Daniel Hudson: Hudson continues to make the DBacks front office look like geniuses. He posted his 6th straight quality start since coming over from the White Sox and he’s worked at least 7 innings in all 6 games while posting

Wandy Rodriguez: Joe touched on Wandy’s elite peripherals prior to this start and he stayed on a roll on Thursday shutting down the Phillies over 7 innings, allowing just 1 ER on 5 hits and 1 bb, while striking out

Scott Baker: Its been frustrating watch Scott Baker continue to show great peripherals without any signs of a turnaround. Well on Sunday night we finally got a taste as Baker tossed 7 shutout innings against the Angels allowing just 5

Bud Norris: I think it might be time to start getting a bit excited about Bud Norris. Norris has always been a bit of a mystery. He’s posted tremendous K Rates throughout his career (9.39 K/9) but he’s always struggled

Ben Zobrist: I was asked via twitter, by SmartMoneyKL, to touch on Ben Zobrist which isn’t surprising given Zobrist is in the midst of a horrid 18-111 stretch that has dropped his batting average from .296 to .256. A look

Matt Kemp: One of the things we preach at Fantistics is how important batting EYE is and the reason being how often it aligns with consistency. When we talk about consistency we’re not only focused on consistency within seasons but

Chris Carter: Daric Barton went down Sunday with left shoulder spasms and the A’s immediately removed top 1B/OF prospect Chris Carter from a AAA game with Sacramento. Carter’s hit .262/.369/.532 in the PCL this season while racking up 27 HR’s

Mike Minor: With Kris Medlen likely facing Tommy John surgery, the Braves have already announced their intention to hand over his spot in the rotation to pitching prospect Mike Minor. Minor was the Braves 1st rd draft pick in last

Ryan Kalish: After collecting 2 hits in his major league debut, Kalish went 0-3 on Sunday with a K and a Sac Fly. With Mike Cameron banged up and Jacoby Ellsbury rehabbing Kalish will be guaranteed AB’s this week, but

Brett Wallace: While the Oswalt trade got all the headlines, spinning Anthony Gose into Brett Wallace might be the move the Astros end up celebrating in the end. Wallace was drafted by the Cardinals in the 1st Rd of the

Jason Kubel: Just when it looked like Kubel was getting things going, hitting .316/.356/.537 in June, the power disappears again and Kubel’s value fades. There was another glimmer of hope on Sunday as Kubel knocked out his 12th HR of

Domonic Brown: This one goes to twitter follower SmartMoneyKL for asking about a blurb on Domonic Brown. Ask and you shall receive and Follow me on Twitter and you can ask, thus receive! (@DrewDinkmeyer). With Jayson Werth’s name circulating in

C.J. Wilson: Wilson’s first start after the break ended up being a good one as he struck out 10 and allowed just 1 ER in 6 2/3 innings against the Red Sox. He struggled once again with command, walking 5,

Jair Jurrjens: Jurrjens was effective once again in his 3rd outing since being activated from the disabled list. He went 6 2/3 innings against the Brewers limiting them to just 1 ER on 5 hits and 2 bb’s while striking

Daniel Hudson: Despite being staked to an 8-1 lead after 3 innings, Daniel Hudson was unable to pick up a win in his 2010 debut as he failed to go the requisite 5 innings. Hudson finished the day allowing 5

Ian Stewart: After a blistering start to the season that saw Stewart hit .293/.386/.520 in April, Stewart has failed to post an OPS above .720 in either May or June. A closer look at the peripherals through the first 3

Michael Cuddyer: I recently fielded a question on twitter (now seems like a good time to self-promote if you haven’t been following me on Twitter why not? Free and timely baseball information and I’ll take questions via twitter and respond!

Travis Wood: We’ve now seen two rookies get the call before Aroldis Chapman in the Reds rotation and both of them have proven deserving of the shot during their first major league start. Wood shut out the Cubs for 7

Trevor Cahill: It looks like I was a bit conservative in my love for Trevor Cahill earlier in the year when I noted I didn’t think the K’s would come around enough that he’d be mixed league worthy. Well a

Brandon Morrow: It’s time to start taking Brandon Morrow very seriously. I’ve been skeptical that Morrow could ever consistently command the strike zone but hat tip to our own Mike Leone who has stood by him all year. Morrow’s K

Matt Cain: Paul has been all over Matt Cain as a risk due to the high pitch counts and whether Thursday’s outing was due to some fatigue or quite simply some unsustainable peripherals (.238 BABIP, 80% LOB%) that came into

Ubaldo Jimenez: I tweeted earlier this week that I thought Jimenez may be on the verge of hitting a rough patch (rough is a very relative term for Ubaldo). We’ve touched on some of the early season abuse Jimenez has

Delmon Young: Delmon Young just keeps on trucking. He extended his hitting streak to 10 games on Sunday with a 3 run HR, his 8th on the season, and is now posting his 2nd consecutive month with an OPS above

Jhoulys Chacin: Chacin lost for the 3rd straight time and 5th time in his last 6 starts on Thursday as he allowed 4 hits, 3 BB’s, and 4 ER’s over 6 innings against the Astros. Chacin continues to rack up

Nick Markakis: Markakis has been a huge disappointment this year and a close look at his peripherals reveals a 3rd straight year of declining ISO and SB attempts. His plate patience skills are still good (.97 EYE, 19% LD Rate),

Stephen Strasburg: Strasburg made his final minor league start on Thursday, throwing another 5 shutout innings and lowering his minor league ERA to 1.30 and 0.80 WHIP in 11 starts. He posted a tremendous 65/13 K:BB Rate over his 55

