFIP is 3.55. He may be unlucky, but we’re not sure it’s wise to speculate on regression in a small sample set such as a reliever’s innings, plus he might lose his job. Unfortunately, Aaron Heilman seems next in line and can hardly be counted on stability either.

• Ted Lilly never gets much love each spring during drafts despite a 3-year average of a 3.71 ERA, a 1.15 WHIP, and a strikeout rate of nearly a batter per inning. Yesterday, he nearly no hit the White Sox and now has an ERA at 2.89 and a WHIP under 1. He’s always been a bit HR-friendly, but otherwise, he might be the most underrated pitcher in baseball.

• Sean Rodriguez has been semi-hot of late, carrying a 14-game hitting streak and three HRs over the last two weeks. However, it’s hard to recommend a guy who has taken just five walks the entire season, is the beneficiary of a .400 BABIP, and may lose playing time with the return of Jason Bartlett from DL.

• Ian Kinsler has been just adequate enough not to blare the sound of vuvuzelas about a huge fantasy bust. But those injuries keep annoying owners and he’s shown virtually no power whatsoever this season. Just 1 HR. To pour salt in the wound, thanks to recuperation from an ankle injury, he’s been reticent to steal bases too. Just 4 SB. Right now, Kinsler carries a tremendously high upside/risk profile in fantasy leagues.

• There’s building buzz that the Pirates will soon call up Pedro Alvarez to the majors. The top prospect profiles to have similar upside to Ryan Zimmerman, but perhaps not immediately. Not if he strikes out a quarter of the time. (That’s his K% at AAA this season.) We could see him being a very hot waiver wire addition, and perhaps he’s good for a nice streak to start his career, but we’d probably be selling in non-keeper leagues.

Five Things for 6/13:

-Who the heck is Daniel Nava!?!  Over his career, he’s been overlooked (even by his college team) until yesterday when he bashed a Grand Slam on the first MLB pitch he’d ever seen.  Nava has only spent a year and a half in the minors after having his Independent League contract purchased for $1 by the Sawx.  Since then, he’s hit to a tune of .345-15-95 between A+ and AA ball in 2009 and 2010.  From the looks of things, he’s a sweet swinging lefty with a good eye (86 BB in 653 minor league PAs).  Granted, this all has come with a BABIP in the minors around the .400 range.  Nava seems to have the skills, but his time is likely limited once Jeremy Hermida comes back.  Keep an eye on the kid just in case he proves everyone wrong again, but picking him up just yet might be hasty.

-If you haven’t picked up Carlos Lee yet, you’ve probably missed the boat.  Over the last 15 days, he’s hitting .283 with 5 HR.  While he started out slow, he’s just about to be on pace with what we expected coming into the season—with the exception of his batting average.  You should expect that to come around soon, too, as his BABIP still only sits at .216.  Make sure to have him active in the coming week.

-While speaking of quick turnarounds, Jose Bautista hasn’t had a hit since his 2 HR night on June 4th.  Everyone expected a regression from Bautista, and it looks like it’s coming now.  Believe it or not, Bautista is on pace for 100 BBs this year, making him a good option to continue starting in OBP leagues despite his recent troubles.   If he manages to hit Home Runs at a reasonable rate, he’ll still be an asset in those leagues.

-Fausto Carmona is once again exceeding expectations this year.  The last time he was worthy of a bench spot was 2007.  He managed to shut down the Nationals last night with a complete game, 3-hit gem.  Ten of his 13 outings have been Quality Starts this year.  In two of the other three starts, he allowed 0 ER in 5 IP, 4 ER in 6 IP.  His ERA now sits at 3.23.  His success can be partially attributed to his decreased walk rate and low BABIP (.258).  He likely won’t perform THIS well all season, but his 55.5% ground ball rate should keep the Home Runs at a minimum.  His strikeouts still leave something to be desired, though.

-In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock, Stephen Strasburg goes against the Indians in about 5 minutes.  That should be another good matchup for the phenom and he should be in your lineup if you have him.  It’s more exciting than the typical interleague Nationals vs. Indians matchup, as we’ll get to see what Strasburg does against prospect counterpart Carlos Santana.  Santana hit his first big league HR last night.  You should be watching this game!

Five things for 6/12:

• James Shields got destroyed yesterday by the Marlins to the tune of 10 runs in 3 1/3 innings. His ERA for the season jumped nearly a full point and now he’s sporting a 4.55 ERA and a 1.42 WHIP. On the other hand, Shields has a phenomenal 82:19 BB rate. Is he a buy-low? Well, duh. If an owner is willing to sell low, you need to find stronger competition.
• Corey Hart increased his NL-leading HR total by slugging his 16th and 17th of the season in the last couple of days. Projecting forward is a tad tricky when it comes to Hart. He’s always been a streaky player. What’s more is HR/FB rate is a whopping 23% compared to a 12% career rate. His average might benefit from more luck, but he hasn’t shown much speed thus far. Still a good #3 OF, but don’t expect more.
• Erick Aybar got off to a very disappointing start, but has recently turned it on, with 14 hits in his last 25 AB. Seems to be a normal BA correction. He’s been back-and-forth with Maicer Izturis in the lead-off spot for the Angels and has 10 steals on the season. A decent, low-risk middle infielder and no more.
• Francisco Liriano has 21 strikeouts in the last two games. He had a couple of rough outings in early May, but he’s obviously living up to his potential at the moment. Compared to last season, his fastball speed is up by 2 MPH and it’s been a lot more effective. Last year, batters killed his fastball. This year, it’s been a slightly above average pitch. Combined with an increasing use of his devastating slider, Liriano is back to being one of the top pitchers in baseball.
• This is no secret, but Carlos Pena is H-O-T! He now has homered in five consecutive games after a pretty unlucky power draught to begin the year. His HR/FB rate is about where it should be at the moment, but he’s still suffered from a .206 BABIP, compared to a .283 career rate. His price tag just went up, but for teams in need of power, he’s still a good acquisition target.

Saturday Special:

The five guys whose season-to-date value has most gone up in the last two weeks on player raters: Matt Cain, Jonathan Niese, Justin Masterson, Chris Coughlan, Javier Vazquez

The five guys whose season-to-date value has most gone down in the last two weeks on player raters: James Shields, Randy Wells, Johnny Cueto, Adam LaRoche, Jayson Werth

Go U.S.A.!

Five things for 6/11:

• The Indians recalled Carlos Santana. Here’s his minor league numbers this season translated to the bigs: 10 HR, 31 R, 40 RBI, 5 SB, and a .266 AVG. That would make him a top top top catcher, if he fulfilled that potential. For years, we’ve been largely disappointed by the first seasons of elite catching prospects coming to the majors (Matt Wieters, Chris Iannetta, Jarrod Saltalamachia), but will Santana and Buster Posey be two of this year’s most influential players in fantasy leagues?

• News on the closer front: David Hernandez picked up a Save last night and will be used as a closer for the Orioles.  The O’s have had plenty of shifts in their bullpen, but this one is surprising. Still, maybe not terribly shocking. Who predicted Hernandez would eventually get a shot at becoming closer in March, 2009? Oh yeah, we did. Hernandez came up the system as a big strikeout SP prospect and has the potential to be much better than expected in his new role.

• Josh Hamilton is quietly having a 1st Round worthy year on pace for .307-35-113 with a HR last night.  Owners were down on Hamilton after troubles last year, despite his great 2008 season.  He only went in the 6th Round in 2010, and has been somewhat overshadowed by Vladimir Guerrero’shot start.  A healthy Hamilton should continue to mash, and the key question really is that health.

• Josh Johnson lowered his ERA below 2.00 last night, shutting down the Phillies for 8 Innings.  JJ is 3rd in MLB after Ubaldo Jimenez and Jaime Garcia in ERA.  He’s also had 11 consecutive Quality Starts since his first two mediocre outings to begin the season. The ERA leader board this season is pretty impressive, and assuming Ubaldo doesn’t keep his under 1.00 for the whole season, the Cy Young race is going to be extremely tight.  Outside of Lincecum and Halladay, most of the leaders were going on the cheap in preseason drafts.

