Wade LeBlanc: LeBlanc pitched another 6 1/3 scoreless innings on Thursday against the Brewers allowing just 8 hits and 0 BB’s, while striking out 6. The big jump in K Rate this season is the big news for LeBlanc as...

David Aardsma: Coming off of a breakout year in 2009, 38 saves in 42 opportunities, Aardsma has 8 saves in 9 chances this year. On the surface, those numbers would point to job security but consider that the combination of...

Eric Chavez- OAK- Cold- With a GB% of 54.0% and a FB% of only 24.0%, it looks like Chavez may still have back problems plaguing him. He just is not getting enough loft in his batted balls. Chavez has yet...

Matt Capps (RP - Nationals) - Ask the average fan who is leading the majors in saves and there is no WAY they say Matt Capps (unless they live in Washington or they happen to play fantasy and have him on...

American League 11 Dustin Ackley SEA 2B A- Back-to-back multi-hit games then goes 1-for-10 to drop to .145 with no HR. 11:11 K:BB is about it. 12 Brett Wallace TOR 1B A- Off to great start with 8 HR in...

Edwin Jackson- ARI- Cold- Jackson got squashed yesterday at Coors Field, getting charged with 10 runs on 11 hits and 2 walks in 2.1 IP. At this point in the season it skews his stats way out of whack, but...

Francisco Liriano (SP—Twins) Francisco Liriano completely dominated the Tigers on Tuesday night probably making them wish they had just stayed home. He came away with his 4th win of the year while pitching 8 innings of shutout ball, allowing 4...

Jeremy Bonderman (SP - DET) Jeremy Bonderman was relatively sharp last night against the Rangers allowing 4 runs in 5.2 IP on 6 hits and a BB with 3 Ks. I say relatively because Bonderman gave up 11 runs in...

Jonathan Sanchez - Last night was certainly a contrast in styles, as the efficient Roy Halladay faced off against Jonathan Sanchez, who is anything but. Sanchez got the best of Halladay last night, although his 107 pitches only stretch through...

Kyle Kendrick (SP-PHI) – Overall, the Phillies have a team to be reckoned with, but if there’s ever a weak spot, it’s the back end of the rotation (bullpen too?). Sunday, Kendrick allowed five runs over five innings, including a...

Justin Masterson: On the surface it looks like Justin Masterson is taking some big steps forward. He’s improved his K Rate early in the season with 24 K’s in 19 IP and he’s even rolling more ground-balls with an incredible...

Domonic Brown - OF Phillies Guys like me love guys like this. There's usually a backlash in prospect circles against highly-athletic players. The assumption usually is that that you can't be an elite athlete and and a "baseball player" at...

Chase Headley - The Padres’ third baseman continued his hot start to the season by collecting 3 Hits against the Reds Saturday afternoon. After struggling in the first half last season, Chase Headley’s production significantly increased after the All-Star break...

Nick Markakis OF (BAL) – Markakis currently has a career high K% of 22.2%. I don’t expect that to last. He isn’t chasing a lot of balls. In fact his chase percentage of 22% is currently 5 percentage points lower...

John Maine (SP-Mets) John Maine left Friday night’s game against Atlanta after just 3.2 innings pitched. The cause: pain and spasms in his left elbow. Huh? Isn’t Maine a righty? Leave to a Met pitcher to find a way to...

Justin Smoak - The Smoak Monster made his major league debut Friday against the Tigers and finished 0-for-2 with 2 Walks. With Chris Davis in the minors after striking out in 35% of his ABs and hitting .188 with a...

Garrett Jones: Just as quickly as Garrett Jones started in the first 10 days of the season, he’s faded in the next 10 days. Jones is mired in a 3-19 slump with 6 K’s and 0 extra base hits over...

Travis Snider: It looks like the Blue Jays are going to give Snider an extended chance to show that he can handle major league pitching. In the small sample size of 2010, 57 PA, his skills have been a mixed...

April 22, 2010 - NL Fantistics Blog   1.  Jorge Cantu (1B / 3B - Marlins) - Who knew that Jorge Cantu would jump out of the gate as one of the hottest hitters in baseball for the month of...

Alex Gordon- KC- FYI- Gordon got his first homer of the season yesterday, and now has one in only 10 ABs, a far better ratio than his 6 homers in 164 major league ABs in 2009. Gordon is now 26...

National League 7 Mike Stanton FLA OF A Apparently he's feared - 0.31 EYE in AA last year, 1.08 in 2010 plus 1.055 OPS. 14 Dee Gordon LAD SS A- .341, but just 1 BB in 10 games. Raw, but...

Nelson Cruz - Nelson Cruz continued his torrid start to the season by going 2-for-4 with 3 Steals and 1 RBI on Tuesday against the Red Sox. Now hitting .333 with 7 HRs and 16 RBI, Cruz has an OPS...

