Paul Sauberer is one of the original Fantistics Analysts. Paul is a diehard fantasy baseball fan with political aspirations. Paul's earliest baseball memories are of the expansion Senators in the 1960s and his father buying him an entire box of 1969 Topps baseball cards. The Senators are no longer and the cards are definitely no longer in mint condition, but Paul's love of baseball continues. He transferred allegiance to the Orioles after the Senators left town and enjoyed the glorious times of the Birds in the 1970s. During that time, he also discovered table top baseball games (before "Rotisserie" meant anything outside of something to do with food) and that has led to decades of crunching numbers and following major league performances. Paul reacquainted himself with the Senators, now the Texas Rangers, while going to college in Texas and remains a Rangers' fan today, even after living on Long Island for 14 years with his wife and two children. Paul knows his baseball!
Scott Baker- MIN- Cold- After 4 consecutive quality starts, Baker had his worst outing of the season so far. He allowed 5 runs on 6 hits and 5 walks while striking out 6 in 4.1 IP. Baker's control overall wasn't...
Jeremy Guthrie- BAL- Hot- Guthrie tossed 6 shutout innings against the Red Sox, but didn't factor in the decision, leaving his record at 1-3 while his ERA is a sparkling 2.53. Guthrie gave up 7 hits and 1 walk while...
Jeff Francoeur- KC- Hot- Francoeur raised his average to .333 by going 2-for-4 and hitting his 3rd homer of the season. His average is being boosted by a .345 BABIP so that may not hold. The power numbers have a...
Roy Halladay- PHI- Cold- Halladay got lit up for the first time in 2011, allowing 6 runs on 10 hits and 2 walks while striking out 3 in 6.2 IP. He got hit hardest in the 7th inning and ended...
Francisco Liriano- MIN- Cold- Liriano’s Grapefruit League issues (20 H and 9 BB in 18.2 IP) have continued in the regular season. A good thing from yesterday’s effort was that his control was much improved. Liriano only walked 1 in...
Chipper Jones- ATL- Hot- Jones went 2-for-3 to raise his 2011 average to .333. That is also his BABIP, which explains a lot. He hasn’t stuck out in 25 plate appearances, but he has also only walked once. Jones is...
Pedro Borbon- TEX- Caution- There is a threat of resurrection of an old joke, “What do Pedro Borbon and Michael Jackson have in common?” “Both wear a single glove for no apparent reason.” Borbon’s fielding woes continued yesterday as he...
Injury news, positional battles, a retirement announced. Lots of things happening in spring training. You can follow me on Twitter @fantisticspaul (http://twitter.com/fantisticspaul - for the full link) for occasional (and hopefully increasingly frequent) baseball insights. Neftali Feliz- TEX- Feliz will...
Another day, more happenings at major league Spring Training. You can follow me on Twitter @fantisticspaul (http://twitter.com/fantisticspaul - for the full link) for occasional (and hopefully increasingly frequent) baseball insights. Opening Day is right around the corner! Chris Davis- TEX-...
Here are some news, notes and glimpses of the future from spring training... I have finally joined the twitterverse. I'm sure I won't be as frequent with my tweets as our resident Twitter king, Drerw Dinkmeyer, if you would like...
Punxatawney Phil said we'd have an early Spring. I don't know whether that's holding true for you but at least we have some baseball to talk about. We'll start off with some insights dealing with the Orioles, defending AL Champion...
Alex Gordon- KC- Cold- There was more frustration with a silver lining for Gordon last night as he went 0-for-1 but walked twice. This month Gordon is hitting just .187, but a BABIP of .235 can explain a lot of...
Roy Oswalt- PHI- Hot- With a 7-1 record and 1.65 ERA for the Phillies, Oswalt was successful trade acquisition, to say the least. Don’t expect him to continue that kind of production in 2011, as he had a BABIP of...
Derrek Lee- ATL- Stats- Lee has improved his average significantly since coming over from the Cubs, hitting .283 for Atlanta after posting a .251 mark in Chicago. Although Lee’s Batting EYE has gone up from .51 to .62 the most...
Kevin Millwood- BAL- Cold- Millwood has given up twice as many homers (20) in Camden Yards as he has on the road this year. His ERA at home (5.08) is almost half a run lower than his road mark (.252)...
Trevor Cahill- OAK- Cold- We may be starting to see some regression to the mean kick in here. In 2 of his last 4 starts, Cahill has gotten bombed and his BABIP has risen up a bit to .224. Also,...
