Underperforming Hitters Who Are Coming Around   Good morning everybody.  Today we are going to look at players who have generally not met our expectations this season, but who have been showing signs of life lately.  Even though...

Joe Blanton - Joe Blanton has been whining about the presence of rookie Kurt Suzuki behind the plate for his last few starts, but there are a few other factors at work in his last five starts that aren't likely...

It is time to dumpster dive for starts! Want to know how I can tell? Congratulate me, I am now the proud owner of Jesse Litsch! My league has 5 reserves and currently all 5 of my reserves, Carlos Beltran,...

Ron Mahay- TEX- Trade- Although his 2.77 ERA and K/9 of 7.38 look nice, Mahay has little fantasy value even after being traded to the Braves. His WHIP of 1.38 and BB/9 ratio of 4.85 are mediocre. Combine that with...

Derrek Lee: Two weeks back I suggested Lee's power numbers were suffering from a bit of bad luck with the # of fly balls he's seen leave the yard. Well... Lee's making me look like a genius these days as...

It continues to be one of those years for Richie Sexson and his owners. He showed some signs of breaking out last week, hitting his only two homeruns of the month, but is still hitting just .178 in July and...

Nelson Cruz: Cruz celebrated his return to the bigs with a 2-3 effort on Saturday night with 2 HR's and 5 RBI's. This is what Cruz does, he has incredible raw power and has been a big time power threat...

Texas Rangers- TEX- Trade- The fire sale has begun in the Metroplex. The Rangers received minor league catcher Max Ramirez from the Indians in exchange for Kenny Lofton. Ramirez has potential with the bat, as shown by his .303 average...

Dontrelle Willis, of the Florida Marlins, is a first half pitcher and that is no secret. Over his career Willis is 42-24 in the first half and 23-25 in the second half so it should come as no surprise that...

Luis Castillo: Castillo's constantly sore legs prevent him from being a force on the basepaths, 9 steals in 13 attempts. Without the steals and with a .299 BHIP%, there is plenty of downside with his powerless .306 batting average. Josh...

The Elusive Hold   The Hold is a relatively new metric that attempts to measure the effectiveness of a middle relief pitcher. The growing popularity of fantasy baseball has given the hold a little more air time in recent...

Chris Ray- BAL- Inj Update- Reading between the lines of what's coming out of Baltimore, don't expect Ray to be back this season. He is not going to be even picking up a baseball for the next three weeks and...

The big news at the end of the bullpen this week comes from Baltimore where closer Chris Ray was felled by a bone spur in his elbow.  He is gone for at least a month it would appear. The...

Josh Johnson looked good in a rehab start, throwing three perfect innings in a Class A game on Wednesday. The Marlins are considering bringing Johnson back to pitch on Tuesday against the Rockies, which would make him a two-start pitcher...

American League 39 Chris Lubanski KC OF B- Needs to hit better than his .179 AAA mark if he wants to be team's LF next year. 42 Jeff Clement SEA C B- Strange...after a .370 June, Clement is batting just...

John Rheinecker went 7 innings against the M's on Tuesday in his second MLB start of the season, allowing one unearned run on 6 hits and a walk while striking out 4. He earned his first win of the year,...

Jarrod Saltalamacchia: In his first 137 career AB, Saltalamacchia is off to a nice start, 4/12/.285. At just 22 years of age, there are a few warning signs that suggest some rough spots in the near future. An inflated .290%...

Coco Crisp - Crisp had four more hits last night, giving him ten in his last three games, and also boosting his July line to 366/430/606. This last flurry has bumped his 2007 line above last year's totals, and although...

Chad Billingsley- LAN- Hot- Billingsley, besides having the most preppie sounding name in the majors, now has his first complete game to his credit. He was far more efficient than his last start, when he needed 113 pitches to get...

Manager Joe Torre stole my thunder yesterday. I was really excited to compare Shelly Duncan to Shane Spencer in today's column and then Torre decided to drop Spencer's name in his post-game show. Well anyway, Duncan joined the Yankees late...

Kaz Matsui: It's been a tale of two Matsui's over the last few weeks as Hideki has put on a show while Kaz has struggled mightily. Matsui's gone 3-28 since the Rockies hit the road and this only emphasizes his...

Today we are going to take a look at some of the players we haven't profiled yet that show up on Baseball America's mid-season Top 25 (or so) prospects. Jacob McGee  - Rays Starter - Throws Left - 6-3,...

Jhonny Peralta: After an off-year, it may appear that Peralta's power is back to 2005 levels, 2005/2006/2006 home run totals of 24/13/14 and doubles of 35/28/17, but Peralta will have trouble maintaining this pace with his GB% trending in the...

