The Weekend...

Quick thoughts from the weekend...

Everyday's a Halladay when Roy's on the Bump: What a performance by Halladay on Saturday night. It's pretty amazing to see a perfect game, let alone twice in 3 weeks. When someone asked Marlins Outfielder Cody Ross if the Marlins were embarrassed about getting no-hit, and he said "Of course not, Roy Halladay's the best pitcher in baseball."

Speaking of the best players in baseball...: Pujols hits 3HR against the Cubbies yesterday, and each of them were absolute bombs. It's pretty cool to see the best pitcher in the game throw a no-hitter and the best hitter hit 3 homers.

Speaking of good pitching performances: Carlos Silva of the Cubs would have had the best pitching performance of the weekend if not for Halladay. This guy just loses 30 pounds and all the sudden he's been one of the more solid pitchers for the Cubs. Lilly looks like he's coming around, and with Zambrano coming back to the rotation soon after a pretty successful stint in the bullpen, the Cubs could make a run for the NL Central, but I'm not too optimistic about that unless Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez start hitting.

Red Alert: The Reds scored 27 runs in 2 games. Granted, it was against the lowly Astros, but that's just a potent sample size of what this team is capable of. But Pujols and Holliday look like they're ready to turn it on for June with a solid end to May. I know I keep talking about it, but this Cards-Reds race is going to get exciting, and the two square off in St. Louis this week.

Mighty Max: Max Scherzer recorded 17 outs yesterday. 14 of them were strikeouts. He looks like he could be this years Ricky Nolasco: struggles out of the gate, but a short stint in the minors corrects things in a big way. I think it's something to be cautious about from a fantasy perspective, because it took him 113 pitches to record those 17 outs, and he walked 4.

That's it for today, happy memorial day....

What's Wrong With the Phillies Offense???

Headscratcher...
I debated whether or not this would be my top headline, but the Phillies inability to score over the past week has made me slightly worried. This offense is easily the best in the NL, but for some reason they haven't done much offensively. With their 8-0 loss tonight at the hands of the mighty knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, the Phils have dropped 5 of their last 7. Their run totals in the five losses: 1, 1, 0, 3, 0. Their win totals haven't been much better, scoring 5 in both wins last week: one against the Red Sox, and one against the Cubs. And it's not like they're facing fantastic pitching, Dice-K almost no-hit the Phils, which is a crime. And Tim Wakefield just embarrassed the Phillies, making me curious as to what is going on. I'm going to chalk it up to just a team-wide dry-spell, but it might be something to keep an eye on to see if pitchers have figured out how to fool that lefty-heavy lineup. But, between Dickey and Wakefield, maybe every team will just throw knuckle-ballers against the Phils.

Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz are carrying the Red Sox
I talked a little bit last week about how much these two guys meant to the Red Sox. Their two performances last night and tonight against the Rays are keeping the Red-Hot Red Sox in the thick of the AL East. If Lester and Buchholz continue to pitch like this, especially against the offenses in the AL East, then the Red Sox may surprise some people. This is contingent on Lackey, Beckett, and Dice-K improving at least a little bit.

Quick Hitters

- Vlad hits 2 more- The guy is leading the AL in all-star votes for the DH slot, and he's filling it in perfectly. He's looking like vintage Vlad, and assuming he stays healthy I think he will put up numbers just below what he was doing in his prime. I would not be surprised by .320, 30 HR, 115 RBI at the end of the year from him.

- Kawakami can't buy a win- The guy's not pitching poorly, but his team isn't doing anything for him. Kawakami's one of those guys who's valuable to his team, but just not a great fantasy player. He doesn't do anything sexy, but to be 0-7 in the majors with an ERA under 5 is just a bummer.

- Ryan Dempster puts in the performance of the night- Shutting down the potent Dodger offense is no easy task, but Dempster did just that. 8 IP with none earned and 4 base runners is pretty solid work. But performances like this against the Dodgers may not last long, as some miracle splint has been created to minimize pain in Andre Ethier's bad finger. Fingers are tough to guage, but adding Ethier to a team that's been 15-6 in May will finally put the Dodgers on top of the NL West for good.

- Tulo's heating up- Sometimes the 1st half-2nd half split really amazes me. How can some players be so bad in one half of the season and then just turn it on or off with the snap of a finger. Tulo has been a consistent 2nd half player in his whole career, and it seems like those 2nd half numbers are going to be coming a little earlier this year. He's hit 4 home runs in 5 games after hitting just 1 in the whole season before that.

- Short post, but tomorrow is the first day of my internship at NBC. Much love.

Why Interleague Play Stinks....

It's simply unfair. Sure, most things in life aren't fair, but it still stinks. I completely agree with the arguments against Interleague play. The only reason Interleague play exists is because after the strike in the mid-90's, the commissioners office wanted a way to generate more interest in the game. So they decided that the two leagues would play against each other in June, directly coinciding with the end of the school year so that more families would go to the ballpark and would want to see games they wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to see.

I'm not here to argue that a Mets-Yankees, Reds-Indians, or an A's-Giants series isn't intriguing, of course it is. I am here to argue that it creates an imbalance in the scheduling, and it gives some teams an unfair advantage. For example, the Detroit Tigers have series against the last place Rockies, the last place Mets, and the terrible Pirates. Then look at the Phillies who have to play AL East powers- the Yankees, Red Sox and Blue Jays, who have been one of the best teams in baseball this year. As if that wasn't enough, throw in a series against the AL Central leading Twins, and the Phillies all the sudden have a really tough schedule.