• Among largely unheralded pitchers, Jonathan Niese and Brett Cecil continue to surprise with stellar outings last night.  We’re not sure what they’re feeding those boys in Canada, but it’s certainly working.  Much of Cecil’s success has come from his decreased walk rate (3.66 to 2.24 this year), his reduced HR/FB%, and a somewhat scary .242 BABIP.  He’s probably due for a bit of a regression in the BABIP department, but depending on your league depth he could be a nice asset. Niese has a miserable WHIP still but has unleashed back-to-back dominant starts. Of course, we’d like to see him perform against stronger competition before we make assumptions.

Five things for 6/9:

• In case you’ve been living under a rock, Stephen Strasburg is amazing. A few absurd statistics from last night’s debut:
  1) Only five pitchers have hurled a game with 0 BB and 14+ K in the past 110 years: RogerClemens, Randy Johnson, Mike Mussina, Javier Vazquez and Brad Penny.
  2) His fastball averaged 97.5 MPH. Coming into tonight, Ubaldo Jimenez led MLB in average FB velocity, at 96.6 MPH over all 2010 starts. He has not averaged faster than 97.5 MPH in any game.
  3) 19.1% swinging strike rate. This is nearly twice as high as both Jimenez’s no-hitter and Roy Halladay’s perfect game.
  4) The most strikeouts in a MLB debut since J.R. Richard in 1971.
  Credit to ESPN for the first and last factoids.
• Mike Stanton’s nearly-as-anticipated debut also went well. Stanton, batting 7th and playing RF, went 3-5 with two infield singles and a strikeout. He’ll have to up the power to meet fantasy owners’ high expectations, but this should loosen him up a bit.
• Juan Uribe has taken well to San Francisco over the past two seasons. Counting yesterday’s solo HR, he’s put up 76 R, 25 HR, 93 RBI and a .285 AVG in under 600 AB since joining the Giants prior to 2009. He’s even managed up the BB and cut down on the K this year – his nearly 0.5 BB/K ratio would be a career high. Throw in his 2B/3B/SS eligibility and he’s earned a shout-out.
• Sean Rodriguez is currently riding a 9 game hitting streak which includes 3 extra-base hits and 6 RBI. However, his ghastly plate discipline ratio has actually gotten worse, going from 4/32 BB/K before the streak to 4/39 now. He’s not ready for prime time yet.
• Lost in the shuffle of many good pitching performances Monday – Zach Greinke and Felix Hernandez notwithstanding — was the continued success of Jason Hammel. Look at his statline since coming off the DL in mid-May: 3-1, 33 IP, 29/6 K/BB, 3.00 ERA. Hammel teased some great potential last year and some some in the sabermetric community predicted great things for him this season as a quality LIMA pick. Get him while his season ERA is still in the 5’s.

Five things for 6/8:

• Carlos Silva continues to surprise, holding the Pirates to one run over seven innings to run his record to 8-0.  With a WHIP at 1.06 (sixth in the NL) this deep into the season, is it too ridiculous to believe that Silva has simply figured out a way to strikeout more batters, and that he can consistently perform this well in 2010?
• Cole Hamels had a no-hitter in the seventh before the first of two Adrian Gonzalez homers broke it up.  However, he was outdueled by Wade LeBlanc, who held the Phillies scoreless over seven innings.  Speaking of that, being held scoreless is something the Phillies are getting all too used to – they have been held to 29 runs over their last 15 games, for a paltry 1.93 runs/game.
• Dan Haren was able to avoid the homerun ball for the second straight game and looked to be en route to a strong outing before Atlanta started knocking the ball around in the sixth inning.  He still held on for his sixth win of the season, and looks to be slowly digging himself out of his early 2010 hole.
• Blake Hawksworth and P.J. Walters got knocked around for St. Louis yesterday and the Cardinals badly need to plug the hole for their fifth starter.  Meanwhile, prospect Lance Lynnwas named the organization’s pitcher of the month for May.  Hmm…
• Some of you may have heard, but a minor league prospect named Stephen Strasburg is making his major league debut today.  Someone for deep-leaguers to keep an eye on…  All joking aside, Yahoo! is rumored to be live blogging the event, and the Nationals have easily sold out the stadium. Meanwhile, that other prospect Mike Stanton will likely be making his first major league start in Citizens Bank Park tonight.
• Bonus: The season is still early, but we’re encouraged by the showing of FBJ contributor Brian Mills in the 2010 Razzball Commenter League Master Standings. He’s currently #2 overall of 252 teams. Next year, FBJ will be competing in the National Fantasy Baseball Championship so watch out America. Also, make sure to check out Brian’s great series about trading for powerand trading for speed in H2H leagues.

Five things for 6/7:

• The Marlins called up super-prospect Mike Stanton. It’s hard to know exactly what to expect from him. On one hand, he shows elite power and is a threat to lead baseball in HRs from here on out. On the other, he strikes out a lot and could be liable as a batting-average killer. ThinkJay Bruce or Chris Davis. Still, his upside is so immense, he’s got to be owned in virtually all leagues, especially if it takes time for pitchers to realize not to give him anything to hit.

• One player who has gone a bit underneath the radar this season is Aubrey Huff. In 2008, Huff hit 32-HR and batted .304. He was drafted fairly high entering 2009. But after an extremely disappointing season, he was hardly on any rosters entering this year. Few people liked his move from batter-friendly Camden Yards to pitcher-friendly AT&T Park. But Huff has a way of being streaky hot, especially playing for new teams, and this year, things are clicking. Over the last 30 games, he’s hitting about .340 with five HRs.

• Another player who always seems to get it going when you’ve finally turned the page is Hideki Matsui. Similar to Huff, Godzilla can be a bit streaky. Both players do a good job of taking walks and making contact. He’s got 13 hits in his last 8 games including 3 HRs. Unowned in over a third of leagues. Of course, he’s only DH-eligible in most leagues, but he’s played 7 games in the OF this season, so a few more would help his stock.

• It’s going to be overshadowed in the hullabaloo over the promotion of Stephen Strasburg, but Pirates’ top pitching prospect Brad Lincoln is expected to make his debut this week. Formerly the #4 overall selection in the 2006 draft, Lincoln lost a lot of his luster after undergoing Tommy John surgery in 2007. But over the past two years in the minors, he’s been great, with a 3.37 ERA in Triple-A in 2009 and a 3.16 ERA in 2010 along with a great K:BB ratio. Worth keeping an eye on.

• On Friday, Wade Davis let up 8 runs to the Rangers, bringing his ERA up to 5.03. That’s right on par with his xFIP too, at 5.06. We’d say that Wade Davis is only one or two bad games away before the cat-calls to replace him in the rotation get much louder. Now that Strasburg and Stanton are both up, eyes turn towards Rays pitching prospect Jeremy Hellickson as the next top prospect expected to make an immediate difference in fantasy leagues. Hellickson has been arguably as good as Strasburg this year, with a 2.28 ERA and 71 Ks to 18 BBs in 71 IP. He hasn’t allowed an earned run over the last three games, a span of 21 innings. Preemptive FAAB bids and waiver claims may be in order very soon.

