All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 147

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...

Joakim Soria: It didn't take Buddy Bell long to figure out that David Riske is not a closer. It looks like he is leaning towards using Soria, the rookie, Rule 5 pick, as the closer. It doesn't make much sense...

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...

A Closer Look - Week #2 If you had Brad Lidge in your Closer Death Pool you cashed a check this week but you may have been only days ahead of Jorge Julio in Florida. Manager Fredi Gonzalez has blown...

Mark Buehrle- CHA- Idea- If any of you are A's fans, maybe you want to give Bob Geren a gift subscription to Fantistics. We noted after his last start that Buehrle has problems when hitters jump on his first pitches....

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...

The new and improved Josh Beckett made his second start for the Red Sox in their home opener in Tuesday pitching very effectively against the Ms. Beckett held Seattle to 1 run in 7 IP on just two hits without...

Ian Snell- PIT- Hot- Snell owns a WHIP of 0.92, an ERA of 2.08 and has struck out 14 in 13 IP in 2 starts this season. So, what's his record? 0-1. It just goes to show you can't have...

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...

Sammy Sosa: Sosa hit his first homer of the year yesterday and has started in all five of the Rangers' games this year. Before he took a year sabbatical from baseball, Sosa's power was in a steep decline, 2002/2003/2004/2005 home...

Welcome to Prospect Central for Week #2! Today we look at a few prospects who earned a spot on the major league team's Opening Day roster and some that could have, and probably will before the summer is out....

Justin Verlander- DET- Hot- Verlander is doing his best to quiet concerns from a shaky start to spring training. In his last exhibition outing, he tossed five scoreless innings. In his first start since the games started to count, he...

Aside from collecting their first win of the season on Friday night there was another good sign for the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday. Adam Wainwright made his first Major League start and looked very good. Wainwright collected the win...

Elijah Dukes: Rocco Baldelli sat last night with the cold weather in New York. It looks like if the weather is cold or if the field is wet, the Rays will not let Baldelli play the field. That will help...

Jason Marquis who led the NL in losses in 2006 had a solid debut for the Cubs on Thursday limiting the Reds to 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks over 6 IP. He only fanned one but...

Francisco Rodriguez- LAA- Inj- K-Rod's uncharacteristically shaky performance (1 run on 2 hits and a walk in the 9th inning) was attributed to sinus trouble resulting from the change of climate from dry Arizona to more humid southern California. "I'm...

There may be trouble brewing in Anaheim. Derek Zumsteg (www.zumsteg.net) has done a Zappruder-esque breakdown of some footage from Monday's game that seems to show K-Rod working with a foreign substance planted under the bill of his cap. The Rangers were on it too and have contacted the Commissioner's Office.

Like Curt Schilling before him on Monday, today's start for Josh Beckett allegedly unveils a revamped and revised edition of the pitcher for 2007.

Matt Kemp/Andre Ethier/Luis Gonzalez: Kemp started on Tuesday facing left-hander Chris Capuano and should play in the bad half of a platoon going forward. Andre Ethier was the one who sat, but that doesn't make much sense. Although the sample...

Alberto Callaspo-ARI- Idea- All of the cool kids have a "super utility"player nowadays and Callaspo is slated to be the Diamondbacks version of Chone Figgins (that would be the "play a lot of positions"Figgins and not the "fractured two fingers"Figgins)....

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...

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...

Welcome to another season of Prospect Central! Here is where you find breakdowns of Insiderbaseball.com's Top 100 Prospects. Each week you can also check out our Prospect Central Spreadsheet with rankings and updates on our top 50 pitching and hitting prospects. Every Sunday we'll look at a few prospects and get behind the numbers a bit, telling what we think is ahead. During the year I'll be looking at minor leaguers who are making their MLB debuts or knocking on the door to help you get a jump on your fellow owners. Here on Opening day I have done that with NL Rookie of the Year Candidate Troy Tulowitzki however this morning I wanted to get out a little bigger zoom lens and look at the core of what is a great group young players collecting in the low minors.

David Weathers A new day, a new closer in Cincinnati. While nothing is or has been official in the Reds' bullpen lately, after watching Dustin Hermanson give up four runs while getting just one out on Saturday against the Marlins,...

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...