Baseball doesn't need interleague play anymore. The game has been restored to it's lair as America's greatest past-time. Attendance has been on the rise every year since 2004. We should save interleague play for one all-powerful series at the end of October.

Quick Thoughts from Friday's Games
- Edwin Encarnacion hits 3 of the 6 Blue Jay solo shots on Friday. I don't really understand how Chase Field is such a hitters park. That place looks absolutely huge, but balls fly out of there, as the Diamondbacks are the NL Home Run leaders. 3 home runs in a game is pretty impressive, but to hit 6 and lose might be more impressive.

- Mark Buehrle turns in the pitching performance of the night. I was originally going to say it was Tim Hudson, but Buehrle faced a much tougher offense in the Marlins. Buehrle spread 3 hits and 3 walks over 8 innings of shutout ball. The Marlins actually made some decent contact against Buehrle, so there was a bit of luck involved. Buehrle has struggled a bit this year, and he's not a guy i'm touching in 10 or 12 team leagues.

- Mariners drop a 15 spot. Pretty impressive seeing as how much I hate that offense. The wily 36 year old Mike Sweeney had a great game for the M's knocking in 6 with 2 homers. It took an out-of-the-blue performance to get their offense a little attention, but you have to think that the return of Milton Bradley has given that offense a slight boost.

- Shin-Soo Choo may be the most underrated fantasy player. He hits for power with a good average and he runs very well. The reason he's so underrated is because he's got no one around him. The Indians offense has also been terrible, but Choo gets lost in the shuffle. He hit 2 homers tonight which drove in 3 runs, but got no help from the rest of his offense.

- I was completely and utterly shocked that Ted Lilly didn't get rocked by the Rangers tonight.

- Roy Oswalt wants a trade. He's one of those guys that sort of deserves it. He has had some health problems in the past and he makes a ton of money. ESPN's Buster Olney doesn't think a deal is going to happen. Oswalt has been great thus far this season, but no team is going to want to give up elite prospects for Oswalt.

- Brad Penny's a dude for hitting a grand slam. It may have cost him, though. He left the game while he was warming up for the 4th inning after he hit the granny in the 3rd. Another reason to love the DH for the national league, but he doesn't seem to have sustained a really bad injury.

- I'm exhausted.

Everybody have a good one. Enjoy the weekend of baseball. I probably won't post again until Sunday night, but check back then.

Pardon the Colorblindness...

For those of you who don't know, I'm very colorblind. Honestly, it sucks. Picking the new layout for the blog was easy, and then picking the colors out was absolutely hellish. I think I got it the way I want it, but if there's something that doesn't look right or manly, please let me know. If the background is beige instead of green then I guess someone will comment and let me know. Anyways, speaking of colorblindness, let's start with the guy who has hitters seeing blue. (Note: That was an awesome segway.


Jimenez Shines Again
There are very few pitchers that I watch on television and just say "I really gotta see this guy pitch." That short list for me includes guys like Lincecum, Halladay, and Carpenter. Granted, it was the Astros atrocious offense that Jimenez embarrassed, it was still a very impressive outing and if he didn't get leg cramps he probably would have finished the shutout himself. The Rockies haven't been afraid to let him get into high pitch counts. He's 3rd in the majors in pitches thrown, and as a fantasy player that has to alarm you a little bit. Couple the high pitch counts with the fact that only 3 of his 9 starts have been in hitter-friendly Coors Field, and I say that he ends the year with an ERA around 2.50. This is still very solid, but the main point of me saying that is that I don't think he's going to be this good the rest of the way.

Believe it or not...
...I don't think Jimenez turned in the best pitching performance of the night. With all the emphasis on pitch counts these days, it seems like Terry Francona couldn't have asked for a better gift than Jon Lester's performance against the Twinkies tonight. Jon Lester threw just 103 pitches in his complete game, walking none and striking out 9. Despite being the two youngest pitchers on the Red Sox staff, Lester and Clay Buchholz are carrying that struggling rotation. They forced the potent Mauer/Morneau/Cuddyer combination to go 5 for 23 from the plate in the two game series. If Lester and Buchholz, two great fantasy options the rest of the way, pitch this well all year long, the Red Sox might not be out of the playoff hunt as quickly. It should be noted that the Red Sox are still way far off from that playoff hunt with the way the Yankees and Rays are playing, those two teams are on a whole other level.

Oh, The Bravery
I wasn't watching the game, but I kept checking the score. The 9th inning rolls around and I stopped checking. I get a text from friend of the blog Matthew Mull saying that the Braves won and then checked again. The Braves actually won. In one of the most astounding comebacks I've ever seen, the Braves scored 7 runs in the 9th inning. The top-off to their rally was the highlight of the day for me, which was Brooks Conrad thinking that he just had the walk-off grand slam robbed from him. As Conrad starts to head back to the dugout he sees his teammates and hears the crowd celebrating. The shock on his face when he actually realized the ball left the yard was one of the best moments of the season for me. He ran those bases like he just hit his first home run in little league and it was truly awesome to watch.

