Jon Lester has been frustrating his fantasy owners, but I believe that he will bounce back and have many more games like he did on Sunday. Lester allowed just one run over six innings and struck out a season high twelve guys. He still has an ERA over 5.50, but he is a guy that I have confidence that he will get that under 4.00 before the end of the season. Lester was always a high ranking prospect in the Red Sox system, so it isn't like his success last season was a fluke. He is a great buy low candidate for the rest of the year.

Edwin Jackson is starting to turn my head, a few weeks after I think he turned a lot of yours. On Sunday he threw eight shutout innings and struck out seven. Jackson has now only allowed more than three runs in two of his eleven starts. Jackson has been around for a while, and all the way back when he was a Dodgers' prospect he was supposed to be great. It took him a little longer than most to figure it out, but now it looks like Jackson is ready to start realizing the potential that we were promised many years ago.

Phil Hughes was just OK against the Tribe on Sunday, but it doesn't seem like he's going back to the minors any time soon. I have heard on the radio here in New York that Chien-Ming Wang is in the bullpen until manager Joe Girardi wants to move him back to the rotation. Hughes wasn't bad as he gave up four runs over five innings. That isn't great by any stretch, but not terrible either. If you own Hughes, continue to start him. If he is a free agent, I would definitely consider picking him up. Evaluate your team to see if there is anyone you can afford to lose.

Carl Pavano might not have gotten the win, but he did get the better of the Yankees on Sunday. Pavano allowed just three runs over 7.1 innings, and struck out four. For those of you looking for some pitching either short-term or long-term, I would say that Pavano is worth picking up in deeper leagues. For traditional 12 team leagues, I would still only pick him up against weak opponents, but he has allowed three runs or less in six of his last seven starts. He is not an elite strikeout pitcher, but seems to have bounced back from his dismal career in New York.

Jhonny Peralta is still not hitting for any power whatsoever, but at least he drove in a few runs. Those of you who have been emailing me with an issue at shortstop have gotten advice from me to consider Peralta as an option. Thus far he hasn't made me look very good. Hopefully Sunday is the start of the hot streak I have been waiting for. Peralta had three hits (all singles) and drove in three runs including the game winner. The next couple weeks should be telling ones for the future of Peralta who has been playing mostly third base.

Yovani Gallardo continues his great season. He allowed just one earned run and struck out nine in just 5.1 innings. He is definitely showing what all the hype was about coming into the season, and is having a fine season. Gallardo is a great strikeout pitcher on a good team. He should win 15-17 games if he stays healthy, and could strikeout close to 200 batters. Start him every time out regardless of the matchup.

Kris Medlen recorded his first major league win on Sunday, and was pretty impressive in doing it. After being less than average his first two times out, Medlen allowed just one run over six innings and whiffed nine. He also kept his walks under control with just one. Medlen has a ton of talent, so this isn't a huge suprise, but it is still up in the air how consistent he will be. He could have just gotten off to a slow start, but this could also be one good start in a line of subpar outings. I think the next start for Medlen will be a big one. If he can put a good showing out, I will gain some confidence in him. If he's bad again, chances are he will have another line of struggles.

Frank Francisco finally allowed a run today and took a loss, but this is not something to be concerned about. It took until his 18th appearance before he gave up that run, and he has been striking out a batter an inning. It wasn't a blown save, as he came into a tie game, so he is still perfect in that area. He was my sleeper closer heading into the year, and that is one call that is working out. Continue to have Francisco in your lineups, he is a guy that will far outperform his draft status.

Ervin Santana was AWFUL for the second straight start, and I'm sure his owners are starting to sweat.....or at least wondering what is going on. After only lasting one inning in his previous start, Santana allowed eight runs over 5.1 innings, and only a great rally by the Angels stopped him from taking a loss. Before you go dumping Ervin to free agency, remember that he missed the first five or six weeks of the season. He is still working on getting himself back to normal. If he's bad for two or three more starts in a row, then I would start worrying.

Brad Lidge recorded a save for the third straight day, and even more important than that, again it was uneventful (that's a good thing). He didn't allow a hit on Sunday, and only gave up one hit over his last three saves. It now appears that he has gotten over his struggles, and is safe to keep in your lineups.

Injury News

Grady Sizemore landed on the 15 day DL with his elbow issues. I haven't seen a timetable for his return, but hopefully it will just be the fifteen days. Also, hopefully the rest will get his average out of the .220s when he returns.

Joakim Soria is traveling with the team as they go to face the Rays, and he could be activated at any time. I would think about activating him for the upcoming week, as he is one of the best closers in fantasy.

Josh Hamilton is about to undergo an MRI on his sore groin that he suffered running into the wall a few days back. He was able to pinch hit, and apparently isn't headed for the DL, but I just don't like the idea of him going for the MRI. I have him in a weekly league, and I am SERIOUSLY considering sitting him for the week.

Mailing List

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Got another mention on Steve Gardner's Fantasy Windup blog again on the USA Today site. You can check out the post here. It is a great blog, and they also have some good contests for you to check out. I know some of you have already started to participate in some of them and are enjoying it.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Another week and another batch of Hot 8 players are making a splash. Last week's list featured David Price, who picked up his first win in dominating fashion on Saturday. Ross Detwiler, who won his first two starts after being called to the big leagues and Jake Fox who finally got the call up from Iowa and has gone 3-4 all as a pinch hitter. Not to mention Sean Rodriguez who is about to be called up by the Angels any day now...dammit! I am not supposed to let that one slip, my bad! This weeks Hot 8 features a couple of players whose tickets are also about to be punched and a few players you may have given up on prematurely.

1) Tommy Hanson (RHP - Starter) -- Braves -- With Tom Glavine coming back very soon and a rotation that is performing quite well it looks like Hanson may have to wait a while longer before joining the Braves. No way, Jose! Hanson is making it impossible for the major league team to ignore him as his numbers are nothing less than staggering. Hanson is 3-3 with a 1.48 ERA. He has 82 K's in just 60 2/3 innings pitched with a ridiculous 0.86 WHIP. He loses another year of arbitration if not called up by the beginning of this week which suits the Braves just fine. But knowing there is no possible way to squeeze another year out of him there is no doubt in my mind that Hanson is pitching in Atlanta in the next two weeks. Time to make a play for him right now my friends before this ship sails in one of your opponents wind.


2) Gordan Beckham (SS/3B) -- Whitesox -- Earlier in the year I made a vow because I am a White Sox fan to ignore the "Beckham-Mania" that has swept through my fair city this spring. As a baseball writer, it is crucial to judge "your team" as evenly and as fairly as you do the rest of the league. I take pride in doing that. But, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't alert you all to a couple of very interesting facts. The White Sox promoted Beckham to AAA Charlotte this past week. Big deal you say? Well it is considering the White Sox AA Birmingham club is the apple of their organizational eye. This is where they have stored their entire future collection of talent. Birmingham is blasting their way through the Southern League and have hopes of capturing the title this year. Interesting then that the best player from that team would be promoted at this juncture of the season without a near suitable backup for him in place. Furthermore, Beckham is playing 3B for the Charlotte Knights and not his customary SS. In the past month, the White Sox have moved Beckham to both 2B & 3B to get him more familiar with those positions. This leaves no doubt in my mind that he is now being groomed to take over Josh Fields' third base job or possibly Chris Getz second base gig in the very near future. As much as I don't buy into the hype of Beckham, the kid can do it all on the diamond and if promoted to Chicago is an absolute must grab middle infielder.

3) Ben Zobrist (2B/SS/OF) -- Rays -- By now I hope that if you are in need of a middle infielder, you have made the move to pickup Zobrist. With Akinori Iwamura out for the season the second base job is all Zobrist's. The fact that he is eligible at SS and OF positions make him all the more valuable fantasy acquisition. Zobrist has been around a while and is by no means a prospect. What Zobrist brings to the table is the ability to get on base and hit for a very solid average. This season he has shown more power then he has in the past with the eight HR's, something I don't believe will continue. I would expect a total of 13-16 HR's for Zobrist this season to go along with 20 stolen bases. The key here is that he has been hitting at the top of the Rays order as well which means more opportunities to score runs. All told, Zobrist is an extremely useful fantasy player that is going to serve some team very well the rest of the way. If he is still available in your league, make sure that someone is you!

4) Ben Francisco (Outfield) -- Indians -- Grady Sizemore has finally landed on the DL with a sore left elbow leaving Ben Francisco as the primary center fielder for the Tribe. Francisco is a nifty little player. He is pretty much a poor man's Grady Sizemore as he offers a nice mix of speed and power without much of a batting average or on base percentage. With steady playing time he'll continue about on his current pace which projects as a 20-20 season. Who knows how much time Sizemore will actually miss or if he will ever be 100% this season. Thus, Francisco should see close to 500 AB's and is quite a fantasy steal if picked up right now.