Dan Hudson- ARI- Rookie- Hudson threw another gem for the Diamondbacks, throwing 8 shutout innings in which he allowed 4 hits and a walk while striking out 8. What’s the big difference since Hudson came over from the AL at...
Brad Bergesen- BAL- Hot- Bergesen has been making positive steps in realizing his potential. Since July 31st he has posted quality starts in 5 of his 8 outings. That may not seem that great, but it is an improvement over...
Cliff Lee- TEX- Caution- Lee’s heavy usage the past two seasons may be catching up with him. The Rangers have treated Lee far better than did the Indians, Phillies and Mariners. With 20 starts if 110+ pitches last year and...
Derrek Lee- ATL- Hot- Three days ago Fantistics’ Drew Dinkmeyer said, “He’ll eventually get hot for a little while…” It looks like “eventually” came pretty quickly. In the two days since Drew’s pronouncement Lee has gone 5-for-8 with a double,...
Evan Longoria- TB- Idea- Longoria’s decrease in power may be coming from a lack of proper plate discipline. He is taking more pitches, swinging at only 43.9% of them, down from 44.7% last year. However, he is swinging at 25.7%...
Derek Holland- TEX- Cold- Holland’s control issues continued in his first start since May 30th. In his last rehab start, Holland gave up 3 runs on 3 hits and 3 walks in 2.1 IP. Yesterday against the Rays he was...
Michael Stanton- FLA- Rookie- Stanton may be picking up some plate discipline. This month he has struck out 12 times in 50 ABs, after fanning 30 times in 86 July ABs. He has also walked 9 times in 59 PAs,...
AJ Burnett- NYA- Caution- On July 29th, we talked about how when Burnett throws a lot of pitches his next starts (he had thrown 114 on July 28th) aren’t so good. In his start after that he allowed 8 runs...
Alex Rodriguez- NYA- Great Player- Yes, ARod has had a great, if somewhat tainted, career. His 600 homers is quite the milestone. However, that doesn’t really do you any good in the 2010 fantasy baseball season. Looking just at this...
Jose Tabata- PIT- Hot- Tabata has hit safely in 13 of his last 14 games and raised his average to .297. He also has cut down on his strikeouts, not fanning in his last 4 games and only striking out...
Chris Davis- TEX- FYI- The Rangers are reportedly interested in acquiring a righthanded bat who can play first base. Prominent names are Jorge Cantu of the Marlins and Ty Wigginton of the Orioles. With Davis hitting just .148 against lefthanders,...
Ben Zobrist- TB- Cold- Zobrist is having a tough July in a lot of ways. With a .196 average and no homers for the month so far, he is a drag in those two categories. Zobrist has stolen 6 bases,...
Casey McGehee- MIL- Cold- McGehee’s power has evaporated. During the month of July his FB% has dropped to 30.8% and his lone homer yields a HR/FB ratio of 6.3%. Both of those numbers are well below the monthly marks he...
Matt Diaz- ATL- Hot- Diaz had his best game of his injury-impacted season, going 3-for-5 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored and an RBI. This raised his season average to the Mendoza line. Diaz has been a .300 hitter in...
Jamie Moyer- PHI- Hot- Moyer gave up 1 run on 2 hits in 8 IP last night, walking 1 and striking out 5. He has enjoyed good luck this year, with a .236 BHIP, but he has also made some...
Ted Lilly- CHC- Cold- With a .208 BHIP headed into yesterday’s contest, Lilly had been blessed by good luck. Regression to the mean may have raised its ugly head as he gave up 8 runs (6 earned) on 9 hits...
CJ Wilson- TEX- Cold- I was in Sun Life Stadium Tuesday night and got to see Wilson up close and personal. He managed to qualify for quality start, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits over 6IP while striking out 6....
Justin Masterson- CLE- Hot- Last night might have been a heaping helping of regression to the mean for Masterson. He carried a .368 BHIP into last night’s start, where he shut out the Red Sox on 2 hits and 2...
Stephen Strasburg- WAS- Rookie- Talk about living up to the hype. Strasburg wasn’t perfect in his major league debut, giving up 2 runs on 4 hits in 7 IP, but he was close enough, striking out 14 batters and walking...
Miguel Tejada- BAL- Hot- With a BHIPx of .234, some regression to the mean is expected for Tejada. Yesterday might have been the beginning of that. He went 3-for-4 against the Yankees with 2 doubles and a run scored. Since...