Joey Votto - Votto was locked-in against the Cubs on Wednesday, turning the power hat-trick of 3-HR (and a SB), and improving his seasons numbers considerably in just one day. The talented Reds first baseman saw his FPI rise from

First Pitch - "Sabermetric Tuesday - The Setup Man" Good morning and welcome to the Fantasy Week 6 edition of "Sabermetric Tuesdays."  I've had a thought in my head for quite some time, but haven't had a chance to accumulate

Robinson Cano - Cano bottomed out and turned it around this weekend. As of Saturday, Cano's average had dropped to .150, OBP .213, 2 HR, and 7 RBI. On Sunday, his swing looked good and seemed to be right on

Troy Tulowitzksi - Its looking more and more likely that Troy Tulowitzski will be heading to the 15-day DL with left quad problems. He's had a rough April and hopefully a little rest and recovery will do him good for

First Pitch - "Value Picks" - April 30, 2008Welcome to Fantasy Week 5's installment of Value Picks.  As you may have realized by now, we have focused one "First Pitch" per week on identifying players on the wires that could

Chien Ming Wang - Wang's 4-hit shutout performance against the Indians on Sunday brought him to 5-0 with a 3.23 ERA and 1.18. The Yankee ace's value is higher than ever, especially now that he's added a strikeout pitch to

Ryan Howard - Its almost laughable at this point. Your #1 pick is bringing your entire team down and there's nothing you can do about it. Another 0-for-4 with 2 K's for Howard in last nights game, bringing his season

Value Picks - April 23, 2008Welcome to another edition of "Value Picks."  Once again, we'll try to focus on some players who are most likely floating around the waiver wires in your league and can be cheap value pick-ups. I'm

Gary Matthews Jr. is just one more example of an underperforming player early in the 2008 season. His huge drop-off over the last two years makes him even more unattractive from a fantasy standpoint and, for you, an opportunity to

Adam Wainwright - Sometimes, fantasy players are just a bit too premature when assessing value in players. Alex Gordon is a prime example, as he had a rough debut year and is now looking like he's going to have the

Jim Thome - This isn't the Jim Thome we're used to in April. He's only 6-for-38 this season (.158, with two of those hits coming as HR). In April 2007, Thome got off to a great start, hitting .340 with

Ryan Braun - With many first and early second round draft picks slumping to start the season (I'm looking at you A-Rod, Jose Reyes, and Ryan Howard), Ryan Braun is at least displaying a power stroke similar to his incredible

Sabermetric Tuesdays: The Quality StartIts baseball season and its a Tuesday.  You know what that means?  Its "Sabermetric Tuesday" here at Fantistics.  Last week, Drew taught us the "ins-and-outs" of the GB/FB and its importance in determining pitcher fantasy value. 

Robinson Cano is just one of many fantasy players in an early season slump to start the 2008 campaign. At .174, he has just 4 hits and one extra base hit through 6 games with the Yankees. Cano , who

Oliver Perez - A great start for Oliver Perez. He was one of my key "watch" guys in this year's drafts of having the potential to post a big season. Granted, last night's game was against one of the weaker

First Pitch - April 2, 2008 - "Value Picks"Good morning!  In today's edition of First Pitch, we will take a look at value picks.  With a couple of games in the books and our fantasy teams up and running, its

Mike Sweeney - Sweeney hit a 3-run dinger on Sunday and looks ready to be the A's opening day Designated Hitter. It seems like Sweeney has been around forever, but he's only 34 years old and still might have some

Preseason Blog - March 21, 2008Vlad Guerrero - Vlad was removed from the game yesterday with stiffness in his right knee.  He'll take a couple of days off before he resumes his baseball activities.   I think Vlad is perceived as

Preseason Blog - March 14, 2008Curt Schilling - We all knew it was coming, but seeing Curt Schilling's name next to the 60-day DL list made it very real for Red Sox fans.  The Sox made it official yesterday after

Preseason Blog - March 7, 2008Noah Lowry - Lowry's start to the 2008 season has been about as bad as it gets.  Lowry has complained of "fatigue" in the area between his left thumb and wrist, which definitely does not

Miguel Cabrera isn't getting much press these days with the Marlins way out of playoff contention, but he's had another fantastic season for fantasy owners. I like to start off my analysis of Cabrera by reminding readers that he's still

This morning's First Pitch marks my last one for the 2007 season. Its been quite a ride. Hopefully some of the information I have included in this column has helped your fantasy team to the playoffs and ultimately, a championship.