Dan Haren: I thought this was the Dan Haren we got during the 2nd half? The guy who struggled to keep the ball in the park and as a result struggled to pitch to his peripherals. This year the situation

Mike Napoli: Napoli homered for the 4th time in May and the 2nd time this week, raising his May line to .298/.365/.649. The power is coming back in a big way as he’s picked up 12 extra base hits in

Rickie Weeks: Weeks is mired in an extended and painful slump as another 0-4 on Thursday dragged his average down to .243 and made him just 20 for his last 109 with 37 K’s in that span. The extremely high

Joel Pineiro: Our own Thomas Massimo suggested Pineiro was due for some positive regression in this space earlier in the week and sure enough Pineiro tossed a complete game shutout on Sunday to get his numbers back in line. He

Starlin Castro: I was pretty negative on Castro’s fantasy value upon his call-up and as a Cubs fan I think this surprised some. Even after his magnificent debut, I was heeding caution. Castro’s skill-set is immense, but he’s only 20.

Ryan Zimmerman: Zimmerman was a one-man wrecking crew on Thursday night hitting 2 HR’s and driving in 6. At just 25 Zimmerman continues to show impressive improvements in his power. With the 2 HR’s on Thursday he’s up to 19

Delmon Young: It’s been really quiet, but Delmon Young looks like he’s starting to put things together. Young’s cut his K Rate in half (down to 11%) and quadrupled his walk rate (up over 8%). Suddenly he’s sporting a relatively

Scott Olsen: Olsen was absolutely fantastic for the 3rd straight outing. He took a no-hitter through 7 and finished limiting the Braves to just 1 ER on 2 hits and 1 bb, while striking out 8. He now has posted

Ben Zobrist: Zobrist went 0-4 on Sunday, dropping his batting average down to .253. Given how seemingly “out of nowhere” his 2009 campaign was, owners are certainly going to have their concerns about Zobrist’s slow start, so lets dig in.

Wade LeBlanc: LeBlanc pitched another 6 1/3 scoreless innings on Thursday against the Brewers allowing just 8 hits and 0 BB’s, while striking out 6. The big jump in K Rate this season is the big news for LeBlanc as

Justin Masterson: On the surface it looks like Justin Masterson is taking some big steps forward. He’s improved his K Rate early in the season with 24 K’s in 19 IP and he’s even rolling more ground-balls with an incredible

Garrett Jones: Just as quickly as Garrett Jones started in the first 10 days of the season, he’s faded in the next 10 days. Jones is mired in a 3-19 slump with 6 K’s and 0 extra base hits over

Brian Matusz: After two outings against one of the best offenses in MLB (the Rays), Brian Matusz got a much more favorable matchup on Sunday pitching against the A’s in Oakland Coliseum. Matusz looked good, allowing just 3 ER’s on

Seth Smith: Smith entered the season as the deepest sleeper in the Colorado OF largely due to playing time concerns. As the 4th OF in an OF with young players that need playing time like Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez

Kendry Morales: Morales is off to a slow start this season hitting just .222 through the first week of the season with 5 K’s and 0 BB’s in his first 27 AB’s. The interesting thing about Morales’ breakout season last

Jay Bruce: Bruce is off to a tough start going just 1-12 in the first series against the Cardinals and having struck out 3 times without drawing a walk. I’m a really big believer in Bruce for 2010 and believe

Alberto Callaspo: Callaspo will be on the opening day roster but with the Royals concerned about his right abdominal injury the Royals will withhold him from the opening day lineup against RH Justin Verlander. Callaspo, a switch hitter, has just

Why Kurt Suzuki is ranked so high amongst Catchers: A quick scroll through the top 10 projected catchers and you’ll find every catcher has an FPI above 0.64, with the exception of one: Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki’s 0.57 FPI doesn’t even

The Oakland A’s Bullpen: Last year in this space I talked about the A’s bullpen noting the team’s unusual ability to find saves beyond the primary closer. Over the last 5 years, the A’s have averaged 35% of their total

What can we expect from Alfonso Soriano? Just three seasons into a monstrous eight year deal, Alfonso Soriano looks nothing like the 40-40 candidate with a .900+ OPS that came over from Washington. Soriano’s coming off the worst season of

Cubs Bullpen: One of the least talked about situations in fantasy baseball is the Cubs bullpen. With Carlos Marmol, a long-time fantasy darling, securing the role last season (1.84 ERA, 63 K’s in 44 innings in Save opportunities) most fantasy

Felipe Paulino: Paulino’s stuff is always tantalizing, but his issues with command usually impede his success. This was not the case on Thursday night as Paulino walked 3 in 5 innings, but was able to pitch around the walks, allowing

Ricky Nolasco: Nolasco continues to get victimized by a horrible Strand Rate. He allowed just 5 base-runners on Friday night over 7 innings, but 3 of them found their way across home plate on a 3 run HR by Jeff

Bronson Arroyo: Consistency is a word you don’t typically associate with Bronson Arroyo, but he spun his twelfth consecutive quality start on Thursday, limiting the Pirates to just 1 ER over 7 innings. The extended hot streak has dropped his

Eric Young Jr: Just from the name alone fantasy owners should know what to expect from Eric Young Jr. Eric’s father was a top of the order speed threat who posted some valuable fantasy seasons in Colorado and Eric’s built

Jeff Niemann: The Rays bullpen is quietly sabotaging Jeff Niemann’s Rookie of the Year prospects. For the third consecutive game Niemann pitched tremendous and left in line for the win, this time shutting out the Yankees in Yankee Stadium for

Luke Hochevar: Anthony Perri highlighted Hochevar’s inability to bear down and get big outs and this was once again the case on Sunday. Hochevar was blasted for 7 ER’s on 9 hits and 2 BB’s in just 3 2/3 innings.