5) Desmond Jennings (Outfield) -- Rays -- This is for the more aggressive fantasy players out there, you know who you are. If you haven't heard of Desmond Jennings here is a little refresher. Jennings is in my opinion the premier leadoff prospect in all minor league baseball. He is a supreme athlete with a know-how of how to play the game of baseball. He has great strike zone discipline and despite above average power, uses his legs or whatever means necessary to get on base. He is currently in the Rays AA Montgomery affiliate with a stat line of .366/.433/.586 with six HR's and 17 stolen bases. Injuries have curbed Jennings development over the past two seasons at least as far as getting to the major leagues is concerned. But this guy is about as good a fantasy prospect as there is. The Rays have not been shy at using their prospects from any level to aid their big league clubs run at a title. With Zobrist now a fixture at 2B, they have one less right field platoon player now. Then there are the struggles of B.J. Upton who is still flirting with the Mendoza line. Jennings is obviously too good to be in AA right now and my feeling is that we'll see him in Tampa sometime around mid-July. Put him on your watch list and make sure you grab him if and when another Rays outfielder goes down or as the trading deadline approaches. You'll thank me later...

6) Clayton Richard (LHP - Starter) -- Whitesox -- I guess for this week I am a bit of a homer. Richard is owned in just 5% of fantasy leagues right now despite being on a major roll since entering the White Sox starting rotation. He is 2-0 with a 3.38 ERA and 30 K's in 40 innings. Richard, like John Danks before him, is thriving while emulating the timing and poise of teammate Mark Buehrle. Richard has greatly shortened time between pitches and is throwing more to the hitters bat than trying to strike everybody out. He has also improved his control since joining the starting rotation. While his WHIP and strikeout numbers will not be anything of a top end starter, at the very least Richard is a guy you must use if you live by the pitch and ditch method. He is available in almost all leagues and will give you quality innings most times out for sure.

7) Dexter Fowler (Outfield) -- Rockies -- I can't believe how many of you have given up on Fowler already. You have to understand that a player like Fowler will be of far more use to you later in the season then he is right now. Still, Fowler has been pretty productive in platoon duty this year scoring 22 runs and swiping 11 bases. The Rockies fired Clint Hurdle and are now actively trying to trade both Brad Hawpe and Ryan Spilborghs before the trading deadline. This will open the door for both Dexter Fowler and Seth Smith to play a full time role in the second half of the season. Fowler has some power and blazing speed. He'll hit 15 or so homers and steal 30+ bases in a full season while compiling plenty of runs and a solid batting average. I believe him to be a future star in the league but at the very least he'll be a Johnny Damon type fantasy player, which is pretty darn good. It is time to start thinking about how some of these players will finish this season instead of how they began. If you are going to challenge for a fantasy title this year, you will need to start acquiring some of the players who will make you stronger in August and September rather than the ones who will keep you afloat right now.

8) Andrew Bailey (RHP - Closer) -- Athletics -- I had Bailey in the Hot 8 in week 6 and said at the time that it wouldn't be long before he was the A's closer. In case you haven't noticed, Bailey is the A's closer now and doing a mighty fine job at that. He is only owned in 50% of both Yahoo and CBS fantasy leagues which means you have a 50% chance of picking up a free closer. Bailey has struck out 37 in 30 IP while amassing a 0.95 WHIP and a .190 batting average against this season. Sure the save opportunities in Oakland have been few and far between this season but fantasy owners are always on the prowl for saves, strikeouts and WHIP. Other than my announcement a few weeks ago, Bailey has been under the radar for much of the season. Make that work into your favor by going out now and picking up the young right hander and adding some depth to your fantasy bullpen.

That is the Hot 8 for this week. What do you guys think? Post your comments below or email me at jeff@fantasybaseballsearch.com

Now this is what we expected from David Price when he came to the majors. Price was much more helpful to your team on Saturday as he allowed just one run over 5.2 innings, walked just two, and struck out eleven. Not much more to be said about Price. His owners exhaled after today's game after his less than stellar first outing. He still threw a lot of pitches, but the walks were much more under control.

It took four games for Fernando Martinez to record his first major league hit, and he followed it up with another in the same game. I was just about to lose hope that Fernando would be doing anything during this callup, so now I have a slight glimmer of hope. Of course, he did strike out in the ninth with two guys on, but overall it was a good day for him. Hopefully he was just very nervous his first few days in the majors and he will settle in now. I'm not buying that yet, but you can hope.

Matt Wieters was seventh in the Orioles lineup today, and he did much better in his second game. He had both a double and a triple, giving those of you who held on to him for nearly eight weeks waiting for this day some hope. Hope that having an empty spot on your roster for that time was worth it. All signs point to there being many more days like today than yesterday, when he failed to record a hit.

The lucky horseshoe has finally been removed from Shairon Martis' behind. He finally took a loss after a horrible outing, something he has been able to avoid his last few times out. But there was no way out of taking the first loss on the season this time, as Martis gave up two whoppers to Ryan Howard on his way to allowing seven runs over just four innings. He also walked more than he struck out again, and I don't see any reason at all to have this guy on your team. If he is, remedy that situation after you finish reading this. Well, maybe do it now and then come back.

Matt Palmer got another start for the Angels, and he made the most of the opportunity. This is almost definitely his last one barring an injury, as Kelvim Escobar isn't too far away. Palmer threw seven shutout innings, didn't walk a batter, and struck out five. Outside of a couple hiccups, Palmer was great as a fill in starter as he racked up a 5-0 record. It would have been his sixth win tonight except for the handy work of Brian Fuentes blowing the save. If there is another need for a starter for the Angels, you would think that Palmer has shown enough this year to earn those starts. But for now, it's to the bullpen for him.

Francisco Liriano has tested his owners' patience perhaps for the last time. Liriano was bad again, and took his seventh loss of the year through two months. It took him 93 pitches to get through just four innings, gave up four runs, walked three, and struck out three. I am torn. I think at this point you should let him go, but at the same time if he was available in any league that I played in, I would probably pick him up unless my pitching staff was very good. If you can afford to camp him on your bench and not start him, that would probably be what I do. If not, I would probably look for better options.

I know this isn't exactly timely, but Miguel Tejada is having a much better season than I expected....by a mile. With his two hits on Saturday, Tejada is now batting .347 with five homers and 28 RBI. If I didn't declare him done in the blog before the season started, I certainly thought it, but he has proven me wrong so far. That being said there is still four months left in the year, plenty of time for him to cool down, but in leagues that require a MI spot, he is definitely worth the roster spot.

Tonight is the perfect reason why if two pitchers are similar, you want the guy on the better team. Cole Hamels got a win tonight that he didn't deserve. When you give up six runs in six innings, you generally don't get the win. But Hamels did indeed get his third win of the year. So if you are thinking of picking up Tim Wakefield or Zach Duke (hypothetically speaking), this is the reason you pick Wakefield.

Aaron Harang has been good most of the time, but when he's bad BOY is he bad. Harang gave up eight runs over 4.1 innings, but on a positive note he didn't issue a walk and struck out five. This was his eleventh start. In four of them he has allowed five runs or more. In the other seven he allowed more than two runs only once. Keep starting him, and hope that the bad outings he has won't kill your week.

Injury News

Brandon Phillips returned to the Reds lineup on Saturday, and picked up right where he left off and connected on his eighth homer of the season. Phillips is attempting to play through a hairline fracture in his thumb, and so far, so good. Get Phillips back in your lineups tomorrow, or today depending on when you are reading this.

Joey Votto was placed on the 15 day DL, but apparently according to reports it isn't related to the ear infection he has been dealing with. This absence is due to "personal reasons" that they aren't going to disclose. Hopefully over this time Votto will be able to deal with whatever this issue is, as well as get his illness under control. He is eligible to return on June 14th.

Mailing List

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Brian Wilson (11) - A perfect inning from an underrated closer.

Alexei Ramirez had three more hits tonight, and has now raised his batting average 36 points over the last ten days. He also drove in two more runs, bringing his season total to 22. I would say if his owner was impatient (and chances are he was), and he is available in your league, I would pick him up. He might not reach last year's numbers, but it looks like that awful slump is over.

Matt Wieters made his long awaited major league debut tonight, and let's just say they haven't started his bust for Cooperstown just yet. He has been the most hyped prospect of the year, and through one game he is 0-4 with a strikeout. But don't freak out over one game, Wieters should be a stud, just be patient. I know all of you who recently traded away are secretly (or not so secretly) laughing up your sleeves.

