Craig Stammen (SP – Nationals) Despite early indications to the contrary, Craig Stammen will remain in the rotation upon the return of Scott Olsen, while Shairon Martis is sent down to Triple-A. I am a bit more bullish on Stammen...

Dan Haren- ARI- Caution- At this point last season Haren had hit or exceeded the 110 pitch mark twice. So far this year he has done it 5 times. For a pitcher who has exhibited a noted second half fade...

Scott Rolen - The 34 year old Rolen is having one of his best years (sans power, of course) ever in 2009, courtesy of a line drive rate that rivals the game's best. His .360 BABIP is actually quite a...

Ryan Sadowski (SP-SF) – The Giants have an enviable top four in their rotation, but the No. 5 spot has been a black hole this year due in large part to Jonathan Sanchez. Sadowski will attempt to plug that hole...

John Danks: Since my June 1st post on Danks suggesting a buying opportunity had been created, Danks has been spectacular. His peripherals haven’t changed much in that span (.92 K Rate, .35 BB Rate compared to .90 K Rate, .36...

Pablo Sandoval - Sandoval blasted two more homers yesterday against the Brewers, giving him 11 for the year. Sandoval has basically come out of nowhere to become the Giants' best hitter by far....he did virtually nothing in 2006 and 2007,...

The preliminary rosters for this years Futures Game have been released. Let's start by taking a look at some of the players on the US team that we haven't talked about yet this year... Kyle Drabek - Starting Pitcher Philadelphia...

Kevin Slowey (SP—Twins)—I’m a little perplexed by Kevin Slowey. I can’t really decide what kind of season he is putting together. Yes, he is tied for the major league lead in wins at 10, so he has been getting the...

Robinson Cano (OF – Yankees) A bounce-back season was predicted from Cano in ’08. This projection was largely based on an unlucky BABIP of .286 in ’08, but we have seen more than just regression to the mean from Cano...

Chris Young: Young, who has been out with a shoulder injury, is not expected back until after the All-Star break. Before hitting the DL, Young was struggling, 4-6 with a 5.21 ERA, and the drop in his skills, 2008/2009 K/9’s...

Casey McGehee: McGehee stayed hot on Thursday knocking out his 3rd HR of the season in a 1-4 effort. He’s now hitting .414/.469/.672 here in June with 9 extra base hits in 58 AB’s (15.5% exbh rate). Unfortunately while the...

American League 36 Tyler Flowers CHW C B .311/.411/.607 in June after a poor May. Just .239 vs. RHP vs. .361 vs. southpaws. 38 Brandon Allen CHW 1B B Promotion to AAA looks well-deserved: 8-for-17 with a HR there. Konerko's...

Yuniesky Betancourt: Betancourt will likely land on the DL with a hamstring injury. Despite having great contact skills, 92% Ct%, Betancourt is a hacker, 4% BB%, with little power, 2 home runs in 224 AB, or speed, 3 steals. Even...

Luke Hochevar- KC- Hot- Hochevar turned in an impressive performance last night, allowing 2 runs on 3 hits and a walk while striking out 4 in 7 IP. This follows up a disaster his last time out, when he gave...

Matt Lindstrom (RP—Marlins) -- I know closers are hard to come by, at least reliable closers. You just can’t turn the corner and find a Rivera or a Papelbon standing on every street corner. But at the rate that Matt...

David Price (SP - Rays) - David Price's night ended early. After hurling 88 pitches in 4.1 IP, Price left with a 5 ER, 7 hit, 2 BB line. He actually left the game with the score 10-0 in favor...

Ian Snell (SP – Pirates) Kudos to Paul for predicting the bomb of a start that Snell tossed up against the Indians last night. Snell needed 70 pitches to labor through just 2.2 innings while walking 3 and striking out...

Max Scherzer- ARI- Caution- With the Rangers coming to town starting tonight, it’s time to take a quick look at Scherzer’s home/road splits. They are not pretty for someone facing the Texas lineup in his home park, if you have...

Scott Kazmir (SP - Rays) - Its time to turn your attention back to Scott Kazmir. He begins a rehab assignment on Monday and is scheduled to throw 85 pitches. Monday should be telling if the right quad strain has...

Skip Schumaker (OF-STL) – No sense writing about Albert Pujols and his two homers / six RBI day, as we all know how good Pujols is. Instead, let’s look at Schumaker, who went 2-for-4 with a double, walk, RBI, and...