Freddy Garcia: With reports of severely declining velocity and multiple teams passing on Garcia after showcases earlier this season, I was pretty skeptical of his return to the White Sox rotation; but after four starts things look pretty good for

Ryan Rowland-Smith: Rowland-Smith stayed hot with his 4th quality start in his last 5 outings, unfortunately a continued lack of run support has left him 0-1 in these 5 starts. Rowland-Smith hasn’t been a particularly exciting fantasy asset in the

Vicente Padilla: Padilla found the transition to the NL to be a favorable one, even pitching in Colorado. Padilla allowed 6 hits and 1 BB in 5 innings of work, but limited the Rockies to just 2 ER’s. He struck

Scott Feldman: Feldman hasn’t drawn as much attention as a 13-4, 3.87 ERA line would suggest, largely because prior to this August, the peripherals have been underwhelming. Feldman was a GB specialist whose GB Rate was barely eclipsing 45% (good…

Derek Jeter: Remember when it was chic to rip Derek Jeter as an overrated fantasy asset, citing the drafting on name value and being able to get 85% of the value from late round lesser names like Orlando Cabrera? Well

Raul Ibanez: Ibanez has really been scuffling at the plate and another 0-4 on Friday night dropped his August line to .225/.262/.350 with a horrid 2:13 BB:K Ratio in 40 AB’s. Ibanez’s HR pace all season has been unsustainable and

Garrett Jones: The regression continues for Garrett Jones who went 0-4 on Thursday with 4 K’s. For the month of August he’s now hitting just .239/.327/.457 after posting a .310/.361/.700 July. The nearly 300 point dip in OPS comes despite

BJ Upton: The entire fantasy community has been giving BJ Upton a free pass for most of the season. The shoulder injury and the late start to the season allowed writers to give a free pass during the first few

Chase Headley: Chase Headley’s been a complete enigma to me early in his career. Despite posting an OBP of nearly .400 (.399) at the minor league level, he’s shown a middling walk rate at the major league level (9.6%) and

Rajai Davis: AL-only players certainly know Rajai Davis well as he’s been a cheap source of SB’s without much playing time over the last few years (52 SB’s last two seasons despite just 404 AB’s), but now its time for

Bud Norris - SP HOU: In one of the more unusual occurrences in a baseball season the two starting pitchers in the Cubs-Astros game yesterday were both informed they were no longer with the teams immediately following the game. While

Jason Frasor: Frasor worked a clean 9th inning, striking out 1 in the process, and now has 7 consecutive scoreless appearances. It was a 4 run lead so there is no indication of a switch in the closer’s role but

Mark Reynolds: I continue to be amazed by Reynolds development. Depsite making few improvements to his K:BB Ratio, an area most experts thought he’d need to vastly improve to maintain consistent success, Reynolds has taken giant steps forward in 2009.

Bronson Arroyo: Arroyo’s struggled all season battling a declining K Rate, increasing BB Rate and general overall decline, but for the last 2 outings; he’s been spectacular. Arroyo started off the 2nd half right where he left the first half

Seth Smith: Seth Smith continues to get the raw end of the Colorado OF rotation. A commitment to get youngsters Carlos Gonzalez and Dexter Fowler AB’s and Ryan Spilborghs dominance against LHP leaves Smith as the odd man out in

Russell Branyan: With a BHIP% over 90 points higher than Branyan’s career average in the middle of June, some significant batting average regression was expected. Here in July we’re seeing it come fast and furious. Branyan’s in the midst of

Joel Pineiro: Pineiro’s resurrection as an extreme control/ground ball specialist continued on Thursday as he manhandled the Brewers on Thursday with ease. He needed just 100 pitches to finish off the Brewers in a complete game effort and rolled 19

Joe Saunders: Back at the beginning of June I outlined the plan of attack with Joe Saunders, against bottom-half OPS teams in the league, he’s dominant, against top-half OPS teams in the league, he’s below average. Simply start him against

Scott Hairston: Hairston continues to be an underrated commodity in fantasy. Hairston’s owned in an astoundingly low 9% of ESPN leagues despite posting a .914 OPS while on pace for a 20-20 season. Hairston’s bounced around quite a bit at

John Danks: Since my June 1st post on Danks suggesting a buying opportunity had been created, Danks has been spectacular. His peripherals haven’t changed much in that span (.92 K Rate, .35 BB Rate compared to .90 K Rate, .36

Casey McGehee: McGehee stayed hot on Thursday knocking out his 3rd HR of the season in a 1-4 effort. He’s now hitting .414/.469/.672 here in June with 9 extra base hits in 58 AB’s (15.5% exbh rate). Unfortunately while the

Adrian Gonzalez: Gonzalez busted out of a slump in a big way on Thursday going 4-4 with a 2B, HR, and 2 RBI’s. As usual he was the majority of the Padres offense accounting for half the Runs scored and

Brett Anderson: The results weren’t particularly great for Brett Anderson on Sunday, but the peripherals continue to show improvement. Anderson was battered around for 8 hits in just 4 innings which turned into 6 ER’s and resulted in his 7th

Max Scherzer: Scherzer dominated the Giants for 7 2/3 innings limiting them to just 3 hits and a walk, while striking out 6. Scherzer’s peripherals stack up pretty well with his actual production as his FB tendencies and bouts with

Willie Bloomquist: We haven’t touched on Bloomquist yet this year but the speedy/no power MI option has found a way to make himself fantasy valuable. Bloomquist had always been a deep AL only MI option because of the consistent double

Erik Bedard: Bedard’s effort yesterday was enough to pick up a win, but also enough to raise some concerns. Bedard allowed just 2 hits and 2 ER’s in 5 innings while striking out 4, but he needed over 100 pitches

Jordan Zimmermann: Zimmermann continues to suffer from some poor luck as he allowed just 3 base-runners in 6 innings on Thursday, but managed to let 2 of them cross home-plate and that was enough to pick up his 3rd loss

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).

