"May 2008" Monthly Archives

Carlos Marmol Entering the ninth inning in a save situation, Marmol converted, but not before allowing Scott Podsednik’s first homer of the year and sixth since 2004. It was Marmol’s third save of the season to go with his major...

Joakim Soria: Quietly Soria is developing into one of the top closers in the major leagues, a perfect 12 for 11 in saves with a stingy 0.84 ERA. His skill set; 10.6 K/9, 2.1 BB/9, and a 49% GB%, completely...

First Pitch: Splitsville Part II As promised earlier in the week, we’re back with the second edition of “Splitsville”. After taking a look at Team Batting Splits, which should aid in making pitching decisions for your fantasy team, we’ll take...

Alexi Casilla- MIN- Hot- Casilla has been on fire since being inserted in the lineup to fill injury holes. He is hitting .340 with 12 RBI and 7 runs in 12 games. A major factor in Casilla’s success has been...

Ted Lilly - Walking to the Cubs game yesterday, I knew it was going to be "one of those days." The stiff wind straight over my head in the bleachers spelled trouble for my boy Ted Lilly who is a...

Jorge Campillo – Entering play yesterday, Campillo had a .86 ERA and .830 WHIP, and he was downright awesome again in his third start of the season yesterday. He allowed just one run (the only run he has allowed in...

Santiago Casilla: Casilla, who has been out with a strained elbow ligament, is on schedule for a return in the middle of June. If healthy, Casilla has shown the kind of skills; 10.2 K/9, 1.8 BB/9, and a 47% GB%,...

Jamey Carroll- CLE- Hot- Carroll went 2-for-3 yesterday to extend his current hitting streak to 6 games. In that span he has gone 8-for-20 and raised his batting average from .172 to .231. Carroll’s Batting EYE has declined during the...

Oliver Perez - Another disappointing outing for Perez. He's now just 2-for-5 in QS this month with a 5.58 ERA, 1.37 WHIP, and an atrocious BB/9 of 5.87. While walks and wildness has been his weakness, the long-ball was his...

American League 40 Jose Tabata NYY OF B Finally hit first HR on May 21. .275 AVG in May is much better than .200 April mark. 41 Beau Mills CLE 1B B 15 doubles hints at his power potential and...

Jason Giambi - Giambi now has an OPS of 1.146 for the month of May after a double and a homer last night, and that obviously doesn't count another ball that he hit to the warning track in left-center, which...

Value Picks - May 28, 2008 Good morning and welcome to Value Picks.  As we've been writing about all season, value picks aims to help you identify players who are either floating on your free agent wires or have been...

Mark Reynolds: According to Manager Bob Melvin, Reynolds will remain the starting third baseman despite the return of Chad Tracy. Reynolds has legitimate major league power, 25 home runs and 26 doubles in 158 career games, and surprising speed, a...

Jon Garland - Garland rattled off his fifth straight quality start last night, holding the Tigers scoreless over 7 1/3 innings while allowing four hits and three walks against five strikeouts. More walks and fewer K's, Garland's lot in 2008...

Michael Bourn- HOU- Hot- Despite going 0-for-4 on Sunday, Bourn has to be considered on a roll. Even without benefit of a base hit, he scored, collected an RBI and stole a base. Over his last 5 games Bourn has...

Hopefully everyone is well rested after the long and well deserved holiday weekend! Before we get into our usual Sabermetric Tuesday column, let’s take a moment out to recognize and appreciate all those who have made it possible for all...

Daniel Cabrera - Don't sit there and act surprised by this. We have all seen it way too many times before with Daniel Cabrera. After a few dominant outings of quality starts, low walk, and high strikeout totals, Cabrera always...

Aaron Cook: This is a public service announcement to those Aaron Cook owners out there, please proceed to your league site and post a note that Cook is available at the right price. In other words: SELL HIGH. I warned...

Jesse Litsch: I highlighted Litsch earlier in the week with the Value Picks column as a nice two-start pitching option next week and then the Jays conveniently re-shuffled their rotation so Litsch wouldn’t pitch twice next week, making me look...