Edison Volquez: Volquez tested positive for PED and was suspended for 50 games. He can only begin serving the suspension when he is eligible to come off of the 60-day-DL. Since he went on the DL before the season started,...

Randy Wells - Converted from catcher early in his Cub career, Randy Wells suffered through six-plus minor league seasons (and one rule V selection) to get to the point where he isn't really fighting for a rotation slot with the...

1. Casey Kotchman (1B - Mariners) - Three straight games with HRs for Casey Kotchman. That makes him 7-for-12 in XBH to start the season with 6 BB, a .367 OBP and a .963 OPS. Its been a few years...

Ike Davis(1B-NYM) – Reports this week have the Mets promoting Davis from Triple-A sometime in the next week. According to one report, should the Mets wait until after April 19,they would delay Davis’ free agent eligibility by a full year....

Brian Matusz: After two outings against one of the best offenses in MLB (the Rays), Brian Matusz got a much more favorable matchup on Sunday pitching against the A’s in Oakland Coliseum. Matusz looked good, allowing just 3 ER’s on...

Tyson Ross - RP Oakland A's It was a mild surprise that Tyson Ross came north with the A's, opening the season in Oakland's bullpen. The A's instructional staff tinkered with his landing area last year and that produced great...

Ubaldo Jimenez – Despite 6 walks through the first 5 innings, Ubaldo Jimenez buckled down and threw the first no-hitter in Rockies history by shutting down the Braves in Atlanta on Saturday evening. Jimenez finished the game with 7 strikeouts...

Ben Zobrist 2B/OF (TB) – Zobrist is off to a slow start, and his plate discipline is the cause. Last season, Zobrist chased pitches just 19.3% of the time, which was about 6 percent less than the major league average....

Zack Greinke (SP- KC) Zack Greinke continued his struggles last night in Minnesota allowing 4 runs, 2 earned, in 5 innings of work on 6 hits, 5 walks and 5 Ks. He drops to 0-2, 3.57, with a bulky 1.47...

Carlos Silva (SP—Cubs) Baseball! It's an unpredictable game. As unpredictable as the stock market, an earthquake or my wife’s cooking (I pray she doesn't read this). And once again we take a lesson from baseball that we can apply to...

Seth Smith: Smith entered the season as the deepest sleeper in the Colorado OF largely due to playing time concerns. As the 4th OF in an OF with young players that need playing time like Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez...

Eric Chavez: It is looking like a platoon with Chavez and Jake Fox at DH for the A’s. Before the back problems surfaced in 2007, Chavez consistently displayed above average power and at just 32 years of age, the power...

Joel Pineiro- LAA- Hot- After yesterday’s start, Pineiro’s GB% stands at 67.5%. His BABIP is at .245. This explains his 2.77 ERA. The odds of both of those factors being sustained are low. Pineiro’s performance will probably deteriorate. Joba Chamberlain-...

Geovany Soto (Catcher - Cubs) - Soto "broke out" of his slump to begin the 2010 season with his first HR of the year. It also was just his 3rd hit of the year, hitting just .176 through 17 AB....

American League 4 Kyle Drabek TOR SP A Probably has a better arm than most Jays on the current staff. A June debut seems likely. 5 Neftali Feliz TEX SP A He's the new Texas closer, but Frank Francisco still...

Chad Billingsley- LAD- Caution- Billingsley’s usage patterns and his performance over the past couple of seasons raise some red flags. In 2008, his first full season as a starter, he sparkled, posting a 3.14 ERA and striking out more than...

Bobby Abreu (OF—Angels) It wasn’t enough to overcome a 6 run deficit and ruin opening day at Yankee stadium, but Bobby Abreu’s 9th inning grand slam did provide a little suspense in a game that was otherwise dominated by the...

David Ortiz (DH-BOS) - Monday David Ortiz denied a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he is playing with an injured left wrist. Ortiz was 0- for -4 against the Royals with 4 strikeouts on Sunday and he didn't look...

Everth Cabrera - There's no questioning Cabrera's raw speed, but you could certainly question everything else about him. Cabrera had a mere handful of AB's above A-ball before last year's decent showing in San Diego, but the decency was masked...

Roy Halladay (SP-PHI) – The Astros are quickly becoming the laughingstock of the National League, but whenever a pitcher goes the distance this early in the season, it’s worth mentioning. Halladay allowed one unearned run on seven hits with an...

Kendry Morales: Morales is off to a slow start this season hitting just .222 through the first week of the season with 5 K’s and 0 BB’s in his first 27 AB’s. The interesting thing about Morales’ breakout season last...

Brad Hawpe - Hawpe is now 5-9 with 2 2B's and 2 HR's in the past two games after a couple of solo shots off of Mat Latos last night. At age 31 this year, Hawpe is probably a touch...