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,

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.

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

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

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

Brett Cecil SP-TOR: After getting off to an atrocious start at AAA this season, it appears all Brett Cecil needed to get going was to face some stiffer competition. Cecil shut out the A’s for 8 innings on Sunday in

Jon Niese SP-NYM Niese made his case for a rotation spot on Friday night by limiting the Pirates to just 2 ER’s in 6 strong innings. He allowed 7 hits, struck out 5, but most importantly didn’t walk a batter

Josh Whitesell 1B- ARZ Josh Whitesell was promoted on Wednesday and immediately inserted into the middle of the struggling DBacks lineup. Whitesell is sort of the Diamondbacks version of Micah Hoffpauir, a career minor leaguer who has been mashing AAA

Scott Baker: Just when things looked like they were turning around for Scott Baker, one bad inning erased 6 great innings of work. Baker started his outing on Sunday with 6 no-hit innings, yielding just 1 BB and striking out

Adam Jones: Stardom might be coming a bit earlier for Adam Jones than most anticipated. Jones went 3-4 with his 3rd HR of the season, his first SB of the season, 2 more runs and 3 more RBI’s. He’s now

Mike Fontenot: After having tremendous success last season as a platoon/role player, Mike Fontenot is having a difficult time adjusting to his everyday role to start the season. Fontenot’s mired in a 2-26 slump that has driven his 2009 line

Scott Downs: Even as BJ Ryan strengthens his hold on the closer’s role, Scott Downs seems to be improving his value each day. I’ve been a big proponent of the effective use of middle relievers in Roto formats in the

Nyjer Morgan: A year after a big breakout in the Pittsburgh OF buoyed fantasy owners to a number of titles, the Pirates have another OF posting impressive early season numbers in Nyjer Morgan. The question is: is this one for

Kevin Gregg: The fantasy community was outraged by manager Lou Pineilla’s decision to utilize his best reliever as a middle man and insert Kevin Gregg into the closer’s role this spring, and that community is likely to get louder about

Clayton Kershaw: Typically 5 innings of 2 hit ball, allowing just 1 ER would be something we’d be rejoicing about, but with young Clayton Kershaw the bar is set pretty high. Last year Kershaw was able to post strong numbers

Jeff Niemann: With Hammel out of town, Niemann was officially announced as the 5th starter in the Rays rotation this season. Last year in AAA, Niemann posted a 3.59 ERA and 1.14 WHIP with a 8.7 K/9 and 3.4 BB/9

Reds deal Jeff Keppinger, Alex Gonzalez’s role even more solidified: Alex Gonzalez’s starting role was never in jeopardy in Cincinnati, but the trade of Jeff Keppinger yesterday but with inexperienced Paul Janish and Adam Rosales behind him, Dusty Baker and

Chris Volstad Paul had mentioned keeping an eye on Chris Volstad earlier in the spring and it might be time to start paying closer attention. Volstad is typically a prime candidate we’d warn you about coming into the season as

Cameron Maybin: Talent has never been the question with Maybin and he’s flashing it again this spring. A 3-3 performance on Friday raised his spring average to .414 (10-29). Maybin came into camp being handed the everyday CF job and

First Pitch – September 17th, 2008 – NL Keepers for 2009: As Joe mentioned yesterday, the First Pitch editions these next two weeks will focus on potential keeper options heading into 2009. I will cover the NL Hitters this morning,

Max Scherzer: I love me some Max Scherzer! Mad Max was at it again on Sunday mowing down Reds in 6 dominating innings. Unfortunately thanks to the Diamondbacks rather offensive offense, Scherzer was credited with a no decision despite yielding

Jacoby Ellsbury: Ellsbury went 4-8 in the two games in the doubleheader yesterday and scored 3 times, improving his September line to .243/.317/.351. It’s been a rough go of it for Ellsbury since his tremendous success in April and May

Roy Oswalt: There might not be a more valuable fantasy pitcher over the last 6 weeks than Roy Oswalt. Oswalt continued his tear throwing a 1 hitter on Thursday night and making it look quite easy. He needed just 102

First Pitch – Value Picks – September 10th, 2008 As Joe alluded to yesterday, our focus after this week will start to shift towards next year for those in keeper formats, which means this will be the final Value Picks

Prince Fielder: Spring Training 2007 I went on a big campaign about Fielder not having the type of power that would result in 50 HR seasons and that the Ryan Howard comparisons weren’t appropriate. Of course Fielder went on to

Clayton Kershaw: The youngster couldn’t be the stopper for the Dodgers on Thursday night as things unraveled quickly for Kershaw in the first inning. After opening the game with a strike-out on 3 pitches, Kershaw gave up a HR to

First Pitch – Value Picks – August 27th, 2008 Alright gang, by the end of this week we’ll be in the final month of the season. At this point it’s become clear whether you’re playing out the string or making

Brandon Lyon: Make it 3 consecutive appearances and 5 of his last 6 outings that Lyon has now allowed at least one run. His last two appearances have come in non-save situations and you have to figure at this point

Carlos Pena: I told you the best was about to come with Pena back at the beginning of August and Pena’s rewarded my faith. On Friday night Pena launched his 8th HR of the month and 13th extra base hit

Matt Cain: Cain was solid again on Wednesday night posting his 8th quality start in his last 10 outings and allowing 2 ER’s or less for the 7th time in that span. He limited the Marlins to just 2 ER’s

