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. While many of the selections in the past have been geared

Dan Uggla: I’ve noted in the past that I’m not a big Uggla supporter because of the negative impact he can have on your batting average, but I also noted Uggla’s a traditionally slow starter who heats up in May

“It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it!” How many of you in the crowd have heard this one before? I know, we all have and most of the time it’s said in a loud angry tone with

Before we get to this week’s edition of Sabermetric Tuesday, I’d be remiss if I didn’t correct a mistake in my player blurbs earlier this week. Amidst a long-winded rant about my beloved Bears not turning in a draft card

Max Scherzer: The big news on Sunday was that the Diamondbacks called up top prospect Max Scherzer. Our own David Regan ranks Scherzer as the 8th best pitching prospect in baseball and rising thanks to an incredible start to 2008

Joakim Soria: Save opportunities are always a difficult category to predict and for some reason most fantasy owners operate under the assumption that closers on good teams get more opportunities than those on bad teams. This usually drives down the

Johnny Cueto: After allowing 5 ER’s for the 2nd time in his last 3 starts plenty of fantasy owners are going to begin to worry about Johnny Cueto hitting an adjustment period. Statistically speaking, Cueto IS hitting an adjustment period

Jonathan Sanchez: I noted Sanchez as a deep sleeper in my pre-season projections article because of his big K potential and early on in the season he continues to flash brilliance mixed in with a lot of well… not so

Welcome to a “tax-free” edition of Fantistics’ weekly article on Value Picks! Hopefully by now everyone out there is squared away with the IRS, so instead of crunching numbers to avoid sending out money, you can start playing with numbers

Howie Kendrick: Much has been made around this site about Kendrick’s anemic EYE last season and how as a result he’s been overvalued heading into the season. While I fancy myself a numbers man, I have to go against my

Wandy Rodriguez: While we’re at it, let’s give a little hat tip to my man Joe Ribando for his recommendation of Wandy Rodriguez as a two start pickup this week. If you listened to Joe you ended up snagging a

Geovany Soto: Soto finally saw some results after spraying line drives and deep fly balls all over the field early in the season. Thursday night Soto went 4-5 with 2 2B’s and his 2nd HR of the season. Soto was

It’s good ole “hump day” for those of you enjoying your first cup of coffee this morning and that means its “Value Picks Day” here at Fantistics. Each Wednesday we’ll be touching on the somewhat generic concept of Value. One

Jeff Keppinger For those that haven’t noticed, Jeff Keppinger is for real. Keppinger put together a nice 2nd half last year as a utility player for the Reds hitting .332/.400/.477 in 276 PA’s. In that time Keppinger, showed an elite

New Page 1 Sabermetric Tuesdays: Analyzing Splits Ground Balls vs. Fly Balls   It’s Sabermetric Tuesday here at Fantistics! Each Tuesday we’ll dive into some of the deeper statistics we use to forecast and analyze the game of baseball.

Brandon Phillips As I mentioned earlier in the spring, I have no problems taking stands on players and one player in particular that I’m taking a large stand on this year is Brandon Phillips. Everyone is gaga over Phillips 30-30

Dustin McGowan Let me preface this blurb with the fact that I have an unhealthy affection for Dustin McGowan. I think he’s far and away the best bargain available with regards to pitching this season. McGowan’s peripherals scream STUD starting

With the NL Predictions in the books and the Mets projected to advance to the World Series let’s see who they’ll be taking on from the American League. 2008 AL Predictions: AL East: 1. Boston Red Sox The defending World

As spring training concludes, the hope that springs eternal at the beginning of each camp revels in its last few days before its annual clash with reality. For a few teams, the hope they break camp with will catapult them

Chris Capuano Capuano was diagnosed with a Torn UCL in his left elbow and could face the dreaded Tommy John surgery if the tear is full. I mentioned earlier in the spring I thought something was wrong with Capuano last

Rich Hill As mentioned in yesterday’s news items, Rich Hill’s horrid outing on Thursday raises some red flags. Hill’s spring has been littered with control problems, walking 14 batters in just 12 2/3 innings. Such wild control issues for pitchers

In a couple of notes and blog entries this spring I’ve referenced my affinity for using Middle Relievers, so in this entry I wanted to explain the references a bit more clearly. As you can see by the title of

Andy LaRoche Word leaked out of Dodgers camp late Friday that Andy LaRoche would be sidelined an estimated 8-10 weeks after being hit on the hand by a throw. The injury to LaRoche ends the 3B competition with Nomar Garciaparra

Cubs closer situation One of the most intriguing position battles to follow in spring training will be the Cubs closer position. The Cubs are fortunate to have three capable arms in Kerry Wood, Bob Howry, and Carlos Marmol and compelling

With the news coming out of Phillies’ camp today that Brad Lidge’s balky knee will require a minor surgery that should keep him out 3-6 weeks, I thought it would be important to briefly touch on the impact injuries can

