All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 129

Angel Pagan (OF – Mets) Angel Pagan is nearing a return to the majors, and with the Mets outfield desperate for some warm bodies, I see some real value here. Pagan does not offer much at the plate (.713 career...

Casey Kotchman- ATL- Stats- Looking at Kotchman’s Fantistics Player Charts, certain numbers are almost identical between 2008 and so far in 2009. His batting average, singles average and Batting EYE are all just about the same. The thing that kills...

Ricky Romero - Romero tossed his seventh straight quality start yesterday against the Yanks, holding the Bombers to three runs over 6 1/3 innings to keep his ERA under 3.00. The high groundball/high strikeout combination that he's flashing is a...

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...

Ryan Hanigan (C-CIN) – Hanigan was 1-for-2 with a walk Sunday after not starting the previous two days after a 3-for-3 effort. Hanigan is now batting a fine .338/.428/.404 in 126 at-bats with a very impressive 12:22 K:BB (1.83 EYE)....

Joe Saunders: Back at the beginning of June I outlined the plan of attack with Joe Saunders, against bottom-half OPS teams in the league, he’s dominant, against top-half OPS teams in the league, he’s below average. Simply start him against...

Alcides Escobar - Shortstop, Milwaukee Brewers Alcides Escobar, Baseball America's Top Brewers prospect will be playing SS for the World Team in the Futures game coming up in St Louis on July 12th. The 6-1, 175 Venezuela native was signed...

Fernando Martinez: Martinez is day-to-day with a sore knee. The 20-year-old is suffering from horrible luck, a .143 BHIP%, which is contributing to his poor numbers, 1/8/.176 in 91 AB. However, he is also not generating much power or plate...

Daisuke Matsuzaka (SP – Red Sox) Dice-K left yesterday for Florida where he will commence a conditioning program. The Sox are essentially treating this as a do-over, and have likened it to Spring Training, which Dice-K missed due to the...

Felipe Paulino (SP-HOU) – Paulino returned from a groin injury to post a very impressive 7-3-1-1-0-9 against the Tigers in his last start, seemingly securing the No. 5 rotation spot. Flash forward to Friday and now we’re not so sure....

Scott Hairston: Hairston continues to be an underrated commodity in fantasy. Hairston’s owned in an astoundingly low 9% of ESPN leagues despite posting a .914 OPS while on pace for a 20-20 season. Hairston’s bounced around quite a bit at...

Vicente Padilla: Padilla’s next start has been pushed back to Tuesday because of some minor soreness in his shoulder. With below average skills, 4.9 K/9, 4.1 BB/9, and a 50% GB%, Padilla has been mediocre, 6-4 with a 4.75 ERA....

Alexei Ramirez- CHA- Injury- Ramirez will be out of today’s game, but it has nothing to do with the beaning he took on Monday. He is apparently fully recovered from that, going 3-for-4 with a run and RBI. Ramirez injured...

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...

American League 18 Jesus Montero NYY C A- .304/.377/.478 in 69 AA AB. Doesn't turn 20 until November. Can he stick at C though? 19 Eric Hosmer KC 1B A- ,896 OPS in May but dropped to .590 in June....

Craig Stammen (SP – Nationals) Despite early indications to the contrary, Craig Stammen will remain in the rotation upon the return of Scott Olsen, while Shairon Martis is sent down to Triple-A. I am a bit more bullish on Stammen...

Dan Haren- ARI- Caution- At this point last season Haren had hit or exceeded the 110 pitch mark twice. So far this year he has done it 5 times. For a pitcher who has exhibited a noted second half fade...

Scott Rolen - The 34 year old Rolen is having one of his best years (sans power, of course) ever in 2009, courtesy of a line drive rate that rivals the game's best. His .360 BABIP is actually quite a...

Ryan Sadowski (SP-SF) – The Giants have an enviable top four in their rotation, but the No. 5 spot has been a black hole this year due in large part to Jonathan Sanchez. Sadowski will attempt to plug that hole...

John Danks: Since my June 1st post on Danks suggesting a buying opportunity had been created, Danks has been spectacular. His peripherals haven’t changed much in that span (.92 K Rate, .35 BB Rate compared to .90 K Rate, .36...

Pablo Sandoval - Sandoval blasted two more homers yesterday against the Brewers, giving him 11 for the year. Sandoval has basically come out of nowhere to become the Giants' best hitter by far....he did virtually nothing in 2006 and 2007,...

The preliminary rosters for this years Futures Game have been released. Let's start by taking a look at some of the players on the US team that we haven't talked about yet this year... Kyle Drabek - Starting Pitcher Philadelphia...

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...

Robinson Cano (OF – Yankees) A bounce-back season was predicted from Cano in ’08. This projection was largely based on an unlucky BABIP of .286 in ’08, but we have seen more than just regression to the mean from Cano...

Chris Young: Young, who has been out with a shoulder injury, is not expected back until after the All-Star break. Before hitting the DL, Young was struggling, 4-6 with a 5.21 ERA, and the drop in his skills, 2008/2009 K/9’s...

Casey McGehee: McGehee stayed hot on Thursday knocking out his 3rd HR of the season in a 1-4 effort. He’s now hitting .414/.469/.672 here in June with 9 extra base hits in 58 AB’s (15.5% exbh rate). Unfortunately while the...

American League 36 Tyler Flowers CHW C B .311/.411/.607 in June after a poor May. Just .239 vs. RHP vs. .361 vs. southpaws. 38 Brandon Allen CHW 1B B Promotion to AAA looks well-deserved: 8-for-17 with a HR there. Konerko's...

Yuniesky Betancourt: Betancourt will likely land on the DL with a hamstring injury. Despite having great contact skills, 92% Ct%, Betancourt is a hacker, 4% BB%, with little power, 2 home runs in 224 AB, or speed, 3 steals. Even...

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...

Ian Snell (SP – Pirates) Kudos to Paul for predicting the bomb of a start that Snell tossed up against the Indians last night. Snell needed 70 pitches to labor through just 2.2 innings while walking 3 and striking out...

Max Scherzer- ARI- Caution- With the Rangers coming to town starting tonight, it’s time to take a quick look at Scherzer’s home/road splits. They are not pretty for someone facing the Texas lineup in his home park, if you have...

Skip Schumaker (OF-STL) – No sense writing about Albert Pujols and his two homers / six RBI day, as we all know how good Pujols is. Instead, let’s look at Schumaker, who went 2-for-4 with a double, walk, RBI, and...

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...

Manny Corpas: Corpas has bone chips in his elbow, which will likely lead to a stint on the DL. His 5.40 ERA is misleading as he is showing good skills, 6.5 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, and a 49% GB%. A low...

Alexei Ramirez (SS - White Sox) - Alexei has been hot and cold the last few weeks, hitting only .182 over the last 7 days, but with 4 HR and 2 SB in the month of June. He looked to...

Adrian Gonzalez: Gonzalez busted out of a slump in a big way on Thursday going 4-4 with a 2B, HR, and 2 RBI’s. As usual he was the majority of the Padres offense accounting for half the Runs scored and...