Jack Wilson was out of the starting lineup on Wednesday with a hamstring strain, but he's considered day-to-day at this point. Wilson has quietly put together two fantastic months to end the season. Since August 1st, he has hit .415

Aaron Hill set the Toronto Blue Jays doubles record on Sunday with his 42nd of the season (broke Robert Alomar's record set back in 1991). He's had a nice season with all of these doubles and is hitting .276 with

It wasn't a quality start (officially), but Brandon Webb hurled 7.0 IP and allowed 4 ER to win his 15th game of the year. Talk about consistency. A look at his last three years shows a slowly improving ERA (3.54,

When the Yankees have needed him most, Chien Ming Wang has stepped up in a big way. He has converted W's in his last 5 outings, including another one against the Royals on Sunday. In those 5 starts, Wang is

The month says "September"on my calendar, but for true fantasy players, this is our October. Fantasy playoffs have begun in head-to-head leagues. Fantasy GM's everywhere are making more roster moves than George Steinbrenner. Now is not the time to sleep.

I feel like Adrian Gonzalez has quietly lived up to his fantasy expectations, but doesn't quite get the credit he deserves. First, let me give you his preseason projected line: FPI of 0.71, 28 HR, 91 RBI, 88 R, .306

Alex Gordon never quite turned out to be the rookie-of-the-year candidate everybody thought, but he has shown some signs of greatness throughout the season. He hit 2 HR against the Twins yesterday, giving him 14 for the season. His 0.54

Ask the average fan to name the great hitting SS in the game, and you'll get a list of names like Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez, Derek Jeter, Miguel Tejada, and maybe Edgar Renteria. Few will ever mention Carlos Guillen, but

Maine, Cain and Pray for No Rain   As I sat through the monsoon that hit Chicago yesterday, I thought about the fantasy effects of rainouts, doubleheaders, and schedule make-ups. Those who play in daily leagues have certainly picked

Brian McCann is heating up just in time for the fantasy home stretch. His power numbers have been down all year from his 2006 breakout season, but he has managed to raise his totals slightly over the past week. He

Tim Wakefield is a solid play for his Monday start against the Devil Rays. The young Tampa Bay team typically has lots of trouble with the knuckleballer. For his career, Wakefield is 18-2 against the Rays with a 2.83 ERA,

Yovani Gallardo was rocked for the 2nd straight outing. After giving up 11 ER in just 2.2 IP against the Rockies last week, Gallardo followed with a 7 ER outing against the Cardinals last night. That's 18 ER in 8.1

Ian Kinsler has gone from a power hitter to a base stealer in a single season. He has 3 SB in August, but no homeruns. He sat out for most of the month of July, but his last HR came

Garret Atkins had quite an afternoon against the Brewers, going 4-for-4 with two doubles, 6 RBI, and a run scored. This extends his hit streak to 9. During that span, he has 5 multi-hit games including 2 HR, 19 RBI,

The Joba Chamberlain era has begun in the Bronx. Chamberlain's name has been discussed alongside Phil Hughes as the two pitching saviors in the Yankee farm system. The Yankees made room for Chamberlain and called him up as a bullpen

Fausto Carmona was on the tough end of a 1-0 loss on Sunday. Despite pitching 7.0 innings of 1 ER, 5 K, 5 H ball, Carmona was handed the loss, bringing his record to 13-6. Unfortunately for Carmona, his nemesis

It continues to be one of those years for Richie Sexson and his owners. He showed some signs of breaking out last week, hitting his only two homeruns of the month, but is still hitting just .178 in July and

The Elusive Hold   The Hold is a relatively new metric that attempts to measure the effectiveness of a middle relief pitcher. The growing popularity of fantasy baseball has given the hold a little more air time in recent

Josh Johnson looked good in a rehab start, throwing three perfect innings in a Class A game on Wednesday. The Marlins are considering bringing Johnson back to pitch on Tuesday against the Rockies, which would make him a two-start pitcher

Manager Joe Torre stole my thunder yesterday. I was really excited to compare Shelly Duncan to Shane Spencer in today's column and then Torre decided to drop Spencer's name in his post-game show. Well anyway, Duncan joined the Yankees late

While Carlos Zambrano earned his 12th win in the opposing dugout, Matt Cain watched his record drop to 3-11. Of course, Cain didn't help his cause this time around, giving up 6 ER in just 4.0 IP against the Cubbies.

