"April 2008" Monthly Archives

American League 36 Carlos Triunfel SEA SS B 3-for-39 in first 9 games, 10-for-33 in last 8. Also 4 SB and 0.50 EYE. 40 Taylor Teagarden TEX C B AAA promotion came quickly and he could be TEX catcher of...

First Pitch - "Value Picks" - April 30, 2008Welcome to Fantasy Week 5's installment of Value Picks.  As you may have realized by now, we have focused one "First Pitch" per week on identifying players on the wires that could...

Boof Bonser – Bonser gave up only one run last night, a solo HR off the bat of Joe Crede, over 7 innings versus the White Sox. He allowed 6 hits, while striking out 8 and walking 1. That is...

Max Scherzer was absolutely filthy in his first appearance for the Diamondbacks. Edgar Gonzalez was pathetic in his 2.2 IP as he allowed 6 R and 8 H but Scherzer filled in an was phenomenal. Mad Max tossed 4.1 innings...

Before we get to this week’s edition of Sabermetric Tuesday, I’d be remiss if I didn’t correct a mistake in my player blurbs earlier this week. Amidst a long-winded rant about my beloved Bears not turning in a draft card...

Travis Hafner - Put simply, this is just not the same guy that we watched from 2004-2006. After making only 40% of his outs on the ground during that tremendously productive three-year stretch, Hafner's GB% has increased to 49% since...

Gregor Blanco- ATL- Rise Value- Blanco has been getting increased playing time as a result of his hot bat. However, his .364 average is getting some major assistance from a huge .478 BHIPx. His .78 Batting EYE is very close...

Chien Ming Wang - Wang's 4-hit shutout performance against the Indians on Sunday brought him to 5-0 with a 3.23 ERA and 1.18. The Yankee ace's value is higher than ever, especially now that he's added a strikeout pitch to...

Max Scherzer: The big news on Sunday was that the Diamondbacks called up top prospect Max Scherzer. Our own David Regan ranks Scherzer as the 8th best pitching prospect in baseball and rising thanks to an incredible start to 2008...

Joakim Soria: Save opportunities are always a difficult category to predict and for some reason most fantasy owners operate under the assumption that closers on good teams get more opportunities than those on bad teams. This usually drives down the...

Odalis Perez Perez was a surprise and well, laughable Opening Day starter, but I’m starting to think he’s found new life in Washington. With no expectations, Perez has a leg up on the competition for Comeback Player of the Year,...

Josh Hamilton – Fantistics preseason projections for Hamilton show that we thought fairly highly of him (.287/33/99), and so far he has not disappointed (.293/4/21) through the first 23 games. He also added to his totals last night, going 2-5...

As David Regan has shown all of you previously, Max Scherzer of the Arizona Diamondbacks is one of the top pitching prospects in all of baseball. To get a feel for the kind of stuff this kid has, check out...

Johnny Cueto: After allowing 5 ER’s for the 2nd time in his last 3 starts plenty of fantasy owners are going to begin to worry about Johnny Cueto hitting an adjustment period. Statistically speaking, Cueto IS hitting an adjustment period...

Eddie Guardado: Guardado is expected to return from the DL on Friday. Elbow surgery knocked out most of last season, but it has been shoulder soreness that has kept him out this year. Before he went down with the elbow...

American League 4 Matt Wieters BAL C A .385 with 4 HRs. So far ahead of the other catching prospects it's not funny. 5 Mike Moustakas KC SS A Just .193 in the early going, but 9:6 K:BB offers some...

Justin Masterson- BOS- Rookie- Last season, Masterson had an interesting stat line. He split the season between Class A Lancaster, tossing 96 innings, and AA Portland, where he threw 58. Masterson’s raw totals of both walks and strikeouts were very...

Ryan Howard - Its almost laughable at this point. Your #1 pick is bringing your entire team down and there's nothing you can do about it. Another 0-for-4 with 2 K's for Howard in last nights game, bringing his season...