On the other end, what a terrible loss for the Reds. They have officially squandered their NL Central lead thanks to a great pitching performance by Adam Wainwright against the Marlins. I am still very high on them and think that they are still contenders for the NL Central. Mike Leake gave them another fantastic start tonight. Leake is not getting too much attention because of Strasburg, but he's been absolutely fantastic so far. From a fantasy perspective, he's a guy I'm absolutely selling high on if you can get some sort of value. Teams have a way of figuring out rookie pitchers the 2nd and 3rd time they see him in the season, and I just think Leake's lack of Major League experience has to catch up with him eventually. But that's just a hunch. All of his peripherals look ok, not great. His K/BB rate isn't fantastic and his GB/FB rate isn't so great, which is something somewhat alarming when you're pitching in the Great American Ballpark. So if you can get good value for him, I'd make a deal.

First Quarter Fantasy Thoughts
There have been some great, but unexpected fantasy players that have really stepped up and given a lot of teams a good lift in the first quarter:

-Dan Uggla- Did you know that Uggla in Swedish means "owl". Well his first quarter numbers are something to "hoot" about (I did it.). Uggla has shown that he, not Chase Utley may be the best 2nd baseman in the NL. OK, that may be a stretch, but Uggla's been very hot to start this season. He's a guy who's hit 30 HR with at least 88 RBI in each of the past 3 seasons and he looks like he's well on his way to do that this season. That Marlins lineup is looking solid, and even though he's hitting 5th he should continue to produce. He's hitting .291, which he won't maintain, but he draws walks and is a very underrated fantasy player.

- Vlad the Impaler- I talked a little bit about him the other night, but he's truly shined as the DH in the middle of the Rangers offense. He's hitting .342 with 9 Homers and 35 RBI and scoring a ton of runs. All signs were that he was absolutely finished after his last year in Anaheim, but the Rangers took a chance and it is really paying off. I have Ted Lilly on my main team and with Vlad and Nelly Cruz leading the way in the Rangers yard, there's no way I'm starting him tomorrow.

-Vernon Wells- I had a chance to get Wells, and I thought long and hard about it, but didn't do it. I didn't do it for the same reason most didn't take him, because we'd all been down this road before. Ever since his fantastic '06 campaign where he hit 32 bombs with 106 RBI and 17 steals while hitting .306, he has done nothing but disappoint. Not that the years between 2006 and now were terrible, they were injury plagued and nowhere near the value he was drafted. This year he is making up for lost time, belting 11 homers and hitting .300. He looks like he's turned back the clock to his mid-20's and he has cooled down since he hit 5 home runs in his teams first 4 games, but he has not stopped producing.

- Casey McGehee - While 3rd base has been touted as an extremely shallow position this season, McGehee owners have been very happy that he slipped through the cracks. He's given great late-round value to a very weak position. That Brewers offense around him means he's going to continue to get pitches to hit, and he will continue to hit them very far. He was never a top prospect, and this will be his first full season in the majors, but he's been very impressive at the hot corner.

Those were 4 hitters. I will get to the pitchers tomorrow night. Everybody have a great day, and thanks for reading. If you are a reader, please sign up as a follower. I would promise that you'd get extra special features, but I can't do that, so I'll just promise you that you'll have a better day than you normally would had you not signed up as a fan. Think about it. Much love.

Play of the night happened on the bases...

AP PHOTO

Zobrist Scores from 2nd on a Sac Fly
Brett Gardner's going to get a lot of attention for this catch (seen above). What's not going to get attention is the fact that Ben Zobrist was on 2nd base, and advanced 180 feet instead of 90 while tagging up. Never in my life have I seen anybody tag up from 2nd and go all the way home without an error of some sort, and this hustle is the reason the Rays are going to win the AL East. The Rays offense was nothing short of impressive tonight. They absolutely dominated A.J. Burnett and they did it with a brilliant combination of power, pitching (minus Andy Sonnanstine's performance in the 9th), and speed, stealing 6 bags. Their starting pitching's ERA is a tad below 3, and all of their pitching is definitely fantasy-worthy. Garza, Price, Niemann, Davis, and James Shields. They just look like the most complete team in the AL. With plays like the one Zobrist made tonight, it's hard to argue that there's a more well-rounded team in the AL.

The Diamondbacks Offense is a Fantasy Team
Sometimes I look at an offense and think to myself, "Self, how is this team so bad when their offense is so good." The Diamondbacks are one of those teams. This team is one of the best ones to look at when understanding the true difference between fantasy and real-life baseball. When you look at the D-Back's offense, you see guys like Justin Upton, a potential 30/30 guy. Then there's Stephen Drew, a quality fantasy short stop. Adam LaRoche was a great bargain for many fantasy owners at a very deep position. Chris Young is looking like he's finally taking walks. Chris Snyder is a bargain catcher who looks like he's on his way to 20 HR. Kelly Johnson looks like he's resurrected his career in Arizona, leading the NL in Home Runs. Mark Reynolds is one of the best power hitters in the majors.

With all of those great hitters, you can then look at their pitching and truly want to vomit. The fantasy baseball world doesn't allow us to recognize that one team has to have good pitching and good hitting to win. And if you don't have both, you won't get it done. The majors aren't like fantasy, if you sweep your hitting categories, you still need to have some pitching success to be a top tier fantasy team. No Diamondbacks reliever has an ERA under 3.80 and their starting pitching has been absolutely atrocious, but their Home Run display this evening was truly spectacular. They could be the best offense in the NL West by the end of the year, but the worst pitching.