Randy Johnson: Make it 6 consecutive quality starts for the Big Unit as he allowed just 3 ER’s over 7 innings in a loss to Houston. Johnson made just one mistake during the outing giving up a 3 Run HR

Matt Harrison: Baseball is a funny game sometimes. Matt Harrison could not have entered Saturday night’s contest with worse numbers in his first 7 major league starts from either an actual performance or peripherals perspective. Yet there he was tossing

Hiroki Kuroda: Is there a bigger role of the dice from night-to-night with a mid-level starter than Hiroki Kuroda? In 23 starts this year Kuroda has notched 7 Disaster Starts in which he’s posted a line of: 0-3, 13.95 ERA,

First Pitch – August 13th – Value Picks: We’re back to the usual schedule and the usual format this week for our Value Picks column. It will be a bit of an abridged version since I’m travelling in the Pellston,

Max Scherzer: It’s time to start paying attention to Max Scherzer again. Scherzer’s returned from a brief stint on the minor league DL with shoulder issues and is being stretched out with the anticipation of being used as a starter.

First Pitch – August 5th – Value Picks: For the first Tuesday in August we’re going to switch things up a bit and take a break from the traditional Sabermetric Tuesdays to provide you with a more comprehensive set of

Matt Kemp: Kemp’s putting up one of the more underrated fantasy seasons quietly making a run at a 20-30 season. Kemp knocked out his 13th HR of the season in a 3-5 effort that also yielded 3 runs and 2

Esteban German: With Mark Grudzielanek going on the 15 day DL, German gets a boost in value as he slides over into the everyday 2B role. I’ve always liked German and thought he deserved more of a shot at the

Anibal Sanchez: Marlins fans went to the stadium, err… couch, angry last night at the missed opportunity to acquire Manny Ramirez but probably went to bed excited about Anibal Sanchez’s return. Sanchez looked great on Thursday night through the first

First Pitch – July 30th – Value Picks: Welcome to another edition of Value Picks! This week we’ll get back to the usual bag of tricks, scoping the waiver wire for golden nuggets that can help your team make a

In today’s belated edition of Sabermetric Tuesday we’re going to talk about the most unheralded aspect of Fantasy Baseball: Defense. In traditional or “real” sports the cliché “Defense wins Championships” is one of the most commonly used phrases throughout the

Jeff Samardzija: Those in holds leagues or deep dynasty formats may want to take notice of Jeff Samardzija who was called up earlier this week when the Cubs placed Kerry Wood on the DL. Samardzija picked up his first major

Emmanuel Burriss: The biggest winner in the Brewers-Giants trade from a fantasy perspective yesterday was a man not even involved: Emmanuel Burriss. We’ve touched on Burriss’ tremendous speed potential in the past and noted his limited experience above A ball

Sean Gallagher: I’ve been touting Gallagher as a nice sleeper option since the trade to Oakland and while Saturday’s performance was a bit shaky, it provided more reason for me to believe in Gallagher for the 2nd half. The patient

Edwin Encarnacion: I need a new 3B to post repeatedly about since you’ve all figured out Troy Glaus needs to be owned, and sure enough I’ve got one. Three flipping years I’ve been talking about Edwin Encarnacion and I promise

Mike Pelfrey: I touched on Pelfrey a bit at the start of the month, noting that if he could figure out the command there was some significant upside in the Met starter. Well 2 starts later and 15 innings without

First Pitch – July 9th – Value Picks: Welcome to another edition of Value Picks! Last time I checked in we took a look at some potential buy low targets for those owners seeking “value” on the trade market. This

Randy Johnson: I’ve been among the supporters of the Big Unit this season so Sunday’s gem was a slight bit of redemption. Johnson was phenomenal on Sunday hurling 6 1/3 dominant innings against the Padres allowing just 3 base-runners, all

Gavin Floyd: I don’t know what kind of life Gavin Floyd is living these days but based on the good fortune he’s had this year on the mound I have to imagine it’s a pretty clean one. Floyd was outstanding

Chad Billingsley: Billingsley dominated the Astros on Thursday afternoon allowing just 2 unearned runs on 6 hits and just 1 BB in 8 innings. This marked the third time in the last 5 outings that Billingsley walked just 1, giving

Jake Peavy: Not the type of start Peavy owners were hoping for after seeing an inept Mariners’ offense on the schedule but one they’ll be able to swallow. Peavy took his 5th loss of the season on Sunday allowing 3

At the end of April we introduced the concept of the Disaster Start and took a look back at the 2007 data in hopes of highlighting some “safer” spot-start or back-end options for your fantasy team. So today we’re going

Ryan Dempster: This is starting to get a bit ridiculous, but as a Cubs fan I’m enjoying every minute of it! Dempster was dominant again on Sunday night as he allowed just 1 ER in 8 innings of work against

Alexei Ramirez: Both Joe and I have highlighted Ramirez in the Value Picks columns of late, but his big June deserves further highlighting. Ramirez has been on fire hitting .373/.408/.537 and the improvements in his peripherals are even more eye

Aaron Harang: For those Aaron Harang owners out there take some solace in knowing this is just as frustrating to us as it is to you. After looking like he had turned the corner in his last start against the

First Pitch – June 18th – Value Picks: It’s Wednesday! Which means another edition of Value Picks is here, but this week we’re going to do things a bit differently! After 2 ½ months of digging through the free agent

Pedro Martinez: Pedro handled a pretty tough matchup against the Rangers offense with ease on Sunday, giving up just 1 ER over 6 innings on 6 hits and 1 BB while striking out 4. I mentioned last week that Pedro’s

