May 29 2009
Buy - Gary Sheffield - I know its crazy, but with all the injuries the Mets have had, Sheffy has been given a chance to play and is making the most of it. He's batting .362 this month with 4 HR's and 15 RBI. Ohhh that second rate National League.
(Photo by Reuters Pictures)
Buy - Michael Cuddyer - The Twins offense has been great over the past month with Mauer and Morneau. You can add Cuddyer to that list with his .330 BA, 7 HRs and 25 RBI this month.
Buy - Casey Blake - Earlier in the month, Mrs Fantasy Factor needed a new 1B and picked up Casey Blake. I kinda raised my eyebrow at that move, but its working out in a big way for her. Blake's batting .354 with 18 RBI in 24 games this month. He's working out for her, why not you?
Sell - Delmon Young - A lot has been expected from this young guy and he hasn't shown he can do it yet and I'm starting to wonder if he ever will. Odds are you'll find someone better to fill your OF spot than Young.
Sell - Jose Lopez - I gave up on this free swinger last month and it looks as though that was the right move. He's hitting under .200 and his power numbers are dreadful. I know 2B is a tough spot to fill, but you can do better than Lopez right now. Having said that though, he's a streaky hitter so if you do drop him, keep an eye on him because he will eventually heat up again.
Sell - David Ortiz - I wouldn't recommend dropping Big Papi, but he's getting scary right now. His sudden loss of power is really hurting his value and if he can't hit the long ball, I don't think he's good enough to take up a roster spot.
Buy - Rick Porcello - After very rough April, Porcello has an impressive 5-0 record with a 1.50 ERA. If you like saving your 4th or 5th spots for flavor of the month pitchers, he's a great fit.
Buy - David Aardsma - I think it might be safe to say that he's the closer for Seattle now. I think they had about enough of Morrow and his inability to close games and now they have someone that is simply dominating right now. He's given up, just one run this month and has 6 saves. The closer role is always a tricker spot to fill, so this may be exactly what you need.
Sell - Ricky Nolasco - Well he may have been solid last year, but that was last year. Nolasco has given up 8 earned runs in each of his last two starts and his ERA for the season is over 9.00. If you still own him, please stop the madness and do your ERA a favor and drop him already.
Sell - Francisco Liriano - Alright, I think we've waited long enough to see whether or not Liriano will return to his 2006 form. The answer is no. If you're hanging onto him thinking he is, everyone else in your league will love you because you'll be their beat down toy with him on your pitching staff.
May 27 2009
- I actually have some good news for Reyes owners. Well... not that good, but better than what it could have been. The Mets have placed Jose Reyes on the 15 day DL and you should be able to find a replacement for him today. It'll be tough to find a replacement for him, but as long as you plug in someone that won't hurt your team, you should be in good shape for a couple weeks. Suitable replacements that are probably on your waiver wire are Cristian Guzman, Yunel Escobar and Khalil Greene. Maybe even Clint Barmes although he'll be away from Coors field for most of his time on your team.
- Carlos Beltran will be out for the next two games after an MRI showed a bone bruise of the right tibia. He expects to return Friday while the anti-inflammatory injection takes effect. Hopefully this will work out and not be an ongoing issue for the Mets star who is off to a tremendous start this year.
(Photo by Reuters Pictures)
UPDATE: Scratch Khalil Greene from that list. Apparently he's headed to the DL with an anxiety disorder. Yeah, you read that right. His job is stressing him out and he's feeling too pressured. Only in baseball.
May 26 2009
- Rays future ace David Price is back in the majors! Unfortunately, that's about all the excitement you'll get out of him this week. In his first game against the Indians he gave up ER in 3.1 IP, picked up 6 K's, but walked five. What's really scary is that he threw 100 pitches in those 3 innings of work. Yikes! That said, he'll have better performances as the season goes on and he'll rack up plenty of strikeouts.
(Photo by AP)
- Yankees starter Chien-Ming Wang was back on the mound on Friday in a relief role, but didn't look all that impressive. Manager Joe Girardi said he'll wait until he sees more consistency out of Wang before putting him back into the rotation. This kills his value for the time being and makes him waiver wire material.
- There is no official word on how long Pirates closer Matt Capps will be out after taking line drive to his right elbow. The x-rays were negative, but he could still end up missing time and land on the DL.
- As one closer for a "we'll never win anything ever" team goes down, another "we'll never win anything ever" team, the Royals, are expected to get their closer, Joakim Soria, back from the DL within the next week. His injury is a strained right rotator cuff, so its probably best he takes as much time as he needs before getting back on the field. Its no like the Royals are going anywhere anyways.