Heyward Does it Again
As someone who is just a month younger than Jason Heyward, I'd like to be the first to admit that the kid is pretty good. It's amazing how much attention he garnered during April, but May's been his better month so far. It seems like so many young players want to get up to the majors and just hit home runs, and they really struggle with it (See: Bruce, Jay). There seems to be an adjustment period where these young hitters take time to realize that they don't have to hit home runs to be successful, they just have to make good contact, and that's exactly what Heyward's done. I was pretty high on the Braves today, and despite my recent obsession with the Reds, it was nice to see the Braves squeak out the win today despite blowing the lead.

I was pretty high on the Braves this season, thinking that they had a great shot for the wild card. But the poor performance of guys like Nate McLouth and Brian McCann, coupled with injuries to Matt Diaz and Jair Jurrjens makes me think that they won't be in the hunt come September. But that rotation is capable of getting things together. Tim Hudson doesn't look like he's going to strike a ton of guys out, but he's been a solid fantasy pitcher this season.

Closers Closing the Door on Themselves
I talked about him yesterday, but I feel pretty confident that Carlos Villenueva is the next closer in Milwaukee. The fact that Ken Macha said that Hoffman won't pitch in the Brewers series with the Pirates, coupled with the fact that it was Todd Coffey that he brought in with the game tied at 4 in the 7th, makes me think that had Coffey not blown it, Villenueva would have gotten the save. I went ahead and picked him up for 6 bucks in my main league and if you need saves, I think this is the guy I'd get.

I also watched Kerry Wood implode today against a relatively weak Royals lineup. It can be pretty amazing how a bad offense only seems to get that sense of urgency when the game is on the line, but the Royals just took batting practice on Kerry Wood. While Chris Perez didn't dominate in his role as closer for the first 5 weeks of the season, he didn't have any games like Wood had tonight. 5 earned runs and only recording 1 out is just not going to get it done. Wood was throwing in the high 90's, but the ball was straight as an arrow. I think if you need saves, that Perez could get this job back eventually.

Notable Injury News
I'm one of many extremely frustrated Grady Sizemore owners, and I hope that this DL stint ends up being really good for him. He just hasn't gotten it together at all, and it's quite a conundrum to own him right now. Maybe some time off will help him refocus. As someone who drafted him in the 3rd round, it's been very frustrating having to own him.

Josh Beckett is another guy like Sizemore who has just underperformed more than every Super Bowl halftime show since Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction." Backs and pitchers can be very tricky, so this is something I'm definitely keeping an eye on. Beckett is someone I might be trying to buy low on depending on the severity of the back injury. He's a notoriously slow starter and watching him, it looks like he's making some good pitches, but he's not in his perfect form yet.

Asdrubal Cabrera goes on the 60-day DL. Doesn't the 60-day DL just scare you? 60 days feels like a really long time. But if you saw that play where he collided with Jhonny Peralta, it looked like he was in a lot of pain and he's going to be out for, well, at least 60 days. This really hurts people in a lot of leagues. Short stop looks like it's a shallower position than we thought this year, and losing one who was leading off and hits for good average really hurts a lot of fantasy owners. I don't think I stash him on the DL even if I had the space. I think he may be a lost cause and I'd look elsewhere for SS or MI options.

Strasburg's a Dude
Any baseball fan has heard all there is to hear about this kid. Having seen him pitch in Syracuse, I can honestly say it's all real. He is this good. He hasn't allowed a single run in 18.2 innings in AAA, and has just made these offenses look stupid. I understand why the Nationals are making him stay down, but he honestly is just wasting everybody's time down there. The Nationals look like a team that might be starting to slip a little bit, but I honestly believe that calling him up sooner rather than later will only help the team. The Nats can't honestly expect guys like Livan Hernandez and Scott Olsen to keep up their hot starts. While there are obviously many merits to keeping Strasburg down, I worry he may get into some bad habits. I feel like it's easy to become somewhat complacent when you dominate opponents, which is why I thought it was interesting that the Nationals moved Strasburg to AAA right after his shaky performance at AA where he gave up 3 Earned Runs in 4.1 innings. Either way, when he gets to the majors he's absolutely going to do work. I see him being a top-20 starter, in the same level as Kershaw/Oswalt/Price, when he gets up to the majors.

Those were just some quick thoughts from the night that was. I still really think the Mariners should move Ichiro to 2nd or 3rd in that order, as crazy as that may seem.

Another note: MLB Network just introduced their "Solid 60" segment where they show an hour of live look-ins from 9:30 to 10:30 which coincides directly with the end of the 7 o'clock games. The best part about "Solid 60" is that there were no commercials. It was absolutely awesome and a great idea. Just figured I'd share.

Enjoy tomorrow's games. If you are a reader, please sign up as a follower so I can see if the blog is growing.

Thanks.