Luke Scott hit another two home runs on Friday, and now has ten on the season. I've already gotten an email wondering if Scott should be picked up. Allow me to say this. If you are dropping someone who is severly slacking or have an injury, I would definitely pick up Scott. He should easily top 20 home runs. However, this particular email was referring to Nolan Reimold. I would not do that. I would not drop someone like Brad Hawpe. Like I said, Scott has ten homers on the year. Well, five of them have come in the last three days. That means he hit five in the other 28 games he has played. He is a good player, just don't fall in love with a hot streak.

Dontrelle Willis got knocked around some on Friday, tarnishing some of the great story that is his comeback. Unfortunately, I think there will be many more days like this upcoming for Mr. Willis. Like we talked about on the Tuesday podcast of Fantasy Baseball Tonight with Jeff Mans and myself, we agreed that we needed to see much more success from Dontrelle before we declared him back, or even picked him up on our rosters. Unless you are in a deep league, or in dire need of pitching, I would not want to pick up Willis.

While he hasn't been bad by any stretch, Ted Lilly had his first real strong outing in a while. I do like Lilly to be a part of your rotation, as long as he isn't one of the top couple pitchers on your staff. Lilly allowed just one run and struck out five over seven innings, running his record to 6-4 on the year. He is one of the more underrated pitchers in baseball. He always gives you good innings, rarely is hurt, has a good strikeout rate, and usually has a better than average ERA.

Edwin Maysonet has been filling in for the injured Kaz Matsui at second for the Astros, and has been doing quite well. In fact, tonight he went 4-4 with a homer and two doubles. He was mostly an average player in the minors who showed good speed in the lower levels. Matsui should be back within a few days, so this isn't someone you should be following.

Someone who has NOT picked it up is the Rangers' Chris Davis. He was 0-7 in the doubleheader today, and struck out six times. He now has 32 hits and an unbelievable 77 strikeouts to go along with a .194 batting average. He has three hits in his last eleven games. What am I trying to say? I think it might be time to look for a replacement for Davis. Things have gotten really bad.

Brad Lidge picked up a save tonight, and that is now two in a row without incident. Lidge didn't even send his owners looking for sharp objects tonight, as he retired the Nationals in order with two strikeouts. For the sake of those of you who have him, hopefully that "rough patch" is behind him.

Clayton Richard was solid again for the White Sox and is looking more and more like a viable fantasy option. He isn't a dominant strikeout pitcher, but is pretty efficient. He was 12-6 with a 2.46 ERA in 20 starts in the minors last season, so this good pitching isn't a fluke. He is already 25, so not a young prospect, but you can't argue with his results. I would consider adding him in the right situation.

Josh Outman continues his great season under the radar, as he allowed three runs over 6.2 innings and whiffed nine. He continues to improve. He has been going deeper into games, he has been striking out more guys, his ERA for the year is just 3.06, while his WHIP is 1.19. He had a pretty decent minor league career too. I am also starting to suggest him as a bottom of the rotation kind of pitcher, and definitely an injury replacement. The only problem is the A's aren't that good, and he won't get a ton of run support.

Injury News

Joey Votto left the game early again tonight, and this ear infection or whatever is wrong with him is causing havoc on his breakout year. It is so hard to suggest what to do with him at this point. You want to play him, but you can't afford to have him to continue to do this. The safe play is to hold him out of your lineups until you see him play back to back games.

Brett Myers will need surgery on that torn labrum in his hip, and could miss the entire season. No date has been set for the surgery, but he is looking at anywhere between 13-18 weeks for a full recovery. Therefore, it is time to let go of Myers.

Ryan Ludwick returned to the Cardinals lineup on Friday and didn't record a hit in his first two at bats. Get him back into your lineups immediately. He was having a great start to the season, and his return will hopefully also kickstart Albert Pujols back into the ultimate fantasy player. He has also suffered from the loss of Ludwick.

Hideki Kuroda will return to the Dodgers' rotation on Monday against the Diamondbacks. I'm not the biggest fan of Kuroda, but he is a useful fantasy pitcher as the last man in your rotation. If you are waiting for him to come off the Disabled List to carry your pitching staff, you will be sorely disappointed.

Jorge Posada returned to the Yankees' lineup tonight and was 2-3 with a double off of Cliff Lee. If he was dropped during his time out, I would definitely pick him up unless you have an elite catcher. Posada was doing great before his latest injury, and his first game back was encouraging that he could jump right back on the horse.

Mailing List

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

I have to start this one with a very special Happy Birthday to my little girl Morgan. My younger daughter turns one year old today. She is perhaps the happiest baby you have ever seen, and of course since she's mine, the cutest. Nothing erases a bad day faster than looking into those little eyes. For those of you keeping track, I have two daughters, Avery who is three and Morgan, which means in ten years you will find me with no hair and a bottle of Jack Daniels close by my side. Either that or some blunt instrument that I can introduce any fine young boy to before they think about taking my girls out. I've been practicing my intimidation techniques and hopefully by the time I need them, I'll have them perfected.

Jason Varitek hit two home runs for the Red Sox and already has ten on the season. Not bad for an old guy who only averaged 15 a year in the last two seasons. His average is still not helping you at .248,but you can't argue with the power. I think he is an ideal candidate for those of you who are dealing with the injuries to Chris Iannetta or Ryan Doumit. I don't expect this production to last all season with Varitek, but you can ride this hot streak as long as it lasts. Hopefully that will be until your main guy comes back from injury. For those of you who just have a stinky catcher, I would take Varitek for now, but just realize that you probably will have to cut him at some point when he cools down.

Kerry Wood collected his eighth save of the year, but it certainly hasn't been easy. His ERA is still over six, but it has been a little misleading. Eleven of his twelve earned runs allowed came in four outings, but his problem has been save opportunites. The Indians are seven games under .500, and even many of their wins aren't generating save chances. Wood will always be a strikeout artist, but due to his subpar team and long injury history he can not be looked upon as a top tier closer. He seems to have a very long leash in Cleveland, but when he has a bad outing, he really has a BAD outing.

Luke Scott is back from injury for the Orioles and he now has three home runs in his first two games back. Scott just came back from a shoulder strain, and looks like he is back to normal. I think he should definitely top the twenty homer plateau, but don't pick him up expect this recent power surge to continue. He is a nice fourth outfielder on your team, but he isn't all of a sudden carry your fantasy team.

I am starting to gain a nice sized soft spot in my heart for Nolan Reimold. I don't know if I can take on another man crush at this time, but he's making it hard to ignore him. He homered for the the third straight game, and now has five in just fourteen games. I would like to see him get his batting average up a little more, as he sits at just .264, but I feel confident that he will at least surpass .280. The future is very bright for Mr. Reimold, and it looks like he will have a fantasy impact in 2009.

Randy Wells has been pitching well for the Cubs in filling in for Rich Harden, but I just don't think I would put too much stock in this. He might be 0-2,but he hasn't given up more than three earned runs in his five starts, and he has 23 strikeouts in 25 innings. So, why am I not more excited about this? The strikeouts are legitimate, I can't take that away from him, but if you look at his minor league statistics, they aren't very impressive. Wells has been in AAA for the last three years, and his ERA ranged from 4.02 to 4.96, and he even made many appearances out of the bullpen. Now, he has been impressive in the majors, but I need to see more before I buy in. When a guy is so average on the farm, it usually comes true that he doesn't turn into an All-Star at the next level.

Carlos Zambrano received a six game suspension for his childish tirade the other day when he didn't get the call at home plate. However, because of the idiotic rules for suspensions for pitchers, he will miss just one start. Why is it when a position player gets suspended five days he misses five games, while a pitcher is given the same number of days but only misses one start? How is that a punishment? All you are giving him is a little rest that he probably needs. He (and other pitchers) should be sat down for three starts. Enough of my rambling, bottom line is take Zambrano out for his next start, he isn't appealing the suspension.

Injury News

Jorge Posada is set to rejoin the Yankees again on Friday after his hamstring injury. Take a look at your league to see if he is available, as he was dropped in a couple that I play in. He was off to a strong start, and could help you if you are in need of a decent catcher. Not sure if I have confidence in his resurgence he enjoyed to start the season, but if you don't have a good catcher, he is worth the risk.

Grady Sizemore has been dealing with an elbow injury that could land him on the Disabled List. He has been only been able to DH for the last few days, and it has kept him in the lineup. But if he doesn't improve sometime in the next few days, it could be possible that he lands on the DL. It might not be the worst thing in the long term. Sizemore, who never has a great average, is really scuffling as he is hitting in the .220s.

Brett Myers is the next one of the cool kids to have a hip injury. It seems like it is all the rage lately, and you ain't cool unless you have something up with the labrum in your hip. An MRI revealed either fraying or a tear in Myers' hip (how does a medical person not know the difference?) and he won't make his next start. We now know if he needs surgery he would miss eight to ten weeks.

Travis Hafner is supposed to finish his rehab assignment on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, and could possibly rejoin the Indians on Monday. As long as he doesn't suffer any setbacks he should be back against the Yankees. Not sure what to expect from him in the long term in 2009, but if you have him, get him back in there.