Earlier this week fantasy baseball owners everywhere heard the four-word reminder that their fantasy season is right around the corner: “Pitchers and Catchers Report”. While this phrase means plenty to loyal fans around the country, it specifically means two things

Carlos Pena: Pena just keeps adding to his monster season as he hit another 2 HR's on Saturday night against the Red Sox. Pena knocked out his 41st and 42nd HR's of the season in 2-3 effort that came with

Pedro Martinez: Insert foot into mouth: that's pretty much how I feel after suggesting fantasy owners be wary of Pedro a few weeks back. Pedro looked a little bit more like vintage Pedro on Saturday as he tossed 6 fantastic

Delmon Young: You wouldn't notice it unless you were paying close attention but Delmon Young is making some serious strides in the 2nd half of this season. He went 2-4 with a HR last night, his 12th on the season

Chris Young: Be prepared for some injury reports coming out this morning on Chris Young because his start last night suggests he's just not right. Young walked 6 batters in his 4 1/3 innings of work, allowing 5 ER's. This

Rafael Furcal: Furcal's had an unusual August, which is usually one of his stronger months, as he's only gone hitless in 5 of the team's 24 games but has hit an empty .274 on the month with only 6 extra

Lance Berkman: Berkman continues to try to make up for lost time in the month of August as he knocked out his 24th HR of the season and his 7th in August. Berkman's numbers in August look a bit more

Jason Bay: For most of you that don't follow the Pirates it probably seems like Jason Bay is really coming on right and really busting out of that slump? Well Bay hit 5th HR in the last 3 weeks last

It's a new face trying to fill some big shoes for this week's closer report as I fill in for the esteemed Mr. Blasi. Since he's the professional writer, I'll make a deal with everyone and stick to the analysis

What have we learned? So I wanted to take another break from some of the more in-depth statistical analysis pieces to talk about what I've learned this fantasy baseball season and hopefully it will inspire some readers to write in

Jeff Francoeur: Francoeur went 3-5 on Sunday and got his batting average up to .304. There are a couple things going on with Frenchy this year to note. First and foremost he has improved his EYE considerably as he has

Justin Upton: I decided to check out all the hype on Upton so I tuned into the Dodgers-DBacks game on Friday night and caught the youngster's first big league start. Upton's stat line didn't look to impressive as he went

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CC Sabathia: I love me some CC Sabathia! Big CC went 7 strong innings last night yielding only 2 ER's on 6 hits. He struck out 8 more batters without walking a hitter and raises his season K:BB ratio to

Scott Olsen: It seems every time it looks like Scott Olsen is taking a step forward, he takes another step backwards. This seemed to take place within the same game on Thursday as Olsen mowed through the weak Pirates lineup

After hitting readers with a barrage of statistically inclined articles over the last few weeks that looked into Disaster Starts, Bullpen's Impact on SP's, the Added Impact of Middle Relievers, and the Consistency factors when evaluating hitters, I decided

John Maine: A couple home starts seemed to be all John Maine needed to get back on track. Maine posted his 2nd consecutive quality start as he limited the A's to 5 base-runners and 2 ER's in his 7 innings

Randy Wolf: Wolf's going through a bit of a slump right now as he turned in his 3rd clunker in the last 4 starts. The drop off has come with a steep decline in his K Rate along with a

Shaun Marcum: Marcum was fantastic yesterday striking out 11 batters in 7 innings of work against the Nationals. He allowed 3 walks and 3 hits which translated into 2 ER's and now lowered his ERA to 3.41 on the season.

Tom Gorzelanny: Gorz had a bit of an adjustment statistically last night as his 5 ER's on 7 Hits and 1 BB over 7 innings helped bring his Strand Rate and ERA back in line with his career Strand Rate

Jeremy Hermida Hermida homered for the 2nd time in his last 3 games on Sunday, but still appears to be going through some growing pains at the major league level. Hermida's fallen off the radar of most fantasy owners after

Sean Marshall Marshall made it 3-3 in quality starts with another gem on Sunday against the Braves. This time Marshall allowed only 1 ER in 6 2/3 innings on 6 hits and 1 BB, while striking out 8. Marshall now

Joe Blanton Blanton was phenomenal on Saturday night throwing a CG Shutout against the Twins. Blanton only allowed 3 base-runners in the game all on singles and not one Twin advanced into scoring position. He struck out 6 on the

Anthony Reyes: Reyes was sent down to AAA on Sunday in what was likely a move to protect the young man's confidence. Reyes' last start resulted in his 8th loss of the season, the 0-8 record marks the worst record

Carlos Delgado: It's one thing to preach patience in April, but as we creep towards the end of May and into June slow starts sometimes can begin to dictate trends and that might be the case with Carlos Delgado. Delgado