Vlad's Homer Highlights Great Night of Baseball...

mlb.com

Did that really go out?
It's the home runs like this that Vlad hits, that makes a baseball fan like me truly appreciate how strong these guys are. It seems like he has a solid 10 home runs like this where he just takes a golf swing and somehow manages to get it to leave the yard. The Vladamir Guerrero-Texas Ranger experiment looks like it's paying off in a big way. People forget that Vlad had a 49 game hitting streak as an Angel against the Rangers. So since they couldn't beat him, the Rangers joined him and it's paying off. He seems to have resurrected his career when people said he was done in Anaheim. He's hitting .345 with 8 HR and 32 RBI, and that Ranger offense is absolutely scary. It's very possible that team scores 850+ runs with the hitters and speed that team has. Another interesting tidbit: tonight Vlad became the 31st person in baseball history to hit a home run against all 32 teams.

Pirate Pride
I make this my 2nd headline because in my quick hitters last night, I said to watch Roy Halladay do work on the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although he is on my fantasy team, it was a pleasant surprise to see the Pirates squeak out a rather impressive victory. The Pirates pitchers out-dueled Halladay, and they manufactured 2 runs, which was enough for them to get the win. Halladay's 132 pitches were tied for the most thrown this season, and it's amazing that almost every time Halladay takes the bump for the Phils, it's a day off for the bullpen.

Yankee's Blow It This Time
Well Marcus Thames goes from hero last night to zero tonight. He dropped a relatively routine fly-ball which would have kept 2 runs off the board for the Yankees. Then 2 batters later with the game tied Jeremy Hermida hits a fly ball to left. I was ready to watch the Yankee's head into the bottom of the 9th with the game tied, but for some reason, Randy Winn must have been standing 4 feet behind Derek Jeter, as the opposite field hit flew way over his head and the Red Sox win the game. It's amazing that the Yankees outfield was the one to blow the game, when the Red Sox outfield has been getting most of the attention for being so atrocious. That outfield will be much improved when Jacoby Ellsbury comes off the DL, most likely by the end of the weekend. The Red Sox offense has started to heat up, with the help of David Ortiz and J.D. Drew being hot in May. Kevin Youkilis has also been getting on base 1 of 2 plate appearances in May, which is just absurd. A lot of fantasy analysts are down on Ortiz, but I think he's definitely own-able in 10 and 12 team mixed leagues. He looks like he's healthy and is able to catch up to some of the fastballs that he couldn't hit in the first 2 months last year.

How Could I Not Talk About the Reds?
Well, I'll start by saying that I own Trevor Hoffman in my most important league, and he will not be on the starting roster for The Naturals tomorrow. It's hard to have faith in Hoffman anymore, and while I think Brewers manager Ken Macha is trying to stick with Hoffman until he gets save 600, it's just not a good idea. You can't keep coughing up games for sentimental purposes, even though Hoffman is at 596. I don't think it's a question that Carlos Villenueva is the guy for the job. Todd Coffey is the only other logical candidate to take over the closing duties in Milwaukee, but Villenueva has been so much better this year. He has great strikeout and walk rates, he's inducing a ton of groundballs and hitters are batting below .200 against him.

That being said, how about them Reds? What resiliency, eh!?! I know I can't go one day without mentioning this team on my blog, but another great start by Homer Bailey which kept the Reds around to make their comeback in the 9th. They are among the hottest teams in baseball, and retain a half game lead over the Cards in the NL Central.

Why can nobody on the west coast hit?
Not to detract from the pitching in the NL West, but how are these games so low scoring all the time? The pitching, especially in the NL West, is absolutely fascinating to watch. These teams all are phenomenal defensively: Only 1 team of the 10 in the NL and AL West is not in the top 20 in team fielding percentage, which I think is a pretty amazing stat. The Dodgers bats are starting to get things together despite Ethier going on the DL today for his broken pinkie. Their pitching has also started to return to form. I think the 2 horse race for the NL West between the Dodgers and the Rockies will begin shortly. I can't see the Padres and the Giants maintaining this start, solely because their pitching can't stay this good the whole season. The AL West offenses are a little better, but they don't have pitching their National League counterparts in the West have. It's looking more and more like the division will be the Rangers to lose with that great offense.

Just a quick thought for the Mariners offense. I know he's established as their lead-off man, but Don Wakamatsu needs to hit Ichiro second and Figgins lead-off. Ichiro is easily one of the best pure hitters in the league, and if you bat Figgins lead-off, then that enables more RBI opportunities for your best contact hitter. If Figgins gets out, then Ichiro's just leading off with one out. Just a quick thought.

Fantasy Time
- It's time to drop Dexter Fowler in all leagues except NL only. Jim Tracy seems like he wants to stick with Seth Smith. While I'm a little baffled by the move, I think you can't hope Fowler will get back in the lineup if one of the Rockies outfielders gets hurt.

- Shaun Marcum is legit. I know he's only at 3 wins after today's performance, but he struck out both Mauer and Morneau, two tough lefties who dominate righties. That's obviously not the only justification, but he's looking like he's healthy and pitching to contact. Pitching to contact is good when you have the 4th best defense in the AL behind you. And that Jays offense looks somewhat legit, so there's your run support.m

- Zach Greinke owners are probably furious. I would be too if I just couldn't get a win despite having a 2.72 ERA in 59 and 2/3 innings work. His 1-4 record despite great numbers is infuriating, and another reason Quality Starts are a better fantasy category than wins in my opinion.

- I think Juan Pierre only weighs 92 pounds. That dude is tiny. No wonder he has 18 steals so far this season. If you need cheap speed, he's available in a lot of leagues.