Mailing List

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Sorry about missing yesterday, but it was my sons 5th birthday so I spent the day with a bunch of little kids. Here is the update for the day.


Joe Nathan has been on the hot seat lately with owners, but quickly he has won the hearts of his owners and has saves two straight games. We knew this slide by Nathan was nothing more then a dry spell with a couple of bad appearances in-between it. Nathan is one of the more dominant closers in the game and should be treated as so.

Ryan Franklin is the opposite of Nathan, but has performed out of this world in 2009. When will Franklin go on a dry spell of his own ? Right now he is on fire with a 1.42 ERA and an amazingly low 0.79 WHIP. At this point I would say SELL on Franklin, but in reality HOLD!

Heath Bell is on top of the world right now. He saved his league leading 14th saves and got one out to secure the save. Bell is another outstanding closer and #2 on our top 20 closer ranking.



The #1 closer on the list Jonathan Broxton had a tough day in Colorado. Granted he came into the game in a non-save situation he wasn't able to find the plate at all and ended up walking 3 batters and giving up a run. This is the only problem you have to worry about with Broxton is his lack of control. He he can't find the plate with all his pitches he will have a bad today. Lucky it wasn't worse or moreover a blown save. He needed 38 pitches to get through the 9th inning and only 23 were strikes. Not good for a closer.

Fernando Rodney didn't get the save today, but had a great inning. He gave up two hits, but struck out the side and looked filthy. Frankly, the hits were lucky.

Waldo was found. That's right, Kevin Gregg made a save appearance and believe it or not got his 7th save of the season. He's been on the hot seat with his owners for along time and its about time he got the save. Of course he worried everyone by walking two batters before ending the game.

Matt Lindstrom made what I thought was a great appearance. This was a growing experience for him and he passed. After retiring the first better, Lindstrom then gave up a single and double. He then hunkered down and got the outs he needed without letting a run score. That is growth and we loved it. He also did it without a strikeout. He came into a 6-2 game, so no save.

Other Appearances:
Brian Fuentes (13) - Another easy save. He is outperforming everyones expectations.
Brian Wilson (10) - Looked strong in a quick save.
Francisco Rodriguez - Gave up an unearned run in a non-save opportunity.
Huston Street - Pitched a perfect inning with a strikeout. No save in a 8-6 loss to the Dodgers.
Luis Vizcaino (1)- Pitched 3 innings to get the save. Did strikeout 4.

Rick Porcello now won his fifth straight start, and has now become a serious, consistent major league pitcher at age 20. He is now 6-3, and he has allowed two runs or less in five straight starts. The only thing that you can say about Porcello is that you would like to see him strike more hitters out. But that's not who he is. He now has 32 Ks in 51 innings, but unlike most young pitchers he doesn't allow many walks. In nine starts he has walked only 16 batters. In keeper leagues his value is immeasurable.

Nolan Reimold continues his great start for the Baltimore Orioles. He didn't start the game, but came in and made the most of his time. Reimold hit a walk off three run homer to win the game. He now has four dingers on the year, and is hitting .265. His average should go up some as he gets more comfortable, and like I've been saying, I think he will have a good season.

The Cubs have called up Jake Fox to the major leagues. He will be 27 in July, so he isn't a young prospect, but boy is he raking. In 40 games at AAA, Fox is mashing the ball to the tune of a .423 average, 17 HRs, and 50 RBI. He is not a base stealer though. I'm not exactly sure where they intend to play him, but he has seen time at first base, third base, catcher, and both corner OF spots in the minors, so he could play any number of places. Will he hold the fort down at 3B until Aramis comes back? Tough to say, but I am guessing that he will get ABs. Last year between AA and AAA he hit 31 homers and drove in 105 runs, so this power is legit. The .423 average has to come down, but he could have an impact.

After I finally dropped him Daniel Murphy, goes out and has a great game. Unless the Mets go out and make a trade, Murphy will be playing first base going forward. His average had dipped down to .246 before his 3-5 effort today. Murphy drove in five runs, and connected on his fourth homer of the year. In the last ten games he only had three hits and had driven in one run. They like Murphy on sports talk radio here in New York, but I wonder if he is in over his head. I need to see a ton more from him before I would even think of having him on my rosters.

Jay Bruce might not be hitting for a very good average, but when he hits, he makes the most of it. Bruce had one hit in his last six games, but he had two homers and a triple. He's now up to 14 home runs on the year, and is a real candidate to hit 30 this season. I also think he will get his average up to the .265 range, so hot streak has to be in his future. He will be a great major league player in the near future.

Texas rookie Derek Holland didn't fare too well in his start against the Yankees on Wednesday, but few young pitchers do. Holland allowed five earned runs over five innings, walked just two, but struck out five. He's only 22, so he will struggle from time to time, but he throws hard and is left handed, so he will get a long leash to succeed. The Rangers also have a strong offense, so he could get some wins he doesn't deserve.

The Orioles have called up David Hernandez to replace Koji Uehara. Hernandez has been good for the past couple seasons, but is not an elite prospect, or at least not one of the Orioles better prospects. Last year at AA he was 10-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 27 starts. He is a great strikeout pitcher, as he whiffed 166 in 141 innings. Control can be a problem as he also walked 71. This season he was in AAA and was 3-1 with a 2.91 ERA and 60 Ks in 41 innings. Not sure how long term this promotion is, but if he pitches well he could hang around. The O's certainly could use some help at starter.

More Starting Pitching

Erik Bedard improved to 3-2 with another strong outing. He pitched 6.2 innings, allowed just one run, and struck out five. Bedard has had some injury problems over the years, so I am always concerned about that with him. His ERA is just 2.48, and he has yet to give up more than three earned runs in any start this season. I'm still more of a sell high guy on Bedard, but he has been doing quite well.

A.J. Burnett won for the first time since April 14th by shutting out the Rangers over six innings, and striking out seven. He is still walking too many guys, as he offered four free passes, but hopefully this is the start of a hot streak for him. Burnett has had a history of being good only in contract years, which means he could only be a .500 pitcher this season, but on the Yankees he should get some extra wins. Even if he doesn't get a ton of wins, Burnett will help you in strikeouts.

Kevin Slowey is now 7-1, and hasn't given up more than two runs in four straight starts. He allowed just two runs over six innings tonight against the Red Sox,and struck out five. He also walked a batter, which gives him a grand total of five walks in his ten starts. Slowey's ERA might still be over 4.00, but that is largely due to the fact that he allowed five runs in three of his first five starts. Continue to start him with confidence.

I keep waiting for Jered Weaver to fail, and he keeps proving me wrong. He was great again, giving up just one run over eight innings and striking out eight. Weaver is bringing back memories of his rookie season, and I am feeling better and better about him as the season goes on. I assume his owner feels the same way if you were thinking about trading for him, so you might have to give up too much. It might be worth throwing an offer over to see if perhaps the person who has him is still as skeptical as I was.

Gavin Floyd might have taken the loss, but it was his second consecutive quality start. Floyd went the whole eight innings, gave up three earned runs and struck out eight. After a horrible start to the year, this was back to back eight inning performances. I still think he is better than he showed at the start of '09, but not as good as he was in '08. If he was dropped, I would make a move to pick him up, just don't expect quite what he gave you last year and you won't be disappointed.

Rich Hill was BAAAAAAD in his third start of the year. After allowing just two runs in each of his first two outings, Hill finally struggled and couldn't get through the fourth inning. He gave up six earned runs and walked three in 3.1 innings, raising his ERA to 6.14. Of course he is going to struggle from time to time, you couldn't have expected him to be lights out considering where he has been the past couple of seasons. Consider him a decent end of your rotation kind of guy, and he might be able to give you a few decent starts against weaker AL teams.

Mailing List

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Matt Wieters will finally be joining the Baltimore Orioles on Friday according to GM Andy McPhail. Not much more to say here. Wieters is an elite prospect that you definitely want on your team, even if you already have a good catcher. He seems like he will be the kind of guy who will succeed right away, and even if you already have a good catcher, you either will have a great player in your UTIL spot, or some great trade bait.

The New York Mets have finally placed Jose Reyes on the Disabled List. But with that bad news comes some exciting news. They have called up their super prospect Fernando Martinez. Just listened to an interview here on 1050 ESPN Radio with SNY's (Mets channel) Ron Darling, and Darling said that Martinez would play everyday in right field. Ryan Church has been placed on the 15-day DL which opens up that spot for Martinez. He is a guy that we have been hearing about for a long time here, even though he is only 20. Martinez is an elite prospect, and you could have room for himi on your team. You can always email me back if you want me to evaluate your situation and let me know who you would drop. In 41 games at AAA this season, Martinez is hitting .294 with seven homers and 26 RBI. He doesn't bring you much speed though.