In this week’s edition of Sabermetric Tuesdays we’re going to take a look at one of my favorite indicators for Pitchers: the Runners Stranded Percentage. The Runners Stranded Percentage is a pretty simple statistics to understand, it’s simply measuring the

Pedro Martinez: Looking at Pedro’s line on Sunday, 5 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, doesn’t invoke much optimism for Pedro owners in what seemed to be an extremely favorable matchup in San Diego. But watching the

Nate McLouth: It seems like forever since Nate McLouth has put together one of his monster 3 hit nights with multiple extra base hits, and as such it seems like he’s finally slowed down a bit, but a quick look

Cole Hamels: After two horrid outings, Hamels got back on the right track on Thursday tossing a complete game shutout against the Reds. Hamels allowed just 4 hits and 3 BB’s during the shutout, but struck out just 4. A

First Pitch – June 4th – Value Picks: We’re back with another edition of Wednesday’s Value Picks! As we’ve mentioned before, every Wednesday we’ll go digging for diamonds in the rough that is the Free Agent Pool. The last few

Jesus Flores: We haven’t talked too much about the young catcher in Washington, but Jesus Flores is taking advantage and taking hold of the starting catching role for the Nationals. Flores notched his 10th double of the season on Sunday

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hunter Pence: Pence extended his hitting streak to 9 games on Sunday while effectively carrying the Astros offense against the Dodgers. Pence drove in 2 and scored another 2 accounting for 4 of the Astros 8 runs with a 3-4

Milton Bradley: You know who Milton Bradley is? He’s the hot chick with the crazy eyes, I’m convinced. I mean think about it, let’s draw some parallels between scoping out the waiver wire and scoping out the bar. So you’re

Jeff Francoeur Frenchy’s mired in a 5-31 slump that’s dropped his average to .263. Despite the slow start there are some legitimate reasons for optimism surrounding Francoeur. He’s improved his EYE up to .50, largely thanks to a significant drop

We’re back with another edition of Wednesday’s Value Picks! As we’ve mentioned before, every Wednesday we’ll go digging for diamonds in the rough that is the Free Agent Pool. While many of the selections in the past have been geared

Dan Uggla: I’ve noted in the past that I’m not a big Uggla supporter because of the negative impact he can have on your batting average, but I also noted Uggla’s a traditionally slow starter who heats up in May

“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it!” How many of you in the crowd have heard this one before? I know, we all have and most of the time it’s said in a loud angry tone with

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

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

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

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

Welcome to a “tax-free” edition of Fantistics’ weekly article on Value Picks! Hopefully by now everyone out there is squared away with the IRS, so instead of crunching numbers to avoid sending out money, you can start playing with numbers

Howie Kendrick: Much has been made around this site about Kendrick’s anemic EYE last season and how as a result he’s been overvalued heading into the season. While I fancy myself a numbers man, I have to go against my

Wandy Rodriguez: While we’re at it, let’s give a little hat tip to my man Joe Ribando for his recommendation of Wandy Rodriguez as a two start pickup this week. If you listened to Joe you ended up snagging a

Geovany Soto: Soto finally saw some results after spraying line drives and deep fly balls all over the field early in the season. Thursday night Soto went 4-5 with 2 2B’s and his 2nd HR of the season. Soto was

It’s good ole “hump day” for those of you enjoying your first cup of coffee this morning and that means its “Value Picks Day” here at Fantistics. Each Wednesday we’ll be touching on the somewhat generic concept of Value. One

Jeff Keppinger For those that haven’t noticed, Jeff Keppinger is for real. Keppinger put together a nice 2nd half last year as a utility player for the Reds hitting .332/.400/.477 in 276 PA’s. In that time Keppinger, showed an elite

New Page 1 Sabermetric Tuesdays: Analyzing Splits Ground Balls vs. Fly Balls   It’s Sabermetric Tuesday here at Fantistics! Each Tuesday we’ll dive into some of the deeper statistics we use to forecast and analyze the game of baseball.

Brandon Phillips As I mentioned earlier in the spring, I have no problems taking stands on players and one player in particular that I’m taking a large stand on this year is Brandon Phillips. Everyone is gaga over Phillips 30-30

Dustin McGowan Let me preface this blurb with the fact that I have an unhealthy affection for Dustin McGowan. I think he’s far and away the best bargain available with regards to pitching this season. McGowan’s peripherals scream STUD starting

With the NL Predictions in the books and the Mets projected to advance to the World Series let’s see who they’ll be taking on from the American League. 2008 AL Predictions: AL East: 1. Boston Red Sox The defending World

As spring training concludes, the hope that springs eternal at the beginning of each camp revels in its last few days before its annual clash with reality. For a few teams, the hope they break camp with will catapult them

Chris Capuano Capuano was diagnosed with a Torn UCL in his left elbow and could face the dreaded Tommy John surgery if the tear is full. I mentioned earlier in the spring I thought something was wrong with Capuano last

Rich Hill As mentioned in yesterday’s news items, Rich Hill’s horrid outing on Thursday raises some red flags. Hill’s spring has been littered with control problems, walking 14 batters in just 12 2/3 innings. Such wild control issues for pitchers

In a couple of notes and blog entries this spring I’ve referenced my affinity for using Middle Relievers, so in this entry I wanted to explain the references a bit more clearly. As you can see by the title of

Andy LaRoche Word leaked out of Dodgers camp late Friday that Andy LaRoche would be sidelined an estimated 8-10 weeks after being hit on the hand by a throw. The injury to LaRoche ends the 3B competition with Nomar Garciaparra

Cubs closer situation One of the most intriguing position battles to follow in spring training will be the Cubs closer position. The Cubs are fortunate to have three capable arms in Kerry Wood, Bob Howry, and Carlos Marmol and compelling