Games against the Royals can boost a young pitcher's confidence. Fausto Carmona pitched a solid 7.0 IP, 2 ER game to earn his 11th win of the season. He struck out 4 and walked two in the outing as well.

Maybe I'm going down with the ship here, but I continue to claim that Raul Ibanez is a buy-low option for the latter half of the season. His 6 hits and 4 RBI in the last four games give Ibanez

Frustrated Rickie Weeks owners can gather here for solace. First the bad: Weeks' average plummeted to .230 with an 0-for-4 against the Pirates on Wednesday. Ok, you know how rough its been being a Weeks owners. Now for what I

With another HR in yesterday's slaughter of the NY Yankees, Jack Cust now has 14 dingers this season and is averaging a HR/AB of 11.1. He hit 3 HR last fantasy week and is posting a 1.026 OPS since joining

Brian Giles will be activated from the disabled list on Friday and should be back in action for the weekend series in Los Angeles after missing a month with a bruised knee. Giles and fantasy owners have seen quite a

Moose's record dropped to 3-5 with another loss on Sunday. His ERA has ballooned to 5.12 and WHIP to 1.35. The Giants hit him up for 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 3 BB, and 5 H. Mike Mussina had a string

Manager Bobby Cox gave the slumping Andruw Jones a night off on Wednesday. With a scheduled off-day for the Braves on Thursday, Cox hopes that back-to-back days of rest may help Jones get his swing back in order. He's not

Chien-Ming Wang struck out a career-high 10 and earned his 7th win of the season against the cross-town rivals New York Mets on Sunday night baseball. Wang's 10 K's was quite a surprise, considering his K/9 is just 4.71. His

There has been a lot of talk recently about the "Unwritten Rules"in baseball. When Alex Rodriguez rounded third in Toronto a couple of weeks ago and shouted "hey"at the fielder, causing him to miss the ball, the "unwritten rules of

Livan Hernandez made a bid for his 6th straight quality start, but the Yankees had another thought in their minds. Livan gave up 7 ER and 9 hits against the red-hot Bronx Bombers including 3 HR and 5 BB. Tough

The Phillies will turn to rookie call-up Kyle Kendrick to take Freddy Garcia's spot in the rotation on Wednesday. In 12 games this season with the Double-A Reading Phillies, Kendrick is 4-7 with a 3.21 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, and a

Carsten Charles Sabathia put together another gem yesterday, going 9.0 shutout innings with 6 K's, 1 BB, and just 3 hits. Its his second straight 9-inning shutout game and his 3rd quality start in the last four outings. With no

If Victor Martinez could only play the Tigers everyday... He hit his 12th HR of the season on Sunday and 6 of them have come against Detroit. Martinez's HR/AB has been cut in half at 15.6 from last season's total

Aaron Cook was dealt his 2nd loss of the season with a 7.0 IP, 5 ER performance against the Cardinals last night. It was his first loss since April 19th and his QS % is now 58%, 7-for-12. Cook is

Brian McCann continues to be a fantasy disappointment this season, yielding little power, a lower than expected average, and significant drops in multiple categories. Let's start with power. McCann only has 3 HR on the season and is averaging a

Its been feast or famine for Jack Cust since joining the A's earlier in the month. After being the hottest and trendiest fantasy name in the game, Cust has fallen back to earth and has gone hitless in the last

Kelvim Escobar was light-out in the Bronx yesterday, going 7.0 solid innings while giving up 1 ER, 1 BB, and striking out 8. It was his second highest strikeout total of the season and his 6th win of the year.

Here at Fantistics, we get lots of e-mail from subscribers asking for our advice on the typical fantasy issues that arise.... Spot starts, trade proposals, lineup structure, and the value of free agents are the main ones. But last

Chris Duncan went yard for the 9th time this season and is quietly putting together a solid season of a 0.74 FPI. His HR rate is a solid 16.2 and is posting a .905 OPS while hovering around the .300

Alex Rios has done it quietly this season, but with his 9th HR of the year, is now posting a HR/AB of 18.8 and an OPS of .850. That's good for a decent FPI of 0.66, in-line with his preseason

Another solid outing for Andy Pettitte without the support from the Yankee offense. He has pitched four quality starts this season while earning a no-decision or loss. He's 6-for-8 in quality starts and is 3-for-3 in May. Little has been