- If anyone drafted David Ortiz thinking he was going to be anywhere near his former self, is getting a very rude awakening. He's hitting below the mendoza line and has, count them, ONE homerun this year. Interesting that his power dropped off suddenly when MLB started cracking down on steroid users.
- Vladimir Guerrero is officially off the DL and back in the lineup, so get him activated immediately.
- If you came to this blog hoping to read that Jose Reyes will be back on the field soon, well... sorry, but it looks like you'll go at least another week without him. The Mets are expected to decide whether to put him on the DL by Friday. Now its time to play the waiting game.... the waiting game sucks, lets play hungry hungry hippos!
- TB Rays 2B Akinori Iwamura will be out for the remainder of the season with a torn ACL. If you had him on your team already, you won't have trouble replacing him.
- According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Giants are interested in Marlins 2B Dan Uggla. The Marlins want a pitcher in return. If Uggla goes to San Francisco, it will hurt his fantasy value as the Giants have virtually no offense in their lineup and adding him will only take away from his value, so if you own him, keep your fingers crossed.
- Carlos Beltran will have an MRI on his right knee that is giving him problems and caused him to DH this weekend. Now that they'll head back to National League parks, Beltran is unsure about being able to play the field. He's been on of the best players in the NL, so hopefully its not too severe.
May 22 2009
- Jake Peavy owners can now breath a sigh of relief. Peavy has declined the trade to the White Sox and will continue to dominate the NL... for now.
- Twins catcher Joe Mauer continued is domination with the bat yesterday, knocking out his 8th homer (a grand slam too) out of the park helping the Twins murder the White Sox, 20-1. Mauer is 19 games into his season and is still batting over .400. Minnesota needs to make sure they do everything in their power to keep him from getting injured because this is just sick.
- Speaking of sick hitting, Raul Ibanez continues his dream season. Yesterday, he tied Adrian Gonzalez for the league lead in homeruns with 15. The Phillies have moved Ibanez to the third spot in the lineup and the production they're getting from everyone is huge. Ibanez at this point has to be one of the early favorites to win the NL MVP.
(Photo by AP)
- Remember that talk about power being the only thing missing from Todd Helton's game? Well you can forget about it. Helton smacked a grand slam in Colorado's 9-0 win over the Braves last night.
- The New York Mets' Jose Reyes has tendinitis behind his right calf and is listed as day to day. There currently isn't any plans to put him on the DL, however I would imagine his owners would rather have him on the DL rather than deal with him sitting out games and having no way to replace him.
- Right now the Mets are dealing with a ton of injuries and are looking to acquire Mark DeRosa from the Cleveland Indians. He's a utility player that can pretty much play anywhere on the field. So far, so good for DeRosa this season as he currently has 6 HR's and 26 RBI in 39 games this season.
- Former 19 game winner, Chien-Ming Wang of the Yankees will make his third and probably final rehab start today for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. As long as he feels well after this start he will be back in the Yankees rotation.
- Cardinals OF Ryan Ludwick is currently swinging off a tee and should be in the Cardinals lineup next week, so be prepared to activate him.
- Magglio Ordonez will return to the Tigers lineup this weekend after missing a few games due to his wife undergoing surgery. The slumping Ordonez looked as though he was starting to come around before his absence, so hopefully he'll be able to continue to his resurgence when he gets back.
- Reds ace Edinson Volquez is on the 15 DL with back spasms. Just when you thought the Reds pitching staff couldn't be any more lousy, this happens.
May 21 2009
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Padres ace Jake Peavy could be headed to the windy city after all, but not to the Cubs. Last night, Peavy met with his manager to discuss a potential trade to the White Sox. Peavy would need to consent to the trade and has said that he prefers to stay in the NL, but I wouldn't be surprised if he took this opportunity to just get out of the situation in San Diego.
I'm not really sure how well this deal would work out for Peavy owners. Like Peavy, his owners would much rather see him pitch in the NL where he'll face softer competition and have automatic outs with pitchers rather than designated hitters in the AL. If the trade does happen, you'll see a jump in his wins, but his ERA will probably be higher than what you're used to and his strikeout numbers may dip a bit, although he'll still have more strikeouts than most pitchers.
(Photo by AP)
May 19 2009
- The Twins may have been swept by the Yankees recently, but Minnesota's M & M, Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer, have been killing the ball. Morneau is second in the AL in homers and is currently batting .340 with 33 RBI. Mauer has been equally impressive batting .417 with 16 RBI in 17 games. Even more impressive with Mauer is his display of power. He already has 6 HR which isn't bad for a guy that never hit more than 13 in a season.