AL Favorable Matchups: John Buck KC (.111 CS%, 1/9): 3 games against Texas (Ian Kinsler, David Murphy), 3 games against Cleveland (Grady Sizemore) AJ Pierzynski CHW (.222 CS%, 2/9): 1 game against Baltimore (Brian Roberts, Nick Markakis), 2 games against...

Value Picks - April 23, 2008Welcome to another edition of "Value Picks."  Once again, we'll try to focus on some players who are most likely floating around the waiver wires in your league and can be cheap value pick-ups. I'm...

James Shields – Shields has put up decent numbers so far this year despite a lot of bad luck. He gave up two more unearned runs last night, bringing his season total of unearned runs to 7 in just 5...

Manny Parra: In 2007 Parra put up impressive numbers in Double-A, 9.0 K/9 and a 2.9 BB/9, and in Triple-A, 8.7 K/9 and a 2.4 BB/9, before coming up to the big leagues where he put up big K’s, 8.9...

Josh Hamilton - The most exciting thing about Hamilton so far this year is not that he’s basically maintained his hitting stats crossing over to the tougher league, although that’s nice in and of itself. For me, the drastic reduction...

Mark Hendrickson- FLA- Hot- Hendrickson ran his record to 4-1 by allowing 3 earned runs on 8 hits and a walk in 8 IP against the Pirates. Cinderella has staved off midnight once again. A lot of factors point towards...

Gary Matthews Jr. is just one more example of an underperforming player early in the 2008 season. His huge drop-off over the last two years makes him even more unattractive from a fantasy standpoint and, for you, an opportunity to...

Jonathan Sanchez: I noted Sanchez as a deep sleeper in my pre-season projections article because of his big K potential and early on in the season he continues to flash brilliance mixed in with a lot of well… not so...

Sean Rodriguez: The Angels called up Sean Rodriguez to replace the injured Howie Kendrick on the roster. The 22 year-old Rodriguez showed some nice pop in Double-A last year, 17 home runs and 31 doubles in 508 AB. However, he...

Johnny Cueto It’s good to see that even when Cueto doesn’t have his best stuff, as on Saturday, he can still help his team win. Cueto allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits over seven innings, walking two and...

Conor Jackson - Jackson continued his assault on the NL last night, finishing up with a single, two triples, and a homer in five trips to the plate. He is hitting 364/473/750 on the year, and Drew's prediction for a...

While C.C. Sabathia probably couldn’t throw a QS against a middle school team right now, teammate Cliff Lee is almost unhittable. Lee threw 8 innings of 2-hit ball, while striking out 8 and allowing just 1 BB in the Indians...

Kyle Lohse – Lohse continues to dominate through 4 starts this season, as he pitched 7 innings giving up 2 earned runs off of 5 hits and walking none while striking out 3 versus the Brewers yesterday. Frankly, I’m as...

American League 2 Evan Longoria TAM 3B A The wait is over. Aybar's injury opens the door and Longoria should be able to stick in Tampa. 5 Matt Wieters BAL C A- Only 12-for-24 with 3 HR in first 10...

Julio Lugo: Lugo is off to a better start this year, .271 average in 59 AB, than the first half of last season, 4/34/.190. Unlike last year, he is not stealing bases, just 1 for 3. Unless his back is...

Jim Thome- CHW- Hot-Those in Chicago who have been calling for Thome’s head need to subscribe to Fantistics (heck, for that matter everybody needs to subscribe to Fantistics- tell your friends, relatives and neighbors!). If they did, they could look...

Adam Wainwright - Sometimes, fantasy players are just a bit too premature when assessing value in players. Alex Gordon is a prime example, as he had a rough debut year and is now looking like he's going to have the...

Favorable matchups for the week of 4/21 to 4/27: John Buck KC (.143 CS%, 1/7): 3 games against Cleveland (Grady Sizemore), 3 games against Toronto (Alex Rios, Marco Scuturo) AJ Pierzynski CHW (.167 CS%, 1/6): 3 games against NYY (Johnny...