All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 142

Jason Bulger- LAA- Rise Value- With KRod nursing a sprained ankle, someone else will have to handle the save situations for the Angels until he is ready to return. Manager Mike Scioscia has said he would use the dreaded “closer...

One of the early surprises so far has been Jake Westbrook. We all know Westbrook has good stuff but not dominating by any means. However, he’s now 1-1 with a 2.76 ERA after two very good outings, including his complete...

It’s good ole “hump day” for those of you enjoying your first cup of coffee this morning and that means its “Value Picks Day” here at Fantistics. Each Wednesday we’ll be touching on the somewhat generic concept of Value. One...

Mike Gonzalez: Gonzalez, who has been out since the middle of last season after undergoing elbow surgery, could be ready to rejoin the Braves’ pen by the first week of June. His K/9, 2005/2006 #’s of 10.4/10.7, is worthy of...

  Good morning everyone!!  Welcome to Insiderbaseball.com's Coaches Meeting for Week #2...and the opening day for Fantistics Regular Season reporting! American League In the Field It appears as if Brian Roberts is determined to repeat last year’s 50 steals...

Huston Street - It's hard to believe that there isn't something wrong with Street. After allowing only 12 homers in 199 innings from 2005-2007, he's allowed 3 in 3 2/3 innings this year - one in each appearance. There are...

Pat Burrell- PHI- Hot- Burrell smacked 2 of the 4 Philadelphia homers yesterday, giving him a total of 3 in this young season. His overall 2-for-4 at the plate raised his average to .435. Burrell tends to be a fast...

Jeff Keppinger For those that haven’t noticed, Jeff Keppinger is for real. Keppinger put together a nice 2nd half last year as a utility player for the Reds hitting .332/.400/.477 in 276 PA’s. In that time Keppinger, showed an elite...

Clayton Kershaw - SP LA Dodgers The Dodgers were impressed with Clayton Kershaw's 13 scoreless IP in spring training this March and so were we. Kershaw allowed just 5 hits and 3 walks while striking out 15 but the...

Michael Bourn The big question surrounding Bourn coming into the season was not his speed or ability to hit for a decent average, but his ability to get on base enough to enable him to stay in the leadoff spot...

Nate McLouth - I really think that Nate McLouth is one of those rare players that has changed their game at the major league level. In the minors McLouth was a speed guy, slapping singles and doubles and racking up...

John Danks: Danks allowed an ER in 6.2 innings in a no decision against Cleveland yesterday. On the negative side he had just 2 strike outs while also walking a pair. In his rookie season last year, Danks pitched better...

John Danks: Danks allowed an ER in 6.2 innings in a no decision against Cleveland yesterday. On the negative side he had just 2 strike outs while also walking a pair. In his rookie season last year, Danks pitched better...

Joel Pineiro: Pineiro, who has been out of action with an inflamed left shoulder, could pitch in a minor league game by the end of this week. If that happens it would put him on schedule for a major league...

Jeremy Guthrie - One look at Guthrie's splits from last season (and the rest of his pro career, if you want to get technical about it) leads you to believe that one game might actually mean something this time. As...

Kosuke Fukodome- CHN- Hot- The optimist would look at Fukodome’s Major League debut and go, “Wow! What a great game!” The pessimist would see the 3-for-3 with a walk effort (that was a triple short of a cycle) and say,...

Brandon Phillips As I mentioned earlier in the spring, I have no problems taking stands on players and one player in particular that I’m taking a large stand on this year is Brandon Phillips. Everyone is gaga over Phillips 30-30...

Dustin McGowan Let me preface this blurb with the fact that I have an unhealthy affection for Dustin McGowan. I think he’s far and away the best bargain available with regards to pitching this season. McGowan’s peripherals scream STUD starting...

John Bale - Bale pitched poorly yesterday down in a AAA game, but as bad as Jorge de la Rosa continues to be (four runs on nine baserunners in four innings, also yesterday) he may still get a rotation slot....

Homer Bailey - Homer Bailey was pretty far ahead of Johnny Cueto in the pecking order this time last year, but it appears that Cueto has passed him this spring, as Dusty Baker seems inclined to give Cueto the third...

Good news for Chad Tracy owners. He is expecting to go off of his blood thinning medication on Friday which would mean he could start taking live BP for the first time this spring, possibly as early as the...

Andy LaRoche Word leaked out of Dodgers camp late Friday that Andy LaRoche would be sidelined an estimated 8-10 weeks after being hit on the hand by a throw. The injury to LaRoche ends the 3B competition with Nomar Garciaparra...

Fantistics 22608 Reports out of Minnesota say that Joe Nathan and the Twins aren't exactly close of a proposed contract extension. In fact they are one or two years apart and have been that way for the better part...

Cubs closer situation One of the most intriguing position battles to follow in spring training will be the Cubs closer position. The Cubs are fortunate to have three capable arms in Kerry Wood, Bob Howry, and Carlos Marmol and compelling...

Jeremy Bonderman: Fantasy owners of Bonderman in keeper leagues will have a whole winter to ponder whether his complete second-half collapse, 3-8 record with a 6.19 ERA was the product of a tender elbow or just bad skills. At the...

Rich Hill Hill allowed the only Reds hit of the day on Saturday, with Sean Marshall and Scott Eyre finishing off the team one-hitter. Hill walked one and struck out four and despite allowing 11 flyballs to just three groundouts,...

C.C. Sabathia, of the Cleveland Indians, got the job done on Friday against the Kansas City Royals. Sabathia didn't have his most dominant performance of the year, but he pitched well enough to improve to 19-7 on the year. Sabathia...

  Peter Moylan could be Bobby Cox’s first option for saves as Rafael Soriano faces a potential suspension this weekend (work on Soriano’s appeal of his 4-game suspension is due today). In 89 IP this year Moylan is 5-3...

Aaron Hill: It has been an excellent growth season for Hill's power, 17 home runs and 46 doubles vs. 6 home runs and 28 doubles in 2006, fully supported by a rising FB%, 39% vs. 35% in 2006. He has...

Scott Kazmir- TB- FYI- Kazmir's arm has not fallen off...yet. Since manager Joe Maddon has seemed to be watching the young pitcher's workload more closely (only 3 starts over 110 pitches in the second half), maybe damage will be dodged....

Felix Hernandez held the Tribe to 3 runs in 7 IP on Tuesday. He gave up 8 hits without a walk while striking out 2. He also threw 12 GBOs and of course, he did not hand out a...

Nyjer Morgan: Over the last 11 games, Morgan has shown nice speed, 7 steals in 9 attempts. He is already 27 years of age and with no power, 1 home run in 86 AB with the Pirates and 0 home...

Ouch. The Mets fans cannot be feeling any better than Red Sox fans this morning after watching what the Mets pitching staff coughed up yesterday. Mike Pelfrey continues to struggle, giving up 7 runs, 6 earned over 5.2 IP...

I thought we’d mix up this week’s schedule a bit. If you are still playing fantasy baseball this morning, you are likely playing for a championship and trust me, everything counts (more on that later in the week).  ...

Milton Bradley Thanks to the MLB Extra Innings Package, as I was watching the LAD-ARI game when the immortal Vin Scully began talking about an incident going on in the Padres game involving Milton Bradley. Could he be in the...

A.J. Burnett, of the Toronto Blue Jays, has been very good since returning from the disabled list on August 12th. Burnett has made eight starts in that stretch, he has posted a 4-1 record and he has lowered his earned...