- Carlos Lee may have hit the furthest foul ball I've ever seen in his 3rd AB tonight. He looks like he's getting over those April woes one at bat at a time. I think he will be great the rest of this season, the lone bright spot in an otherwise terrible offense sans Berkman and Pence. Also, how could you not like a guy whose nickname is the horse.

- David Price became the winningest pitcher in the AL thus far with his stellar 6 innings of 4 hit ball today. Despite walking 3 he looked like he has found a nice groove, striking out 5. The only word of caution is that his flyball rate seems a little too high, and some of those balls will leave the yard with all the games against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, the Red Sox, and teams like the Rangers in their hitter-friendly park. He's a guy I'd sell high on if you can get great value for him, top tier starting or top 50 player value if you have significant hitting needs to fill.

That's all for today, everybody have a great day. Please tell your friends and please sign up as a follower and leave comments, positive or negative feedback is much appreciated. Be well.

Quick Hitters....

It's pretty late and I'm pretty tired, but here are some thoughts from the day that was:

- Edwin Jackson is still not own-able in anything other than deep mixed or NL only leauges.

- Papelbon looked terrible tonight, blowing that game in pretty amazing fashion. The Red Sox need some major bullpen help. Dice-K also doesn't look like he's ever going to figure things out again.

- Doesn't it feel like every game in the NL West has 5 runs or less scored? There are so many amazing pitchers in that division, but the offenses seem to be atrocious.

- Am I the only one who didn't realize the Dodgers were on a 7 game winning streak that they made 8 tonight? I guess that's what happens when you actually have a decent offense in the NL West, but how long will it hold up without Ethier?

- How awesome was that Dan Uggla tag out today in the Diamondbacks-Marlins game? I have never seen anything like that, and it was awesome how he kept his glove between Tony Abreu's foot and the bag. If you haven't looked at this play, I highly suggest it.

- Hanley Ramirez should be embarrassed after that play tonight. The only way that's excusable is if we find out that he was hurt much worse than he led on. I think Freddie Gonzalez did the right thing, and that sends a message to a great young team.

- Did that Ryan Howard grand slam land yet?

- Another win for Cincy, and another great starting performance by Cueto, just sayin'...

- Nats have dropped 4 in a row, how will a team that doesn't have a track record of winning that's gotten off to a solid start rebound from a losing streak like this? Do the wheels fall off now?

- Justin Morneau might be one of the most underrated players in the league. There are a lot of people who forget that the guy has an AL MVP.

- Jason Heyward has shown that he's much more than a power hitter: He's hitting .367 in May and getting on base at a ridiculous .512 clip. If only the rest of the Braves offense produced as well as he was.

- For some reason, I can't stop watching Pawn Stars on the History Channel.

That's it, everybody have a good one. Get ready for Roy Halladay to embarrass the Pirates tomorrow, should be great.

Thoughts from the Weekend that was...

What's going on everybody? Let's get right to it...

Mo Blows It




A great day of Sunday baseball, so many headlines, but how about Mariano Rivera.

When a guy like Kerry Wood or Chad Qualls, or half of the relievers in this league blow a save in the way that Rivera did today, we go nuts, but say this is part of the risk. But I can't imagine how many leagues out there lost some ERA and WHIP categories/points because of Rivera. I think it's safe to say that this is merely an aberration and that Rivera is fine. It's just interesting that he blew this save after the Yankees got so much attention for their dominance of the Twins at Yankee Stadium.

Reds Reds Reds
They are playing some great baseball right now, and had a great week. If their starting pitching can produce like they did this past week then they are going to be in great shape the rest of the season. From a fantasy perspective, they have one of those rotations that aren't any top or even 2nd tier pitchers, but they have guys that are getting the job done. And that offense in that ballpark can be pretty dangerous. Look for them to extend their NL Central lead this week with games against Atlanta and Cleveland, 20th and 26th in the league in offense, respectively. Great performance by Arroyo today, although he needs a haircut. But they're better than those dreads he rocked with the Red Sox.


AP Photo

Ethier's Pinky
I hated all the attention on LeBron's elbow, and the way he's playing, the media should focus as much attention to Andre Ethier's pinky. The Dodgers have been underperforming thus far. They rank 9th in offense, but their pitching, which was number 1 in the majors last season, is in the bottom 3rd this season. Performances like Billingsley to Kuo to Broxton are exactly what's going to put them in the thick of things again in the NL West, but not if their offense only puts 1 run on the board. Kemp has cooled down, Manny is showing his age a bit, and if it won't for the James Loney power surge then this team might be in some real trouble. They look like they need Furcal back soon, he really is that spark plug for that offense. Ethier's potential injury could really be bad for the Dodgers, good thing it's only May.


latimes.com

Hudson Dominates Haren, the D-Backs Bullpen is Weeeeak


mlb.com

Tim Hudson looked like an ace on Sunday, shutting down the 3rd best offense in the NL to the tune of 8 innings, 3 hits, one ER, and 1 walk while striking out 6. Granted, his K:BB rate isn't as great as we'd like to see, he's still finding ways to get people out. As a fantasy player, I'd try to trade Hudson for a guy like Haren, who really seems to be struggling right now. Haren looked like he started getting things together, but his last 2 starts haven't been as good as we would expect from an "ace" such as himself.