With the news coming out of Phillies’ camp today that Brad Lidge’s balky knee will require a minor surgery that should keep him out 3-6 weeks, I thought it would be important to briefly touch on the impact injuries can

Earlier this week fantasy baseball owners everywhere heard the four-word reminder that their fantasy season is right around the corner: “Pitchers and Catchers Report”. While this phrase means plenty to loyal fans around the country, it specifically means two things

Carlos Pena: Pena just keeps adding to his monster season as he hit another 2 HR's on Saturday night against the Red Sox. Pena knocked out his 41st and 42nd HR's of the season in 2-3 effort that came with

Pedro Martinez: Insert foot into mouth: that's pretty much how I feel after suggesting fantasy owners be wary of Pedro a few weeks back. Pedro looked a little bit more like vintage Pedro on Saturday as he tossed 6 fantastic

Delmon Young: You wouldn't notice it unless you were paying close attention but Delmon Young is making some serious strides in the 2nd half of this season. He went 2-4 with a HR last night, his 12th on the season

Chris Young: Be prepared for some injury reports coming out this morning on Chris Young because his start last night suggests he's just not right. Young walked 6 batters in his 4 1/3 innings of work, allowing 5 ER's. This

Rafael Furcal: Furcal's had an unusual August, which is usually one of his stronger months, as he's only gone hitless in 5 of the team's 24 games but has hit an empty .274 on the month with only 6 extra

Lance Berkman: Berkman continues to try to make up for lost time in the month of August as he knocked out his 24th HR of the season and his 7th in August. Berkman's numbers in August look a bit more

Jason Bay: For most of you that don't follow the Pirates it probably seems like Jason Bay is really coming on right and really busting out of that slump? Well Bay hit 5th HR in the last 3 weeks last

It's a new face trying to fill some big shoes for this week's closer report as I fill in for the esteemed Mr. Blasi. Since he's the professional writer, I'll make a deal with everyone and stick to the analysis

What have we learned? So I wanted to take another break from some of the more in-depth statistical analysis pieces to talk about what I've learned this fantasy baseball season and hopefully it will inspire some readers to write in

Jeff Francoeur: Francoeur went 3-5 on Sunday and got his batting average up to .304. There are a couple things going on with Frenchy this year to note. First and foremost he has improved his EYE considerably as he has

Justin Upton: I decided to check out all the hype on Upton so I tuned into the Dodgers-DBacks game on Friday night and caught the youngster's first big league start. Upton's stat line didn't look to impressive as he went

Derrek Lee: Two weeks back I suggested Lee's power numbers were suffering from a bit of bad luck with the # of fly balls he's seen leave the yard. Well... Lee's making me look like a genius these days as

Nelson Cruz: Cruz celebrated his return to the bigs with a 2-3 effort on Saturday night with 2 HR's and 5 RBI's. This is what Cruz does, he has incredible raw power and has been a big time power threat

Kaz Matsui: It's been a tale of two Matsui's over the last few weeks as Hideki has put on a show while Kaz has struggled mightily. Matsui's gone 3-28 since the Rockies hit the road and this only emphasizes his

Buddy Carlyle: For those in some deeper leagues out there, I think Buddy Carlyle deserves a look and could be the guy that helps solidify the backend of the Braves rotation. Carlyle's a 29 year old journeyman who's an extreme

Joe Blanton: Blanton picked up his 6th loss of the season last night allowing 4 ER's in his 7 2/3 innings of work. Blanton gave up 10 hits and walked 1 while only striking out 2. Blanton's an interesting case

Brandon Phillips: Well I mentioned Dan Uggla last week as "one of"the 2b I missed on this season, the other one I was referring to was Brandon Phillips. Phillips was similar to Uggla in that they each came seemingly out

Dan Uggla: I was just commenting to a friend the other day that there were a few 2B in the NL I couldn't have been more wrong about coming into the season and one of the guys I was referencing

Carlos Delgado: The power's starting to come for Carlos Delgado as he knocked out his 13th HR of the season on Sunday along with his 19th 2B of the season in a 2-3 performance. Delgado now has 17 extra base

CC Sabathia: I love me some CC Sabathia! Big CC went 7 strong innings last night yielding only 2 ER's on 6 hits. He struck out 8 more batters without walking a hitter and raises his season K:BB ratio to

Scott Olsen: It seems every time it looks like Scott Olsen is taking a step forward, he takes another step backwards. This seemed to take place within the same game on Thursday as Olsen mowed through the weak Pirates lineup

After hitting readers with a barrage of statistically inclined articles over the last few weeks that looked into Disaster Starts, Bullpen's Impact on SP's, the Added Impact of Middle Relievers, and the Consistency factors when evaluating hitters, I decided

John Maine: A couple home starts seemed to be all John Maine needed to get back on track. Maine posted his 2nd consecutive quality start as he limited the A's to 5 base-runners and 2 ER's in his 7 innings

Randy Wolf: Wolf's going through a bit of a slump right now as he turned in his 3rd clunker in the last 4 starts. The drop off has come with a steep decline in his K Rate along with a

Shaun Marcum: Marcum was fantastic yesterday striking out 11 batters in 7 innings of work against the Nationals. He allowed 3 walks and 3 hits which translated into 2 ER's and now lowered his ERA to 3.41 on the season.

