All posts under "Preseason Prep" - Page 16

The Rays are expected to announce their starting rotation today and as we speculated last week, it appears that Jeff Niemann will win the 5th starter job over Wade Davis who appears to be headed to the pen. Last Monday...

Preseason Fantistics Analysis - Monday, March 26, 2012 New York Yankees Michael Pineda's fastball is one of the most scrutinized pitches this spring training. A few ticks in the wrong direction and suddenly he's dropping on fantasy draft boards, getting...

Oakland A's Crafty Lefty Files: Tom Milone News came out this week that Milone has one of the A's rotation spots locked up, and he is scheduled to pitch in one of the team's exhibition games in Japan. Milone...

Chicago Cubs: Jeff Samardzija the starter? Perhaps the most surprising news out of Cubs camp has been the emergence of Jeff Samardzija as an option in the Cubs rotation. The Cubs went into camp with 5 options for the...

New, notes, and analysis as we get closer to the start of the regular season... Zack Britton- BAL- Britton's injury situation hasn't gotten any better as Spring Training has advanced. He is now going to try platelet rich plasma therapy...

Indians Middle Infield News: Can Jason Kipnis Do It Again? - The Indians gave prospect Jason Kipnis a chance last season and the youngster delivered in his 150 plate appearances to the tune of seven HRs, five steals and a...

Clay Buchholz pitched well in his spring start against the Rays on Sunday, 4 Ks, 4 hits, 0 walks, in 5 IP, one run on a solo homer by Evan Longoria, who must not be able to sleep the...

New York Yankees The Core Four Gets One Back Andy Pettitte shocked the world last week when he announced he signed a minor league deal with the Yankees. Of course, this was no "minor" deal as Pettitte is making a...

Dodgers left field battle - Jerry Sands is hitting just .176 through Thursday, but he may be still alive considering Juan Rivera is at just .200 himself. Rivera though has popped three home runs and he has the $4.5 million...

Oakland A's Bartolo Colon (SP)- Colon is coming off an improbable 2011 campaign in which he posted the fourth best FIP (3.83) of his career. He was a different pitcher in the second half of the season, due in...

Toronto Blue Jays Breaking Down the Blue Jays' Left Field Battle Eric Thames and Travis Snider have entered Spring Training in a battle for the Blue Jays' starting LF spot come Opening Day. Thames is a 25 YO left...

Middle Infield News: What To Expect From Asdrubal Cabrera - In 2010, Asdrubal Cabrera played in 97 games for the Indians and hit three HRs to go along with a .071 ISO and .346 SLG%. So, naturally, all Cabrera did...

Philadelphia Phillies Howard's Achilles There aren't many question marks with the Phillies heading into 2012 other than injury concerns. Of course, the most obvious one is Ryan Howard. Howard will inevitably begin the year on the disabled list after suffering...

Top Of The Rotation News: Justin Masterson - The Indians' Opening Day starter isn't flashy and won't blow you away with high strikeout totals but he's a reliable and steady rotation option for your fantasy team. Consider that Justin Masterson...

News and notes as spring training keeps rolling along... Yu Darvish- TEX- Darvish made his Cactus League debut yesterday against the Padres. In 2 IP he allowed 2 hits and struck out 3 of the 8 batters he faced....

Oakland A's Jarrod Parker Expectations: Parker is currently projected as one of Oakland's starters because of the voids left by Dallas Braden and Brett Anderson's injuries. Parker, the centerpiece in the Trevor Cahill deal, features a fastball that averages...

Toronto Blue Jays No Concerns of a Sophomore Slump for Brett Lawrie Last year as a rookie Brett Lawrie burst onto the scene posting an impressive .293/.373/.580 line in 171 plate appearances. This wasn't a complete surprise as Lawrie, at...

Preseason Fantistics Analysis - Monday, March 5, 2012 New York Yankees Declining Production from Big Stars The Yankees saw one of the "Core Four" retire this off-season with Jorge Posada calling it quits There are already rumors that this may...

