CC Sabathia: I love me some CC Sabathia! Big CC went 7 strong innings last night yielding only 2 ER's on 6 hits. He struck out 8 more batters without walking a hitter and raises his season K:BB ratio to...

Ryan Freel Good news on Ryan Freel lately, as the post-concussion systems continue to subside. Freel is currently on a Triple-A rehab assignment, and if things continue to go as planned, he should be able to be activated sometime next...

This week we will pick up some players from the Futures Game rosters that haven’t yet appeared in Prospect Central, and introduce you to a rising young star in the Red Sox System… Keep in mind that our Prospect...

Second Half Rankings Hitters Edition With the all star break approaching, it's a good time to look at the production (rankings) we expect from the top 300 position players in the second half of 2007. Subscribing to the regression...

Chris Ray- BAL- Drop Value- Ray may finally have pitched himself out of the closer role in Baltimore, at least as far as being the sole closer goes. "It would be nice if we could get him out of some...

Brian Mcann of the Atlanta Braves had been coming around of late but he had a real stinker at the plate on Friday night against the Florida Marlins. Mcann went zero for six with four strikeouts and seven runners left...

Jason Bartlett: Bartlett has quietly gone a perfect 15 for 15 in the steals department this year. He is not hitting for power, but is making good contact, 87% Ct%, and exercising plate patience, .79 BB/K, to get him on...

Scott Olsen: It seems every time it looks like Scott Olsen is taking a step forward, he takes another step backwards. This seemed to take place within the same game on Thursday as Olsen mowed through the weak Pirates lineup...

American League 23 Daric Barton OAK 1B B+ Having a pretty good June - .500/.545/.700. Just 5 HR in 275 at-bats but more power will come. 24 Adam Jones SEA OF B+ In 163 fewer at-bats, he's already tied last...

Jered Weaver- LAA- Hot- Weaver seemed fully recovered from the various maladies (sore shoulder, strep throat) that have affected him over the past few weeks. He held KC to just 1 run on 5 hits and a walk while striking...

It is dateline Chicago once again as we review the big bullpen news of the week. Ryan Dempster was placed on the 15-day DL on Tuesday with a strained left oblique. With Sweet Lou's alleged "closer in waiting"Angel Guzman also...

Brian Giles will be activated from the disabled list on Friday and should be back in action for the weekend series in Los Angeles after missing a month with a bruised knee. Giles and fantasy owners have seen quite a...

After hitting readers with a barrage of statistically inclined articles over the last few weeks that looked into Disaster Starts, Bullpen's Impact on SP's, the Added Impact of Middle Relievers, and the Consistency factors when evaluating hitters, I decided...

Chuck James: There could be some trouble looming for James. In two seasons, he has been at the league average with his HR/FB%, 10.3% last year and 10.6% this year. His fly ball pitching ways, 49% in 2007, means that...

The Mark Buehrle show will be front and center in the eyes scouts and general mangers today in Tampa Bay. Buehrle has pitched well enough to win his last three starts and probably four of his last five starts but...

My base of minor league operations sits on the banks of the meandering Merrimack River in Manchester New Hampshire. The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are the AA affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays, playing in the Eastern League. Their new...

J.D. Drew - How is it that Drew is owned in only 1 out of 3 ESPN leagues? After another hit and two walks last night, Drew is hitting 306/353/565 for the month of June. He is still a dangerous...

Justin Germano- SD- Hot- Germano had another strong start, although he ended up with no decision. He gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 4 in 6 IP. Only once in 9 starts has...

John Maine: A couple home starts seemed to be all John Maine needed to get back on track. Maine posted his 2nd consecutive quality start as he limited the A's to 5 base-runners and 2 ER's in his 7 innings...

Moose's record dropped to 3-5 with another loss on Sunday. His ERA has ballooned to 5.12 and WHIP to 1.35. The Giants hit him up for 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 5 H. Mike Mussina had a string...

Fernando Rodney: Despite Todd Jones' problems, 5.46 ERA, the Tigers are more likely to stick with him as the closer or look outside the organization rather than turning to Rodney. Rodney has struggled also, 5.40 ERA, but has also been...

James Loney I can't tell you how impressed I am with James Loney. He was 2-for-4 with a triple and a walk on Saturday against the Devil Rays, and even his two out were line drives, one of which could...

Conor Jackson - Jackson has been scuffling a bit lately, but in my mind the 25 year old is a breakout waiting to happen. There might be one or two hitters per team that can exert enough control over the...

But for the fact that Mark Buehrle surrendered a lead-off homer to Alfonso Soriano, then another solo blast to Aramis Ramirez a few batters later, the White Sox southpaw was brilliant, going seven strong innings (well, six strong innings and...

Rodrigo Lopez improved to 4-0 on the year with a win over the Yankees on Thursday. He went 5.2 IP, allowing 7 hits and a walk while striking out 3. Rodrigo lowers his ERA to 2.93 on the year in...

Julio Lugo: The Red Sox have dropped the struggling Lugo, .201 batting average in 264 AB, to the bottom of the order. There doesn't seem to be much wrong with Lugo's skill set, 86% Ct% and .67 BB/K. A low...

It is another slow week in the back end of Major League bullpens this week. Of course, the injury to Brad Lidge tops the closer headlines. Before he could collect his first save of this tour of duty as the...

Roger Clemens of the New York Yankees apparently has the best gig in the history of Major League baseball. After his last start Joe Torre said all he asks of Clemens is that he gives them a chance to win...

Manager Bobby Cox gave the slumping Andruw Jones a night off on Wednesday. With a scheduled off-day for the Braves on Thursday, Cox hopes that back-to-back days of rest may help Jones get his swing back in order. He's not...

