Zack Greinke: After spending a good part of 2007 as a reliever, Greinke has pitched exclusively as a starter this year with good results, 8-7 with a 3.98 ERA. He is still just 24 years of age and with his...

Arthur Rhodes- SEA- Cold- Rhodes showed a lack of control in more ways than one during his appearance against the Rangers last night. Besides the angry flare up that got him ejected, he also tossed a ball in the direction...

Russell Martin – Martin went 2 – 4 last night, and his average now sits at .294, which is where it ended last season. I would not be surprised, though, to see Martin end this season with his average at...

Crazy times for me right now with the prospect spreadsheet. As I type this, the Manny Ramirez / Jason Bay / Jeremy Hermida deal has yet to go through, with multiple prospects rumored to be included in this one. Also,...

Stolen Base Report for the week of August 4th to August 10th Unfavorable Matchups, American League Dioner Navarro Tampa (17 for 45 .378 CS%): 3 against Cleveland (Grady Sizemore, Jamey Carroll, Franklin Gutierrez), 4 against Seattle (Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre,...

Mike Aviles – When Aviles was first called up, I liked him in AL leagues because of some of the things he had done in the minor leagues, but I did not expect the level of success he is having...

First Pitch – July 30th – Value Picks: Welcome to another edition of Value Picks! This week we’ll get back to the usual bag of tricks, scoping the waiver wire for golden nuggets that can help your team make a...

In today’s belated edition of Sabermetric Tuesday we’re going to talk about the most unheralded aspect of Fantasy Baseball: Defense. In traditional or “real” sports the cliché “Defense wins Championships” is one of the most commonly used phrases throughout the...

Mark Teixeira: If Teixeira is traded; Arizona would be the best place for the switch-hitter to land for fantasy purposes. Turner Field, his current home stadium decreases left-handed batting power by 17% and is neutral for right-handed batting power where...

C. C. Sabathia- MIL- Caution- Yesterday’s 124-pitch effort is the third time this month Sabathia has cracked the 120 pitch mark. Even though he does not have a trend of ill effects from lengthy outings, that kind of workload is...

Adam Jones - Jones has been hot since about the 20th of May, and after last night's 3-6 performance he is virtually assured of putting up his second straight month with a better than .800 OPS. He still swings at...

PITCH COUNTS You won't see any regression analysis in this week's edition of Sabermetric Tuesday.  Heck, you won't even see a scatter plot this time around.  I'm keeping it simple and straight forward today.  After all, these are the dog-days...

Miguel Cabrera - He hasn't produced this year like a first round pick, but Miguel Cabrera is quietly flirting with the .300 mark. Hitting .341 for the month of July, Cabrera is now at .294 for the season. His other...

Jeff Samardzija: Those in holds leagues or deep dynasty formats may want to take notice of Jeff Samardzija who was called up earlier this week when the Cubs placed Kerry Wood on the DL. Samardzija picked up his first major...

Alex Rios has certainly warmed up since mid-July and he continued the trend last night with a 2-2 performance with 2 HR, 3 RBI and 2 R. Rios is batting .366 (11-30) with 3 HR, 8 RBI, 7 R and...

John Van Benschoten There are some guys you see in box scores and wonder, “Him again? Why?” I had that sort of feeling when I saw that Van Benschoten was going to get the start on Saturday. Predictably (though apparently...

Mike Pelfrey - Pelfrey won his seventh in a row last night, shutting down the Cards over seven innings in a 7-2 win. The Mets have won his last nine starts, he's only walked three men in his last 36...

Jack Hannahan- OAK- Hot- Hannahan went 2-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI last night against the Rangers, making him 6-for-17 in his last 5 games with a homer, 2 doubles, 6 RBI, and 3 runs scored. We may be...

Nate McLouth – McLouth has certainly shown by now that he is not a fluke, and he did that once more yesterday. McLouth finished up the day going 1 – 3 with 2 runs, and 3 RBI’s. His 1 hit...

Carlos Quentin: Quentin took over the AL lead in home runs with 26 and is having an MVP type season. Based on his 2007 season, 5/31/.214 in 229 AB, and skills; 7% BB%, 76% Ct%, and 41% FB%, this season...

Casey Kotchman- LAA- Hot- Maybe Kotchman is a Fantistics subscriber and read Monday’s blurb about him needing more patience at the plate. Only once yesterday did he swing at a first pitch and went 5-for-5. In 3 of his at...

American League 30 Lars Anderson BOS 1B B Torrid July got him the AA promotion prior to his 21st birthday. 3-for-14 in AA so far. 37 Beau Mills CLE 1B B .351 in July with 4 HR. May be the...

J.D. Drew is having a far better season than I, or anyone else, could have predicted. Drew went 2-3 last night and hit his 18th HR of the year, which surpasses his total from 2007. His 57 RBI are also...

Welcome to Fantasy Week 17 Value Picks.  There are lots of considerations this week as we start gearing up for fantasy playoffs.  Too soon you say?  Week 22, typically the last "regular season fantasy week" is right around the...

