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...
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...
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...
Everyone enjoying the first week of spring training? As we get the first taste of games it’s a natural reaction to begin over-analyzing and reacting to the data. While it’s fun to speculate on some of the early results (Domonic...
Spring training kicks off in full force this weekend with a full slate of games on Saturday and Sunday. In addition to the team breakdowns we’re providing we’ll start digging in on game data, largely focusing on young players and...
It is GOOOOOOOOD to be back! After a nice little hibernation through January and February, we’re back at it here at Fantistics. Richard Gross got us kicked off yesterday covering situations surrounding the Mets, Mariners, A’s, and Angels and I’ll...
Brian Matusz: Matusz is putting the finishing touches on what should be a season that lands him in contention for the rookie of the year award. Matusz allowed just 2 hits, 2 BB’s, and 1 ER over 6 strong innings...
Drew Stubbs: Stubbs stayed red hot knocking out his 22nd HR of the season on Thursday night and driving in 4. He’s now up to .253-89-22-77-28 line that has him now ranked inside the Top 75 overall players in fantasy....
Jon Lester: It wasn’t really hard to see how undervalued Lester was coming into drafts as last year’s peripherals (9.96 K/9, 2.83 BB/9, 47.7% GB Rate) were much more indicative of an ace than the high-end #2 fantasy SP Lester...
Ryan Dempster: Dempster looked to be on his way to breaking a trend of alternating good and bad months this season as he entered Thursday night’s start with a 1.45 ERA in September after posting a solid 2.89 ERA. Unfortunately...
Austin Jackson: I remain perplexed that on September 19th, Austin Jackson sits with an average right at .300. The K Rate remains extremely high and while Jackson has posted a very strong 24% LD Rate, his career minor league LD...
Edinson Volquez: Volquez made his 2nd strong start since being recalled as he limited the DBacks to 3 ER’s over 6 2/3 innings allowing 6 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 7. As with most Tommy-John recoveries Volquez big...
Drew Stubbs: Since Jim Edmonds went down with an oblique injury, Drew Stubbs has reclaimed his starting CF role and thrived hitting .296/.363/.507 in August and getting off to a 9-29 start here in September. Stubbs contact issues and below...
Bobby Abreu: It’s been a difficult season from a batting average perspective for Bobby Abreu (.253) as his LD Rate has dropped 2% and his BABIP has fallen off about 40 points below his career average. Despite the lower batting...
Eric Young Jr.: Young remains a staple atop the Rockies lineup despite posting just a .313 OBP this season at the major league level. Fantasy owners sure won’t complain though as Young continues to run recklessly whenever he does get...
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...