Five things for 6/6:

• Hanley Ramirez is batting leadoff in today’s game. That might come as good news for all those who are disappointed by just eight steals on the season. However, Hanley has become a more reticent base stealer recently — and not very effective either. Some are questioning whether he’s even a top five pick next year, although given the paucity of talent at the SS position, we think it’s almost a lock he continues to be seen as one of the most valuable players in baseball.
• Speaking of positional scarcity, Chase Utley was valued for many years as a guy way above his class at 2B. That talk was muted coming into the season because the position was strong — but still, Utley was a top pick. Right now, he’s just the 9th most valuable 2B on ESPN’s player rater. A lack of speed and average seem to be doing him in at the moment.
• Let’s keep talking about top-round picks: Mark Reynolds is the 15th ranked 3B on ESPN’s player rater in a year when talent at the position was supposed to be yuck. Coming into the season, a lot of people feared that the speed that Reynolds showed last year — 24 steals — was a fluke. Well, he’s only got 3 on the season so far. The second argument against Reynolds was that as a free swinger, he wouldn’t be able to maintain the .260 average from a year ago. Well, he’s at .218 right now. Worst yet, he’s been in and out of the lineup with various injuries.
• Zach Greinke is currently the most traded player in fantasy baseball. Giving up 13 base-runners to the Angels a few days ago in 6 IP didn’t help much, but we’re guessing his owners feel really aggrieved by just one win so far. He’s still a great pitcher, of course, but his strikeout rate is also down from 9.5 K/9 a season ago to just 7.2 this year. He’s got a 4.27 xFIP. There’s good reason to both buy and sell the Royals ace.
• Mark Teixeira always starts slow and then heats up, yada yada yada. OK, when is that going to happen? Five strikeouts in six hitless ABs yesterday brings his average down to .215. Just 8 HR and a lingering toe injury too. Now 26th among 1B on the Player Rater.

Five things for 6/5:

• We first had our eye on Brett Cecil in spring training of 2009, when he was one of the most impressive young starters in baseball, combining the ability to strike out batters with an aptness for inducing ground balls. Unfortunately, his 17 starts in the majors last year weren’t too impressive and he began this season without any spot in the Blue Jays rotation. Now, he’s got a 3.43 ERA and has great numbers across the board. Even more validating is 8 impressive innings against the mighty Yankees last night, giving up just one earned run. That should make his owners feel secure enough to trot him out on a regular basis. Only owned in half of leagues.
• Similarly, Kris Medlen of the Atlanta Braves did all the right things, but got scuffed up a bit in his first cup of coffee at the majors last year. He started out this season in relief, where he was excellent with a 2.41 ERA. After Jair Jurrjens went on the DL, Medlen stepped up and has continued to be great, with a 3.03 ERA and 19 Ks to 6 walks in 29 innings. This includes just two earned runs allowed against the pretty good Dodgers yesterday.
• In a year when HRs are way down (more on that in this week’s Graphs of the Week), Jose Bautista has been defying trends and posting monster slugging numbers. He hit two more last night to bring his total to 18. That’s a 52-HR pace.
• Should owners give up on Aramis Ramirez? Two more 0-for-4 games brings his average down to .158. For a guy who has only struck out 15.5% of the time in his career, he’s sure been plagued with the whiffs this year, showing an ugly 25% strikeout rate. His ownership is finally starting to drop. One could point to 2006 as an example where Aramis started slow and tore it up as the season went along. But, he’s never been this bad.
• Grady Sizemore will miss the remainder of the season after undergoing knee surgery. OK, so let us be the first person to say he’s going to be a steal at next year’s draft! He’ll slip to the 8th round. Maybe the 10th. Hell, maybe even later. Just look at the perfect fantasy baseball draft we posted yesterday and check out how many guys who are on the list after having miserable seasons: Alex Rios, Roy Oswalt, Vlad Guerrero, Vernon Wells, Magglio Ordonez. Grady and Aramis — the two best sleepers in the 2011 fantasy baseball draft? Hmm. Then again, maybe the lesson of Grady is to be wary of investing in risk. Those who don’t learn from history…The definition of insanity…ah, the joys of over-analysis.

Saturday special:

The five players whose seasonal value has most increased on player raters over the past two weeks:Matt Cain, Brett Cecil, Mike Napoli, Brandon Phillips, Adrian Beltre

The five players whose seasonal value has most decreased on player raters over the past two weeks:Tim Lincecum, John Danks, Wade LeBlanc, Chase Utley, Wade Davis

Five things for 6/4:

• For those desperate for saves, suddenly Houston is the hot spot to watch after Matt Lindstrom blew his third save in the last four opportunities. In the last week, Lindstrom’s ERA has gone from 1.40 to 3.47. In two of those games, he lost his command, which has been his Achilles Heel throughout his career. He’s still got some rope before he loses his job, especially since Houston is going nowhere. Brandon Lyon figures to get the next shot, although a 3.47 ERA masks a 5.01 xFIP.

• Looks like Jose Lopez is finally heating up after some left him for dead…again. Lopez hit another home run last night, his second in 3 games, and has hit safely in every game from May 22 to June 3.  He had a slow start, but has a reputation of doing so.  He came into the season relatively underrated, and has a lot to make up to fantasy owners right who took him in the 10th round and have held onto him.  Lopez doesn’t walk much, so he could hurt a little in OBP leagues.  But he has been able to maintain a reasonable batting average after May and is a threat for 25 HR and 100 RBI.

• With the plethora of pitchers off to great starts this year, one former phenom has gone somewhat under the radar.  But Jered Weaver may be on track for a Cy Young Award season. Hey, guess what? He’s leading the Majors in strikeouts! Weaver certainly seems to have found his stride this season, and all of Weaver’s peripherals point to the performance being real (his BABIP, LOB%, and HR% are right in line with his career numbers).  He’s improved both his ground ball and strikeout rates this season, thanks to what appears to be an increased willingness to use his nasty curveball.

• Kurt Suzuki is starting to pick up the pace with 2 HR last night against the Red Sox.  Suzuki has had injury problems to start the season, adding to a disappointing start to the year.  His real value comes from consistent ABs at the catcher position and a low strikeout rate.  His career high in HR came last year with 15, but the solid contact could be a sign of things to come.  Hopefully the A’s can put together some RBI chances for him.

• A couple of injury notes. Orlando Hudson, who is surprisingly 8th in MLB in Runs Scored, should be back over the weekend. Same goes for Vlad Guerrero, who has been one of this year’s best returns on investment. Jason Bartlett goes to the DL. Jimmy Rollins may be back in 2 weeks. Brett Anderson injured the same elbow that kept him out a month and was lifted from yesterday’s game. Big concern. And we’re still waiting news on Jorge De La Rosa’s return as whomever covers baseball in Denver seems to be sleeping. (Sorry.)

Five things for 6/3:

• According to the best research we can find, about 30 million people play fantasy sports in North America. About 15% of leagues use perfect games as a category. Armando Galarragawas owned in 5% of leagues before last night’s near perfect game, but only started in about 2% of all leagues. That’s still high enough to believe that somewhere out there, someone in a fantasy league is arguing that Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm’s proclamation that Galarraga really did pitch a perfect game should supersede the official scoring by the commissioner’s office of Major League Baseball that counted an umpire’s blown call as a hit. What’s the percentage that this person plays in a big money league? What’s the chance that the decision will cost this person a championship? And what’s the probability this aggrieved fantasy competitor will sue umpire Jim Joyce? Hmm.

• The Cleveland Indians are the new Houston Astros — a woefully pathetic hitting squad. If that wasn’t made clear by the fact they were nearly subject to a perfect game by an opposing pitcher who is owned in 5% of leagues, perhaps it’s evidenced by the team’s pathetic .682 OPS for the season. They could sure use a hitter. Yesterday, manager Manny Acta called up the team’s superstar prospect Carlos Santana. No, not to the majors. He just phoned him to see how he was doing. D’oh!

• You know a player has struggled when CBS Sports puts a red “hot” sticker on a player for having two two-hit games in three days. That’s hot? Yeah, Roseanne Barr hot, we guess. But Gordon Beckham will take anything he can get these days.

