Justin Masterson (SP—Indians) Despite walking away with a no-decision on Tuesday, Justin Masterson pitched a solid game allowing just one earned run through 7.2 innings and struck out seven batters. Masterson has been putting up some pretty credible numbers in

Stephen Strasburg (SP—Nationals) The Nationals announced on Friday that rookie phenom Stephen Strasburg has a severe tear in his ulnar collateral ligament and may be looking at TJ surgery. If surgery is the chosen path, fantasy owners can forget about

Rick Porcello (SP—Tigers) Nifty game for Rick Porcello on Tuesday. He pitched seven shutout innings of two hit ball. Granted, it was against the Royals but you still have to go out there and deliver. So kudos to Porky. It's

Derrek Lee (1B—Braves) Rather ironic that Derrek Lee made his Braves debut against the Cubs at Wrigley Field on Friday. And it was far from impressive as Lee went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. Last year for the second half of

Clay Buchholz (SP—Red Sox) It was another great outing for Clay Buchholz as he collected his 14th win of the season with seven scoreless innings against the Angels on Tuesday. Buchholz lowered his league leading ERA to 2.36 with opponents

Koji Uehara (RP—Orioles) It's so difficult to find a closer that will stick. If a closer's name isn't Mariano Rivera, it seems that the job is a revolving door. With Alfredo Simon struggling as the Baltimore closer, Koji Uehara may

Adam Wainwright (SP—Cardinals) Apparently, Adam Wainwright is not at all convinced that Ubaldo Jimenez is the choice for N.L. Cy Young winner. Wainwright is making a very strong case for the honor (an honor, in my opinion, that he should

Josh Beckett (SP—Red Sox) It had been a very long time since Josh Beckett had delivered an outing like the one he had against the Indians on Tuesday. Unquestionably, the best start since his return from the DL, Beckett pitched

David Wright (3B—Mets) David Wright had a two homer night on Friday and the pitiful ten that he hit all of last year is a thing of the past. Interestingly enough, there were those that were a little skittish of

Danny Valencia (3B—Twins) So who's the hottest hitter in baseball? Josh Hamilton? Miguel Cabrera? Naw. How about rookie Danny Valencia. Valencia has been going crazy like a hamster on a spinning wheel and just doesn't seem to know when to

Ubaldo Jimenez (SP—Rockies) Hmmm...There are some definite chinks showing in Ubaldo Jimenez's armor as he was knocked around pretty handily by the Phillies on Saturday as he was only able log two innings. It was Jimenez's second poor start in

Kelly Johnson (2B—Diamondbacks) Huge night for Kelly Johnson as he hit for the cycle against the Giants. Unfortunately despite all of his best efforts, it wasn't enough to secure a win against San Francisco. The home run Johnson hit Friday

Carl Crawford (OF—Rays) Carl Crawford left Tuesday game in the first inning and I think the word we are all looking for is: OUCH!! After reaching base on a fielder's choice, Crawford has definitively proved once again that you really

Barry Zito (SP—Giants) Barry Zito dominated the Mets Friday night as he pitched 8 scoreless innings, allowing just 2 hits, 2 walks and striking out 10. With that outing, Zito was able to lower his ERA to 3.51 for the

Carlos Silva (SP—Cubs) Carlos Silva has been enjoying one of the finest seasons of his career despite dealing with a leg injury all season long. There is some speculation that he might miss his Sunday start so fantasy owners will

Scott Kazmir (SP—Angels) When the Angels left John Lackey walk this past off-season, I think that they felt relatively secure knowing that Scott Kazmir could pick up the Lackey slack. But as unimpressive as Lackey has been this season for

Rafael Furcal (SS-Dodgers) Once players start to become labeled as injury prone, it’s sometimes difficult to embrace that player going forward. Sometimes it’s more of a headache to worry about that player day to day than the actually results he

Jose Bautista (3B—Blue Jays) Jose Bautista knocked a couple of more home runs on Tuesday which brings his season total up to twenty. Did anyone see this coming pre-season? Because, I'm stupefied by how he keeps knocking them out of