American League 15 Jacoby Ellsbury BOS OF B+ Prototypical leadoff man: 0.96 EYE, 27-for-31 in SB, and now power. .730 OPS in AAA. 17 Travis Snider TOR OF B+ In a 2-for-15 slump and his 0.36 EYE is very un-Moneyball...

Chad Durbin limited the Nationals to 1 run over 6 IP at RFK on Tuesday. He gave up 5 hits without a walk and struck out 5 to improve to 6-3 on the year with a 4.37 ERA. Chad is...

So Taguchi: Taguchi should be the regular center fielder while Jim Edmonds is out. He has been on fire, going 18 for his last 40, raising his average to .310. The soon to be 38 year old is making the...

  Batting Average Production (Current vs. 3-Year Averages)   Good morning everybody.  Today we are going to focus on the category of batting average.  I don't know about your squads, but this is one area of the game in which...

When last we talked I set out some offensive team splits so we could identify particularly good or bad matchups for your pitchers.   This morning let’s check out the particularly good and bad matchups for hitters. Here are...

Brad Penny- LAD- Hot- In 14 starts this season, Penny has only twice failed to throw the quality variety. There is a good chance that he will make it 13 of 15 tonight in Toronto. After that things are going...

Jonny Gomes - Three homers in a couple of days for Gomes, who might have a little window here between the troubles of Elijah Dukes and the re-injury of Rocco Baldelli yesterday in a minor-league rehab stint. No matter how...

Randy Wolf: Wolf's going through a bit of a slump right now as he turned in his 3rd clunker in the last 4 starts. The drop off has come with a steep decline in his K Rate along with a...

Chien-Ming Wang struck out a career-high 10 and earned his 7th win of the season against the cross-town rivals New York Mets on Sunday night baseball. Wang's 10 K's was quite a surprise, considering his K/9 is just 4.71. His...

Felix Pie – Cubs Outfielder – Bats Left – 6-2, 170 – 2/8/1985 2006 pretty much constituted a “Take 2” in Felix Pie’s pro career. After an ankle injury sidelined him for half of the 2005 season the Cubs...

Shaun Marcum: Marcum was fantastic yesterday striking out 11 batters in 7 innings of work against the Nationals. He allowed 3 walks and 3 hits which translated into 2 ER's and now lowered his ERA to 3.41 on the season....

So Taguchi Taguchi was 4-for-6 with three RBI on Saturday, raising his line to .307/.378/.421. Entering Saturday's game, there was only a three-point difference in Taguchi's L/R splits, though lately with Chris Duncan back from the DL, most of Taguchi's...

Aubrey Huff- BAL- Hot- Huff went 3-for-4 to extend his current hitting streak to 10 games. It has not been one of those empty streaks, with a lot of 1-for-4 or 1-for-5 games, as he has 6 multi-hit games in...

Derrek Lee of the Chicago Cubs may be the most confusing fantasy case so far this season. Lee went four for four on Friday against the San Diego Padres but at the same time he had zero runs and...

There has been a lot of talk recently about the "Unwritten Rules"in baseball. When Alex Rodriguez rounded third in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and shouted "hey"at the fielder, causing him to miss the ball, the "unwritten rules of...

Nick Markakis: After a strong second-half to finish off his rookie campaign, it has been a mixed bag for Markakis in his sophomore season, 9/39/.267. There has been some nice growth in his power, 28 extra base hits in 257...

Tom Gorzelanny: Gorz had a bit of an adjustment statistically last night as his 5 ER's on 7 Hits and 1 BB over 7 innings helped bring his Strand Rate and ERA back in line with his career Strand Rate...

American League 2 Brandon Wood LAA 3B Signs of life: .316 with 2 HR and 3 SB in last 10 games. 69..5% contact rate remains the concern. 15 Jacoby Ellsbury BOS OF 8-for-20 in his last 5 games. .296/.379/.373 in...

Orlando Cabrera- LAA- Hot- Here it is Flag Day and Cabrera has a higher batting average than teammate Vlad Guerrero. Who'd a thunk it? In the past 4 games he is an astounding 9-for-19, which increased his average to .339....

We are starting the second half of what has been another relatively stable week in MLB bullpens. The major news among closers happened at the end of last week when the Astros returned Brad Lidge into the closer's role. The...

We are starting the second half of what has been another relatively stable week in MLB bullpens. The major news among closers happened at the end of last week when the Astros returned Brad Lidge into the closer's role. The...

Livan Hernandez made a bid for his 6th straight quality start, but the Yankees had another thought in their minds. Livan gave up 7 ER and 9 hits against the red-hot Bronx Bombers including 3 HR and 5 BB. Tough...

A.J. Burnett left last night's game after 4.2 IP with what is being termed a "shoulder strain". "They don't think it's any big deal," manager John Gibbons said. "It's a mild strain. You're always concerned when a pitcher feels something...

The Phillies will turn to rookie call-up Kyle Kendrick to take Freddy Garcia's spot in the rotation on Wednesday. In 12 games this season with the Double-A Reading Phillies, Kendrick is 4-7 with a 3.21 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and a...

Christian Guzman: After missing all of all of 2006 with an injury and being slowed by a hamstring injury early this year, Guzman has been red-hot, 1/8/.336 in 134 AB.. Although he is not stealing bases, just 2 in 2...

Josh Fields - Josh Fields is going to be the White Sox starting 3B for the foreseeable future, and that after only 1400 minor league AB's to his credit. Fields has solid offensive potential in every category, with 52 HR's...