John Maine I'll continue to suggest to Maine owners to entertain the idea of selling high on Maine's early season production. Maine struggled last night against a Yankees lineup and was mainly the recipient of some poor defense behind him

Josh Willingham Willingham went 3-3 on Sunday and upped his average to .296 on the season. Willingham's a bit underrated as far as OF options go; he always showed great power at the minor league levels slugging .562 at AA

Jack Cust The Jack Cust HR barrage continued on Saturday with his 4th HR in 5 games, this time off sinker-baller Fausto Carmona. Cust has an extensive and prodigious power track record in the minor leagues as he's accumulated 191

Adam Dunn Adam Dunn is single-handedly killing me this week. On Thursday he went 3-4 (falling a 1b short of the cycle) with 3 Runs and 3 RBI's, making him 6-13 on the week with 3 HR's, 6 Runs, and

Freddy Garcia Those owners counting on Freddy Garcia for a two start week this week may want to pay close attention to the news wires today. Garcia ran into a cart that was on the field as he was trying

John Maine Maine was fantastic again on Sunday shutting out the Nationals for 7 innings. He allowed 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out a season high 8. Maine's now 4-5 in quality starts and pitching for the Mets

Richie Sexson My name is Drew and I'm a Richie Sexson owner (Hi Drew!), alright so there's not any meetings for us Sexson owners just yet that we can attend, but I'm here to help you guys through it. Sexson

As you can see by yesterday's mailbag article by Lou, we get our fair share of email around here and we try our best to get to all of it and respond. Sometimes we'll respond back through email, through our

Scott Olsen I've been getting a lot of questions regarding Scott Olsen of late and with good reason. Olsen's off to an atrocious start this season and as Schuyler reported late last week the control issues are the obvious concern.

A few weeks back we took a look at how to go about evaluating a potential Hitter when looking to make a free agent acquisition. We talked about evaluating specific statistics like EYE, BHIP%, HR Rate, etc and how to

Tim Hudson Many pundits called for a bounce back year from Tim Hudson and so far the early results look good for Hudson and his owners. After allowing only 1 earned run in 7 more innings of work on Sunday,

John Danks Thanks to MLB's wonderful blackout system on Saturday afternoon's I was left switching between blacked out channels until I found the White Sox-Indians game on WGN. Fortunately this gave me the opportunity to take a deeper look at

Mark Prior As a Cubs fan, I can't possibly explain to you what writing this blurb feels like. I'll briefly try to describe it... imagine being the fan of a team that had 3 prized pitching prospects under the age

Felipe Lopez One of the less talked about fantasy impacts this season has been the injury to Christian Guzman at SS for the Nationals. Normally this wouldn't mean much, but the injury has moved Lopez back over to SS before

I spent Thursday afternoon at the Great American Ballpark watching the Cincinnati Reds host my beloved Chicago Cubs. While I play Baseball Analyst for all of you by night, during the day I'm an Investment Analyst for an Institutional Investment

Before we get to today's First Pitch I wanted to say thank you to the readers that took the time out to respond to my AL and NL Predictions blog earlier this week. I enjoy hearing the responses and while

Chris Carpenter In my NL predictions yesterday I mentioned I thought Chris Carpenter was a bit overrated and while I didn't give a reason I will now. I think Carpenter's a great fantasy ace and someone you can build a

Adam Loewen Adam Loewen finished off an impressive spring training by allowing 1 earned run in a 3 inning start on Saturday against the Nationals. Loewen walked 3 batters and struck out 3 while allowing 2 hits. This caps off

And onto the NL... NL East 1. New York Mets Despite the starting pitching issues, I think the Mets will still be the ones holding the NL East division crown when all is said and done. While Oliver Perez, El

As promised, today will begin a seemingly endless string of blog entries that will hopefully be entertaining and informative. If not please send all complaints to Anthony Perri as he's the brainchild behind the decision to give me an open

Before we get to the notes this morning, I wanted to give a little introduction to the subscribers out there. I'm the guy that Anthony Perri thinks looks like Zach Greinke, but most people know me as Drew Dinkmeyer. This

It seems Bobby Jenks has gotten a bit tired of all the growing concerns within the media about where his arm is heading into the season. After firing 1 1/3 scoreless innings on Wednesday, Jenks told reporters that his location

The JJ Putz watch continues for those intrigued by the Mariners closer situation. Putz did some soft throwing on Thursday for about five minutes to see how his arm reacted and said he felt fine afterwards. Putz's breakout 2006 season

Eric Gagne made his first appearance in "A"games this spring and was rudely welcomed by Kevin Frandsen with a long HR. Gagne settled down after allowing the HR getting two groundouts and a strike out to end the inning. Gagne's

Auction Drafts are quickly becoming the most popular form of draft-day fun for fantasy players everywhere. Players enjoy the fast paced flow of an auction, but most importantly they appreciate the opportunity to own any player. How Does an Auction