Russell Branyan: In what could be a sign of things to come, Bill Hall got the start against a right-handed pitcher on Monday and responded by going 3 for 5 with a solo home run. After a great start, 11...

Howie Kendrick - Kendrick added to his scorching July with another couple of hits (including a homer), bringing his line for the month to 373/387/678. Basically, Kendrick now has a remarkably similar line to his 2007, with a bit of...

Chan Ho Park- LAN- Rise Value- Park’s shift in role to setup man and second closer option boosts his value, particularly in leagues that count holds. Maybe I am still bitter about his Texas years, being a Rangers’ fan, but...

Emmanuel Burriss: The biggest winner in the Brewers-Giants trade from a fantasy perspective yesterday was a man not even involved: Emmanuel Burriss. We’ve touched on Burriss’ tremendous speed potential in the past and noted his limited experience above A ball...

Jason Giambi - Giambi was 2-for-2 including an integral HR that put the Yankees over the top of the A's to complete the weekend sweep. Giambi hit the home run off the pitcher he has owned: Justin Duchscherer. In 4...

Sean Gallagher: I’ve been touting Gallagher as a nice sleeper option since the trade to Oakland and while Saturday’s performance was a bit shaky, it provided more reason for me to believe in Gallagher for the 2nd half. The patient...

Kevin Kouzmanoff Kouzmanoff isn’t getting much coverage this year for obvious reasons – the Padres are terrible and Kouzmanoff has been consistently average at best. Saturday, Kouzmanoff was 1-for-3 with an RBI single and is now hitting .277/.322/.442, but .308/.369/.488...

Robinson Cano – Cano is very high on my list of bounce back players for the second half of the season. We have said it before, but the fact of the matter remains true: Cano’s current singles average is a...

Jorge Cantu continues his feel good story this year as he put together a 2-4 performance last night with his 55th RBI. He’s now hitting .285 with 18 HR, 55 RBI and 59 R and is well on his way...

Edwin Encarnacion: I need a new 3B to post repeatedly about since you’ve all figured out Troy Glaus needs to be owned, and sure enough I’ve got one. Three flipping years I’ve been talking about Edwin Encarnacion and I promise...

Francisco Liriano: After 3 consecutive extremely effective outings. 3/24 BB/K in 20 scoreless innings, it should be only a matter of time before Liriano rejoins the Twins. There has been some talk about him working out of the bullpen, but...

American League 10 Chris Davis TEX 1B A- .259 with 6 HR in 58 at-bats. That kind of power could keep him around for awhile. 12 Mike Moustakas KC SS A- .304/.380/.478 since his ASB in an otherwise disappointing full-season...

Justin Verlander - Quite a tumultuous ride for Verlander in the first 3.5 months of the season. Recall his terrible start to the season - April = 6.50 ERA, 1.47 WHIP, 5.0 K/9. Since then, he has posted a 3.23...

Mike Pelfrey: I touched on Pelfrey a bit at the start of the month, noting that if he could figure out the command there was some significant upside in the Met starter. Well 2 starts later and 15 innings without...

Rich Harden Sure it was the Giants, but that didn’t make Harden’s NL/Chicago debut any less impressive. Okay, maybe it did (check out the lineup Bruce Bochy had to roll out there Saturday). Anyway, Harden shined for the Cubs Saturday,...

Clete Thomas: Although he has shown speed in the minors, 15 steals in 19 attempts in Triple-A this year, Thomas is not stealing bases at the major league level, 2 steals in 129 PA. He knows how to take a...

Kyle Lohse - Yesterday's outing makes three straight quality starts for Lohse (and 8 of 10, if you're counting), as the right-hander extended his winning streak to eight with seven innings of shutout ball against the Pirates. As easy as...

Nick Markakis- BAL- Hot- Markakis may have ended his 17-game hitting streak last night, but that didn’t keep him off the bases, as he walked 3 times, raising his OBP to an even .400. It also brought his Batting EYE...

David Bush – Was bush dominating or what yesterday? He allowed just one unearned run off of 3 hits, and most impressively, he struck out 13 while walking none. 5 of Bush’s last 6 starts have been quality starts, and...

I have to admit, I was definitely wrong about Jermaine Dye. The All Star snub his his 20th HR last night in a 2-4 effort. I honestly believed early in the season that he was simply having a good first...

Mark Grudzielanek- KC- Hot- Grudzielanek seems to like to collect his hits in bunches. In his last 10 games he has recorded 3 or more hits 3 times, including last night’s 3-for-4 effort and has raised his average to .319....

Adam Dunn - Its no secret that Dunn likes hitting at Wrigley Field and he proved it last night with a long HR to deep center. That gives him 23 HR for the season at a rate of 12.1 AB...

American League 3 Matt LaPorta CLE OF A- Word is he'll report to AA, but Garko owners will want to watch what pos. he plays for CLE. 6 Travis Snider TOR OF A- .313/.371/.469 in June is outstanding for a...