Aroldis Chapman - SP Cincinnati Reds This 21-year-old Cuban defector probably played a pretty big role in many fantasy drafts around the country last month and for many it will be interesting to revisit this spring's distribution in a couple...

Miguel Cabrera 1B (DET) – A couple of days ago, Tom commented on Cabrera’s potential to 40 HR. While it’s tough to believe that Miggy hasn’t hit the 40 HR mark in his 6 full seasons, I certainly agree with...

Gio Gonzalez - Gonzalez looked great in his 2010 debut against the Angels last night, allowing two runs on six hits over six innings, walking only one while fanning six. Gonzalez had two critical issues that primarily influenced his subpar...

Chipper Jones (3B—Braves) Let's start this blurb off on the right foot and establish that Chipper Jones is an excellent ball player. He's a career .307 hitter with 427 home runs and a lifetime OBP of .406. He will more...

Jay Bruce: Bruce is off to a tough start going just 1-12 in the first series against the Cardinals and having struck out 3 times without drawing a walk. I’m a really big believer in Bruce for 2010 and believe...

Brandon Wood: After a 0-12 with 5 K’s start, Wood was not in the starting lineup last night. In his third season in Triple-A Wood, showed some growth in his contact skills, 2007/2008/2009 Ct%’s 72%/74%/79%, but that has yet to...

Evan Longoria- TB- Hot Player- Longoria is on pace to shatter the home run record with 162 long balls this year. Yeah, it’s an old and bad joke, but someone had to do it. Longoria won’t keep up at pace...

   April 8, 2010 - NL Fantistics Blog   1. Dan Uggla (2B - Marlins) - Dan Uggla went yard for the first time this season and finished the night going 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored and a walk.  It isn't...

Dallas Braden – Where did THIS come from? In his first start of the season, Braden struck out 10 Mariners in 7 innings while yielding just 1 ER on 4 Hits. With a career K/9 of 5.68 and a fastball...

Franklin Morales: It is looking like Huston Street will be out for a least the entire month of April, which gives Morales a shot to rack up some saves. No matter how good his strike out/ground ball package looks, 9.2...

Ubaldo Jimenez - After bumping up his average fastball velocity to 96.1 in 2009, Jimenez was throwing 96-99 consistently on Opening Day against the Brewers. Although he did allow a handful (plus a few) of singles, Jimenez only walked one...

  April 6, 2010 - AL Fantistics Blog   1.  Scott Kazmir (SP - Angels) - Kazmir was placed on the disabled list prior to opening day with a strained hamstring, but will make a start at Class A on...

Blake DeWitt (2B-LAD) – We already know DeWitt has won the second base job, beating out Ronnie Belliard and Jamey Carroll, but now we also now know that this won’t be a platoon situation, at least initially. DeWitt will get...

Alberto Callaspo: Callaspo will be on the opening day roster but with the Royals concerned about his right abdominal injury the Royals will withhold him from the opening day lineup against RH Justin Verlander. Callaspo, a switch hitter, has just...

Happy Opening Night! Hunter Pence -- With Lance Berkman on the disabled list to begin the season, Pence will hit third in Houston’s lineup instead of his usual fifth spot. The change could provide short-term gains in RBI and Runs....

The Closers The last couple of years, I’ve spent around 25% of my purchases on closers. Go ahead, laugh. Amazingly I’ve been able to stay competitive, and I just wonder what I can do if I can move purchases on...

Rich Harden SP (TEX) – Not that the Ballpark at Arlington does any pitcher favors, but it should especially negatively affect Harden. One of Harden’s biggest weaknesses is his propensity to give up the long ball. While his FB% for...

Starting Pitcher Preview The Top Tier I’m playing it relatively safe at SP this year, hoping to get ahead early by taking a lot of the top pitchers: Tim Lincecum 1510, Roy Halladay 1460, Dan Haren 1440, Zack Greinke 1310,...

The Third Basemen The Must Haves Evan Longoria 1390 (TB) – Look for Longoria to put up A-Rod type numbers this season, minus a few steals and batting average points. There’s not too much to say about Longoria that hasn’t...

New York Mets It is looking like Jose Reyes will be back for the 5th game of the season. Where should Reyes bat? A big question this spring has been whether Reyes should bat leadoff or third, especially while Carlos...

Why Kurt Suzuki is ranked so high amongst Catchers: A quick scroll through the top 10 projected catchers and you’ll find every catcher has an FPI above 0.64, with the exception of one: Kurt Suzuki. Suzuki’s 0.57 FPI doesn’t even...

Seattle Mariners Right Fielder – At age 36, will this be the year that Ichiro Suzuki finally shows signs of decline? Last season, Suzuki hummed along as he always does with a .352 average, 225 hits and a career-high .465...