"May 2009" Monthly Archives

Ervin Santana: After two decent starts off the DL, Ervin Santana figured to be a nice two-start option for this week with favorable matchups against the White Sox and Mariners (two teams that rank 23rd and 28th respectively in OPS)....

Mark Reynolds - Reynolds continued his hot hitting with a pair of doubles yesterday against the Braves, continuing a hot streak that has seen his AVG climb to a respectable .263. His BABIP is a good 70 points higher than...

Gordon Beckham (SS – White Sox) Gordon Beckham started at 3B in his first game at Triple-A on Thursday. This is significant due to the fact that Josh Fields and Chris Getz are both reeling at the moment. Beckham has...

Will Ohman: The Dodgers placed Ohman on the 15-day-DL with a sore left shoulder. After having a solid season with the Braves last year, 3.68 ERA, 8.1 K/9, and a 3.4 BB/9, Ohman has been a disaster this year, 5.84...

Ricky Nolasco: One of the more puzzling cases for fantasy owners this season has been Ricky Nolasco’s rapid demise. Despite showing solid skills (.85 K Rate, .30 BB Rate), Nolasco’s been crushed to the tune of a 26.3% LD Rate,...

Jorge Posada: Posada, who has been on the DL with a hamstring injury, could return as early as today. His nagging injuries will prevent him from catching on a regular basis, but his bat is still strong enough, 5/20/.312 in...

David Huff- CLE- Rookie- Huff is getting a third start after all. His first two were disasters, as he lasted no longer than 3-2/3 IP in either and gave up at least 6 runs in both. Huff has had uncharacteristic...

With nearly two months behind us, this is about the time where prospects who started the season in the big leagues no longer can be classified as prospects. This week, Colby Rasmus, Elvis Andrus, and Trevor Cahill dropped off the...

Kevin Millwood (SP - Rangers) - It was easily Millwood's least effective start of the year on a rainy, damp Tuesday night in Texas. After a LONG rain delay, Millwood took the mound against the Yankees and last 5.2 IP...

Jorge De La Rosa (SP – Rockies) On Tuesday, Rockies manager Clint Hurdle attributed Jorge De La Rosa’s recent poor performances to problems while pitching from the stretch. The numbers confirm Hurdle’s assertion. With men on base, De La Rosa...

Andrew Miller- FLA- Caution- Miller is making his first start since throwing a quality start on his 24th birthday. He matched his major league career high of 9 strikeouts in the game, so things are definitely looking up. On the...

Nelson Cruz - People want to lump (at least before the season) players like Nelson Cruz and Chris Davis into the same low contact, high power group, but I wasn't buying it then and I'm not buying it now. Davis...

Homer Bailey (SP-CIN) – Bailey was optioned back to Triple-A Louisville on Sunday and at this point, you have to wonder whether the Reds are running out of patience with one of baseball’s best pitching prospects circa 2006/2007. Bailey allowed...

Ben Zobrist: The Iwamura injury opens the door for Ben Zobrist to get full time AB’s. Zobrist is showing incredible power for the 2nd consecutive season in limited AB’s, posting a .614 Slugging % and a HR every 12.6 AB’s....

Jesus Guzman - First Base, San Francisco Giants The Giants purchased the contract of Jesus Guzman from AAA Fresno on May 21st. As they begin their tour of AL parks in this year's interleague play they will likely want to...

Nick Masset: The Reds placed Masset on the 15-day DL on May 19th because of a strain on his side, but it is retroactive to May 11th and he should be able to return as soon as he is eligible....

Jordan Zimmermann (SP - Nationals) - Typically, no quality starts in 5 straight outings wouldn't warrant much of a write-up on a Saturday morning. But one of the Nationals' top pitching prospects, Jordan Zimmermann, deserves a blurb after pitching...

Casey Janssen (SP – Blue Jays) Casey Janssen was called up from the minors on Friday and is scheduled to start on Saturday. Janssen had an effective, but not eye-catching ’07 season pitching out of the Blue Jays pen (2.35...