But the Diamondbacks bullpen is what should be getting most of the attention anyways. The D-Backs have the second-worse pitching staff in the majors. The NL West is very win-able, but not if you can't get guys out. That offense has a lot of promise, especially since Adam LaRoche is hitting before the all-star break and Chris Young seems to have figured himself out. Stephen Drew and Justin Upton (both of whom I own in my most dedicated league) are great young players, and a great core that this team is built around. But the pitching staff hasn't been able to keep a game under control, and Edwin Jackson has been a mess. It's a good thing former Yankee's stud prospect Ian Kennedy is doing for the D-Backs what he couldn't do for the Yankee's, be successful.

Classic Mariners

Phenomenal game by Cliff Lee today, awful game by the Mariners offense. It's just a waste of a gem of a pitching performance. I equate Cliff Lee's performance to a wonderful meal, absolutely perfect, home cooked and delicious. But the "delicious meal" forgets one main ingredient that makes it taste good. So when you're expecting this amazing meal, you finally taste it and realize that the person who made it really has no idea what the hell they're doing. So, in this analogy: Cliff Lee= the delicious-looking meal, Lack of an ingredient= Everybody except Franklin Gutierrez and Ichiro, and the Mariners Front office= the person making the meal. You dig?

Granted Garza's been great this year, but when Ichiro and Figgins go 0 for 8, the team really doesn't stand a chance. The Mariners had a rough week with all the attention surrounding their awful offense and The Kid's naptimes. With the way things are going, even just through Lee's first few starts, I don't think it's crazy to say that Lee will not be a Mariner by the end of the year.

Quick Thoughs From the Weekend
- Kevin Gregg got the save for the Jays, his 11th on the year, and he has a 2.00 ERA. It's looking like Cito Gaston made the right decision by giving Gregg the gig despite his failures as a Cub last year.

- The Marlins sweep the Mets this weekend. The NL East could prove to be one of the toughest divisions in baseball by seasons end. I think the Braves are much better than this, I think the Nationals could be a .500 ballclub at seasons end, and I think the Mets will finish last in the NL East.

- The Baltimore Orioles will be this years Washington Nationals. The AL East has 4 teams that could make the playoffs. I think the Jays are for real after their sweep of the Rangers last weekend. I'm still selling high on Wells and Romero, but they could be legit, great bullpen. Oh, and I'm going to be at the Sunday Orioles-Nationals game on Sunday, should be a real doozy.

Great weekend of baseball, everybody have a good week and check back for updates. Leave comments or give any feedback to dhkaplan17@yahoo.com.

How Great is Sunday Baseball???

I need not be the first to tell you how great all the day baseball on Sunday is. Something about day baseball makes everything seem so exciting. It's a day for some unlikely heroes to step up when some of the stars get days off after the previous day's night games.

Now that I've gotten my man-crush out of the way, here are some thoughts for Sundays game, both fantasy and non-fantasy. Speaking of non-fantasy, I think that because I try to mold the two together, I need to come up with a real word for non-fantasy. I don't want to say "real baseball" because it sounds funny. Either way:

- The Pirates have been extremely impressive thus far in their series with the Cubs. If they finish off the series today, it would be one of the more impressive sweeps of the weekend. I say that because if you look at McCutchen and Garret Jones, they are the reason that Pittsburgh is down 0-2 in this series if it were played last season. There's also something to be said about the Meek to Dotel combination that is saving those games.

- Even without Rollins, the Phillies are on another level in the NL. They have just embarrassed the Brewers in Milwaukee this weekend. The Brewers offense is pretty good as long as guys like Weeks stay healthy. But their starting pitching is just not that great. Gallardo has been phenomenal this season, but guys like Randy Wolf, Doug Davis, Chris Narveson, and Dave Bush don't scare me at all. If the Brewers somehow manage to be in earshot come mid-July, they could be one of the bigger pushers for better starting pitchers come the end of the trade deadline.

- I hate the one weekend of interleague play coming up next weekend.

- Matt Thornton looked pretty good in his 2-out save last night. I think he gets to 20 because Ozzie doesn't seem to trust Bobby Jenks too much.

- Oliver Perez is terrible.

- The Pat Burrell experiment in Tampa has proven to be extremely unsuccessful as he was sent down to the minors yesterday. It's a bummer that Burrells decline came with his change of scenery, but I think the Rays offense will be ok (that was me being sarcastic).

- I saw Date Night last night and I thought it was pretty good. I think Steve Carrel is the man, and Tina Fey's one liners are great. I also think Tina Fey is very attractive for a lady her age.

Enjoy the day baseball....

Despite Today's Performance, I'm Still Not a Romero Fan....

http://infieldfly.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/ricky-romero.jpg


The Time is Now...

...to sell high on Ricky Romero. Sometimes performances like this are nice if you own the pitcher, because it further enables your sell-high chances in fantasy because it showcases upside that you can market, even if the player doesn't actually have that upside. Don't get me wrong, Romero is good, but not this good.