Troy Tulowitzki (SS—Rockies) After getting hit on the wrist on Thursday, an MRI revealed a fractured wrist for Troy Tulowitzki. It wasn't the news that Tulowitzki owners wanted to hear as he was placed on the 15-DL and is expected

Conor Jackson (A's—Oakland) What was once a very promising career has slide off the tracks and Conor Jackson will now find himself playing the outfield for the Oakland A's after he was traded on Tuesday. There are pluses and minuses

R.A. Dickey (SP—Mets) I'm not sure if there is a more delicate way to say this, but I am becoming a big fan of R.A. Dickey. Dickey improved to 4-0 on the season, pitching seven strong innings against Baltimore, allowing

Zack Greinke (SP—Royals) So far, Zack Greinke’s season hasn’t been the kind of year that we would expect having come off a Cy Young award. Yes, the record is pretty sad at 1-8 but we can probably say that that

Carlos Zambrano (SP—Cubs) Carlos Zambrano’s return to the starting rotation didn’t work out the way he or the Cubs intended as he took his fourth loss of the season against the Astros. Zambrano wasn’t able to get out of the

Matt Cain (SP—Giants) Matt Cain pitched a gem of a game Friday night against the D-Backs allowing just 1 hit for a 5-0 win. The five runs the Giants scored for him must have seemed like a wealth of riches

Vladimir Guerrero (DH—Rangers) Vladimir Guerrero continues to put the “S” in Sizzle as he has been hot, hot, hot! Tuesday night Guerrero went 3-for-5 with 2 home runs and 5 RBI. For those who may have had doubts about the

Tim Hudson (SP—Braves) If there are any fantasy owners that are not giving Tim Hudson his due then you need to look again at what he has done this season so far. With a dominant performance over the Pirates on

Carlos Lee (OF—Astros) Now this is just getting silly. Five games ago in a contest against San Diego, Carlos Lee hit his 2nd home run of the year and it finally appeared that his season long slump was about to

Matt Thornton (RP—White Sox) Nows the time to grab Matt Thornton as his stock has just risen. White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen announced that the 9th inning duties will be split between Bobby Jenks and Thornton. Thornton has been superb

Starlin Castro (SS—Cubs) Just a little after 7PM ET, there was probably a mad dash by fantasy owners who jumped on their computers and frantically checked to see if Starlin Castro was available in their league. Chances are if you

Rich Harden (SP—Rangers) Rich Harden is one of those pitchers who seems to be developing a case of Ollie-itis. You know, Oliver Perez disease where you never know if “Good Ollie” or “Bad Ollie” will show up. While I hate

Jonathon Niese (SP—Mets) Now is about the time we should start paying some serious attention to Jon Niese. Certainly, the Phillies are paying attention after Friday's game where Niese pitched 7 strong innings, allowing just 1 ER, 4 hits, 1

Francisco Liriano (SP—Twins) Francisco Liriano completely dominated the Tigers on Tuesday night probably making them wish they had just stayed home. He came away with his 4th win of the year while pitching 8 innings of shutout ball, allowing 4

John Maine (SP-Mets) John Maine left Friday night’s game against Atlanta after just 3.2 innings pitched. The cause: pain and spasms in his left elbow. Huh? Isn’t Maine a righty? Leave to a Met pitcher to find a way to

Carlos Silva (SP—Cubs) Baseball! It's an unpredictable game. As unpredictable as the stock market, an earthquake or my wife’s cooking (I pray she doesn't read this). And once again we take a lesson from baseball that we can apply to

Bobby Abreu (OF—Angels)  It wasn’t enough to overcome a 6 run deficit and ruin opening day at Yankee stadium, but Bobby Abreu’s 9th inning grand slam did provide a little suspense in a game that was otherwise dominated by the

Chipper Jones (3B—Braves) Let's start this blurb off on the right foot and establish that Chipper Jones is an excellent ball player. He's a career .307 hitter with 427 home runs and a lifetime OBP of .406. He will more