Jimmy Rollins: Rollins had his best day of the year on Thursday with a 4-6 effort with 2 Runs and a SB. Unfortunately even in Rollins best day we saw some of the reasons for pessimism. Rollins 4 hits were...

Rafael Betancourt: Betancourt earned a rare save yesterday, giving him 17 for his career against an astounding 23 blown saves. For the season, his 4.57 ERA and 4.6 BB/9 are on the high side, but his 9.7 K/9 is impressive....

Kevin Millwood- TEX- Hot- Millwood takes the mound this afternoon in Detroit having thrown quality starts 6 times in his first 8 outings of the year. He has gone at least 7 innings in every one except his last, when...

American League 24 Ben Revere MIN OF B+ Typical Revere - .410 in last 10 G. 14 SB but just 67% success rate. LH hitter .444 vs. LHP. 28 Chris Carter OAK 1B B+ Just .243 so far in May....

Raul Ibanez – Ibanez hit his 14th HR of the season last night. He’s on pace to shatter his previous career high of 33 – the only time he’s hit 30+ HR in a season. In fact, it’s the only...

Alexei Ramirez (SS - White Sox) - Maybe I'm just stubborn. Or maybe I have a hard time "letting go." But Alexei Ramirez continues to hold the SS slot in my 12-team mixed league and I plan on going down...

Gary Sheffield (OF – Mets) Following Carlos Delgado’s surgery, Gary Sheffield appears to be in line to occupy the clean-up spot on most nights for the next 10 weeks. Sheffield has started and hit 4th in the past 6 games,...

Andy Pettitte - I'm getting a little worried about one of my favorite players of all time. Career worsts in K rate, velocity, and contact% against are hampering Pettitte this season and causing him to nibble a bit more than...

Shairon Martis- WAS- FYI- Martis followed up a 110 pitch outing on May 2nd by allowing 9 hits and walking 2 in 5-1/3 IP the next time out. In his last start, Martis threw 109 pitches, perilously close to the...

Clayton Kershaw (SP-LAD) - Kershaw was spectacular Sunday, taking a no-hitter into the eighth inning against the Marlins before being pulled when the leadoff man, Cody Ross, laced a double to left. Kershaw had entered the inning having thrown 108...

Russell Branyan: The streaky Branyan is back at it again. Branyan launched his 9th HR of the season in a 1-4 efforts and is now 8-19 over his last 5 games with 4 extra base hits. Branyan’s an all-or-nothing free...

Laynce Nix - Nix doubled, homered, and walked in last night's marathon against the Padres, and appears well on his way to securing more time in the Cincy OF. Nix's development has come off the radar for the most part...

Nolan Reimold - Outfielder Baltimore Orioles Adam Jones' hamstring injury and a hot and fast start to the season in AAA conspired to land Nolan Reimold in the majors for his MLB debut on May 14th. A 2nd round pick...

Joe Mauer (C - TWINS) - In the past 4 seasons, Mauer has averaged just under 10 HR per year (in an average of 488 at bats). Yet, this season, after going long yesterday, he now has 6 HR in...

Rich Hill (SP – Orioles) Rich Hill is scheduled to make his ’09 debut against the Royals on Saturday. I feel it is necessary to remind everyone that Hill was an above average starting pitcher as recently as ’07 (3.92...

Wandy Rodriguez SP-HOU: I think it’s safe to say the light-bulb is officially on. It seems like Andrew and I have been alternating opportunities to praise Wandy and let you all know that this finally appeared to be the season...

Brian Bannister: Bannister pulled himself from Wednesday game after 5.2 innings due to shoulder discomfort, although he expects to make his next start. He has been very effective, 3-1 with a 1.80 ERA in 5 starts, despite having very average...

In our continuing series on player recommendations, today we take a look at the pitchers who are deviating from their projected production. I want to start this year's Pitcher segment by saying: historically pitchers have a much more difficult...