• A few days ago, a reader asked us to give some love to Jose Reyes after going 18-for-39 (.462). The Mets SS and former #1 fantasy pick has followed that up by going hitless in 9 AB, although he did take a walk and steal a base yesterday. The first rule of fantasy is never talk about a good streak. It looks like Reyes has his wheels back, but unfortunately, there’s not much in his peripherals to indicate he’s due for a tremendous amount of improvement on either the average or power front.

• Today’s must-read fantasy advice article: “Trading and the Gambler’s Fallacy” — spot on.

Five things for 6/2:

• Scott Rolen – NL MVP? Hmm. The Reds are in first place in the NL Central no doubt due in large part to Rolen’s surprising resurgence. Two more HRs yesterday to bring his total to 13. Still unowned in nearly a quarter of leagues. That said, an abnormally high 20% HR-FB rate could point to a power slump down the road. Rest of the way: Rolen or Aramis?
• Speaking of HRs, Dan Haren has been giving up way too many this year, but managed to allow none in yesterday’s outing versus the Dodgers. He pitched 8 scoreless innings, struck out seven, and made more pitches (126) in any outing of his career. Haren has pretty good peripherals this year, but he’s a little too unstable and must contend with a hitter’s home ballpark. Rest of the way: Haren or Hughes?
• The window to acquire Rajai Davis for very cheap has officially closed. In April, he hit .224 and looked like he was on the brink of losing every day PT. Now, he’s leading the majors with 23 SB after picking up 8 in just the last week. Rest of the way: Davis or Figgins?
• Joey Votto returned from a week of neck rest to hit a HR, two singles, and a triple. On a per-game basis, Votto has been the most valuable 1B in the NL this year. Rest of the way: Votto or Fielder?
• There hasn’t been much talk about Brett Myers, but after striking out 10 batters last night, the Astros pitcher now has a 3.04 ERA and 2.27 strikeouts for every walk. Myers doesn’t get much run support in Houston, but he’s gone at least 6 innings in every game this season and has 8 quality starts in 11 outings. Rest of the way: Myers or Nolasco?

Bonus hits…

• Troy Glaus hit a HR for the third straight game yesterday.  This stretch includes a 4/1 BB/K ratio, which means Glaus is really seeing the ball well. He led the NL in RBIs during May (with 28) and has picked up right where he left off. Glaus is one year removed from a .270/27/99 campaign and hits in the middle of the Braves lineup between Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones and Brian McCann.
• Deep leaguers: keep a close eye on 3B/2B? Neil Walker. Walker was posting a MLE of a .805 OPS in AAA Indianapolis, and last night he made his 5th start at 2B and hit his first MLB home run. It was a game-winner. Not sold yet? He’s batted #2 behind fantasy darling Andrew McCutchen for four straight games.
• Is Kevin Gregg losing his grip on the TOR closer role? Taking into account last night’s meltdown, he’s been extremely mediocre, saving 13 of 16 games with a 4.50 ERA and 29/15 K/BB ratio. If you want to short Gregg’s stock, the pick to click is Jason Frasor: he’s right handed (sorry Scott Downs), throws hard (sorry Shawn Camp), and has saved games recently (sorry everyone else).
• For those in daily leagues, a few day-to-day injuries to monitor: Mark Teixeira’s foot, Ryan Ludwick’s thumb, Bobby Jenk’s calf/ineffectiveness, Felipe Lopez’s calf, David Huff’s head, Todd Coffey’s thumb, Orlando Hudson’s hand, Placido Polanco’s elbow, Jason Bartlett’s hamstring.

Six things for first day of the sixth month of the year:

• The Mets Japanese duo of Hisanori Takakashi and Ryota Igarashi had a rough outing at Petco Park last night, giving up six a piece.  Jerry Hairston Jr. helped the Padres set a scoring record with his grand slam.  The homer was his third in the past week and he has become an interesting play in NL-only leagues with his multi-positional eligibility.
• Chad Billingsley recovered from giving up three homeruns in the first 2 innings to go eight, striking out 11 while walking none.  Though he didn’t get the win as the Dodgers didn’t plate the winning run until the bottom of the ninth, Billingsley has gone 4-0 in his last 5 outings with a 9.55 K/9.
• Brandon Morrow had a no-hitter going through 5 2/3 innings before a Sean Rodriguez infield single broke it up.  He finished with 7 innings and 1 ER to hold on for the win against Tampa Bay.  Though he only walked 2, he also only struck out 1, perplexing considering his stature among the AL leaders in strikeouts.
• After being hit by a pitch in the second, Derek Jeter left yesterday’s game in the seventh inning with a tight left hamstring.  He’s just day-to-day for now, but track the news today to see if it’s anything more serious.
• Somebody slow down Corey Hart!  Yesterday was his fourth homer in the past four games, bringing his season total to 13…impressive for a guy who was battling Jim Edmonds for a starting spot at the beginning of the season.  Edmonds is coming off the DL today, but don’t expect Hart to lose much playing time.
• Interesting possible news on the position-eligibility front: Michael Cuddyer got the start at 2nd Base yesterday and hit a HR. He may get more games there as Orlando Hudson nurses a wrist injury. Cuddyer isn’t doing that much this year, but he’s coming off a 32-HR season and owned in virtually all leagues. Having 2B eligibility would be a boon to his owners, opening some interesting roster flexibility and maybe trade possibilities in fantasy leagues.

Five things for 5/30:

• Roy Halladay pitched a perfect game yesterday. OK, you already know he’s good. Here’s the question: Should Halladay owners sell high? No, we don’t expect him to collapse or anything like that. But if someone owns Roy Halladay, they might expect to see some fairly enticing offers from teams struggling in pitching. There’s got to be a price for anything — especially a pitcher. So congratulations if you have Halladay, but you may have another big decision to make.

• Buster Posey was called up and went 3-for-4 in his first game. The minor league equivalencies of his numbers in Triple-A this year were 5 HR, a .296 AVG, a .370 OBP, 25 R, and 24 RBI. That’s arguably a top 3 catcher. He should be claimed in all leagues. Also, Posey’s promotion opens up other fantasy trade possibilities, as discussed in our article this week.

• Poor Kendry Morales. Hits a walk off grand slam and breaks his ankle celebrating at home plate. Probably going to be out for three months, very devastating to his owners. It’ll be interesting to see what the Angels do next. Possibilities include (1) Position switches: Maybe Howie Kendrick moves to 1B and Maicer Izturis takes 2B. (It’d also give Brandon Wood another shot.) Or maybe Mike Napoli gets switched. (2) Trades: Lance Berkman,Jason Giambi/Todd Helton, Ty Wigginton/Garrett Atkins, Lyle Overbay, Fernando Tatis. (3)Free agent signings: Ryan Garko, Carlos Delgado…Watch the situation.

• Speaking of catchers, Tampa catcher John Jaso is hitting .313 with 17 walks to just 10 strikeouts in 83 AB. He also got the start yesterday at designated hitter, instead of Hank Blalock, which is news that demands to be noticed in AL-only, keeper, and deeper leagues. Getting ABs from your catcher is tough because they require so much rest and hit very low in the batting lineup. A catcher-eligible player hitting DH in Tampa’s fearsome lineup? Hmm, that’s interesting.

• Believe it or not, we’re not totally dismissing Carlos Silva’s astonishing turnabout this season. OK, it would be a mistake to expect more 11-strikeout games, such as the one yesterday against the Cardinals. (11 Ks for Carlos Silva!!!) But as long as he’s showing elite command and keeping the ball on the ground nearly 50% of the time, he can be effective. He was terrible in the American League — one of the worst pitchers in baseball no doubt — and yet…don’t make us say it.

Five things for 5/29:

• Some great pitching yesterday (Cain, Gallardo, Santana, Lee, Hughes, Marcum, Carpenter, Sheets, Slowey). But notWandy Rodriguez who after getting roughed up last night, now sports an ERA at 5.37 and a WHIP at 1.63. So what’s the problem? Hidden injury? Tipping pitches? Simply not as good as we thought? Our theory is that Wandy has a devastating curve ball, but hasn’t been able to develop any plus secondary pitches and Houston’s catchers aren’t calling a good game. Batters seem to be a good job reading Wandy these days. Until he readjusts the game plan, he’ll continue to be spotty.