Los Angeles Angels – Is Pitching Already a Problem? – Opening day is just a week or so away but the Angels already have a few concerns with their pitching rotation. Two of their starters, Ervin Santana and Scott Kazmir,

Atlanta Braves – The Young and the Aging – There were a lot of raised eyebrows during the off-season when the Braves traded Javier Vazquez to the Yankees for Melky Cabrera. Vazquez was coming off his best year and the

Houston Astros – The Puma Is Out – Spring training is supposed to be about hope and optimism but this March has many teams scrambling trying to figure out backup plans for key players that are going down. Include the

My counterparts at Fantistics have been doing an amazing job breaking down the pre-season players and the key situations to watch for all the teams and I’m excited to jump into the foray and push a few more teams onto

Carlos Quentin (OF—White Sox) Carlos Quentin finished off the season with a fairly strong September, hitting 6 home runs for the month. After struggling a good portion of the year with injuries, Quentin’s .239 batting average was much lower than

Ricky Nolasco (SP—Marlins) Ricky Nolasco finished off the 2009 season with his most impressive game of the year, fanning 16 batters in 7.2 innings and flirted with the record for consecutive strikeouts. Despite Nolasco falling 1 strikeout shy of Tom

Jarrod Washburn (SP—Tigers) Well, for once it appears that Seattle may have made a good move, trading Jarrod Washburn to Detroit when he was at the height of his value. Since arriving in the Motor City, Washburn has pretty much

Chris Coghlan (OF—Marlins) Chris Coghlan has tossed his name into the Rookie of the Year race as he has been on fire the past couple of months. From the beginning of August, Coghlan is batting an amazing .383 in 214

Jake Peavy (SP--White Sox) Congratulations to all Jake Peavy owners who have waited over 3 months to use the ace pitcher this season. Your patience has been rewarded. Saturday was Peavy's White Sox debut against the Royals and he was

Josh Johnson (SP--Marlins) With just a little over 2 weeks left in the regular season, every game the Marlins play have serious implications as they try to hang on for the NL Wildcard spot. Josh Johnson is someone they will

Johnny Damon (OF--Yankees) Johnny Damon has had a bit of an aching back that kept him out of the lineup on Friday and Saturday. It doesn't sound like it’s anything to worry about. This is good news since Damon is

Albert Pujols (1B--Cardinals) It almost seems like a pointless exercise to write about Albert Pujols. Is there anyone in the fantasy baseball universe that doesn't know how great he is? Is there anyone that needs to be told that he

Clayton Kershaw (SP—Dodgers) Stupid injuries are the most frustrating for fantasy owners. Like the guy who stubs his toe on the dugout step and winds up missing a week of games. Or perhaps the player that cuts his index finger

John Lackey (SP—Angels) John Lackey walked away with a tough luck no-decision on Saturday as he scattered 6 hits, allowed 1 ER over 9 innings, walking none and striking out 4. Lackey has put together a solid season albeit not

Carlos Beltran (OF—Mets) Could things be turning around for the Mets? Not enough to make a bit of difference at anything resembling a playoff run, but maybe a few positive signs to salvage what is left of an abysmal season.

Scott Kazmir (SP—Angels) The Angels seem to have acquired Scott Kazmir at the right time. He’s been on a fairly good roll of late and seems to have found some consistency that he was lacking prior to his visit to

Oliver Perez (SP--Mets) It's like some scene out of an Agatha Christie mystery novel where several characters are in a mansion and one by one they keep disappearing until only a few remain. Such is the Mets season and the

Brian Roberts (2B—Orioles) Brian Roberts had his hitting streak come to an end at 12 games on Saturday going 0 for 3 with 2 walks and a stolen base. He had been batting .385 over that span with 5 home

Bobby Parnell (SP—Mets) Well, this wasn’t how the script was supposed to play out. The way it’s supposed to go is if you pitch poorly and then you follow it up with an outstanding performance, your next start is supposed