Zack Greinke is just out of his mind. He threw another complete game, and allowed only one run. Greinke is now 8-1 and his ERA is still a ridiculous 0.84. He struck out eight, and for the fourth time this season, he didn't walk a batter. What more is there to say about Greinke at this point? He is awesome, amazing, Cy Young favorite, and if my wife was going to cheat, perhaps it would be OK if it was with him. Maybe that last one was a bit much, but the rest is right on the mark.

Nolan Reimold connected on his third home run of his major league career in his 12th game of the season. Reimold is now hitting .261 with six RBI over that time. I continue to have a lot of hope for Reimold on the short term and the long term, and if he is available, I would evaluate what you have and if he can help you.

Kris Medlen was not very good again, although he was better than his first time out. OK, so he faced Tim Lincecum and that is no easy matchup, but Medlen was unable to get a win. He pitched 5.1 innings, allowed four runs, walked two, and struck out three. He needs to continue to improve if he wants to stay in the major leagues, but my guess is that he would get another shot the next time his turn comes up.

For the second consecutive outing, Max Scherzer struck out ten hitters. After not getting off to a good start, Scherzer has been much better of late. On Tuesday, he pitched seven innings, allowed two runs, didn't walk anyone and struck out ten. Scherzer has always had incredible potential, and now it seems that he is starting to live up to it. Check to see if he is available, and if you can afford to find him a spot on your team.

Carl Pavano has shockingly been not too bad this season. It is going to take some time to get his ERA under control since he gave up nine runs in just one inning of the season, but he has been fairly effective in the month of May. He had possibly his best start of the season on Tuesday. He allowed just one run over seven innings, and struck out six. He allowed three runs or less in five of his six starts, and struck out 30 hitters over that time. I'm not convinced that he will continue this, but as a spot starter against bad teams or injury replacement he might not be a bad play. He is now 5-4 on the season, and that ERA is down to 5.50.

Is it possible that the Mets' second best starter is Livan Hernandez? He is now 4-1 after a complete game in which he allowed just one run. Hernandez also struck out a season high six guys. He has only allowed more than three runs on three different occasions during the season,and has been incredibly consistent for the Mets. I'm not 100% sure that I would be picking him up in my leagues, but I have picked him up for one start here or there a few times during the season. Only in injury replacements or for one time starts would I be adding Livan.

Brad Lidge finally was able to nail down a save without allowing a run or a hit. Lidge came in to get the final two outs against the Marlins to record save number nine of the season. Regardless of his struggles, the Phillies have to much time and money invested in him to just cast him aside. They will probably try to put him in better situations over the next few days to try to get him back on track, but he is still Philadelphia's closer.

Jon Lester was cruising along and looking good, and then fell apart allowing five runs in the fifth inning. Lester was able to pitch six innings, and struck out four, but he continues to disappoint his owners. His ERA is still over 6.00, but I continue to wait for the good stretch to start. Don't give up on Lester, I see an extended hot streak in his near future.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Yesterday he had a great post about the five most frustrating players to own in fantasy baseball. Go vent your frustrations on the message board.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Hey everyone. I hope you all had a great Memorial Day. There was a full slate of games today,but only fair amount of saves. The biggest one to talk about was Jonathan Papelbon's save against the Twins. For the second straight appearance he gave up a 2-run home run. Today it was against Joe Mauer, who is one of the hottest players in baseball, but it wasn't enough and he hung on to get his 12th save of the season 6-5. The other home run was to Omir Santos a powerless catcher from the Mets on Saturday.

Papelbon's problem right now is two-fold. The first is location, location, location. Both pitches that ended up being home runs were poorly located. This problem happens with any pitcher and its something he just needs to find again.

The other problem is batters are now sitting on his fastball, so if it's not located well it get pounded. He has been working on a slider and a changeup to offset the fastball. He use to use his splitter often, but recently has lost confidence in it Papelbon needs to start throwing his splitter more and mixing up his pitches. His fastball is so devastating that another pitch could make it nearly untouchable.

Heath Bell and Francisco Rodriguez both got their 13th save of the season. Bell had another perfect inning, but KROD had some problems giving up a hit and walk, but nailed the save strong with a strikeout and a perfect slider for a pop-up.



In other big news, Chad Qualls blew his second save of the season. He gave up a run on 2 hits in a game the Padres ended up winning, giving Heath Bell another save. Qualls has given up 4 runs in his last 4 appearances. This is the Chad Qualls we expected. He lasted awhile looking out of this world and now he is imploding a bit.


If you can pick up Jon Rauch from free agency I would do that ASAP. He has already got 2 saves on the season and right now he's pitching much better then Qualls.


Matt Lindstrom got his first save since May 20th. He easily locked up his 9th save of the season against the Phillies 5-3. His control was great, but he did walk a batter. If you own Lindstrom you should be very happy with this performance. Hopefully we will see more just like it.


Other Appearances:
George Sherrill (10) - He looks great and is just churning out saves now.
Sean Burnett(1) - Filled in for Matt Capps. Capps has pitched a ton lately and was just getting the day off.
Francisco Cordero (12) - Cordero is on fire. This could be the year for Cordero. He is pitching like he did years ago.
Kevin Cameron (1)- Pitched 3 innings to get the save.

While many of us take this day as an extra day off of work, and a reason for a barbeque and a great reason for a get together with friends and/or family, let's not forget what today is really about. Memorial Day is a day to remember those who have given the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country. The men and women who have given their life in the name of freedom and patriotism. I also think that we should take this day to thank those men and women who have not given their lives, but continue to give of themselves and their time to serve the United States. Those who sacrifice their love and their lives to keep us safe and free. I might be wrong, but it seems like the military is filled with either kids in their early 20s, or with those who sacrifice time with their families to protect this great land. On this Memorial Day, please take a second out for not only those who have given the ultimate sacrifice, but for those who currently serve our country, and their families who also make an incredible sacrifice as they miss their loved ones who are away at war. Please continue to support President Obama's initiative to get our young men and women back home again so they can reconnect with their families. God Bless You All, you are much better people than I am.

I love Chris Carpenter. I'm sure that 90% of that has to do with me being a Cardinals fan, but even as his fantasy owner, he is damn good when he is healthy. I like him even more this year because I didn't have to spend a high draft pick on him to have him on my team. And (again) when he is healthy he is pitching like a guy I would have picked in the first three rounds. He threw eight shutout innings in his second start back from the Disabled List, and struck out ten, and he still hasn't allowed an earned run in his four starts in 2009.

Yovani Gallardo was almost as good as Carpenter on Monday. He also threw eight shutout innings, and allowed only two hits. The only difference between the two is Gallardo walked four guys, and he struck out six, while Carpenter fanned ten. Gallardo has just a 3.32 ERA for the season, and is taking the next step to be a fantasy stud. He has had a couple of bad outings, but on the whole he has been great. Continue to start Gallardo with extreme confidence.

David Price made his 2009 debut for the Rays, and while it wasn't good, it wasn't absolutely terrible either. Price threw 100 pitches in just 3.1 innings, but it was wildness that killed him. He allowed only two earned runs, but he walked five guys. He was able to strikeout six hitters, which was great considering how long he pitched, but it was just his first start of the season. Price should have another start this week, feel free to start him again.

Can Phil Hughes please decide what he is going to be? He gives up three runs, he gives up eight runs, he gives up three runs again. Now on Sunday he pitched eight shutout innings, allowed just three runs, and struck out six. His last two starts have been pretty darn good, and perhaps this is the start of all that hype that we have been hearing about for so long. I'm still not sure how long Chien-Ming Wang will be in the minors/bullpen, and how long that Hughes will be in the rotation. The longer he pitches like this, the better his chances are of sticking around. Ride this hot streak as long as you can, but beware that Wang could be back in the rotation at sometime in the near future.

Francisco Liriano is really starting to worry me. With his latest horrible outing, Liriano is now 2-6 on the season. He allowed five runs over just four innings, and struck out seven. In a small part of good news, he didn't walk anyone, but his ERA is close to touching 6.50 for the year. I don't think I would make a move to drop him now, but I am getting closer to thinking about the possibility. Give him a few more starts to straighten this out before doing anything too rash.

Justin Verlander continues his resurgence as an elite pitcher with another amazing outing on Monday. Verlander didn't allow an earned run today, and hasn't allowed a home run to an opponent since April 22nd. What else can I say at this point? Verlander is FAR outperforming his pre-draft expectations and should be in your weekly lineups no matter what. He definitely seems that he is back to an elite pitcher, and should be treated that way. You can try to trade for him, but I imagine his owner has a pretty good grip on him at this point.