Vince Mazzaro - Starting Pitcher Oakland A's Vince Mazzaro was one pitcher in the A's organization that didn't get a lot of hype entering the 2009 season but Oakland's 3rd round pick from 2005 has jumped 3 levels in less...

David Aardsma (RP—Mariners)—OK, let’s get real here for a second. Prior to this season, David Aardsma had a career ERA of 5.29, had a BB/9 of 5.6, an H/9 of 9.3, a WHIP of 1.65 and never had saved a...

Manny Corpas: Corpas has bone chips in his elbow, which will likely lead to a stint on the DL. His 5.40 ERA is misleading as he is showing good skills, 6.5 K/9, 1.7 BB/9, and a 49% GB%. A low...

Alexei Ramirez (SS - White Sox) - Alexei has been hot and cold the last few weeks, hitting only .182 over the last 7 days, but with 4 HR and 2 SB in the month of June. He looked to...

Nate McLouth (OF - Braves) - McLouth hit his 12th HR of the season last night (and his 2nd of the week) to bring his RBI total to 42 and his average to .260. He might be on track to...

Adrian Gonzalez: Gonzalez busted out of a slump in a big way on Thursday going 4-4 with a 2B, HR, and 2 RBI’s. As usual he was the majority of the Padres offense accounting for half the Runs scored and...

Roy Halladay: Halladay was placed on the 15-Day DL retroactive to June 13th with a groin strain. He should return as soon as he is eligible on June 28th. Considering that he probably has the best skill set of any...

Joba Chamberlain- NYA- FYI- In 12 starts this year, Joba has walked at least 4 batters 5 times. None of those outings was longer than 6 IP. This indicates some real problems at times locating the strike zone. Joba still...

Mike Hampton (SP-Astros)—it’s hard to be surprised that Mike Hampton has returned to the disabled list on Wednesday, this time with a groin injury. Hampton has done decently for the Astros this season from time to time, holding his own...

American League 22 Ben Revere MIN OF B+ Just .222 in June after a .388 May, but did have 3 hits on Tuesday, so perhaps a surge? 26 Chris Carter OAK 1B B+ .321 with 3 HR in June but...

Jhonny Peralta (SS - Indians) - Peralta was benched by manager Eric Wedge on Tuesday. His season-long slump continues, as he is currently mired in a terrible 5-for-35 slump. You can hear the frustration in Wedge's quotes, making you wonder...

Hank Blalock - Blalock has definitely flown under the radar a bit this year, but the 28 year old has had a much better year than meets the eye. What's killing his stat line is twofold: a drastic reduction in...

Dave Bush- MIL- Cold- Despite being 29 years old, Bush may still be affected by high pitch count games. He has not thrown a quality start in his last 5 outings, the first of which was a 116-pitch effort. Last...

Chris Coghlan (OF-FLA) – Playing left field with Josh Willingham out, Coghlan was one of eight hitters with at least two hits on Sunday, going 2-for-4 with a double and a pair of walks Sunday against the Blue Jays. Most...

Brett Anderson: The results weren’t particularly great for Brett Anderson on Sunday, but the peripherals continue to show improvement. Anderson was battered around for 8 hits in just 4 innings which turned into 6 ER’s and resulted in his 7th...

Zach Duke - Zach Duke is, to put it simply, a microcosm of pitching in general. In 2005 (8-2, 1.81 ERA, .296 BABIP, 26.4% LD) you saw extremely lucky Duke. In 2006 and 2008 (15-29, 4.62 ERA, .327 BABIP, 20.4%...

David Ortiz (DH--Red Sox)-- It has been well documented what a difficult season it has been for David Ortiz. Fantasy owners that were expecting the usually offensive numbers from Ortiz have instead acquired one of the biggest fantasy busts so...

Joba Chamberlain (SP – Yankees) Joba was extremely wild on Friday night by needing to throw 100 pitches to make it through just 4 innings. He walked 5 batters on the night, but managed to limit the damage to just...

Wesley Wright: The Astros recalled Wright from Triple-A to work in middle relief. His dominance shows some nice potential, 2008/2009 K/9’s of 9.2/9.9, but until he gets the walks in check, BB/9’s of 5.0/4.0, you will see a high ERA,...

Max Scherzer: Scherzer dominated the Giants for 7 2/3 innings limiting them to just 3 hits and a walk, while striking out 6. Scherzer’s peripherals stack up pretty well with his actual production as his FB tendencies and bouts with...

Jed Lowrie: Lowrie is close to starting a minor league rehab assignment which could put him on target for a late June to early July return to the Red Sox lineup. In his debut last year, Lowrie showed some interesting...