(Photo by AP)
- If you're missing the services of Carlos Delgado, I have more bad news for you. He's going to undergo hip surgery and is out indefinitely. A-Rod had a similar surgery and was out for a couple months, so you can probably plan on Delgado being out for about that long as well.
- Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks, who was having a career year, will miss the remainder of the season with a wrist injury. Tough break for his owners who were pleasantly surprised by his earlier production. On the bright side, maybe this wrist injury will prevent him from snapping his wrists back and forth while standing in the batters box.
- Some good news, Vladimir Guerrero could be back as soon as next Monday. He'll be doing a rehab assignment in the minors later this week and could be with the team by Monday as a DH.
- Let's see, out of all the things that could go wrong what didn't I want to see the most? Manny Ramirez gets suspended for 50 games. Okay, besides that. After missing two weeks for a rib injury, Josh Hamilton gets back in the lineup does great, then crashes into the center field wall and straining his groin. Really Josh? Was it that important to catch that fly ball? The Rangers are a much better team with you IN the lineup, so please be careful. He's currently day to day.
- Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter is scheduled to return and pitch tomorrow against the Chicago Cubs. With his injury history, I wouldn't count on him for too much, but at the same time he'll be better than anyone you have at the bottom of your rotation, so he's a good gamble pickup.
- So after missing the first month and a half of the season John Lackey returned to the mound Saturday, threw literally two pitches and was ejected. Good job, way to help the team. Lackey started again last night and gave up 4 earned runs in 5 IP against the Mariners. It may take him some time to get back into form so be patient.
- Can someone out there please explain to me why Brandon Morrow is still the closer for the Seattle Mariners? In his first appearance this season he gave up 3 runs in 0.2 IP. After that he was pretty good, not allowing any runs and racking up 6 saves. But this month he's been a train wreck and that's putting it lightly. He's given up runs in every appearance, blown two saves, lost two games and his ERA is 19.64. Enough is enough, get him out.
- Rockies catcher Chris Iannetta was a disaster in the first month of the season, but since then has come back in a big way. After batting just .174 in April, Iannetta is hitting .318 in May and has 4 HR and 12 RBI in 13 games.
May 18 2009
KevinZuk acquires Hanley Ramirez and Ichiro Suzuki:
When you make a deal for the first overall pick in the draft, you're doing some agressive trading. KevinZuk added the first overall pick in this year's fantasy draft and best SS in baseball to his lineup, Hanley Ramirez. In addition to picking up the best five tool player in baseball, he also gets one of the greatest Japanese baseball players ever, Ichiro Suzuki.
Guam Boonie Dogs acquires Ryan Braun and Michael Young:
The first place Guam Boonie Dogs made a move that you rarely see in fantasy baseball and that's trading the first overall pick. When you do this, you better make sure you get something big in return and he did. Braun isn't as great of a five tool player as Ramirez, but his power numbers will be better and in this points based league, power numbers reign supreme. To make up for the loss of H-Ram, he also received Michael Young, a power hitting SS that is swinging a very hot bat at the top of the potent Rangers offense.
Trade Analysis:
At a glance this seems like a pretty even trade. I like the strategy to trade two good players for one great player, but this isn't one of those type of deals. Once its broken down its all Guam Boonie Dogs. Ryan Braun and H-Ram are pretty much a wash. In fact, Braun currently has more fantasy points than Ramirez at this point. What really tips the scales is the Young for Suzuki. Talent wise, Suzuki is a better baseball player, but fantasy wise, Young is much better. Young is a great contact hitter with decent power in a great offense, that plays half their games in a hitter's park. Suzuki is basically by himself. He plays in a pitcher's park with virtually no offense behind him. He's currently on pace for over 200 hits, but less than 70 runs scored.
So this is a case of the rich getting richer as not only do the Guam Boonie Dogs add a great power hitter their outfield, he also does a great job of filling that hole at SS left by Ramirez with another All Star. What is your take on the trade? Who got the better part of the deal?
May 15 2009
This isn't really "fantasy news", but its something just as cool. On April 30th, prior to the start of the Pens vs Caps series, post-gazette.com graphic artist Jonathan Bieda created the following cheer card.
Take a good look at it. Notice the positions of "Ovechkin" and "Fleury" and even the positions of their sticks. Now here is a photograph of possibly the series changing play from Game 7 between Ovechkin and Fleury.