Oakland rookie Brett Anderson had his second consecutive good outing. After allowing two runs over six innings, his last time out, Anderson was better allowing just one run over six innings, and striking out four. He is a highly talented rookie pitcher who will have some bad starts along with some great ones. I would have some reservations about starting him every time out, maybe only pick him up when he faces one of the weaker teams in the league.

Chris Volstad has still yet to allow more than four runs in any start this season, and his consistency should be celebrated. On Monday, he allowed three runs over 6.2 innings, and struck out six. He is still someone that I have a LOT of faith in, and continue to start every week. Volstad will have his share of ups and downs, but I would keep starting him every week, and in keeper leagues he has added value. Keep starting Volstad every time he takes the mound.

My short love affair with Jorge De La Rosa is over as soon as it began. We went out a couple of times, caught a movie, and even had a couple of drinks. But he said something a little off color that just turned me off. Now, I'm not even returning his phone calls. After two straight starts with double digit strikeouts, De La Rosa followed that up with back to back starts allowing seven earned runs, and his record is now 0-5. His ERA is now 5.26 for the season, and should be jettisoned to free agency if ANYONE of any value is out there.

Jeremy Guthrie was very good for the Orioles today, as he allowed only one run over seven innings. Guthrie seems to be a popular guy to have at the bottom of your rotation, but he is certainly not anyone that I am interested in. Even with his stellar outing on Monday, Guthrie is still just 4-4, and his ERA is way too close to five for my liking. He doesn't strike enough guys out (35 Ks in 60 innings) to have much value in fantasy in my opinion, and he pitches for a terrible team. Even as the last pitcher on your team, I don't know if I would have him on my roster. I think I would rather have a young pitcher with a high ceiling.

Joe Mauer owners didn't expect much out of him since he had the day off. But Mauer still performed as he had a pinch hit appearance and had yet another home run. That is 11 from him this month after connecting off of Jonathan Papelbon in the 9th inning. This power is CRAZY from Mauer, and I keep thinking he has to slow down eventually. He obviously can't keep this up, and if I owned him I would be trying to trade him for the mother load. If you couldn't get an incredible deal, I would be more than happy to hold on to him.

Gerardo Parra continues to hit well, and play well, and on Sunday the Diamondbacks had him in the leadoff spot, which only further shows how much confidence they have in their rookie outfielder. He singled in one run, and was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for his 10th RBI in 11 games since being called up. I think Parra will be around for the long term now, or at least until he goes into a prolonged cold streak, so keep him in your lineup going forward. i still think that there should be a good number of stolen bases in his future as well.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Yesterday he had a great post about the five most frustrating players to own in fantasy baseball. Go vent your frustrations on the message board.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Ok, so I am out of the bathroom tonight. I figured I should go down the Ground Round which is attached to the hotel and sit in the bar, have a few cold ones, do some writing, and watch the NBA Playoffs. So, I rolled down there about 10:05 after all were sleeping in my hotel room, and set up shop at a booth. I went up to the bar to get a beer and the bartender tells me that they close at 10 o'clock. Now, I know it is Sunday, but C'MON!!! TEN O'CLOCK at a hotel bar? Needless to say I was angry. I had thought about doing this all day long and could taste the hops and barley sliding down into my belly. So, instead I am sitting here in a room that says "Board Room" on the door with some other kid behind me no doubt playing Wizards of Warcraft at least by the looks of him. Damn it! I considered just running to the store and picking up my own six pack and heading back to my toilet, but I decided against it. So, needless to say I write to you tonight completely disappointed. Anyway, let's get to the games.

Everyone will be focusing on the bad news from the Phillies game, as Brad Lidge blew another save. But instead of dwelling on the negative, I thought we could focus on some good things that came out of the game. Cole Hamels was great again today. He pitched against an incredibly tough Yankees lineup and allowed only two runs over six innings. Hamels was torturing his owners to start the season, but now he appears to be very close to the guy we saw in the playoffs. He struck out five over those six innings, and didn't walk a batter. Hamels looks to be the fantasy ace we were hoping for when we drafted him. Also in that game, Ryan Howard stole his second base of the season, which begs the question "how the hell did that happen?" Did the catcher roll the ball to second base in his attempt to get him out?

Dontrelle Willis again looked like he might be worth owning in fantasy baseball again, even though he took the loss. He lasted 6.2 innings, allowed just three runs, and struck out four. Control was again a problem for him, as he walked four guys, but it was his offense that betrayed him on Sunday. The Tigers were only able to scrape over one run against Colorado pitching, and Willis fell to 1-1. I'm still not sure that I would be picking him up unless you had a real need for pitching and are just taking a chance, but I am starting to come around to the idea.

Neither Cliff Lee or Johnny Cueto factored into the decision today, but they both continued their strong seasons. Lee was more than decent as he allowed just three runs over six innings and struck out four, but Cueto was downright nasty again, as he gave up just two earned runs over seven innings, and fanned seven. Both guys are must starts every time out, but Cueto is the one who is on the rise. Lee will be a solid fantasy pitcher, but Cueto seems to improve almost every time out. I see a slight cold streak in the future sometime for both, but you have to put them out there.

Jason Bartlett continues his incredible season, but I really can't see him keeping this up. With his 1-4 today, Bartlett is now hitting .373 with seven homers, 30 RBI, and he has stolen 13 bases. If you look at his career highs are .309 (in 99 games in 2006), five home runs (in 2007), 43 RBI (in 2007), and 23 steals (you guessed it, 2007). Even in the minors, the most homers he ever hit was eight. So, am I crazy to say that he is due to fall on his face? I would be shopping him everywhere in an attempt to maximize this amazing start.

Brian McCann will hopefully now but this blurry vision thing behind him. Geez, between hips, blurry vision, and dizziness, we sure have had some mysterious injuries this year. But McCann might have broken out tonight as he went 3-4 and connected on homers number four and five in a game against the Blue Jays. He had been hitting well since he returned to action with the glasses, but he wasn't hitting for much power. Since May 11th he has raised his batting average 57 points, but had only hit one home run, as a McCann owner, here's to a hot streak!

Scott Richmond was good again for the Blue Jays (outside of one of the McCann taters). He only lasted five innings, but only gave up two runs, didn't walk anyone and K'd five. So after two straight terrible starts, Richmond is back on track with two solid ones. He isn't facing the stiffest competition, but how many truly great teams are there? I would hold on to Richmond longer if I had him, he has been mostly good this year.

It seems safe to assume that Joel Hanrahan is back as the Nationals closer, after two saves over the past four days. He was dreadful to start the season, but it didn't take long for Washington to realize that he was by far their best option at the position. If Hanrahan was dropped in your league and you need saves, pick him up. The save opportunities won't be frequent, but I would be willing to bet he will finish off most of them.

Shairon Martis continues to be the worst undefeated pitcher in the history of baseball. Well, maybe not the history, but in as long as I can remember. He was atrocious again today, as he allowed five runs over six innings, walked two and struck out two. Lucky for him Baltimore's pitching staff is pretty bad as well, and his offense came through for him. I would not want this guy on my team, his ERA is nearly 5.00, but I have no comeback for the five wins. I still will be surprised if he gets to ten, or twelve at the most.

Brandon McCarthy has had an up and down season, but at least for one night, he put it all together. He threw a complete game shutout against the Houston Astros, giving up nine hits and striking out six. I have no idea what to think of this. On one hand, McCarthy was once one of the brighter pitching prospects in baseball for the White Sox, but has done nothing but disappoint in his four years in the league. The other hand says, most young pitchers struggle in the beginning, maybe this is McCarthy finally figuring it out. I have to say, right now the hand that is telling me not to get too excited about this is winning the arguement. But chances are McCarthy will be picked up in most leagues within the next 24 hours on mere speculation alone. So, if you feel you have a real need for starters, I would make up my mind quickly. However, I would say unless you are dropping someone who is out and out hurting you, I would let someone else make that transaction.

Josh Hamilton continued his surge since coming back from a few different injuries with his fourth home run and tenth RBI in his last ten games. Right after coming back from a stint on the DL, Hamilton got banged up again crashing into a wall. He appears to be fine, and I urge you not to sell cheap on him. He will reward you greatly going forward, and don't forget how great he did the first four months of last season. Hamilton will rake again.

Josh Outman won again today, but it certainly wasn't pretty. He pitched into the eighth inning, allowed just one earned run, and ran his record to 2-0. The ugly part was Outman didn't strikeout a batter, and walked five! That's not good for the old WHIP! But going into the game he had walked only 13 and struck out 31 in 32 innings, so hopefully this is just one tough outing, although the D'Backs aren't exactly known for being patient hitters. Outman is certainly flying under the fantasy radar. If you look at his minor league career, it wasn't stellar, but it wasn't bad either. Does he have staying power? I'm not ready to answer that question yet, but I am going to poke around some of my deeper leagues to see if he is available.