Giants first base - Brandon Belt is a guy who has the potential to provide plenty of upside for fantasy owners at a bargain rate. I can see Belt hitting .290/.380/.500 if given the chance given that he did hit...

Chris Sale - Forecasting how relievers will perform when moved into the rotation is probably one of the more difficult things to do, but the consensus on Chris Sale seems to be that he'll be one of the better pitchers...

Toronto Blue Jays What to do with Brandon Morrow? I know some of you are probably a little sour over us touting Brandon Morrow heading into last season, only to have his fantasy statistics once again drag behind his peripheral...

Daniel Bard is one of three high profile conversion projects in the majors this year. He, along with Aroldis Chapman, and Neftali Perez will be attempting to switch to starting roles this spring. The Red Sox say they will...

Chicago Cubs: How bright can Starlin Castro shine? Castro's sophomore season showed continued growth in his power and his SB efficiency while maintaining his plate discipline (33% chase rate, 92% contact rate) and his tremendous LD skills (20.1% LD...

Oakland A's Top of the Rotation: Brandon McCarthy- McCarthy started 25 games for the A's in 2011 compiling 3.32 ERA, 2.86 FIP and a 4.7 fWAR. With a newfound approach to attacking hitters with a two-seam fastball and cutter, McCarthy...

Chicago Cubs Lineup Notes: New Cubs manager Dale Sveum spoke on Thursday about possible lineup combinations, noting that David DeJesus would most likely be his leadoff hitter heading into the 2011 season. The rebuilding Cubs are devoid of ideal...

Toronto Blue Jays Johnson to get shot at hitting in the 2-hole Kelly Johnson 2B (TOR) - On Twitter yesterday Blue Jays writer Gregor Chisolm stated that Manager John Farrell said Kelly Johnson would ideally take the role of No....

Top of the Rotation News: Ubaldo Jimenez - Acquired from Colorado for two of Cleveland's top pitching prospects, Ubaldo Jimenez didn't provide the Indians with the boost they were looking for at the top of their rotation in his 11...

Welcome back to the Insider Baseball blog. It's good to be back and see the players start reporting to Spring Training. There have been a lot of changes in theh majors and we will be looking at them and other...

Expected ERA (XERA) depicts a pitcher's "True ERA" based on the factors within a pitcher's control. These factors include Hits, Walks, Home Runs allowed and K's. When one considers the inequity with the ERA calculation, specifically related to defense and...

Preseason Fantistics Analysis - Wednesday, March 30, 2011 We’re only one day away from Opening Day. At this point, you probably already had your fantasy draft and just want to get the season started. We do too. For today’s preseason...

It's that time of the year again, Preseason Baseball is underway and we'll be carrying the pitcher box scores here every morning. Please be aware that the early preseason box scores can be deceiving. Pitchers, especially veteran pitchers, sometimes...

There Is Value In Houston’s Rotation, Part Deux I wrote about Wandy Rodriguez and Brett Myers in Saturday’s article, so now let’s focus on Bud Norris and J.A. Happ today. First, did you know Bud Norris’ real name is David...

There Is Value In Houston's Rotation The strength of this year’s Houston Astros team lies in the starting rotation which features Wandy Rodriguez, Brett Myers, J.A. Happ and Bud Norris. I’ll talk about Rodriguez and Myers today and leave Happ...

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...

TORONTO BLUE JAYS Closer Update The Jays’ bullpen has been hit with a couple of injuries, shaking up the closer situation. Expected closer Frank Francisco received good news from Dr. James Andrews the other day – no structural damage, a...

Preseason Fantistics Analysis - Wednesday, March 23, 2011 New York Yankees Is a bad start to the season a thing of the past for Mark Teixeira? Mark Teixeria is a notoriously slow starter. Ask any fantasy owner about Tex’s April...