Talk about your freaky coincidences! The only thing missing is the dumbfounded Caps fans watching their hero get stoned on the doorstep. For other future predicting cheer cards, cool wallpaper and a fun game, check out the Ice House.
May 14 2009
- Peyton Manning's former roommate and backup QB at Tennessee, Todd Helton, is having quite a start and looking to have a comeback season. He's currently batting .345 (.409 in May) with 4 HR and 20 RBI. His power numbers aren't great, but sitting in the third spot of the lineup and playing half his games at Coors Field can only help that. With players dropping left and right, Helton is a solid pickup to fill any of those holes.
(Photo by AP)
- Sticking with the Rockies, as good as Helton has been, Brad Hawpe has been better. Batting .362, 5 HR and 27 RBI, Hawpe is picking up right where former Rockies outfielder, Matt Holliday, left off. I'm not saying that you should expect Holliday type numbers out of Hawpe, but so far he's looking very Holliday-ish.
- Nationals first baseman Nick Johnson is having a merry month of May. He's driven in 14 runs in 12 games this month and his BA is, as always, above .300. I've always been a fan of Big Nick since his days of playing with the Yankees. He's always been a solid contact hitter and smart at the plate. He's in a good situation right now too in Washington, batting behind Cristian Guzman and ahead of the hot hitting Ryan Zimmerman and Adam Dunn. Its very surprising to see him owned in only 7% of ESPN leagues.
- Cardinals outfielder Ryan Ludwick will be out of the lineup for a couple weeks with a hamstring injury. Ludwick is looking as impressive this year as he was last, so this will hurt fantasy owners in the short term.
- The Angels will get back their two best pitchers in John Lackey and Ervin Santana will be back this week, so be sure to get both back into your lineup. Santana is usually hit or miss, but Lackey has been one of the best consistent pitchers in baseball over the past few years.
- Ryan Theriot owners got a pleasant surprise last night as he smacked two out of the park. A rare display of power from the speedy shortstop. Power is the only part missing from his game as his BA, runs and steals are always really high.
- I know a lot of people have already given up on Geovany Soto, but I hate to break it to you, but he's starting to show signs of life. He's batting .297 this month and launched his first bomb of the season last night. As painful as it was to watch him struggle through the first month, it'll be even worse to watch him return to form from a year ago on someone else's team.
- Padres 1B Adrian Gonzalez is currently tied for the league lead in homers after belting out a couple last night in Chicago. Those of you that were worried about him playing in a powerless lineup and playing in a pitcher friendly park can relax now. Apparently, this guy can hit in any situation, in any park.
- Josh Hamilton returned to the Rangers lineup this week and in addition to resting his injured ribs, he apparently has rediscovered his game. He's homered in both games and looks like the RBI machine he was last year. For us Hamilton owners out there... crisis averted.
- Also in Ranger land, Chris Davis, who struggled in April is swinging a big bat in May. Well actually, its more like a BIGGER bat in May. This past Sunday, Davis changed to a heavier model and so far its paying off. If he and Hamilton can both get hot together, the Rangers will be a very strong team in the AL west.
- From the "on again, off again" world, Carlos Delgado is battling a sore hip, which will ultimately land him on the DL. But is he actually on the DL yet, no, of course not. Instead, he's going to drag out his injury, sit out games and cost his fantasy owners games. We should know by the end of the week if/when he'll go on the DL, so just hang in there a little longer.
May 12 2009
Pittsburgh Penguins at Detroit Red Wings
Welcome to Game Five of this best of seven series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings. After winning yet another tight one in Pittsburgh in Game 4, Detroit is now one win away from capturing their 11th Stanley Cup, their 4th in the last 11 years. The last three games have all gone into OT, so this series really could have gone either way. Right now, the Penguins are just looking to stay alive and send the series back to Pittsburgh for Game 6.
Game 5 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit:
The crowd at the Joe is rocking with chants of "WE WANT THE CUP". The Wings respond and the Penguins are struggling to survive the first wave. Datsyuk, who has yet to score in this series, looks to be playing his A game tonight. He moves around a couple Pittsburgh defenders and snaps a shot for the top shelf, but Fleury brings it down with the glove. A few minutes later, Nick Lidstrom blasts one from the point, Fleury makes the save, the rebound kicks out to Samuelsson and Fleury makes an impossible save to rob him with the blocker, keeping it scoreless. The Penguins are outshot 13-5 in the period, but Fleury looks unbeatable and determined to get the series back to Pittsburgh.