One of my bigger disappointments in recent years, Kevin Kouzmanoff has caught a little fire lately. He has improved slightly from year to year, but he has yet to get to the level that I thought he would, not to mention he is usually dreadful to start the year. 2009 has been no exception. On May 16th, Kouz was hitting .222 with one home run. However, just eight days later, Kouzmanoff connected on his fourth of the season, and is now hitting a robust .236. OK, so the average is still horrid, but he is picking up the pace some, and is at least looking like he could challenge the 23 homers he hit last season. He hit 22 homers in 94 games in 2006 in the minors, so the power is there, but PetCo Park is certainly not helping. Unless you are in a deep league, I probably wouldn't grab him, but see how hot he stays.

Scott Baker almost went the distance tonight for the Twins, in an attempt to turnaround this nightmare of a season. Last year Baker was 11-4 with an ERA of 3.45 and was a popular pick at the end of drafts. But even with the win tonight he is still just 2-5 and his ERA is over 6.50. I think Baker is a decent guy to grab a hold of if he is out there and you are in need of some pitching. I don't think he will be as good as he was in 2008, but he is better than he started out this year. I could see him go on a little roll in the month of June and might not be a bad option. Chances are he might be available in your league.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Yesterday he had a great post about the five most frustrating players to own in fantasy baseball. Go vent your frustrations on the message board.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

I hope everybody is enjoying this Memorial Day weekend. We have come to the point in the season where a sub .200 batting average, significantly less power numbers and less playing time can no longer be chalked up to a slump. At this point you must forget all about draft position and treat players as they deserve to be treated this season. You simply cannot afford to hold out hope for guys like Geovany Soto, David Ortiz or Ricky Nolasco any longer. We have already begun to see a bunch of top tier prospects called up to bail out struggling veterans and believe me when I say more are on their way. So, put away the lawn mower, fire up the grill and let's see what players you should have your eye on to solve your roster blues.

1) David Price (LHP - Starter) -- Rays -- Is anyone not familiar with David Price at this point? There really isn't much to say about this move other than if he is still available and you haven't made your claim yet than you have bigger issues to deal with. Do not worry an ounce about Price's struggles earlier this season. He is as polished and ready as a player can be and was probably bored out of his mind in Durham this season. One point I would like to make is don't read into the timing of this callup. David Price, like Matt Wieters, Ross Detwiler and the soon to be drafted Steve Strasburg have major league contracts that they signed when drafted. These deals are not cut the same way as other draftees as far as service time and arbitration years and thus it makes little difference if they are called up in April or August. This seems to be a confusing thing to many baseball analysts and I figured that I should clear the air a bit on this. Guys like Tommy Hanson and Neftali Feliz are the ones who are sitting around because of the arbitration years issue.

2) Alcides Escobar (SS/2B) -- Brewers -- Suddenly the Brewers wealth of infielders has been whittled down due to the injuries to Rickie Weeks and JJ Hardy. Weeks is out for the season but Hardy will be OK in a few days after leaving a game due to back spasms. Escobar has started the past few games at 2B for the Nashville Sounds, without a doubt this is in order to prepare him for his promotion to Milwaukee in the very near future. Escobar is an amazing defensive SS and not be the one switching positions but whatever the case this kid will be fantasy relevant very soon. He has tremendous speed as evidenced with his 20 stolen bases already in AAA. He is a big kid who has added some muscle the past two seasons and now projects to hit 10+ HR's in the big leagues. He will likely hit toward the bottom of the Brewers order which will give him some fine RBI opportunities as well. This is one of the best middle infield fantasy prospects that you will see this season so don't drop the ball when and if you get the opportunity to add him in the next week or so.

3) Ross Detwiler (LHP - Starter) -- Nationals -- If it is not obvious that Detwiler is ready for the big leagues after his two starts this week then I have never seen a major league ready pitcher in my life. He tossed 11 innings giving up just 3 earned runs (2.45 ERA), struck out 10 batters and posting a 0.81 WHIP. Many scouts believed that Detwiler was major league ready when he was drafted in 2007. He offers four plus pitches that he can throw for strikes and command on any count. He throws a 96 MPH fastball and can go to two seamer with downward sink in ground ball situations. His curveball has a tight spin and a big late break while his changeup has become a go-to pitch for him with supreme fade on it. It is no surprise to see him doing well at this level. He is a much better prospect in my opinion than Jordan Zimmerman and will no doubt have much more fantasy upside. I don't expect him to spend any more time in the minor leagues this season or ever again.

4) Sean Rodriguez (2B/SS) -- Angels -- Rodriguez is next on the Angels list of impressive infield prospects. Brandon Wood seems to only hit in the minors, Howie Kendrick cannot get on base enough and Erick Aybar hasn't quite met previous expectations. Rodriguez is among the leaders in HR (16) and RBI (47) in all of the minor leagues. He's raised his average to .280 with a .373 OBP which should be awfully tempting to the Angels right about now. Rodriguez has also cut down on his strikeouts this year, something that has been stressed to him after his brief stint in L.A. last season. This guy can do some damage if put in the Angels lineup right now. He also has enough speed to swipe 15 bases or so in Mike Scioscia's aggressive system.

5) Yorvit Torrealba (Catcher) -- Rockies -- I've got a feeling about this guy right now and I just don't know what it is. He has proven to be a streaky hitter over his career and I just can't help but think that he'll have a nice little run while starting in place of the injured Chris Ianetta. The catcher position is a wasteland right now as far as free agent are concerned and thus why Torrealba merits a mention in this weeks Hot 8. You are going to get a full 15 days from Torrealba as Ianetta's hamstring injury will keep him out at least that amount of time. If you are waiting on either Matt Wieters to be called up or Geovany Soto to regain form then I suggest taking a shot on Torrealba because anything you can get out of your catcher is a big plus in fantasy baseball.

6) Jake Fox (Outfield) -- Cubs -- Something needs to be done about Jake Fox. What he is doing at AAA Iowa is just disgusting. I mentioned Fox earlier in the season as his power numbers began to soar very early on. I am convinced that he will eventually be a part of a trade, most likely to San Diego if Cubs ownership ever approved additional payroll needed to land Jake Peavy. But a .423/.503/.908 line with 17 HR's, 50 RBI and only 26 K's in 142 AB's cannot be ignored much longer no matter how crowded your outfield is. Fox is killing AAA right now and every day that goes bye without him being promoted (or traded!) is an embarrassment to anyone who follows baseball.

7) Dale Thayer (RHP - Reliever) -- Rays -- The impending injury/retirement of Troy Percival leaves many questions in the Rays bullpen. The guy I thought would be the closer by now, Grant Balfour has a 5.03 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP and looks nothing like his 2008 self. Enter Dale Thayer who has collected 138 minor league saves in his career and is throwing lights out this season at AAA Durham with a 0.95 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. Thayer isn't necessarily a strikeout pitcher, but he has made a living getting people out and finishing off games. The Rays are crying out for a closer to step up right now and there is a good chance that Thayer will fall into that role real soon. He already has recorded a 3 inning save in his first major league appearance so the time to acquire him is right now before the rest of the world catches on.

8) Tony Gwynn Jr. (Outfield) -- Padres -- There isn't much in his history outside of his bloodline that tells us the younger Gwynn is anything more than a marginal major league player. But, the trade to San Diego seems to have set off a mountain of momentum that I could see propelling Gwynn to his best major league season ever. He was hitting .309 with a .382 OBP in AAA this season with 15 stolen bases. Being closer to his Dad and getting everyday playing time for the franchise he grew up with is a very nice fit for a player like Gwynn. Maybe it is a sentimental pick, but anyone who knows me knows feelings never get in the way of reasonable thought. I wouldn't go out and pick up Gwynn just yet, but monitor his numbers over the next week or two. If it comes to be that he is playing everyday and getting big hits for the Padres (somebody has to, right?) then add him to your outfield. Any sort of BA or OBP along with the stolen base opportunities will make Gwynn surprisingly fantasy relevant down the stretch.

That is the Hot 8 for this week. What do you guys think? Post your comments below or email me at jeff@fantasybaseballsearch.com

Labels: david price, starting pitchers, tampa bay rays

I just want to say that this is dedication people. We are in Mystic, Connecticut for the weekend to go to the aquarium with the kids, and not only am I writing while I am on "vacation" with the family, but everyone is now asleep and in order not to wake them up, I am in the bathroom of our hotel sitting on the toilet (cover down) with the laptop on the sink, so I'm sorry if this update is crappy. Our trip did not get off to a great start, as I was almost in a car accident before I got off the road I live on. There is another street that connects to ours in the development I live in, and a car was coming off of that road at the same time I was approaching it. Figuring she would eventually stop, I didn't slow down too much. I soon noticed that she never even looked my way and continued out into my road. Complicating matters, there was another car coming the other way. Brakes slammed on, horns blared, and we avoided a collision. Thankfully for the other driver, my little kids were in the car so I couldn't tell her exactly what I thought of her driving techniques. So again, this update is coming to you from the Mystic, CT bathroom. I hope you enjoy, where else do you find this kind of dedication to you?