• Matt Thornton got the save for the White Sox yesterday, striking out 3 in 1 & 1/3. Thornton hasn’t allowed a run in May. In case you’re wondering, Bobby Jenks wasn’t available to pitch because of a right calf strain, although he allowed 3 runs and 6 baserunners in his last appearance. We’d say that change is imminent but we’re sure the White Sox would love to build Jenks’ trade value up.

• Joey Votto has been nursing a pesky day-to-day neck injury. Doesn’t sound too serious, although he could miss the weekend. Votto also seems to be earning a reputation for being fragile.

• Who is Andres Torres? Batting leadoff for the Giants, hitting nearly .300, getting on base nearly 40% of the time, has 2 HR and swiped 7 bases. Sounds good. On the other hand, he’s 32 years old and has spent eternity in the minor leagues doing not much, so we’d bet against him. Nice story, however.

• Supposedly, on rehab from Tommy John surgery and a drug suspension, Edinson Volquez looked sharp in 60 pitches thrown yesterday. He’s impressing the brass. Zzzzzz. No doubt that Volquez could be a sleeper in the 2nd half, but he also seems like a great sell low candidate, especially in keeper leagues. The odds are stacked against him contributing great value this season.

Saturday special:

Over the last two weeks, here’s the five players who have most improved their seasonal value to date: Jose Bautista, Matt Cain, Johnny Cueto, Johnny Gomes, Adrian Beltre

Over the last two weeks, here’s the five players whose seasonal value to date has most suffered: Tim Lincecum, Jered Weaver, Tommy Hanson, Geovany Soto, C.J. Wilson

Five things for 5/28:

• Nelson Cruz could be out again this weekend with another pulled hammy.  The word is that the Rangers will decide whether or not he’ll go back on the DL after a workout today.  Make sure to adjust your lineup(s) accordingly and hope for the best from the slugger.  The trip to the DL didn’t slow him down before, but you certainly don’t want him to miss any more time.

• Johnny Cueto recorded his 6th straight start with 3 ER or less last night against the Pirates.  Cueto has been somewhat disappointing over the past 2 years, but it looks like he?s found his groove in 2010. His next start will come against the St. Louis Cardinals, who haven’t been hitting very well this season.  Be a bit careful, though, as his HR/FB% may start to rebound back up to his career rate.  Right now, it’s at 8.6%, while his career number is 12%.  He’s still a solid play in mixed leagues.

• Interestingly, Carlos Marmol isn’t getting much hype this year. Despite still struggling with his command after four years in the Bigs, Marmol seems to have become an elite closer.  His walk rate still isn’t great (15 BB in 24 IP), but his strikeout rate should be talked about more: 49 Strikeouts in 24 and 2/3 IP!  Despite his walks, Marmol still has an xFIP of 2.09 and is making Eric Gagne circa 2003 and Brad Lidge circa 2004 blush a bit.  If Marmol continues his current pace, he’ll end the season with 165 strikeouts in only 83 IP. For comparison sake, Rich Harden is also on a 165 K pace.

• Milwaukee relief pitcher John Axford picked up a win in extra innings yesterday for the Brewers.  The closer situation is one to watch in Milwaukee with Trevor Hoffman on the rocks.  Axford has already sneaked in a Save, while Carlos Villanueva could see some 9th Inning action as well.  Axford has nasty strikeout stuff, but has had trouble finding the strike zone over the course of his career.  Perhaps he could be another Carlos Marmol-type player.  Outside of the walk rate, his peripherals are downright scary (though, we’re only talking about a small number of innings so far).

• Chris Iannetta got his first MLB start since being sent down to demolish AAA pitching earlier in the year, but it didn’t go well.  He ended the day 0-4.  Despite the fact that Iannetta destroyed AAA pitching for a sustained period, it seemed like a strange time to bring him back to the club.  Miguel Olivo has been arguably the most valuable catcher in baseball (and in Fantasy), and was benched last night after stealing 2 bases on Wednesday.  If you have them both, Iannetta being called up isn’t actually a good thing.  Now they’ll split time.  Predicting who will play is tough, and you’re losing a hot bat half the time in Olivo for a guy currently hitting under .115. Iannetta should bring the bat around, but he seems to have trouble when he’s not getting consistent at bats.

Five things for 5/27:

• Mysteries abound. Hisanori Takahashi made it through another six innings without giving up an earned run. For the season, the Mets starter has 44 strikeouts and only 15 walks in 38 IP. His stats over in Japan were good, but not spectacular. He’s 35 years old. He wasn’t even supposed to be the best Japanese pitching import this year for the Mets. Nevertheless, his funky delivery is getting it done and his next start comes in San Diego.

• Adrian Beltre has been a batting champ contender this year, but until yesterday, he’s been a little short on power. A pair of HRs against the Rays now makes five for the year. In the off-season, we tagged him as someone who might have a resurgent season in Boston, but also keep in mind that he currently has the sixth highest BABIP in the majors. He’ll need more power to off-set a slipping average in the coming months.

• Seth Smith is another player who hit 2 HR last night. Despite being used almost exclusively against right-handed pitching only, he only trails Miguel Olivo for most HRs by a Rockies player.  Smith sports a nice slugging percentage (.532) and hasn’t been striking out too much (13.5%), which adds up to the rare combination of a batter who can produce power and a nice average. He’s victimized by a low BABIP at the moment, but the long term prospects on Smith are excellent.

• David Ortiz is hitting .368 with 9 HR in May.

• CBS Sports says that the Palm Beach Post reported that the Marlins would call up a guy with the initials of M.S., although we can’t find the supposed article. Minorleaguesplits.com has an interesting new tool that lets one calculate minor league equivalency stats, or a prospect’s translated production at the major league level. For Mike Stanton this season? 13 HR and a .259 AVG. Pretty much the season to date of Kelly Johnson without the few steals.

Five things for 5/26:

• Following up on Orioles closer-of-the-day Alfredo Simon hitting the DL yesterday: MLB.com speculates that lefty specialist Will Ohman could get save opportunities for the Orioles. Ohman has been getting lots of Ks and GBs this year, which is good, but he’s a lefty, which often pigenholes all but the most special arms into middle relief. And keep an eye on AAA callup Frank Mata, who was closing games at that level.
• More Orioles moves: According to the Baltimore Sun, Chris Tillman will get the call to replace struggling David Hernandez in the rotation. He’d make his first start on Saturday @ TOR. He’s been very effective this year, with few HR allowed, a nearly 4/1 K/BB ratio and even a no-hitter in April. Perhaps this time he will be up for good. Tillman was Baseball America’s #22 prospect heading into the season, ranked right between Rick Porcello and Justin Smoak.
• Mr. Perfecto, Dallas Braden, was removed from yesterday’s game after pitching four effective innings yesterday – an unearned run and 4 K/2 BB allowed. If he was pitching well, why would he be removed from the game? Apparently Braden is having some trouble with his ankle. With Braden pitching to his potential this year, it would be a shame if this caused him to be sidelined for any length of time.
• Some good pitching news: recently-demoted SP Max Scherzer confounded AAA hitters again. He pitched seven innings, allowed 4 base-runners, struck out seven, and threw nearly 70% strikes. Tigers manager Jim Leyland thinks he will be back in the majors this year. The question is how soon.
• And now your daily Stephen Strasburg dose: he will start Saturday in AAA, but don’t expect him to be there much longer. He should be in the majors for good from early June on – perhaps making his debut a week from Friday against CIN.

Five things for 5/25/00:

A little short on MLB action last night, so we’ll look a little into some injuries, the minor leagues, and do some speculating.

