Carl Crawford - This is the Carl Crawford you drafted. His Fantasy Week 12 results included a .524 OBP, 15 TB which include a double, triple and a HR, 5 RBI, and 3 R. He attempted one steal but was caught in the act. Crawford's overall season has been disappointing relative to his previous years. He's posting a 0.62 FPI, down from last year's 0.79 and his lowest since his first full season of 2003. Listing his FPI's since '03: 0.62, 0.75, 0.73, 0.81, 0.79. While his production is down, its refreshing to see his batting eye improve to 0.50 from previous seasons of .26, .43, .32, .43, and .29 last season. He'll put it all together at some point and produce like previous seasons. I would trade for Crawford anticipating a 0.75 FPI going forward.
Edgar Renteria - Renteria is in a bad place right now. He's 3-for-19 in his last 6 games and is only hitting .231 for June after hitting .235 in May. Renteria started the season strong, hitting .314 in April with 3 HR, 16 RBI, and 15 runs scored. Since May 1st, he's hitting just .233 with a .576 OPS, 0.37 FPI, 1 HR in 146 AB, and 15 RBI. The one bright spot is that he is earning walks with 10 already this month. If he starts to turn it around, he's a decent SS pick-up, but for now, you could probably find someone better in mixed leagues on the waiver wire.
Jered Weaver - Weaver has had a rough go in 2008, but he pitched well enough against the Phillies yesterday to earn his 7th win of the season and the 3rd of the month of June. Let's take a look at Weaver's 2008 relative to the rest of his career. Since Weaver's call-up 2 years ago, we have been analyzing his low GO/AO rates. In 2006, his GO/AO was just 0.48 and was accompanied by a 1.10 HR/9. Last season, he improved to 0.72 and a 0.95 HR/9. This year however, despite a better 0.76 GO/AO, his HR/9 is a career-high 1.25 that has certainly help lead to a 5.09 ERA and 1.47 WHIP. His strike-out rates have toggled steadily between 6.5 and 7.2 in his career along with a BB/9 of 2.4 to 2.8. His flyball propensity concerns me, leading me to believe a regression to the mean may not be a foregone conclusion in Weaver's case. Not a risk I'm willing to take.
Kevin Youkilis - I think its safe to say that Youk's back problems are behind him. He returned on Friday and recorded a hit in each game in the weekend series and was 2-for-5 on Sunday with 2 HR and 3 RBI. Youkilis is having his best year yet. He's hitting .305 (first time over .300) with a .912 OPS (first time over .900) with a 0.75 FPI. His previous two years reveals a 0.64 and 0.66 FPI. His power has come around with a HR/AB of 20.2, improving from 43.8 and 33.0 in the last two seasons. His fantasy value is probably under-rated at 1B, but his 0.75 FPI production should be good enough to include him in any utility spot as well.
Robinson Cano - We've analyzed Cano's first and 2nd half splits in previous posts, but he has yet to really turn it around and begin his resurgence. Last week, Cano was just 5-for-19 with 3 runs and a .286 OBP. After a "come-back month" of May where he hit .295 with a .432 slugging is only hitting .250 with a .316 (despite the rest of the Yankees lineup heating up and getting healthy). I maintain he's too good of a hitter for this to last much longer. Keep him in your lineup and be ready for his breakout, because history (and odds) say he should get hot soon.
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