"March 2011" Monthly Archives

NL Quick Pitch: The big news in the NL on opening day was the performance of closers. Ryan Franklin, John Axford, and Jonathan Broxton all gave owners reason to worry, while Craig Kimbrel saw his value rise. Clayton Kershaw and...

Wade Davis SP (TB) – Davis just signed a long term extension with the Rays, but what are his fantasy prospects for this year? Well, last year Davis was simply below average – 6.05 K/9, 3.32 BB/9 and 39.2 GB%....

Brandon Belt - The big news today in San Fran is that Brandon Belt has indeed made the Opening Day roster and will be the starting 1B at least until Cody Ross is healthy, pushing Aubrey Huff into RF. Belt...

AL Fantistics Daily Notes - March 31, 2011 Today is the best day of the year! Opening Day is finally here, so make sure you set your lineups for active players since there are only 6 games today (and only...

We'll call this one the "Brandon Belt Edition".... lots of good young first baseman in the big leagues already, with Belt and Freddie Freeman on the way and soon enough, Eric Hosmer. I just got done watching Rubby De La...

Preseason Fantistics Analysis - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 We’re only one day away from Opening Day. At this point, you probably already had your fantasy draft and just want to get the season started. We do too. For today’s preseason...

It's that time of the year again, Preseason Baseball is underway and we'll be carrying the pitcher box scores here every morning. Please be aware that the early preseason box scores can be deceiving. Pitchers, especially veteran pitchers, sometimes...

There Is Value In Houston’s Rotation, Part Deux I wrote about Wandy Rodriguez and Brett Myers in Saturday’s article, so now let’s focus on Bud Norris and J.A. Happ today. First, did you know Bud Norris’ real name is David...

Thoughts on carrying a 5th RP With the taxi squad being set at 14 players, there has been some talk on the discussion board on whether or not carrying a 5th RP is a good idea. I don’t believe it...

Figuring out the Outfield Outfield is always one of the toughest positions to preview. There are just so many potential plays here that it is tough to cover even a good chunk of them. So, I’ll tell you how I...

Behind the plate Generally, I like to go cheap at catcher as I’d rather spend my money on a safer, more predictable position that offers more upside. Well, we are in what some consider to be a golden age of...

There Is Value In Houston's Rotation The strength of this year’s Houston Astros team lies in the starting rotation which features Wandy Rodriguez, Brett Myers, J.A. Happ and Bud Norris. I’ll talk about Rodriguez and Myers today and leave Happ...

A 2B Battle on the north-side of Chicago? Heading into the season it seemed likely the Cubs would go with a straight platoon of Jeff Baker and Blake DeWitt at 2B, but with DeWitt struggling mightily this spring (.167/.180/.250) its...

TORONTO BLUE JAYS Closer Update The Jays’ bullpen has been hit with a couple of injuries, shaking up the closer situation. Expected closer Frank Francisco received good news from Dr. James Andrews the other day – no structural damage, a...

Preseason Fantistics Analysis - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 New York Yankees Is a bad start to the season a thing of the past for Mark Teixeira? Mark Teixeria is a notoriously slow starter. Ask any fantasy owner about Tex’s April...

New York Mets The Second Base Situation Shaping Up?...The day Mets fans have been waiting and hoping for finally came this past week. Luis Castillo was shown the door and the Mets firmly locked the door behind him. Don’t feel...

Jhonny Peralta - After struggling during his 27 and 28 year old campaigns, Jhonny Peralta finds himself written off by many as a second-tier option entering the 2011 season. It seemed to me, however, that there were some positive signs...

Injury news, positional battles, a retirement announced. Lots of things happening in spring training. You can follow me on Twitter @fantisticspaul (http://twitter.com/fantisticspaul - for the full link) for occasional (and hopefully increasingly frequent) baseball insights. Neftali Feliz- TEX- Feliz will...

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Another day, more happenings at major league Spring Training. You can follow me on Twitter @fantisticspaul (http://twitter.com/fantisticspaul - for the full link) for occasional (and hopefully increasingly frequent) baseball insights. Opening Day is right around the corner! Chris Davis- TEX-...

KANSAS CITY ROYALS Is anyone in this rotation worth owning? As of now, the projected Royals’ rotation, in no particular order, looks something like this: Kyle Davies, Jeff Francis, Bruce Chen, Luke Hochevar and Vin Mazzaro. Kyle Davies should not...

Preseason Fantistics Analysis - Wednesday, March 16, 2011 New York Yankees The rotation saga in the Bronx (or Tampa for now) continues as we try to figure out how the Yankees plan on wrapping up the back-end of their rotation....

This is part 2 of the TFC preseason preview. In part 1, I laid out my initial TFC team along with a preview of the corner infielders. Now, it's time for... Up the middle Second Base One of the nice...

Jarrod Saltalamacchia – Red Sox – Salty draws more attention this spring as the Red Sox primary catcher with the ancient and venerable Jason Variteck backing him up. The Red Sox chased Salty like a jilted lover before landing him...

Jason Castro Is Out. Houston, We Have A Catching Problem. Heading into spring, the Astros expected their best minor league prospect Jason Castro to claim the starting job behind the dish. Unfortunately, a torn ACL has sidelined Castro for most,...

Here are some news, notes and glimpses of the future from spring training... I have finally joined the twitterverse. I'm sure I won't be as frequent with my tweets as our resident Twitter king, Drerw Dinkmeyer, if you would like...

TFC Preview Last season I posted my roster prior to doing my position by position preview, and I’ll do the same this year. Seeing the whole roster first makes viewing the position by position analysis more meaningful. So, without further...

As we enter into the third full week of spring training games, we’re right at the precipice of when spring training starts to become a bit more meaningful. We’ll have the first round of roster cuts this week, as minor...

There was a time in early January when it appeared that not having a rotisserie style salary cap game for fantasy baseball was a distinct possibility. That’s why, when Fantistics founder Anthony Perri told me he was interested in forming...

Dodgers notes… My first day out at Camelback Ranch here in Glendale, Arizona for Dodgers spring training was rather uneventful. A few quick observations on a couple key players / situations: Jerry Sands (1B/OF) – Man-crushes…nothing wrong with them. I’m...

Preseason Fantistics Analysis - Wednesday, March 9, 2011 Milwaukee Brewers The big news hitting the wires in the last 24 hours is that Zack Greinke will be starting the season on the 15-day DL with a broken rib and is...

Clay Buchholz – Red Sox - Let’s start here. I like Clay Buchholz. I think he has #1 potential and he is capable of being a very special pitcher. That having been said I feel compelled to point out all...

New York Mets Being Shown the Door? Part One...Things are heating up in Mets camp as manager Terry Collins plans on making the first cuts and trim the roster by March 14th. One decision that Mets have already made is...

The Inconsistent Player Several years ago we introduced Consistency Factor and it's implications to both Head to Head leagues as well as all Fantasy leagues regardless of their scoring setup. We run and update this piece every season because...

Kansas City Royals Jarrod Dyson- Speedster in consideration for leadoff spot As of writing this, the Royals’ have played 5 Spring Training games, with Mike Aviles leading off three times, Lorenzo Cain once and Jarrod Dyson once. Dyson is the...

Carlos Guillen - 2B and LF are really the only spots where there is potentially some competition this spring for Detroit, and most of the 2B uncertainty surrounds Carlos Guillen's health. The 35 year old has only averaged 386 PA's...