John Lackey – Lackey continued to dominate yesterday. He was one out away from a shutout when he was taken out of the game, and he ended up with 9 K’s and 2 BB’s. The win improved Lackey’s record to...

Jake Peavy: Not the type of start Peavy owners were hoping for after seeing an inept Mariners’ offense on the schedule but one they’ll be able to swallow. Peavy took his 5th loss of the season on Sunday allowing 3...

Garrett Atkins With Garrett Atkins, we just assume that he’s going to put up a decent average, 25+ home runs, and 110 or so RBI. This year though, Atkins is a bit behind his normal pace. After batting .319-6-21 in...

Craig Monroe: With a 70% Ct% it is not surprising to see Monroe hitting .214, although a .176 BHIP% is not helping. Monroe can still hit for power, 7 home runs and 7 doubles in 126 AB. However with a...

Chase Headley - Headley hit a two-run homer last night to account for the Padre offense, giving him three in his first 40 AB's for the Pads. People tend to discount stats from the Cal League and the Texas League...

George Sherrill- BAL- Caution- Sherrill is entering uncharted territory as far as his usage is concerned. Last season he pitched in 73 games but accumulated only 45-2/3 IP. Sherrill threw only 724 pitches all year, only throwing 20 or more...

Hideki Matsui - Is a DL stint imminent for Godzilla? He's still nursing that sore left knee and will be examined by doctors on Friday to see if he's ok to at least DH in the first game of today's...

R.A. Dickey: With Felix Hernandez missing at least one start and Miguel Batista not pitching well, Dickey has a shot to stick in the Mariners’ starting rotation. Prior to shutting out the Mets over 7 innings, the 33 year-old knuckleballer...

Ervin Santana- LAA- Injury- Santana had only walked 23 batters in 102-1/3 IP before last night’s start against the Nationals in Washington. He was uncharacteristically wild in the Nation’s Capital, allowing a season-high 5 free passes. There may be an...

Brian McCann - One of the best hitting catchers in the league is in a little slump right now. He has just 1 hit in his last 11 AB and is hovering around the .250 mark for the month of...

American League 15 Austin Jackson NYY OF A- Power coming around? 4 HR in June after 3 the first two months. .366 OBP and 12 SB. 19 Desmond Jennings TAM OF A- .324/.457/.486 with 3 SB in 27 at-bats. Just...

Value Picks - June 25, 2008 Welcome to the Fantasy Week 13 edition of Value Picks.  While I will still provide a list of players to snag off of your waiver wires for a good value, I'm also going to...

Alex Rios had himself a ballgame last night as he went 4-6 with a HR, 3 runs scored and an RBI. The performance brings Rios’ BA up to .281 on the year and I think he’s starting to finally break...

At the end of April we introduced the concept of the Disaster Start and took a look back at the 2007 data in hopes of highlighting some “safer” spot-start or back-end options for your fantasy team. So today we’re going...

Eric Byrnes: Byrnes is back and says he is healthy enough to steal bases again. Prior to his injury, Byrnes was not running at all, 4 for 7 in steals covering 46 games vs. 50 steals in 57 attempts in...

San Diego- SD- Idea- Here is one of those marginal situations that comes up every so often that you keep in the back of your mind to try to get just a little edge when needed. The Padres have allowed...

Justin Duchscherer - If you're trying to find some evidence that Duchscherer is due to backslide, I'll offer up a few points to consider. The .242 BABIP has been mentioned already, and by itself it isn't too far from his...

Carl Crawford - This is the Carl Crawford you drafted. His Fantasy Week 12 results included a .524 OBP, 15 TB which include a double, triple and a HR, 5 RBI, and 3 R. He attempted one steal but was...

Ryan Dempster: This is starting to get a bit ridiculous, but as a Cubs fan I’m enjoying every minute of it! Dempster was dominant again on Sunday night as he allowed just 1 ER in 8 innings of work against...

Rich Hill Rich Hill is sort of like that accident on the freeway that you, despite knowing better, just can’t take your eyes off as you drive by at 5 mph. After striking out 183 hitters for the Cubs last...

Alexei Ramirez: Both Joe and I have highlighted Ramirez in the Value Picks columns of late, but his big June deserves further highlighting. Ramirez has been on fire hitting .373/.408/.537 and the improvements in his peripherals are even more eye...

John Danks – John Danks added his 10th quality start in 15 games started this season last night. He allowed one run over 6 innings while striking out 5 and walking none. Posting a 2.90 ERA entering that start, Danks...

Aramis Ramirez was 1-12 in his last 3 games but stopped that mini-skid with a huge statement yesterday as he blasted homeruns in the 7th and 9th inning, the latter being a game-winner against the cross-town nemesis White Sox. Ramiez...

Aaron Harang: For those Aaron Harang owners out there take some solace in knowing this is just as frustrating to us as it is to you. After looking like he had turned the corner in his last start against the...

Richie Sexson: There are rumors floating around that the Mariners are about to release Sexson. The 33 year-old Sexson is a player in decline, but he still has above average major league power, 9 home runs in 205 AB. The...

