"July 2007" Monthly Archives - Page 2

Chris Young- ARI- Hot- For the first time since the middle part of May, Young has consecutive multi-hit games. He followed up a 2-for-2 effort Sunday (in which he entered the game as part of a double switch) with a...

I have often felt that fantasy baseball presents a good analogy to financial investing. The players of course would be the stocks and our teams would be our portfolios. I know next to nothing about evaluating a stock but I...

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...

Games against the Royals can boost a young pitcher's confidence. Fausto Carmona pitched a solid 7.0 IP, 2 ER game to earn his 11th win of the season. He struck out 4 and walked two in the outing as well....

(Editors Note: This is not the complete Prospect Central Report that is e-mailed to  Insiderbaseball.com's subscribers today. It is an edited version.) This week my son and I attended the Eastern League (AA) All-Star Fogfest at Dodd Stadium in...

Andruw Jones That sound you hear is Scott Boras breathing a sigh of relief. After getting off to a .199/.299/.377 start through June, including 80 strikeouts, Jones is a different hitter this month. He was 1-for-3 with a walk and...

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...

Erik Bedard- BAL- Hot- Bedard's first start after the All Star break was a good sign, particularly the 7 Ks in 7 IP. He is throwing fewer pitches per inning than he did last year, so fatigue may not be...

Luke Scott's dismal July keeps getting worse after he went 0-for-3 with two more strikeouts against the Cubs yesterday. Scott is hitting .050/.174/.200 in 20 July at-bats and he's now gone six straight games without a hit. In fact, going...

Reed Johnson: Johnson returned to the active roster after a two-month stint on the DL with a back problem. His 2006 career year, 12/49/.319, was more the product of good fortune, .298 BHIP%, than an improvement his average skill set,...

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...

Maybe I'm going down with the ship here, but I continue to claim that Raul Ibanez is a buy-low option for the latter half of the season. His 6 hits and 4 RBI in the last four games give Ibanez...

If all teams maintain their current winning percentages there will be no teams that either win or lose 100 games. Did the last collective bargaining agreement usher in an era of parity or were all the cries of "there are...

Second Half Rankings Hitters Edition Second Half Rankings Pitchers Edition (Posted 7/07/07) Every season we come across players who unexplainably perform at higher or lower levels during certain periods of the season.  One possible explanation behind the phenomena: second...

  Manny Parra – Brewers Starter – Throws Left – 6-3, 200 – 10/30/1982   Manny caught everyone’s attention on June 25th when he retired 27 straight hitters against the Round Rock Express to record the 8th perfect game...

Billy Butler: With Mike Sweeney out for at least six weeks, Butler will get a chance to show that he is ready to hit in the major leagues. In his first go around with the Royals earlier this season, he...

Chris Duncan - Chris Duncan didn't start again last night, but he did come in as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and singled home two runs to make the game tight at the finish. Duncan is leading the Cardinals...

James Shields of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays appears to be turning into a pretty good young starter. The 26 year old right hander improved to 7-4 on the year on Friday in a win against the Kansas City Royals....

Brad Penny developed a blister in the first inning of last night's start against the Braves and limped to his worst outing of the season, allowing 6 runs, all earned in 4 IP on 9 hits, 4 walks and 5...

Chad Gaudin: Gaudin turned in another good performance last night, 2 ER in 7.2 innings, to improve his record to 8-3 with a stingy 2.88 ERA. His high GB% of 53% compensates for an average 5.6 K/9. At some point...

Injuries and ineffectiveness have shuffled the deck in a couple of MLB bullpens as we take a post-July 4th Closer Look. Devil Ray's closer Al Reyes was placed on the 15-day DL on Wednesday with a "mildly"strained rotator cuff. The...

American League 22 Daric Barton OAK 1B B+ After hitting .454 in June, A's reportedly considering dealing D. Johnson to make room for Barton. 23 Adam Jones SEA OF B+ Much closer to being ready now than he was last...

Scott Kazmir- TB- Caution- So maybe I'm a day late and maybe I'm a voice cryinhg in the wilderness, but once again it looks like mismanagement of Scott Kazmir is leading him closer to the day when he will blow...

Frustrated Rickie Weeks owners can gather here for solace. First the bad: Weeks' average plummeted to .230 with an 0-for-4 against the Pirates on Wednesday. Ok, you know how rough its been being a Weeks owners. Now for what I...

Happy July 4th everyone! Having faced yesterday's opposing pitcher Ryan Feierabend in the minors, Billy Butler knew what to expect and he entered the game in a comfortable state of mind. The result was a 3- for -5 performance with...

Alex Gonzalez: Gonzalez is putting on a nice power display for the Reds this year, 13 home runs and 18 doubles in 288 AB. He is just 30 years old and has showed power before, 18 home runs in 2003...

  Mid-Season FPI All Stars   Good morning everybody. In the spirit of the upcoming MLB All Star festivities in San Francisco, today we will take a look at our own versions of All Star teams. Except there won't be...

Vernon Wells - Wells has had a horrible first half, but perhaps last night's 4-5 performance will jumpstart him. Wells' AVG this season is about 20 points below his career worst, and after posting four straight years with ISO's between...

Brandon Webb- ARI- Cold- Something is going on with Webb. Maybe he is having some fatigue issues. Earlier in the season he had a few starts where his pitch count reached above 110. He didn't seem to have any carryover...

With another HR in yesterday's slaughter of the NY Yankees, Jack Cust now has 14 dingers this season and is averaging a HR/AB of 11.1. He hit 3 HR last fantasy week and is posting a 1.026 OPS since joining...

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...