In our continuing series on the the "Over" and "Under" producers, presented is the June Hitter's edition. As we mentioned in the last report, all Major League Players hit hot and cold stretches during the season....and since our first report...

Dioner Navarro- TB- Cold- Navarro was a big part of Tampa Bay’s 2008 World Series run, hitting .295. This season, a combination of bad luck (.198 BHIPx) and hideously poor patience (3 BBs in 173 ABs) have crushed him. After...

Khalil Greene (SS – Cardinals) Khalil Greene made his first rehab start on Tuesday, which leads me to believe that he’ll get the call back up to the majors in about a week. He was a popular sleeper candidate heading...

Willie Bloomquist: We haven’t touched on Bloomquist yet this year but the speedy/no power MI option has found a way to make himself fantasy valuable. Bloomquist had always been a deep AL only MI option because of the consistent double...

Stephen Strasburg- WAS- FYI- Matt Wieters? He is so last month. The latest hype machine surrounds Stephen Strasburg, who will officially become property of the Nationals as soon as the Major League Draft gets underway this evening. If you’ve been...

Ben Zobrist - Zobrist reached base three more times yesterday against the Yanks, keeping his OPS up near the 1.100 mark for another day. I like Zobrist quite a bit three years back when he was a high AVG minor...

Michael Bourn (OF-HOU) – Bourn was 2-for-4 with a walk on Sunday, bringing the 26 year-old center fielder to .298/.371/.399 in 208 at-bats. He’s stolen 19 bases in 23 attempts and now has five multi-hit games in his last six,...

Erik Bedard: Bedard’s effort yesterday was enough to pick up a win, but also enough to raise some concerns. Bedard allowed just 2 hits and 2 ER’s in 5 innings while striking out 4, but he needed over 100 pitches...

Every year about this time ... actually a week later than this time ... I recap the first few picks of the MLB First Year Player Draft. And every year I get a few emails saying that these players are...

Aaron Miles: Miles started his rehab assignment yesterday and should be back with the Cubs on Wednesday. With injuries and inconsistent play in the Cubs infield, Miles should see plenty of playing time. He doesn’t hit for power, 0 home...

Ricky Nolasco (SP – Marlins) Ricky Nolasco is expected to be recalled from the minors and will start on Sunday in place of the injured Anibal Sanchez. I still firmly believe in Nolasco, as the peripherals from last year are...

Ervin Santana (SP – Angels) Ervin Santana looked great on Friday night as he came within one out of tossing a complete game. In the process he allowed 1 ER, 6 hits, 2 walks, while striking out 7. This was...

Jordan Zimmermann: Zimmermann continues to suffer from some poor luck as he allowed just 3 base-runners in 6 innings on Thursday, but managed to let 2 of them cross home-plate and that was enough to pick up his 3rd loss...

Gordon Beckham: After just 25 trips to the plate in Triple-A, the White Sox promoted Beckham to the major leagues. Given his hot prospect status, the Sox are not calling him up to sit on the bench. He was handling...

Brandon McCarthy- TEX- Hot- McCarthy enters tonight’s start against the Yankees with 3 consecutive quality starts under his belt. His season will e an interesting test of the new philosophy Nolan Ryan and pitching coach Mike Maddux have brought to...

American League 1 Matt Wieters BAL C A Off to a slow start, but should be more Ryan Braun than Alex Gordon in year one. 5 Justin Smoak TEX 1B A- Just 2 HR for the year, but hard to...

1. Alex Rios (OF - Blue Jays) - Alex Rios has finally heated up for his fantasy owners. Over the last 7 days, Rios has hit 2 HR and driven in 5 runs while hitting .429 wit a .478OBP ....

Matt Maloney (SP – Reds) With Edinson Volquez hitting the 15-day DL once again, Matt Maloney appears to be the favorite to receive the start on Saturday. The Reds could turn once again to Homer Bailey, but I feel that...

Joba Chamberlain - Joba continued his string of strong road performances, posting his most efficient outing of the year against the Indians last night. Joba made it through eight innings before yielding to the Sandman, allowing only four hits, two...

Adrian Gonzalez- SD- Great Player- Silly Phillies. They chose to pitch to Gonzalez with no one on in the 6th inning and, naturally, Gonzalez parked one, his 21st of the season. It was only his 6th homer this year at...

Pablo Sandoval (1B/C-SF) – The Giants are certainly glad to have Sandoval back in the lineup after a brief hiatus. Sunday, playing first base, Sandoval had a single and double in four at-bats with an RBI, the third multi-hit game...