Jeremy Guthrie- BAL- Hot- Guthrie bounced back from his worst start of the year the last time out to record his best start of the year last night. He held the Astros to 1 run over 8 innings, allowing 3...

Bronson Arroyo - With Lowe dealin' on the other end, Arroyo struggled against the Dodgers on Wednesday night. He gave up 6 ER and 7 hits in 6.1 IP while striking out 6. He only has 1 QS in his...

American League 28 Chris Davis TEX 1B B Oh my. .459 with 5 HR in last 10 G. .339 with 20 HR and 21 doubles this year. 36 Chris Carter OAK 1B B .231 in June, but 14 BB and...

Unfavorable Matchups, American League Kurt Suzuki Oakland (19 for 47, .404 CS%): 3 against Philadelphia (Shane Victorino, Jimmy Rollins, Jayson Werth, Chase Utley, Eric Bruntlett), 3 against San Francisco (Fred Lewis, Randy Winn, Ray Durham, Emmanuel Burriss) Ivan Rodriguez Detroit...

John Lackey – I said about a month ago to watch and see what Lackey’s BB rate settles down to be in order to determine if Lackey would be the top fantasy pitcher that he was last year or just...

First Pitch – June 18th – Value Picks: It’s Wednesday! Which means another edition of Value Picks is here, but this week we’re going to do things a bit differently! After 2 ½ months of digging through the free agent...

Mike Gonzalez: Gonzalez could be activated from the DL as early as today and immediately enters into the mix for save opportunities. Although he has looked good in the minors, 8 K’s in 5 innings, it is hard to believe...

Bartolo Colon - Colon didn't have much last night, giving up eight baserunners (including three homers) and several other hard-hit outs in just four innings of work before leaving with a stiff back. Colon has had a very favorable schedule...

Miguel Tejada- HOU- Cold- Since May 24th, Tejada has lost 38 points off his batting average and is now hitting an even .300 for the season. In that span he has gone 14-for-73 with 4 homers, 6 RBI and 10...

First Pitch - Sabermetric Tuesdays:  Lefty/Righty Offensive Team Splits Sabermetric Tuesday gives us an opportunity to approach fantasy strategies with a statistical focus.  A common theme in fantasy baseball, especially in head-to-head leagues, is the concept of "pitch-and-ditch."  This strategy...

Robinson Cano - Keep holding on to the hope of a second-half break-out. Cano might have ended another slump with a 2-for-4 performance yesterday, but you never can tell if one game is the official "breakout" point. Let's break down...

Pedro Martinez: Pedro handled a pretty tough matchup against the Rangers offense with ease on Sunday, giving up just 1 ER over 6 innings on 6 hits and 1 BB while striking out 4. I mentioned last week that Pedro’s...

Charlie Morton (rookie) - Making his big league debut Saturday, Morton impressed, beating the Angels, allowing three runs on five hits over six innings. He walked one and struck out four. Morton threw 104 pitches (64 for strikes) in picking...

Edgar Gonzalez - After hitting .290 or better in four out of five seasons in the minors, Adrian's big brother finally ended up in the right place at the right time with the Padres and is picking up consistent playing...

Andy Sonnanstine: Sonnanstine has had some bad luck, 65% S% to go with his 4.89 ERA, but has also had good run support, 7-3 record. He possesses outstanding control, 1.5 BB/9, and it may only take a slight bump up...

About three to four weeks ago a reader wrote me saying that he was surprised I didn’t consider Justin Morneau a .300-plus hitter this season. I responded that I love Morneau but I wasn’t convinced his .321 season was legitimate...

Jason Bergmann - I was somewhat excited about Bergmann as a nice sleeper pick in deeper leagues, but he just posted his second straight very bad start. Bergmann does have a good K rate (8.79 K/9), allowing him to have...

David Murphy: Considered the least of the three prospects acquired from the Red Sox for Eric Gagne, Murphy is putting together a breakout season, 10/46/.293 and 20 doubles in 263 AB. Since he has never shown this kind of power...

Mike Aviles- KC- Idea- Mike Aviles hit the double digit mark in steals in 3 of his 5 minor league seasons before 2008. After watching the Royals against the Rangers the last couple of nights, it looks like he might...

Jorge Cantu - Will Cantu continue to fly under the radar or will his 2-HR game bring his season to the forefront? Cantu has a 0.70 FPI with a .296 average, .878 OPS, HR/AB of 17.9, and a total of...

Quick note: I will start adding 2008 draftees like Pedro Alvarez and Aaron Crow to the top 50s and team top 5's when they sign a contract officially making them property of the team. Some may consider it folly to...

In this week’s edition of Sabermetric Tuesdays we’re going to take a look at one of my favorite indicators for Pitchers: the Runners Stranded Percentage. The Runners Stranded Percentage is a pretty simple statistics to understand, it’s simply measuring the...

Value Picks - June 11, 2008   Fantasy Week 11 is upon us and for some leagues, it marks the half-way point to the fantasy season.  Lots of head-to-head leagues play 22 week schedules with 12 teams playing each...