In the second period, the Pens look much better and the crowd has pretty much been taken out of the game after Fleury's heroics to keep it a scoreless game. Near the midway point of the period, Sykora breaks down the right wing and fires a laser up high, Osgood fights it off, but Ryan Malone is right there and he bangs home the rebound and the Penguins are up 1-0! With frustration and pressure to finish off the series starting to set in, the Wings are griping their sticks a little too tight and are having trouble generating offense. With just under 7 minutes left to play in the period, Brett Lebda gets called for boarding. On the powerplay, Gonchar fires a shot from the point and it gets deflected in! Pittsburgh is up 2-0! Osgood is complaining and the referee goes over to the officials station at center ice and has the play reviewed. Gonchar's shot came in high, but then took a sudden drop on the deflection. On the replay, it shows the Malone deflected it and his stick was above the crossbar. The referee waves off the goal and we're back to a 1 goal game. The Wings kill off the penalty, but fail to generate any serious scoring chances against Fleury.
To start the third period, coach Mike Babcock juggles his lines, putting Zetterberg and Datsyuk on separate lines. Zetterberg with Franzen and Samuelsson, while Datsyuk centers for Filppula and Holmstrom. The lines juggling pays off and the Wings come out on fire in the third. Zetterberg cycles down low, dishes to Franzen and he shovels one to the net, but Fleury makes an incredible save with the glove to keep the Wings off the board. The pressure continues though. As both teams go for a line change, Zetterberg stays on and flies up ice, Datsyuk comes off the bench and joins him for a 2 on 0. Whitney speeds down and catches the fatigued Zetterberg, but he dishes to Datsyuk and he moves in all along on Fleury. Datsyuk makes an incredible deke move and roofs it to tie it up, 1-1! The place goes insane as the game is tied with 12:13 left to play in regulation. Determined to get that one back, Therrien sends out his big gun line to counter. Ovechkin who has been very quiet in this game finds a seam down the left wing and breaks in on Osgood. Osgood pokes it off Ovechkin's stick, but Ovie sticks with it, gets his own rebound and fires in on goal. It hits Osgood's blocker and flutters wide into the corner. Crosby gathers the puck and dishes to Ovechkin behind the net. He circles around, centers for Hossa and he fires one off the post! The Wings come back the other way. Datsyuk makes a great move around Gill at the blue line and makes a no look pass to Filppula. He wrists one to the net and Holmstrom deflects it in on Fleury who covers up and makes the save. The action is going back and forth now. With two minutes left in the period, Whitney finds Ovechkin open in the left circle and he tries to one time it, but Ovechkin's stick breaks on the shot. Rafalski gets the loose puck and head mans it up to Zetterberg. He flies through the neutral zone and passes over to Franzen. Franzen takes a shot and its steered away by Fleury to the corner. Orpik tries to clear and its blocked by Zetterberg. He passes over to Franzen and finds a streaking Rafalski pinching in. Rafalski fires and scores! With 1:38 left to play the Wings have a 2-1 lead! Therrien calls a timeout to rest his stars for the final couple minutes. With the Wings looking to hold onto the lead and win the Cup, the Pens pull their goalie with a minute left and Jordan Staal is on the extra attacker. Staal parks in front of Osgood, Crosby is behind the net with Hossa and Ovechkin on the wings. Ovechkin takes a blast and its blocked by Zetterberg. Crosby gathers it and he looks for Staal, he fans on the first shot, then fires the rebound, but Osgood is there and he covers up with 34 seconds left. The Wings win the faceoff and clear the puck. The fans are chanting "WE WANT THE CUP" as Crosby passes up to Hossa, Hossa fires into the corner and Ovechkin gets it. He takes a bad angle shot, then hits off Osgood and Kronwall tries to clear, but its stopped by Gonchar. He hurries a shot to the net its blocked and a diving Zetterberg knocks the puck out the zone. Whitney races back, but time expires and the Wings hold on and have won their 4th Stanley Cup in 11 years!
Stars of the Game:
1. Henrik Zetterberg (2 assists, 5 shots, +2)
2. Brian Rafalski (GW goal, 2 shots, +1)
3. Marc Andre Fleury (31 saves)
Other notables:
Sidney Crosby (0 points, 1 shot, -2)
Marian Hossa (0 points, 4 shots, -2)
Alexander Ovechkin (0 points, 2 shots, -2)
Chris Osgood (16 saves)
Pavel Datsyuk (1 goal, 4 shots, +1)
Penguins 1 - Red Wings 2 Detroit wins the series 4-1
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