Fantasy Baseball Notes 9/9/2009

- No one was a bigger critic of CC Sabathia than me coming into the season.  I felt that he was overpaid and overrated.  Over the past two months, he's done his best to prove me wrong.  Sabathia got off to a slow start, but he's gotten stronger and stronger as the season goes on.  In 3 of his last 6 starts, he's racked up double digit strikeouts and has won 6 of his last 8 starts.  If this continues, he's a great candidate to be fantasy baseball playoff MVP.

(Photo by Reuters Pictures)

- AL homerun leader Carlos Pena is out for the remainder of the year with broken fingers on his left hand.  Painful loss for the Rays and more painful for Pena owners who were counting his offense all season long and now head into the playoffs without him.

- Now I know September 2009 isn't that old, but Alex Rodriguez is hitting .440 with a HR and 9 RBI.  Who says A-Rod isn't clutch?

- If you check the waiver wire you might find Carlos Beltran floating around out there and he would be a nice playoff boost for your team as he's ready to comeback.  He's been out for a while and I'm not sure how well he'll play after being gone for so long, but you could do worse, I suppose.

- What a disaster Josh Hamilton has been this season.  Coming off a 32 HR, 130 RBI 2008 season, he only plays in 87 games this year, hit just 10 HR and 49 RBI.  Now he's injured again.  Hamilton received a second epidural injection to relieve pain from a pinched nerve in his back.  He's expected to be back next weekend at the earliest.  This past weekend, I did the unthinkable and dropped him for Hideki Matsui.  Dropping your first rounder at this time of year never bodes well.

- The differences between the NL and AL have never been so obvious as they are with Brad Penny.  He looked like a homerun derby pitcher getting smacked all over the field while he was with the Red Sox.  Now he's back in the NL and he looks every bit like the guy that pitched in two all star games (starting in one) for the NL.  He still available in 85% of ESPN fantasy baseball leagues.

- Another example of how weak the NL hitting is, John Smoltz who was also getting knocked around in the AL is 1-1 with a 2.65 ERA in the NL.  If you drafted pitching last and need a couple good starters to get you through the playoffs, take a look at the guys in these last two notes.

- In early mid June I gave up on Magglio Ordonez and went with a different "I hit for contact, but ooopps, it ended up going out of the park anyways" kind of hitter in Derrek Lee.  I'd have to say I'm not regretting it.  Lee has been a monster at the plate batting around .300 and picking up around 25 RBI in each month since then.  September looks to be his biggest month of the season.  In the first five games he's hit 5 HRs.

 - Cubs closer Carlos Marmol is 6 for 6 in save opportunities since taking over for Kevin Gregg.  Marmol has now not blown a lead as closer or setup man since June and should be a lock to be the closer next spring.

- Royals ace Zack Greinke will receive a couple extra days of rest before his next start.  Greinke threw 125 pitches on Saturday.

- Orioles outfielder Adam "Don't call me the Pacman, I'm not that guy" Jones will be out for the next 2-3 weeks with an ankle sprain.  The O's don't have anything to play for at this point, so I wouldn't be surprised to see him get shutdown for the remainder of the year.

- Jake Peavy continues to drive his owners crazy after throwing almost 60 pitches in a bullpen session Sunday but isn't expected to start anytime soon.

 - Former Cy Young winner Barry Zito is finally starting to look like the guy that won that award several years ago.  Since the All Star break Zito is 4-2 with a 2.09 ERA and 50 K's in 60 innings.