Justin Duchscherer is without question the hottest pitcher in the major leagues right now. He pitched 9 dominant shutout innings last night, allowing just 2 hits while walking none and striking out 4. That is one of the best lines...

First Pitch – July 9th – Value Picks: Welcome to another edition of Value Picks! Last time I checked in we took a look at some potential buy low targets for those owners seeking “value” on the trade market. This...

Runelvys Hernandez: After two decent starts, 6 ER in 10 innings, Hernandez was shelled for 10 ER in 4 innings against, of all teams, Pittsburgh. Prior to those 3 appearances, the last time the 30-year-old Hernandez pitched in the major...

Daisuke Matsuzaka - Matsuzaka has now allowed only one run in his last 17 1/3 innings after shutting the Twins down completely into the eighth last night, helping the Sox to a 1-0 win. That said, I'm still concerned over...

Ricky Nolasco- FLA- Hot- Nolasco’s strikeout and walk rates are close to his 2006 numbers. His K/IP number is .74 this season and was .71 then. His BB/IP rate is .26 now and was .29 then. Does the slight improvement...

Save Opportunities Versus Team Winning Percentage Welcome to last pre-All Star break Sabermetric Tuesday of 2008.  Today's topic was sparked by a friendly baseball debate during a 4th of July BBQ this past weekend.  Living in Chicago, I watched Kerry...

BJ Upton - BJ had a respectable day yesterday, going 2-for-4 with a double and a couple of RBI. The ongoing theme with Upton has been the loss of power stroke year-over-year despite a steady FPI. Last season Upton posted...

Randy Johnson: I’ve been among the supporters of the Big Unit this season so Sunday’s gem was a slight bit of redemption. Johnson was phenomenal on Sunday hurling 6 1/3 dominant innings against the Padres allowing just 3 base-runners, all...

Troy Tulowitzki After a rookie year (.291/.359/.479, Gold Glove defense) that normally would have resulted in a trophy in a non-Braun year, Tulowitzki has to be this year’s biggest fantasy bust. Not only is he hitting .166/.246/.298 with three homers...

Gavin Floyd: I don’t know what kind of life Gavin Floyd is living these days but based on the good fortune he’s had this year on the mound I have to imagine it’s a pretty clean one. Floyd was outstanding...

Jered Weaver – Weaver has posted two straight dominant starts. His last time out he did not allow a hit while walking three batters and striking out six. He unkindly ended up with the loss, though, as he allowed one...

Garrett Atkins is ridiculous. He posted his 33rd mutli-hit game of the year last night as he went 5-6 with a 2B, HR and the game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth. Atkins is now hitting .315 with 12...

Chad Billingsley: Billingsley dominated the Astros on Thursday afternoon allowing just 2 unearned runs on 6 hits and just 1 BB in 8 innings. This marked the third time in the last 5 outings that Billingsley walked just 1, giving...

Melvin Mora: At this point in his career the 36 year-old Mora offers about league average power, 10 home runs and 14 doubles in 294 AB, while his approach at the plate remains steady, 2006/2007/2008 BB%’s of 8%/9%/8% and Ct%’s...

Joe Borowski- CLE- Drop Value- Indications are that Borowski will no longer be the anointed closer after manager Eric Wedge and his coaching staff emerge from a scheduled meeting today in which they will discuss personnel matters. The big question...

American League 14 Jeremy Hellickson TAM SP A- AA is a huge jump and he was hammered for 8 runs in first start there. Let's see how he recovers. 20 Ian Kennedy NYY SP B+ 1 ER in 16.1 innings...

Second Half Rankings Pitchers Edition (Posted 7/02/08)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 half "positive trends" are due to...

Unfavorable Matchups, American League Dioner Navarro Tampa (15 for 40 .385 CS%): 1 against Kansas City (Joey Gathright), 2 against NYY (Johnny Damon, Alex Rodriguez, Bobby Abreu, Melky Cabrera, Derek Jeter), 4 against Cleveland (Grady Sizemore, Jamey Carroll, Franklin Gutierrez)...

Jon Rauch: With Chad Cordero officially out for the year, Rauch has better job security as the closer. Rauch has blown 5 saves in 21 tries, but has good skills; 8.3 K/9 and a 1.8 BB/9. Although he has cut...

With the half way point officially upon us, it's a good time to look at the production (rankings) we expect from the top 300 position players in the second half of 2008. Subscribing to the regression to the mean...

Prince Fielder- MIL- Cold- Fielder was 1-for-3 last night, but that made him still just 2-for-27 on the Brewers’ current road trip. Overall, Fielder has some severe home/road splits, hitting .311 with 13 homers in 135 ABs in Milwaukee and...

Justin Masterson - Masterson scuffled again last night, walking five in six innings and allowing four runs for the second straight outing. He seems to be finding the adjustment to the majors rather difficult, but some of that is masked...