• Going on the Disabled List: Alfredo Simon (Left Hamstring Strain), Ivan Rodriguez (Lower Back Strain), Kyle Lohse (Right Forearm Inflammation), Brad Penny (Upper Back Soreness), Homer Bailey (Right Shoulder Inflammation), John Maine (actually went on DL Friday, but Mets confirmed Right Rotator Cuff Tendinitis yesterday), Brandon Wood (No-hit-itis)
• Coming off the Disabled List: Rafael Furcal (activating on Tuesday, 5/29), Mike Cameron (activating on Tuesday, 5/29), Daniel Murphy (optioned to AAA), Brian Schneider (activated on Monday, 5/28) – Activate Furcal immediately as the Dodgers were very cautious in making sure he was back to 100% before bringing him back, but make the others show you something first.
• Still banished to the Farm: Alex Gordon is mashing (.338/.500/.708 in 65 AB), while Nolan Reimold is floundering (.100/.206/.200 in 34 AB).  Chris Iannetta is biding his time (.349/.447/.698 in 63 AB), whileJarrod Saltalamacchia just needs to get over his case of the ‘yips’ (.325/.374/.530 in 83 AB) and is seeing a psychologist.
• Minors prospect Lance Lynn might be worth a speculative pick-up in deep NL-only leagues…he’s turned it on lately down at AAA.  With Lohse and Penny hitting the DL, the Redbirds will need another starter and look what Dave Duncan has done with Jaime Garcia so far.
• And in real baseball, Brett Cecil has a stellar performance last night, holding the Angels scoreless over 7.1 innings.  With the way the Jays offense can mash, guys like Cecil, Ricky Romero, Shaun Marcum, and evenBrandon Morrow should be given serious consideration by owners hunting for the elusive “wins.”

Five things for 5/24:

• How many people concluded that Ben Zobrist’s 2009 season was a fluke after his miserable start this year? He’s now 13-for-his-last-23 and the window to acquire him for super-cheap has officially closed. Zobrist is now hitting .309 with 2 HR and 9 SB.

• We wrote about Edwin Encarnacion’s 3-HR game a few days ago. After two more HRs over the weekend, he deserves another note. He’s now got 7 HR in just 51 AB on the season and he’s owned in less than a third of leagues. Meanwhile, Jose Bautista hit his 14th HR of the season for the Blue Jays, leaving us just incredulous.

• Two home runs for Corey Hart over the weekend, as he seems to be grooving. Here’s a guy who has averaged about 20 HR and 20 SB with a respectable average over the last three seasons whose ownership dipped below 40 percent and is not yet back up to 60 yet. He’ll be featured in “Digging Deeper” later today.

• Scott Rolen got off to a pretty nice start this year with 5 HR in April. He’s actually turned it on even more in May with another 5 HR including a pair yesterday. He’s hitting .318 this month too.

• Finally, since our theme today seems to be players who have resurrected their value, we should mention Mike Napoli, who has hit a HR in each of his last three games. Now playing every day, Napoli is looking like a reasonable bet to lead all catchers in HRs by the end of the season and yet, he’s only owned in less than 60% of leagues, much less than the near universal ownership he enjoyed at the beginning of the year.

Five things for 5/23…

• Clayton Richard went his second consecutive game only allowing one earned run in seven innings pitched. He also struck out six. Richard hasn’t allowed more than three earned runs in any outing this season, has a 41-to-22 K:BB ratio, and of course, pitches in Petco Park regularly. Owned in less than half of leagues, too.
• Gio Gonzalez pitched a shutout against the Giants yesterday. The book on Gio has always been an intriguing mix of strikeouts and ground-balls and an inability to keep control of his pitches. Gio only walked one batter yesterday, although the Giants are fifth worst in the league in taking a free pass. Still, another intriguing pitcher who is owned in less than half of leagues.
• Carlos Villanueva blew a save opportunity last night. To be fair, the Twins have one of the best offenses in the league and Villanueva didn’t pitch too poorly over two innings. Still, the situation is unsettled and after the game, the Brewers called up Zach Braddock, one of the top relief prospects in the majors. A name to know.
• Jimmy Rollins, sigh, was placed on the DL. Again. Brad Penny was placed on DL too. PJ Walters was called up and holds a small amount of potential in deep NL-only leagues.
• Marlins prospect Mike Stanton hit two more HRs yesterday. We’re a bit more skeptical than most on this kid, but the time is nearly here to claim him in most leagues because there is a pretty good chance he’s called up next month.

5/21

• Edwin Encarnacion smacked three home runs in a victory over the Diamondbacks last night. Double-E has been hyped as a “post-hype sleeper” virtually every year until this one, so it might make sense that he actually finally becomes one now. Meanwhile, one shouldn’t shrug off the fact that in an interleague game, Adam Lind was the one to take the bench. Very soon, Travis Snider comes back from DL; Jose Bautista is hot as hell; Fred Lewis is hitting .333 in May; Lyle Overbay is doing decently and the Jays would love to showcase him for trade…who sits? We’re not saying it’s going to be ice cold Adam Lind every day, but there’s got to be at least some concern for his owners.

• Two of Double-E’s bombs came off of Dan Haren, who allowed four in the game. Yes, he went 8 innings and struck out 8 batters, and sure he has a 70-15 K:BB rate on the season, but at the same time, Haren is now 4th in the league in HRA/9. That said, his fly ball rate is down from last year and his ground-ball rate is up so we’re either talking fluke, or just perhaps, he’s tipping his pitches.

• Going into last night’s game, Mets pitcher Hisanori Takahashi had a 3.12 ERA and had one of the best strikeout rates in the league. Of course, he’s 35 years old and that was all in middle relief so nobody cared. But last night, he allowed no earned runs in six innings and struck out five. Against the New York Yankees. This at least should get command the radar screens of fantasy junkies everywhere.

• Jimmy Rollins is making a habit of appearing in Quick Hits. But the Jimmy Rollins rule requires that we mention he exited yesterday’s game by re-injuring the calf that kept him out for weeks. After the game, Rollins said it wasn’t as bad as the first time. That’s what she said.

• Roy Oswalt reads Fantasy Ball Junkie. Less than 24 hours after we decried his miserable fate in Houston, he demands a trade. Coincidence? If traded soon, the Mets. If traded in a month’s time, the Dodgers. That would be our blind guesses on where he might end up.

Saturday Special:

The five guys whose player rater value in 5×5 standard leagues has most improved over the last two weeks: Mat Latos, Clayton Kershaw, Joe Saunders, Luke Scott, and Alex Rodriguez

The five guys whose player rater value in 5×5 standard leagues has most declined over the last two weeks: Francisco Liriano, Dave Bush, A.J. Burnett, Brett Cecil, Barry Zito

5/20

Five things:

• Jorge Posada will be going on the DL and will miss about a month with a hairline fracture of the foot. The new everyday backstop in New York is Francisco Cervelli, who has posted incredible numbers this season, including a .373 average and a great ability to put the ball in play. What’s more incredible is that Joe Girardi is now batting Cervelli in the sixth spot in the fearsome lineup, giving him many RBI opportunities.
• Speaking of lineups, Shane Victorino kept his leadoff spot in the Phillies lineup last night, despite the return of both Chase Utley and Jimmy Rollins. Victorino has three steals in the last four games. Meanwhile, Rollins was moved down to the sixth spot.
• Ian Kennedy beat up the San Francisco Giants lineup as many pitchers do these days. But overall this season, Kennedy has a 3.24 ERA and a 1.1 WHIP and 49 strikeouts to 16 walks. He’s been a legitimate sleeper.
• Trevor Hoffman has been given a few days off to work on mechanics, whatever that means. This raises some questions: Who replaces Hoffman? (Probably Carlos Villanueva. PossiblyTodd Coffee.) Will Hoffman go on DL?  After Hoffman “fixes” his problem, will be inserted straight back into the closer role or must he show effectiveness in non-save opportunities first? For now, we’d prefer Villanueva to Hoffman for the rest of the season. Hell, we might preferZach Braddock to Hoffman too.
• The AL MVP race at the moment seems to be a dead heat between Justin Morneau and his incredible .482 OBP and Evan Longoria and his five category prowess. ZIPS now projects Longoria to finish the year with 35 HR and 15 SB — which is a fairly conservative estimate given his current 28 SB pace. Question: From this date to the rest of the season, would you prefer Longoria or Alex Rodriguez?

