All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 146

Kei Igawa: Igawa has been awful this year, 7.63 ERA in 30.2 innings. He was an effective pitcher in Japan, but one thing he did struggle with was the longball. Unfortunately that has carried over across the Pacific Ocean, as...

Ryan Theriot Theriot has now established himself as the Cubs' everyday shortstop for two reasons: Lou Piniella seems to like him, and he's the only shortstop to provide any semblance of offensive ability since the days of Shawon Dunston. Theriot...

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees is having an unbelievable start to the 2007 season and everybody knows that, but I want to try to give you a little different perspective on his fantasy value. A-Rod had another big...

Matt Cain had his issues with the Phillies on Thursday allowing 7 runs, all earned in 3 IP on 8 hits and 4 walks. Matt struck out 2 while falling to 1-2 on the year. His ERA chinned over...

Al Reyes: Reyes notched his 10th save in 10 opportunities last night against the Twins. He has shown nice skills in the past, but he has never put up these numbers, 11.6 K/9 and a 1.29 ERA. While he has...

Alfonso Soriano - Expanding on what Joe said this morning, I completely agree that Soriano is primed for an excellent month. One thing I've noticed about hot hitters is the tendency to hit the ball with authority to the opposite...

This week we start with Tom Gordon heading back to Philly to have his painful right shoulder examined. The Phillies say that Gordon will not be with the team this weekend in San Francisco. We are early in this...

Kevin Millwood- TEX- Inj- Millwood is penciled in for the first game of today's doubleheader, but may not be able to go. Word came late last night that he tweaked his hamstring and will be evaluated before the game to...

Jarrod Washburn was strong against the White Sox on Tuesday, holding them to 2 runs in 7 IP on just 4 hits and a walk while striking out 4. Both runs came on solo homers as Washburn improved to...

Tom Gordon: All the calls for Brett Myers to take over the Phillies' closer job seem premature, as Gordon converted a save last night against the Braves by pitching a perfect ninth inning, impressively fanning 2 batters. Gordon's K/9 of...

Dustin McGowan - With Gustavo Chacin hitting the DL with shoulder pain, Dustin McGowan might be getting another shot at the Toronto rotation, although Chacin's replacement has not been offically announced as of this morning. McGowan would be on the...

Mike Gonzalez- ATL- Rise Value- With Bob Wickman out, Gonzalez is one of two Braves who will be sharing the save opportunities. The other is Rafael Soriano. There was no save opportunity last night, as Atlanta won with a walkoff...

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...

Chris Sampson Sampson turned in another solid effort on Saturday, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing just one run while striking out eight. This coming off a seven-run 14-hit pounding in his previous start was certainly needed from Sampson. The...

Steve Trachsel- BAL- Caution- The 2 runs and 5 this allowed in 5-2/3 innings yesterday was not too bad, but some other numbers in Trachsel's loss to the Indians are worrisome. His workload was stretched a bit farther than you'd...

Felix Pie of the Chicago Cubs appears to have earned his spot on the Major League team. It appears Lou Piniella has no plans of moving Jacque Jones to center when Angel Guzman is recalled on May 1st. The Cubs...

Gerald Laird: Prior to his last two games in which he has gone 3 for 6 with 2 walks, Laird had been mired in a 1 for 34 slump. Laird's breakout 2006 season of 7/22/.296 was partially luck driven, .269...

The headline news in the bullpen this week comes from Texas where Eric Gagne was placed on the DL with a strained hip/glut. Akinori Otsuka returns to the closer role which he handled quite well last season, recording 32...

Bartolo Colon- LAA- Inj Update- The Angels pushed back the decision on whether Colon will start until literally the last minute. They will wait and see how he does in his pre-game warm-ups before deciding whether he will pitch. Colon's...

Jorge Cantu was recalled by the Rays on Tuesday after a tumultuous spring and a limp minor league stint in which he hit .267 without a homerun. He didn't play in yesterday's game against the Yankees and it's hard...

Anthony Reyes: Reyes continues to struggle, after 3 starts, his record stands at 0-3, with a 5.63 ERA. A 57% strand rate is not helping, but his K/9 of 5.6 is below the levels that he has put up in...

Luis Gonzalez- LAN- Hot- Gonzalez is riding a 5-game hitting streak in which he has gone 6-for-15 to bring his batting average back up to .317. So far this season he has recorded an astounding Batting EYE of 1.80. Of...

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....

This week we look at some of the hottest prospects around.    Tom Gorzelanny and Adam Lind are in the majors now but the rest of these guys can best be described by Dennis Leary’s first catch phrase …...

Michael Young: There is no reason to panic about Young's .171 batting average after his first 70 AB. Players with a 3-year BHIP% of .291, who currently have a BHIP% are .143, will normally bounce back. Ignore the .15 batting...

Mark Hendrickson No, Mark Hendrickson isn't going to carry the Dodgers to the pennant or fantasy owners to their league title, but he's looking like a nice little bargain right now. Last season, Hendrickson lost his rotation spot due to...

On the trick or treat scale that John Patterson seems to be skipping around so far, this start landed squarely in the "Trick"  area. He allowed 3 runs, all earned, in 4 IP on 7 hits and 4 walks...

The big ninth-inning story in baseball right now plays out north of the border in Toronto where primary closer B.J. Ryan came up with an elbow injury.  Jason Frasor is the man for the Jays for now and he...

Juan Encarnacion: Encarnacion is scheduled to play in a few extended spring training games this week and if pain free, he should begin a minor league rehab assignment next week. At 31 years of age, Encarnacion has average power for...

Gustavo Chacin out dueled Daisuke at the Roger Centre last night limiting the Red Sox to 1 earned run over 6.2 IP. He allowed 6 hits, including Wily Mo Pena's monstrous third-inning solo homerun, without a walk while striking...

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,...

Prospect Central Week #3 Welcome to Prospect Central for Week #3. Today we will look at some players doing it … or not doing it … or sort of doing it, on the MLB level. Today it is a...

Chris Snelling Snelling appears to have taken the LF job from Kory Casto, at least until Nook Logan returns. Snelling made his third straight start on Saturday, going 1-for-3 with a walk, his first homer of the year, and three...

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...

There are not many things that are for sure in the game of baseball, but Dontrelle Willis winning in the month of April is becoming pretty close. Over the course of his career Willis is 12-1 in April. Almost the...