Ian Kinsler (2B—Rangers) After a two week stint on the DL, Ian Kinsler was back in the Ranger lineup Saturday and obviously felt refreshed and ready to play some ball as he went 2 for 3, hitting his 24th home

JJ Hardy (SS—Brewers) JJ Hardy has been mired in a season slump where his top BA was .247 for one day back in May. His season has been so poor that he was only hitting in the .240’s for three

Neftali Feliz (RP—Rangers) There is nothing like a good, old fashioned Texas barbecue. And the Rangers now have someone coming out of their bullpen that is bringing the fire. Neftali Feliz can throw heat! Flaming, red-hot fastballs that consistently border

Luis Castillo (2B--Mets) Here's a suggestion: rather than play "Take me out to the Ballgame" at CitiField, during the 7th inning stretch, about the Mets play the theme from M*A*S*H? There must be some dark magic that is working against

Jeff Niemann (SP—Rays) You can add Jeff Niemann’s name to the list of very talented young pitchers that are in the Tampa Bay organization. Niemann’s season thus far has been peppered with outings that have been sub-par combined with some

Jake Peavy (SP—White Sox) Wow! This one came out of the blue. Jake Peavy apparently does think that Chicago is his kinda town as he waived his no trade clause and has decided to pitch for the White Sox. Still

Mat Latos (SP—Padres) It’s difficult to determine how rookies will do once they come up. Even the rookie “sure thing” will endure struggles. Look at David Price and Matt Weiters. They have hardly been the impact players out of the

Luke Hochevar (SP—Royals) There is little doubt that Luke Hochevar has plenty of upside and after Saturday’s start against a potent Ranger lineup where he struck out 13, you might suspect that there is a sense that Hochevar might be

Miguel Montero (C-Diamondbacks) –Generally, fantasy owners fall into three different categories. You’ve got one type who have assembled their All-Star team and will ride that team ‘til the end, win or lose, with the belief that the cream will rise

Marc Rzepczynski (SP—Blue Jays) Marc Rzepczynski nailed down the first victory of his career and did it impressive fashion against a tough team in the Red Sox. Rzepczynski has only logged 18 innings in 3 starts this season but he

John Smoltz (SP—Red Sox) – There are a lot of red flags where John Smoltz is concerned. First, he’s 42; he’s no spring chicken and is certainly in the twilight of a hall of fame career. Second, he’s returning for

Oliver Perez (SP--Mets)—Dim the lights, cue scary music. Yes, Oliver Perez is back. And were you thinking that now would be a good time to add Perez to your lineup? The “New and Improved” Oliver Perez? Did the notion enter

Victor Martinez (C—Indians)—Cheer up Victor Martinez owners. You knew that at some point he was going to have to slow down. You didn’t think he was going to bat .350 the whole season, did you? A huge bonus compared to

David Wright (3B--Mets)--Is David Wright having a terrific season? I guess it depends on who you ask. I will say it’s a very unique season. Yes, his BA is in the .340 area, which is wonderful, but where has all

Kevin Slowey (SP—Twins)—I’m a little perplexed by Kevin Slowey. I can’t really decide what kind of season he is putting together. Yes, he is tied for the major league lead in wins at 10, so he has been getting the

Matt Lindstrom (RP—Marlins) -- I know closers are hard to come by, at least reliable closers. You just can’t turn the corner and find a Rivera or a Papelbon standing on every street corner. But at the rate that Matt

David Aardsma (RP—Mariners)—OK, let’s get real here for a second. Prior to this season, David Aardsma had a career ERA of 5.29, had a BB/9 of 5.6, an H/9 of 9.3, a WHIP of 1.65 and never had saved a

Mike Hampton (SP-Astros)—it’s hard to be surprised that Mike Hampton has returned to the disabled list on Wednesday, this time with a groin injury. Hampton has done decently for the Astros this season from time to time, holding his own

David Ortiz (DH--Red Sox)-- It has been well documented what a difficult season it has been for David Ortiz. Fantasy owners that were expecting the usually offensive numbers from Ortiz have instead acquired one of the biggest fantasy busts so