Scott Olsen Just a kid being a kid, or is there something more here? After getting suspended for reportedly arguing with teammates and a clubhouse attendant, Olsen came out and pitched brilliantly for seven innings in beating the Reds on...

Eric Bedard, of the Baltimore Orioles, has been on his game in July and as a matter of fact most of the season. Bedard was awesome on Friday night against the Oakland Athletics, twirling seven innings of one hit shutout...

All this talk about Brandon Webb's control has failed to mention one thing-it's improving. Yesterday he enjoyed his best start in almost a month, going seven strong innings, in which he surrendered three runs, two of which were earned, on...

Keep your eyes open for the most predicable injury in sports history. With two phony baloney homers yesterday Barry B*nds moves to within two homers of a tying Hank Aaron on the All-Time homerun list, the most predictable sham...

Jermaine Dye: With 5 home runs in his last 33 AB, Dye is showing signs of breaking out his season-long slumber. He battled a quad strain in the first-half and could finally be healthy. The lingering quad problem could have...

Bartolo Colon- LAA- Cold- The former Cy Young Award winner is not coming anywhere near that level of performance this year. After last night's subpar performance (5 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 7 K) Colon has thrown only...

While Carlos Zambrano earned his 12th win in the opposing dugout, Matt Cain watched his record drop to 3-11. Of course, Cain didn't help his cause this time around, giving up 6 ER in just 4.0 IP against the Cubbies....

A couple of returns highlight this week’s Closer Look.   In Tampa Al Reyes returned from his rotator cuff strain on the first day he was eligible. He returns to the closer’s role in Tampa replacing veteran Gary Glover...

American League 16 Adam Jones SEA OF B+ Official call-up hasn't come yet, but reportedly team just wants him comfortable with RF first. 30 Josh Fields CHW 3B B Has raised AVG 30 points in July and is cutting down...

It was a great pitching duel at the Dome on Tuesday as Nate Robertson and the Tigers beat Matt Garza and the Twins 1-0. Nate went 7 shutout IP allowing just 3 hits and 2 walks while striking out 5....

Russell Martin: While the 11 home runs and 21 doubles is impressive, it is hard to believe that Martin can keep up that kind of power with a 49% GB rate. Add in the rigors of catching as the season...

Pitching Category Mashup Revisited (K/BB and QS%)   Good morning everybody.  For today's First Pitch we are going to revisit some analysis we did earlier in the year.  Back in May, we were looking for another way to help identify...

Matt Garza - Garza has been overlooked a bit this year, both by the Twins and by most fantasy players, after a poor MLB debut last season. The fact remains, however, that Garza has managed a strikeout rate of 10.36...

Chris Young- ARI- Hot- For the first time since the middle part of May, Young has consecutive multi-hit games. He followed up a 2-for-2 effort Sunday (in which he entered the game as part of a double switch) with a...

I have often felt that fantasy baseball presents a good analogy to financial investing. The players of course would be the stocks and our teams would be our portfolios. I know next to nothing about evaluating a stock but I...

Buddy Carlyle: For those in some deeper leagues out there, I think Buddy Carlyle deserves a look and could be the guy that helps solidify the backend of the Braves rotation. Carlyle's a 29 year old journeyman who's an extreme...

Games against the Royals can boost a young pitcher's confidence. Fausto Carmona pitched a solid 7.0 IP, 2 ER game to earn his 11th win of the season. He struck out 4 and walked two in the outing as well....

(Editors Note: This is not the complete Prospect Central Report that is e-mailed to  Insiderbaseball.com's subscribers today. It is an edited version.) This week my son and I attended the Eastern League (AA) All-Star Fogfest at Dodd Stadium in...

Andruw Jones That sound you hear is Scott Boras breathing a sigh of relief. After getting off to a .199/.299/.377 start through June, including 80 strikeouts, Jones is a different hitter this month. He was 1-for-3 with a walk and...

Joe Blanton: Blanton picked up his 6th loss of the season last night allowing 4 ER's in his 7 2/3 innings of work. Blanton gave up 10 hits and walked 1 while only striking out 2. Blanton's an interesting case...

Erik Bedard- BAL- Hot- Bedard's first start after the All Star break was a good sign, particularly the 7 Ks in 7 IP. He is throwing fewer pitches per inning than he did last year, so fatigue may not be...

Luke Scott's dismal July keeps getting worse after he went 0-for-3 with two more strikeouts against the Cubs yesterday. Scott is hitting .050/.174/.200 in 20 July at-bats and he's now gone six straight games without a hit. In fact, going...