5/19

• In what Yahoo! Sports has dubbed LollygagGate , superstar Hanley Ramirez refuses to make amends for his lack of hustle and disrespectful comments toward manager Fredi Gonzalez and his teammates. We too hope that someone will tell Ramirez to can it , but this drama has kept Ramirez out of the lineup for at least one day so far, with potential for more.
• Carlos Zambrano will return to this Cubs’ rotation after a mostly lackluster stint in the bullpen. It is difficult to tell whether his pitches changed much during his trip to the ‘pen, but he did throw more fastballs. From a statistical perspective , he allowed an unusually high rate of line drives and hence a sky-high BABIP, though the always-profound K/BB ratio improved (look at the 2010 splits as a starter and reliever). He’s not the same pitcher as he was a few years, but the ERA is not reflective of his current skills.
• Nick Johnson had wrist surgery yesterday . He has demonstrated his trademark patience so far, but the contact and power has been lacking. He’s expected to return in mid-late July.
• Perhaps it’s time to worry about Josh Beckett, who was diagnosed with back tightness after his ugly Tuesday start against the Yankees.
• Are things as well as they seem with #1 fantasy pitcher Chris Carpenter? Lance Berkman seems to think Carp’s lost a couple feet off his fastball. However, the velocity is really about the same as it was for every season prior to 2009 . He put together another sterling performance  in last night’s ballgame. Bottom line? Don’t expect 17-4 with a 2.24 ERA to happen again, but don’t pay too much attention to what one player says either.

5/18

• Asdrubal Cabrera broke his arm last night and will be out for an undetermined period of time.  Luis Valbuena and prospect Jason Donald will now man the middle infield for the Indians in the upcoming future.  Donald isn’t a huge prospect but could be a usable MI in AL-only leagues in the short term.
• Aramis Ramirez hit a walk-off homerun in the 11th last night to finish a 2-for-5 day with 3 RBI.  That’s 9 hits in the last 9 games for A-Ram.  There’s been enough discussion on multiple sites about his situation, but his downfall is probably greatly over-exaggerated. His peripherals aren’t spectacular, but he likely still holds those skills that made him a great player in prior years.
• Jonathan Papelbon gave up two two-run homeruns in the ninth to blow the save in a back-and-forth game.  There’s no danger in him losing the job, but keep an eye on Marcus Thames, who hit the game-winning shot to finish with 4 RBI.  With Nick Johnson now slated to have major wrist surgery, Thames and Jorge Posada are likely to see a lot of at-bats at DH over the next few months.
• John Ely had another strong outing last night, holding the Astros to 2 runs over 7 innings while striking out 8.  With the Dodgers offense finally coming into swing, Ely is a decent add in NL-only and deep mixed leagues, as he is shown some capability to strikeout batters in the minors (7.8 K/9).
• Jimmy Rollins returned to the Phillies yesterday and had a good first game, going 2-for-4 with a double, RBI, and 2 runs scored.  While we’ve yet to see him attempt a stolen base, things look promising for Rollins going forward.  Part of that is due to the guys hitting in the middle of that lineup: Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth combined to go 5-for-10 with 2 HR and 10 RBI against the hapless Pirates.

5/17

Five things:

• The injury prognosis on Andre Ethier isn’t much clearer at the moment.  His fracture on the tip of his finger is small enough that the only treatment is time. The question is whether he’ll play through the pain or be given time off with a possible DL stint. The decision may not be made for a couple of days.
• Jimmy Rollins comes off the DL today. Coming off a calf injury, the big concern is that it’ll take him a while to be comfortable stealing bases.
• Grady Sizemore left yesterday’s game with a knee injury. Even before his exit, it’s reasonable to speculate about a hidden injury considering he hasn’t hit a HR and is batting just .211. Sizemore may eventually right himself, but no telling whether it’ll be this season. He also plays in a lineup that’s tremendously subpar. A reasonable sell-low candidate.
• The Nationals called up super relief prospect Drew Storen. There’s no reason at the moment to believe that the job of Matt Capps is in danger as the Nats closer has been more than excellent. But the move signals the team’s willingness to put it on the line — the Nationals are just four games out — and we should expect Stephen Strasburg to be called up in the next few weeks.
• It’s been a strange year for players with 2B/3B eligibility. On the plus side, Ty Wigginton continues to rake with 9 hits in his last 15 AB. Casey McGahee had three home runs last week. And Martin Prado had two yesterday. On the negative side, Gordon Beckham looks completely lost with an average below .200. Chone Figgins hasn’t looked much better except for 8 steals and a bevy of walks.

5/16

Five things you absolutely need to know this morning:

• Owners of Andre Ethier are nervously holding their breath. The Dodgers outfielder, who is currently the #1 batter on player raters, has incurred a small fracture at the tip of his pinkie finger and will be evaluated by doctors today. More news about how long Ethier will be out could be released later today.
• The Tigers decided to make a mini-shakeup by sending Max Scherzer and Scott Sizemore down to the minor leagues. Replacing Scherzer in the rotation is Armando Galarraga, who has been called up after demonstrating better control this year at Triple-A. The Tigers also say they plan to move Carlos Guillen to 2B when he returns from the injury list, which would mean better job security for the recently hot Brennan Boesch, who has hit 3 HR with a .388 BA in 67 AB. Boesch is coming off a season where he hit 28 HR in the minors. All this is significant news in deeper mixed leagues and AL-only leagues.
• A pair of set-backs on the closer carousel, including news that Brad Lidge is heading back to DL with an injured elbow and news that Huston Street was pulled after five pitches of a rehab outing. This probably means that Jose Contreras and Manny Corpas will get some additional time as the closers in Philly and Colorado, respectively, and if you want to gamble on the deep league sleepers, keep an eye on Scott Mathieson and Taylor Buchholz.
• Jose Bautista is having a season out of seemingly nowhere with 9 HR, including two more yesterday. His average is a killer, but he’s been taking his fair share of walks (21). He’s been the beneficiary of time missed by Edwin Encarnacion, and as recently as four days ago, Toronto Blue Jays coach Cito Gaston indicated that the 3B job is Encarnacion’s when he returns. Someone in Toronto — Bautista, Travis Snider, or Fred Lewis — will be losing playing time soon.
• We’re not sure which is more unexpected — Shane Victorino on a pace for 37 HR or Chase Headley on a pace for 40 steals. Needless to say, we’ll be the under on both. In fact, we might go under 20 too.

5/15

Five things you absolutely need to know this morning:

• Dallas Braden followed up on his perfect game with a complete game outing where he yielded four earned runs but only eight base runners. He struck out five and only walked one.
• David Ortiz hit two home runs versus the Tigers yesterday, bringing his total to six on the season. In the last 48 hours, we’ve seen at least a half dozen articles noting how hot 1B prospect Lars Anderson is at the minors and how the Red Sox may soon be in rebuilding phase.
• Pablo Sandoval left yesterday’s game with a foot injury but it doesn’t seem serious. For the season, Sandoval is hitting just .281 with 3 HR.
• Andrew McCutchen and Garrett Jones tag-teamed to go 10-for-11 with 2 HR, 7 runs, and 7 RBIs in a route of the Cubs. The damage was at the expense of former Pirate Tom Gorzellany, who seemed to have been getting things together before yesterday’s beating.
• The only guys who started and didn’t get hits in the Blue Jays 16-10 victory over the Rangers wereIan Kinsler and Justin Smoak. Welcome back, Nelson Cruz. Nice to meet you, Max Ramirez. Where have you been, Fred Lewis. About time, Adam Lind. Keep it going, Travis Snider. How’s it going, Brett Wallace Lyle Overbay.