I have two guys in the league I pay most attention to that I am trying to sell high on right now. Tim Hudson has gotten fairly lucky thus far keeping his ERA down. He is walking a lot of batters and hardly striking anybody out, which makes me really question if he's someone I should hold onto. The other guy I'm looking to deal is Jaime Garcia. These guys have been solid parts of my rotation, but Garcia and Romero fall into this "upside enigma" category that I think fantasy owners can exploit. Romero is only 25, and despite being drafted high, he doesn't have those stellar minor league stats that you would see in a guy who is striking out 12 guys on one of the best major league offenses. Given his past, you can only assume that this is a hot streak for Romero, but, just as they did last year, hitters will figure him out the second and third time they see him, which is why I'm selling high. Garcia's stats have to even out eventually. While I really want him to keep producing quality starts, I don't really think it will happen. He's doing everything right, all his numbers look good, but you have to ask yourself "Can he really be this good the whole year?" Obviously he won't finish with an ERA around 1.40, but he could be a solid sleeper that takes you far. That being said, I think there are some solid pitchers to be had that you might be able to buy low. The Josh Beckett's of the world being the main example.

Quick Hitters
- Andrew McCutchen is quite the dude. Another multi-hit game today. He is only 7 of 8 against the Cubs so far in this series, nothing major though.
- Adam Dunn is also a dude. 1 for 4 with a solo shot in both games of the Nats-Rockies double-header is not only Classic Adam Dunn, but further exemplifies his dude-ness. Adam Dunn is a big reason the Nats have been successful early on this year, and if he just does what he's been doing for the past 6 years, the Nats might not fall out of the playoff hunt until late July instead of late June this year.
- Brad Lidge goes on the DL. Ryan Madson doesn't know how to kick properly when frustrated. Enter... Jose Contreras? He's been lights out thus far and got out of a very sticky situation to save the game for the Phils. I'm glad I snatched him for the cheap 2 bucks out of my FAA Budget, I could be getting a ton of value. If you haven't picked up Contreras, do it. He could be the closer for the rest of the season for the Phils.
- Clayton Kershaw throws another quality start against the first-place San Diego Padres. Makes me wonder if he just ate something a little funky before his debacle against the Pirates a few weeks ago.
- In a fantasy season with 3rd base so weak this year, my 24th round pick of Troy Glaus is making me look good. A somewhat slow April, but he's hitting .362 in May and has driven in 14 batters, good for 4th among all hitters in the month of May.
- Grady Sizemore's really starting to piss me off, there's no way he's healthy.
- After killing my fantasy team last year, Jose Valverde has been lights out in Detroit. He could be a top 5 closer in the AL by the end of the year.


That's it for today. Goodnight everybody. Check back tomorrow...

Reds-Cardinals Series

Hello all...


Reds-Cards Series- Will It Be These Two At The End?
Very exciting day of baseball thus far, and who would think that the Reds-Cardinals series would be one of the most intriguing of the weekend midway through May?

I actually have a lot of confidence in the Reds. I think their offense is solid as well as their pitching, and am not at all surprised to see some early season success out of them. As bold as this may seem, I think when push comes to shove, it will be between them and the Cardinals for the NL Central at the end of the year. Dusty Baker doesn't run out the same 1 thru 9 everyday, and he's still tinkering to try and find the best lineup. Drew Stubbs has had some pretty impressive run and steal totals thus far with a touch of pop. You have to believe that he's their lead-off guy of the future, but he needs some more time to make better contact and strike out a lot less. But when you look at Brandon Phillips, a gold-glover, and Joey Votto, that offense has some pretty solid anchors.

Jay Bruce, a former man-crush of mine for his 5-tool abilities, is finally taking more walks, and Scott Rolen has been playing really well for the Reds. And I think they have enough solid pitching depth to make a serious run between Leake, Harang, Cueto, Homer Bailey (a very weak link) and Arroyo, although Arroyo could be in a different uniform by the end of the season. The back end of the bullpen is pretty solid too with Masset setting it up for the age-less Francisco Cordero. I'm not saying this is the best team in the majors, I just think that when looking at the talent and upside that they have, the Reds could be in the thick of things at the end of the year.

It also seems like the Cards offense hasn't even gotten started yet. Pujols is doing what Pujols does, but Holliday hasn't helped out too much. Freese will not hit over .350 the whole year, and I have always thought Schumaker and Brenden Ryan were a little over-rated. But good pitching beats good hitting a lot, and that Cardinals rotation has been absolutely stellar. Jaime Garcia has been one of the gems of my fantasy team, and when your 5th guy is producing like he is, what's not to like. Dave Duncan should be paid a lot of money, because he's doing a lot better work than Mark McGwire is right now.

Opening Day for the blog... On May 15th...

Hello all, and welcome to the blog. I realize it's sort of spontaneous to start a baseball blog mid-way through May, but I read an article by Mitch Albom that made me think about how I consume my baseball.

I am one of those people who has an unhealthy obsession with fantasy baseball, and while I love fantasy, I am also a big baseball fan. In his article, Albom outlines a distinct border between the two. This blog is essentially an attempt to combine being a baseball fan, and an avid fantasy baseball player.

In the blog, I will talk about specific players that I like, teams that I like, interesting news and notes, minor league updates, and so forth.

While I don't consider myself an expert by any means, I do dedicate a lot of time to researching players and would be happy to answer any fantasy baseball questions or any general baseball questions that anybody may have.

I hope you all enjoy the blog. Make sure to tell your friends and comments are much appreciated.

Email: dhkaplan17@yahoo.com