Josh Beckett wasn’t great last night but he wasn’t bad either. The 2nd inning contained all 4 of his ER and after that he settled down to make it through 6 IP, giving up 8 H, 1 BB and striking...

Todd Wellemeyer: Wellemeyer, who missed a start with a sore elbow, should be fine to start this weekend. The dramatic improvement in his control, 2005/2006/2007/2008 BB/9’s of 6.1/5.7/4.5/2.8, while maintaining a good K/9, 8.9/6.2/6.8/7.0, is another example of the LaRussa/Duncan...

Nick Swisher - I think he's back. Yesterday was a Swisher-style line with two homers and two walks, and since his K's are down and his LD% percentage is up from last year, you certainly wouldn't expect this kind of...

Edinson Volquez- CIN- Hot- Volquez was uncharacteristically wild, throwing 44 of his 101 pitches for balls and walking 5 in 6 IP. In a measure of how good his season has been so far, his 3 earned runs allowed is...

Jason Giambi - Maybe its the mustache. Maybe its the hot weather. Maybe its his unique choice of undergarments. Whatever it is, he's on fire and looks like the old MVP Giambi. Since May 1st, Giambi is hitting .333 with...

Pedro Martinez: Looking at Pedro’s line on Sunday, 5 IP, 10 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, doesn’t invoke much optimism for Pedro owners in what seemed to be an extremely favorable matchup in San Diego. But watching the...

Johnny Damon has been absolutely incredible since May 20th and his multi-hit frenzy reached its peak yesterday when he went 6-6 with 4 RBI, including the game-winning single in the bottom of the 9th. Damon has raised his BA from...

Tom Gorzelanny After entering Saturday’s game with a 7.22 ERA and 28:40 K:BB, it was hard to be optimistic about Gorzelanny’s chances against the potent Arizona offense. There have even been rumors of a Triple-A stint should his struggles continue....

Nate McLouth: It seems like forever since Nate McLouth has put together one of his monster 3 hit nights with multiple extra base hits, and as such it seems like he’s finally slowed down a bit, but a quick look...

Miguel Cabrera – Cabrera’s singles average the past 4 seasons has been .287/.293/.300/.295, but this year it sits at .255. Also, Cabrera’s ISO, which had been on an upwards trend (.201/.219/.238/.229/.245) sits at .178. At age 25 it is impossible...

Cole Hamels: After two horrid outings, Hamels got back on the right track on Thursday tossing a complete game shutout against the Reds. Hamels allowed just 4 hits and 3 BB’s during the shutout, but struck out just 4. A...

Curtis Thigpen: With Rod Barajas day-to-day with lower back tightness, Thigpen could pick up a few starts. A look at his Triple-A numbers; 1/18/.228 with 6% BB% and a 79% Ct%, tells you all you need to know. He is...

B. J. Upton- TB- Cold- Upton said something naughty to umpire Paul Emmel in the 8th inning and was given the rest of the game off to think about what he had said. Having struck out for the third time...

Adam LaRoche - The Roach has had a tough season with the Pirates and is currently mired in a terrible 1-for-20 slump. This season's totals include a .213 average, .296 OBP, 0.42 FPI, 33.7 HR/AB, and a .653 OPS. Compared...

If you're not a subscriber, you may not know that each week, we have between 60 and 80 prospect updates to our top 50 hitters, top 50 pitchers, and team-by-team top 5s. This is just a small sample. I'll move...

Stolen Base Report for the week of June 9th to June 15th Unfavorable Matchups, American League Kurt Suzuki Oakland (16 for 36, .444 CS%): 3 against NYY (Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter), 3 against San Francisco (Fred Lewis, Randy...

Mark Teahen – Teahen, who homered last night, had a breakout season back in 2006, but he has been unable to build on that success. For one thing, Teahen’s HR rate from ’06 sticks out like a sore thumb. Here...

First Pitch – June 4th – Value Picks: We’re back with another edition of Wednesday’s Value Picks! As we’ve mentioned before, every Wednesday we’ll go digging for diamonds in the rough that is the Free Agent Pool. The last few...

Jason Schmidt: After getting hit in the leg with a line drive, Schmidt’s rehab assignment has been extended past the original June 10th date. Since he has not pitched that much since 2006 and is now 35 years of age,...

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Sabermetric Tuesday – Week 10 style. Today I’d like to try and see if we can find some solid evidence pointing toward sustained breakouts on the offensive side of the ball, and perhaps unearth...

Michael Young - Young has now hit in 18 straight games after three hits last night and raised his AVG.....10 points. Lots of 1-5's in there for the 31 year old of late, which makes for good press but not...

Jay Bruce- CIN- Hot- Although Bruce is a Red, he has become the New Black. The hottest player in baseball added another homer to his total and went 2-for-4 last night. When 2-for-4 lowers your batting average to .577, you...

Jesus Flores: We haven’t talked too much about the young catcher in Washington, but Jesus Flores is taking advantage and taking hold of the starting catching role for the Nationals. Flores notched his 10th double of the season on Sunday...

BJ Upton - Upton's HR total remains low with just 3 in 197 AB for a rate of 65.7, but the rest of his game is making up for his low power numbers. He's hitting .305 with a .417...