Clayton Kershaw The Dodgers made it official Saturday, purchasing Kershaw’s contract from Double-A Jacksonville and designating the awful Esteban Loaiza for assignment. Loaiza incidentally ends his Dodgers career with these numbers: $8.5 million in pay and a 6.94 ERA in...

Gavin Floyd – It seems that we are always hating on Gavin Floyd, and he keeps proving us wrong. Last night Floyd threw a complete game, allowing 3 runs. Once again, though, we witnessed a mediocre at best skill set...

Carlos Zambrano tossed his 9th quality start of the season Friday night as he struck out 6 while giving up 2 ER on 6 H in 6 IP and collected his 7th win of the year. Zambrano is certainly putting...

Randy Wolf: The Randy Wolf roller-coaster continues! After posting a 6.85 ERA through his first four May starts, Wolf was terrific last night against the Reds. He surrendered a 2 run first inning HR to Ken Griffey Jr and then...

A Closer Look - May 23, 2008 Good morning.  In today's closer report, we'll take a look at the closer situation for every team in the league.  Obviously, many of them are stable situations with little reason for worry.  But,...

Brandon Wood: Brandon Wood was recalled from the minors. Considered a top prospect, Wood will not find consistent success until he improves his approach at the plate, 68% Ct% and a 4.8% BB% in Triple-A. Mark Ellis: Ellis, who has...

Jack Cust- OAK- Hot- The pendulum has swung wildly in Cust’s favor. His .212 BHIPx at the end of April was probably not going to last, but it has soared to .286 over the last 3 weeks, meaning that it...

Jonathan Sanchez - Have you ever seen that web site that tracks the movement of dollar bills through the country? I think its called http://www.wheresgeorge.com/. Well, I want to stamp Jonathan Sanchez in fantasy leagues and track how many times...

Unfavorable Matchups, American League Ivan Rodriguez Detroit (11 for 27, .407 CS%): 3 against LAA (Chone Figgins, Macier Izturis), 3 against Seattle (Ichiro Suzuki, Willie Bloomquist) Kurt Suzuki Oakland (12 for 32, .375 CS%): 3 against Toronto (Alex Rios), 3...

I’m going to skip the lead in this morning to our beloved Wednesday Value Picks column because quite frankly I’m in a state of euphoria right now and any small semblance of creativity my mind has is currently drifting towards...

John Lackey – John Lackey looked good in his second straight start after returning from the disabled list. He picked up the win against Toronto, going 7 innings and allowing just one run off of 7 hits. He also walked...

Jake Peavy: Peavy went on the DL with a strained muscle in his right elbow. Reports have him missing anywhere from two to six weeks. The Padres and fantasy owners are hoping for the former because his skills, 2006/2007/2008 K/9’s...

Bronson Arroyo- CIN- Cold- After two solid starts, Arroyo regressed in a big way, allowing 9 hits and 3 walks in 5 IP that led to 5 runs (3 earned). It could be a matter of fatigue as he had...

Josh Hamilton - Hamilton continued his hot hitting with his 11th homer last night, and with his strikeouts down 8% while basically everything else has remained the same, you've got to be more and more excited about his long-term potential....

Sabermetric Tuesday - Variability in Weekly Head-to-Head Match-Ups Welcome to Fantasy Week 8's edition of Sabermetric Tuesday.  Every week, we aim to introduce some unique ways at looking at statistics to help you make educated decisions about your fantasy...

Johnny Damon - A falling star? It certainly could be. Since joining the Yankees in 2006, Damon's FPI has gone from 0.71 to 0.64 last year and 0.61 so far this season. His OBP has also equally fallen from .358...

Randy Johnson: The Big Unit turned back the clock a bit on Sunday tossing 7 shutout innings against the potent Tigers lineup. Unit wasn’t as dominant as his younger days, striking out just 5, but he worked efficiently needing just...