Is it time to become a believer? Its difficult not to believe with the kind of pitching performances Braden Looper has been putting up. Another quality start last night makes Looper 7-for-8 in QS's and brings his ERA to 2.29

A few weeks ago, we took a glance at the top-15 fantasy first basemen and their lefty/righty splits. The results were compelling (check it out here). Some 1B with super-star reputations simply became average performers based on the handedness of

Jamie Moyer continues to demand some fantasy love, but owners are remaining skeptical. I don't blame them. Who knew he would start 2007 going 7-for-7 in quality starts with a 3.00 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. My concern with Moyer at

Roger Clemens is probably long-gone in just about every fantasy league at this point. With his official announcement to join the Yankees yesterday, he becomes a valuable fantasy pitcher down the stretch for many fantasy owners. But just how valuable?

Adam Dunn loves to hit 'em in bunches. He hit another HR last night for his 3rd in three games and his 8th of the season. Dunn's power in 2007 is consistent with his previous two years at a rate

Raul Ibanez is trying to get things going, but can't quite seem to turn the corner. After knocking-out 33 HR last season with 120+ RBI, he's hitting just .263 with 1 HR and 10 RBI. He's a great buy-low candidate

Adam Dunn is in a power drought. He has not hit a HR since April10th, 12 games ago and his HR/AB ratio has dropped to 19.3. Over the last two years, Dunn averaged a homerun for every 13.6 and 14.0

What would you give to have Hank Blalock to return to his 2003 and 2004 seasons? Those were the years Blalock posted 0.69 and 0.66 FPI's, HR/AB under 20.0, and OPS in the high .800's. Let's take a walk through

Daniel Cabrera is certainly posting the strikeout numbers we expected. With another 7 K's in last night's start, he now has 26 strikeouts for a K/9 of 8.9. The good news for Cabrera owners is that he's keeping his walk

Struggles continue for Carlos Zambrano. In his game against Atlanta last night, Big Z threw 5.1 IP and gave up 5 ER, 5 BB, 8 hits, and 2 HR. Four of those runs came in the first inning and then

Bartolo Colon is set to return to the big leagues this week. After missing the last two months of the season last year with a rotator cuff tear, he made a final rehab start on Sunday and threw 95 pitches,

Lefty/Righty Match-Ups We all know about the advantage a pitcher has over a batter when the handedness is the same. It's usually tougher for a lefty hitter to hit off a lefty pitcher. The same thing goes for righties. But

Tom Gordon finally earned his first save of the season (of course, it wasn't entirely his fault that the Phillies have been so bad early this season). The 39-year-old closer has certainly had his ups and downs, but has been

Its been frustrating to be a Mark Teixeira owner over the last couple of years and the first fantasy week of the season is no exception. He had another 0-for-4 night last night and is just 4-for-19 (.211) in 2007.

If you play in head-to-head leagues with the option for daily transactions, you may already be thinking about the "pitch-and-ditch"strategy for the upcoming fantasy weekend. If you have the incredibly unfortunate luck of having all of the following players on

John Maine made Met fans forget about the strength of their rotation (well, at least for now). He was masterful against the Cardinals last night, giving up just 1 hit in 7.0 IP with 6 K's. Maine is not the

Which Corey Patterson can we expect for 2007? Remember when he was considered a potential 30/30 guy? We think he's more like a 20/40 guy, but if he can put together more than 500 AB for the first time since

Freddy Sanchez's second opinion on his knee sprain didn't provide positive news for fantasy owners. He'll likely start the season on the DL and appear back in the lineup sometime around April 7th. The reigning NL batting champion is still

Speculation surrounding Alex Rodriguez leaving the Yankees continues, this time with rumors about a move to the west coast to join the Angels at the end of the 2007 season. This is just one of many rumors that will be

Chad "Don't Call Me Barbara"Billingsley continues to be the front-runner to fill that last coveted spot in the Dodgers rotation. However, despite a solid spring of 6.3 IP without an earned run, manager Grady Little has guaranteed the 22-year-old a

Today we'll take a close look at catchers. Usually, it's the position you dread drafting most. You get to that special point in the fantasy draft when someone takes McCann and Mauer and you end up throwing your hands in

Having done many mock drafts over the last couple of months, I've been faced with a difficult decision a few times late in the 2nd round - Carlos Lee or Jason Bay? Using the Fantistics Player Projection software customized to