Tom Gorzelanny: Gorz had a bit of an adjustment statistically last night as his 5 ER's on 7 Hits and 1 BB over 7 innings helped bring his Strand Rate and ERA back in line with his career Strand Rate

Jeremy Hermida Hermida homered for the 2nd time in his last 3 games on Sunday, but still appears to be going through some growing pains at the major league level. Hermida's fallen off the radar of most fantasy owners after

Sean Marshall Marshall made it 3-3 in quality starts with another gem on Sunday against the Braves. This time Marshall allowed only 1 ER in 6 2/3 innings on 6 hits and 1 BB, while striking out 8. Marshall now

Joe Blanton Blanton was phenomenal on Saturday night throwing a CG Shutout against the Twins. Blanton only allowed 3 base-runners in the game all on singles and not one Twin advanced into scoring position. He struck out 6 on the

Anthony Reyes: Reyes was sent down to AAA on Sunday in what was likely a move to protect the young man's confidence. Reyes' last start resulted in his 8th loss of the season, the 0-8 record marks the worst record

Carlos Delgado: It's one thing to preach patience in April, but as we creep towards the end of May and into June slow starts sometimes can begin to dictate trends and that might be the case with Carlos Delgado. Delgado

John Maine I'll continue to suggest to Maine owners to entertain the idea of selling high on Maine's early season production. Maine struggled last night against a Yankees lineup and was mainly the recipient of some poor defense behind him

Josh Willingham Willingham went 3-3 on Sunday and upped his average to .296 on the season. Willingham's a bit underrated as far as OF options go; he always showed great power at the minor league levels slugging .562 at AA

Jack Cust The Jack Cust HR barrage continued on Saturday with his 4th HR in 5 games, this time off sinker-baller Fausto Carmona. Cust has an extensive and prodigious power track record in the minor leagues as he's accumulated 191

Adam Dunn Adam Dunn is single-handedly killing me this week. On Thursday he went 3-4 (falling a 1b short of the cycle) with 3 Runs and 3 RBI's, making him 6-13 on the week with 3 HR's, 6 Runs, and

Freddy Garcia Those owners counting on Freddy Garcia for a two start week this week may want to pay close attention to the news wires today. Garcia ran into a cart that was on the field as he was trying

John Maine Maine was fantastic again on Sunday shutting out the Nationals for 7 innings. He allowed 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out a season high 8. Maine's now 4-5 in quality starts and pitching for the Mets

Richie Sexson My name is Drew and I'm a Richie Sexson owner (Hi Drew!), alright so there's not any meetings for us Sexson owners just yet that we can attend, but I'm here to help you guys through it. Sexson

As you can see by yesterday's mailbag article by Lou, we get our fair share of email around here and we try our best to get to all of it and respond. Sometimes we'll respond back through email, through our

Scott Olsen I've been getting a lot of questions regarding Scott Olsen of late and with good reason. Olsen's off to an atrocious start this season and as Schuyler reported late last week the control issues are the obvious concern.

A few weeks back we took a look at how to go about evaluating a potential Hitter when looking to make a free agent acquisition. We talked about evaluating specific statistics like EYE, BHIP%, HR Rate, etc and how to

Tim Hudson Many pundits called for a bounce back year from Tim Hudson and so far the early results look good for Hudson and his owners. After allowing only 1 earned run in 7 more innings of work on Sunday,

John Danks Thanks to MLB's wonderful blackout system on Saturday afternoon's I was left switching between blacked out channels until I found the White Sox-Indians game on WGN. Fortunately this gave me the opportunity to take a deeper look at

Mark Prior As a Cubs fan, I can't possibly explain to you what writing this blurb feels like. I'll briefly try to describe it... imagine being the fan of a team that had 3 prized pitching prospects under the age

Felipe Lopez One of the less talked about fantasy impacts this season has been the injury to Christian Guzman at SS for the Nationals. Normally this wouldn't mean much, but the injury has moved Lopez back over to SS before

I spent Thursday afternoon at the Great American Ballpark watching the Cincinnati Reds host my beloved Chicago Cubs. While I play Baseball Analyst for all of you by night, during the day I'm an Investment Analyst for an Institutional Investment

Before we get to today's First Pitch I wanted to say thank you to the readers that took the time out to respond to my AL and NL Predictions blog earlier this week. I enjoy hearing the responses and while

Chris Carpenter In my NL predictions yesterday I mentioned I thought Chris Carpenter was a bit overrated and while I didn't give a reason I will now. I think Carpenter's a great fantasy ace and someone you can build a

Adam Loewen Adam Loewen finished off an impressive spring training by allowing 1 earned run in a 3 inning start on Saturday against the Nationals. Loewen walked 3 batters and struck out 3 while allowing 2 hits. This caps off

And onto the NL... NL East 1. New York Mets Despite the starting pitching issues, I think the Mets will still be the ones holding the NL East division crown when all is said and done. While Oliver Perez, El

As promised, today will begin a seemingly endless string of blog entries that will hopefully be entertaining and informative. If not please send all complaints to Anthony Perri as he's the brainchild behind the decision to give me an open

Before we get to the notes this morning, I wanted to give a little introduction to the subscribers out there. I'm the guy that Anthony Perri thinks looks like Zach Greinke, but most people know me as Drew Dinkmeyer. This

It seems Bobby Jenks has gotten a bit tired of all the growing concerns within the media about where his arm is heading into the season. After firing 1 1/3 scoreless innings on Wednesday, Jenks told reporters that his location

The JJ Putz watch continues for those intrigued by the Mariners closer situation. Putz did some soft throwing on Thursday for about five minutes to see how his arm reacted and said he felt fine afterwards. Putz's breakout 2006 season

Eric Gagne made his first appearance in "A"games this spring and was rudely welcomed by Kevin Frandsen with a long HR. Gagne settled down after allowing the HR getting two groundouts and a strike out to end the inning. Gagne's

Auction Drafts are quickly becoming the most popular form of draft-day fun for fantasy players everywhere. Players enjoy the fast paced flow of an auction, but most importantly they appreciate the opportunity to own any player. How Does an Auction