Saturday Special

The five guys whose player rater value in 5×5 standard leagues has most improved over the last two weeks:Andre Ethier, Mat Latos, J.D. Drew, Jake Peavy, and Alfonso Soriano.

The five guys whose player rater value in 5×5 standard leagues has most declined over the last two weeks:Carlos Pena, Casey Kotchman, Max Scherzer, Felix Hernandez, and Colby Rasmus.

5/14

A little late today because the server was down. Thankfully, we’re back up!

• Matt Latos briefly flirted with perfection last night, throwing a 1-Hit Shutout against the Giants with 6K’s. His WHIP is now below 1.000 and he’s had 3 consecutive quality starts. He ruined a great outing by Jonathan Sanchez in the 1-0 pitcher?s duel. Speaking of pitchers duels, Johan Santana seems to be fine, as he and Josh Johnson threw gems against one another last night.
• Miguel Olivo followed up a 5-5, game-winning HR night going 2 for 3 with a HR against the Nationals. Unfortunately for the Rockies, it was in a losing effort, as Jouhlys Chacin had his first rough MLB outing, giving up 6 ER over 5 IP. The Nationals have shown they can hit this year, led byRyan Zimmerman and his pair of HR (#7 and 8) last night.
• The Orioles called up Corey Patterson and let him play on consecutive days to relieve their struggling young OF. Patterson hit a HR last night, which is more than most of the O’s outfield can say. Patterson can be ignored at this point, but if the Orioles stick with him for some reason, he could be a sleeper source of steals. Don’t expect him to do much else for your fantasy team.
• Zack Grienke finally picked up his first win of the season, striking out 8 Cleveland Indians on the way. Grienke has pitched well this season, but the Royals offense and bullpen have done nothing but let the defending Cy Young winner down. Grienke’s K-rate is down a bit this year, but it’s still early and his ERA sits at a pretty 2.73.
• Brennan Boesch continues to mash for the Tigers, and is making some think he might be worthy of a roster spot in mixed leagues. His line currently sits at .368-3-16 (1.068 OPS) in only 57 AB’s. Boesch showed a ton of power last year in AA, but has never really shown much patience at the plate. He might be worth a flier as long as he keeps starting, and should probably be picked up in deeper leagues, but don’t be surprised when his .391 BABIP begins to catch up with him.

5/13

Five things you absolutely need to know this morning:

• Javier Vazquez had his first quality start of the season, only allowing two earned runs in seven innings while striking out seven. Just call it a hunch, but we think people have been too down on him so far. Throughout his career, he’s been streaky.
• Speaking of streaky players, Nick Swisher certainly qualifies and he’s in the midst of a torrid stretch, hitting .351 with 6 HR in the last three weeks. Roto Think Tank has some good insight into Swisher’s new approach at the plate.  Swisher did leave last night’s game with tightness in his left bicep.
• Travis Snider has also been quite hot of late, hitting .375 with three home runs in the last two weeks. His plate discipline isn’t there yet, though. But for the time being, his seasonal stats are a virtual clone of Adam Lind’s, for better or worse.
• Derek Holland had a fantastic first start for the Texas Rangers, with seven Ks to one BB in 6 IP. Last year, Holland produced a 6.13 ERA after being called up to the majors, but he’s a top-notch prospect who got somewhat unlucky in 2009.
• Gordon Beckham has been batting in the 8th slot these past few days in Chicago’s lineup. His fantasy ownership has been remarkably resilient in the face of a miserable season.
• Bonus: We wonder if there’s any guy in baseball who may be more loved in fantasy circles and more loathed in his bullpen than Tyler Clippard. OK, perhaps that’s going too far, but keep in mind that the Nationals middle reliever now leads all of baseball with seven wins and five blown saves. Sure, he’s getting ton of wins, but four of them were vultured from other pitchers on his team after he gave up the lead.

5/12

Five things to absolutely know this morning:

• 

  Cueto

  Fantasy tease Johnny Cueto toyed with us as much as ever in yesterday’s game, pitching a complete game 1-hit shutout. Statistically, his gem featured a sterling 8 K/0 BB control ratio, 65% strikes and 15% swinging strikes, all very good numbers. Major qualifier: he beat the Pirates.

• Daisuke Matsuzaka turned in a gem of his own, throwing 7 scoreless innings against Toronto. It was his most impressive start since he threw 7 shutout innings against the Rays in the 2008 playoffs . Fun fact: He threw 62 of 105 (59%) pitches in the zone, which is an improvement of over 15% from his first two starts and higher than the YTD average for any pitcher (sort by Zone%). Pretty remarkable for someone who allows 4.2 BB/9 for his career.
• Cliff Lee picked up his first win with the Mariners with a crisp outing against Baltimore. Don’t freak out about the lack of K’s – he threw 69% strikes, is striking out nearly 6 per game and hasn’t walked a batter in 22 innings. Plus, the Orioles stacked the lineup with 8 right handed bats.
• Mark DeRosa appears to be out of commission with a hand injury . Speculation on the symptom? Let’s try ulnar nerve dysfunction, which would require surgery and a few months of rehab. DeRosa himself has hinted that he will likely need surgery although the team is being careful not to go that far just yet. Either way, his numbers have been lacking this year and if he plays through pain, you might not want him anyway.
• Welcome to 2010, Russell Branyan . It’s good to have you and your 400 foot pop-ups back in baseball. Branyan is not a fantasy star but he has proven to be a HR factory. Pick him up in deeper leagues, but have a contingency plan in case his back flares up again.

5/11

“Right now, we need those guys to settle in and get the job done the way they can before we’re going to consider evaluating any changes in [bullpen] roles.  We’re going to stay with it right now and, if we have to adjust, we’ll adjust as we go forward.”– Angels manager Mike Scioscia

• Joel Piniero had to be happy leaving the game last night against the Rays in the seventh up 4-0.  But Evan Longoria and friends has other plans, as Brian Fuentes blew a 3-run lead in the ninth.  No changes at the closer role are being made yet,  but with a 7.04 ERA, Fuentes probably can’t afford another outing like that soon.
• Ryan Braun took a Tommy Hanson fastball to the left elbow in the fourth inning of last night’s game, and was tended to by trainers for several minutes.  It looks like a day-to-day injury, but keep an eye on Braun in the next few days.  The Brewers also placed Carlos Gomez on the disabled list, which will mean some extra PT for Jim Edmonds and Jody Gerut, especially if Braun is out in the short-term.
• Outside of plunking Braun, Hanson had a great night against the rest of the Brew Crew, keeping them off balance over 8 innings while giving up only 4 hits.  While it wasn’t a perfect game, the win did lower the sophomore’s ERA to 2.30 on the season.  With some additional run support, Hanson should be a legitimate 20-win threat.
• Jorge Posada was back donning the tools of ignorance last night, notching a single and two walks in his catching return; it looks like his calf strain is now a thing of the past.  Brad Hawpealso returned to right field for the Rockies while Carlos Gonzalez was out tending to family matters.  After Gonzalez returns, there will likely be a bit of a logjam for Seth Smith, Eric Young, Jr., Melvin Mora, Clint Barmes and possibly even Ian Stewart.  We’ll be interested to see how manager Jim Tracy doles out the at-bats.
• The 7.46 ERA-toting Josh Beckett had his next start pushed back two days, then proceeded to injure himself swinging the bat. Was the rotation push just a chance for Beckett to work out some mechanical issues or is Red Sox manager Terry Francona a bit hesitant to throw Beckett out there upcoming against AL East foes Toronto and New York?