Reed Johnson: Johnson returned to the active roster after a two-month stint on the DL with a back problem. His 2006 career year, 12/49/.319, was more the product of good fortune, .298 BHIP%, than an improvement his average skill set,...

Brandon Phillips: Well I mentioned Dan Uggla last week as "one of"the 2b I missed on this season, the other one I was referring to was Brandon Phillips. Phillips was similar to Uggla in that they each came seemingly out...

Dan Uggla: I was just commenting to a friend the other day that there were a few 2B in the NL I couldn't have been more wrong about coming into the season and one of the guys I was referencing...

Maybe I'm going down with the ship here, but I continue to claim that Raul Ibanez is a buy-low option for the latter half of the season. His 6 hits and 4 RBI in the last four games give Ibanez...

If all teams maintain their current winning percentages there will be no teams that either win or lose 100 games. Did the last collective bargaining agreement usher in an era of parity or were all the cries of "there are...

Second Half Rankings Hitters Edition Second Half Rankings Pitchers Edition (Posted 7/07/07) Every season we come across players who unexplainably perform at higher or lower levels during certain periods of the season.  One possible explanation behind the phenomena: second...

  Manny Parra – Brewers Starter – Throws Left – 6-3, 200 – 10/30/1982   Manny caught everyone’s attention on June 25th when he retired 27 straight hitters against the Round Rock Express to record the 8th perfect game...

Billy Butler: With Mike Sweeney out for at least six weeks, Butler will get a chance to show that he is ready to hit in the major leagues. In his first go around with the Royals earlier this season, he...

Chris Duncan - Chris Duncan didn't start again last night, but he did come in as a pinch-hitter in the ninth inning and singled home two runs to make the game tight at the finish. Duncan is leading the Cardinals...

James Shields of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays appears to be turning into a pretty good young starter. The 26 year old right hander improved to 7-4 on the year on Friday in a win against the Kansas City Royals....

Brad Penny developed a blister in the first inning of last night's start against the Braves and limped to his worst outing of the season, allowing 6 runs, all earned in 4 IP on 9 hits, 4 walks and 5...

Chad Gaudin: Gaudin turned in another good performance last night, 2 ER in 7.2 innings, to improve his record to 8-3 with a stingy 2.88 ERA. His high GB% of 53% compensates for an average 5.6 K/9. At some point...

Injuries and ineffectiveness have shuffled the deck in a couple of MLB bullpens as we take a post-July 4th Closer Look. Devil Ray's closer Al Reyes was placed on the 15-day DL on Wednesday with a "mildly"strained rotator cuff. The...

American League 22 Daric Barton OAK 1B B+ After hitting .454 in June, A's reportedly considering dealing D. Johnson to make room for Barton. 23 Adam Jones SEA OF B+ Much closer to being ready now than he was last...

Scott Kazmir- TB- Caution- So maybe I'm a day late and maybe I'm a voice cryinhg in the wilderness, but once again it looks like mismanagement of Scott Kazmir is leading him closer to the day when he will blow...

Frustrated Rickie Weeks owners can gather here for solace. First the bad: Weeks' average plummeted to .230 with an 0-for-4 against the Pirates on Wednesday. Ok, you know how rough its been being a Weeks owners. Now for what I...

Happy July 4th everyone! Having faced yesterday's opposing pitcher Ryan Feierabend in the minors, Billy Butler knew what to expect and he entered the game in a comfortable state of mind. The result was a 3- for -5 performance with...

Alex Gonzalez: Gonzalez is putting on a nice power display for the Reds this year, 13 home runs and 18 doubles in 288 AB. He is just 30 years old and has showed power before, 18 home runs in 2003...

  Mid-Season FPI All Stars   Good morning everybody. In the spirit of the upcoming MLB All Star festivities in San Francisco, today we will take a look at our own versions of All Star teams. Except there won't be...

Vernon Wells - Wells has had a horrible first half, but perhaps last night's 4-5 performance will jumpstart him. Wells' AVG this season is about 20 points below his career worst, and after posting four straight years with ISO's between...

Brandon Webb- ARI- Cold- Something is going on with Webb. Maybe he is having some fatigue issues. Earlier in the season he had a few starts where his pitch count reached above 110. He didn't seem to have any carryover...

With another HR in yesterday's slaughter of the NY Yankees, Jack Cust now has 14 dingers this season and is averaging a HR/AB of 11.1. He hit 3 HR last fantasy week and is posting a 1.026 OPS since joining...

Carlos Delgado: The power's starting to come for Carlos Delgado as he knocked out his 13th HR of the season on Sunday along with his 19th 2B of the season in a 2-3 performance. Delgado now has 17 extra base...