Kyle Lohse finally broke out of his three start slump today, as he shut down the Royals over eight innings. He had given up seventeen runs over his last three starts, after allowing just seven over his first five starts with a record of 3-0. For the season, I think Lohse will be much more good than bad, and I think he can win 14 games. He won't wow you with his strikeouts (38 in 54 innings in '09), but he's not the worst there. He is a reasonable guy to have as your fifth starter on your team, and I don't expect another horrendous streak like the one he just broke out of.

Speaking of streaky, Nelson Cruz is hot again. After starting the season with six bombs in the first 15 days of the year, Cruz only connected on one from April 22-May 20. With his two dingers today, that is now four in the last four days, along with eight RBI. Needless to say that he is the kind of player who gets crazy hot, and frustratingly cold. But once the weather gets hot in Texas, the homers should come more often. He is up to 11 now, and should challenge 35 for the year.

Brad Lidge is tearing the hearts of his fantasy owners out and spitting on them. After not blowing a save all last year with a sensational 1.95 ERA in 2008, he has now blown three and his ERA has ballooned to 9.16 after giving up three to the Yankees in the ninth inning on Saturday. He has allowed one run or more in seven of his last ten appearances, and has got to be killing some fantasy teams. I don't even know what to tell you to do with him. I don't think you can drop him, and I can't imagine his trade value is anywhere near getting something acceptable back. Try to shop him around and hope you have someone in your league who remembers last season. If not, I think you just have to suffer with him.

Dan Uggla's seasons is on the mend. Five days ago, he was batting in the .190s with four home runs. Since then he has connected on four more homers, and has driven in nine more runs, while his average is still bad at .208. But you can't turn .191 into .275 over night. Uggla will still give you the most power at the second base position, and his bad start only means that this hot streak had to be coming. Expect him to top 30 homers for the third consecutive season.

J.A. Happ was the poor pitcher who had his victory blown by Brad Lidge. In his first start of the season, Happ pitched six scoreless innings, didn't walk a batter, and whiffed four. He should have won the fifth starter's job out of Spring Training, but it was given to Chan Ho Park. He had a pretty solid minor league career, and could be a decent addition to your pitching staff. Don't drop an experienced veteran, but if you are just trying to find a guy to stick, Happ could be a nice find.

Ross Detwiler had another pretty decent start for the Nationals. He pitched six innings, allowed just one run, and struck out four. He did walk four, which is a concern, but he is throwing pretty well. He had a decent amount of hype when he came to Washington, but that has since faded. I don't think I would be picking him up just yet unless you are in an NL-only league. But he is worth keeping your eye on to see if he can continue this nice start to his career.

Clayton Richard picked up his first win this season for the White Sox in his second start of the year, and he is making a case to stay in the rotation. Richard threw six scoreless innings and struck out eight a few days after he was nearly dealt for Jake Peavy. He has been great since being added to the rotation, but I don't know how excited you should get. He had a nice minor league career, but isn't a top prospect or a guy who will get you a ton of strikeouts. Like Happ, he could help you in the right situation, but don't go getting rid of someone that is pitching well, or is capable of pitching well.

Rafael Soriano had to come in to bail out closer Mike Gonzalez again, and you have to wonder if a change might be in the works in the not so distant future. Gonzalez has blown a couple of saves, and the opportunity was given to Soriano a couple of times over the past couple of weeks, so this couldn't have helped. Gonzalez came in and got only one out before giving up a run, allowing two hits and two walks. Bobby Cox yanked him before he blew the whole game, and Soriano cleaned it up for him. Keep an eye on this situation, but if you own Gonzalez or need saves, I would consider looking at Soriano.

Mike Pelfrey continues to pitch ugly, but effective and although he didn't get the win, pitched good enough to earn it against the Red Sox on Saturday. Pelfrey allowed two runs over seven innings, and struck out six. Considering he had just 11 all season heading into today, I wouldn't expect to see those K numbers again. I own Pelfrey in two leagues, but rarely start him. He is very inconsistent, but at the end of the day he always comes out looking OK. At the end of your rotation, Pelfrey carries some value, just don't put too much stock in him.

Josh Beckett might have had a win blown by a rare hiccup by Jonathan Papelbon, but this is now four straight good ones for Beckett, and my confidence in him has returned. He had a few starts where he was not going deep into games and allowing too many runs, but tonight he allowed no earned runs over eight innings and sent five guys back to the dugout with a bat in their hands. He has had his ups and downs since coming to Boston, but it is looking like he has found his groove in 2009. Continue to start Beckett with confidence.

Welcome back, Joey Votto! After missing a handful of games with what was finally diagnosed as an ear infection, Votto came back in a big way, hitting his sixth and seventh homers of the year. The guy is a total stud, get him back in your lineups immediately.

Homer Bailey is the worst! Called up again, Bailey continues to fall on his face in the majors, as he got shelled again. Bailey allowed six runs over just 4.1 innings, and walked six guys. He will probably get one more start until Edinson Volquez returns from his back spasms, but I URGE YOU to write this guy off as a bust. Every big time prospect can't hit it big, and Bailey certainly falls into that category.

Anthony Swarzak made his major league debut for the Minnesota Twins with pretty good results. Swarzak pitched seven innings, allowed no runs, and struck out three for his first win. He is in the rotation for the injured Glen Perkins who isn't expected to be out too long. Swarzak is a middle of the road prospect, and you shouldn't get too excited over this start. But the Twins have a history of pumping out good pitching, so if you need a short-term fix, perhaps Swarzak is your guy.

Prospect News

David Price was supposed to pitch today in the minors, but was held out of his start, which nearly guarantees that he will be pitching on Monday for the Rays. The team has not confirmed it yet, but there is no other reason he would not have pitched tonight.

One of the Orioles big time pitching prospects, Chris Tillman was pulled from his start tonight after just two innings, which is fueling speculation that he will be called up to take the rotation spot of Adam Eaton. Tillman was great at AA last year with an 11-4 record, a 3.18 ERA, and 154 Ks in 135 innings. At AAA this season, he has been even better. Tillman is currently 5-0 with a 2.25 ERA and 42 Ks in 36 innings. If you are in a deep league, or AL-only, you might want to make a move hoping that this happens, other than that, watch the rumors, and those of you on the mailing list will hear about it as soon as I do. Hopefully it won't be announced while I am at the aquarium tomorrow.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Yesterday he had a great post about the five most frustrating players to own in fantasy baseball. Go vent your frustrations on the message board.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

There weren't any blown saves today and a full load of saves. The highlights of the day start with Heath Bell. Bell shakes off giving up his first run last appearance to throw a great inning tonight for his 12th save.


Fuentes continues to make batters look bad as he revisited his National League friends. He made quick work of the Dodgers clinching a 3-1 win for the Angels.

KROD was back at it and also had an easy inning revisiting with his old foes the Red Sox. He also earned a league leading 12th save. Rodriguez has clearly lived up to his draft value. If you examined his numbers and plug then in as offensive scores you could say he has 12 Hrs (saves), 20 RBI (SO), 1 win (SB), .370 Avg, (ERA), and a 28 runs (WHIP). Not bad for a 4th or 5th round draft pick.

Over in the American League Bobbie Jenks looked impressive notching his 10th save. Jenks hasn't been in the news much with the White Sox pitching struggles, but quietly he has put together 10 saves, 14 strikeouts, and an ERA under 2.50. He's having another solid season.

Frank Francisco returned from the DL and was immediately put into action and recorded his 10th save. He is the only full-time closer yet to allow an earned run. He also has a 0.75 WHIP and he is well rested. Francisco is quickly becoming one of the best closers. You may want to consider selling him high by mid to late June. Eventually the Rangers will start to lose as always.



George Sherrill nailed his 8th save of the season. A few weeks ago rumors flew that Sherill was no longer the ONLY closer the Orioles would dispatch. However, he has been and since then he has accrued 4 saves, and lowered he has lowered his ERA almost 200 points. He is clearly the closer in Baltimore, and if you cut him have more patience next time.


Last, but not least we have the Rays bullpen. Dale Thayer (pictured) was called up today and pitched 3 innings in a blow out for the save. He also got to bad in this very weird game against Ross Gload if you can believe. He has good stuff and was acquired in the Russell Branyan trade. I wouldn't look to much into this, but with the Rays bullpen issues at least take notice for now.


Other Appearances:
Joel Zumaya (1) - Zumaya saved the game after Rodney saved the last three games
Jon Rauch - Got a second save in as many days while the Diamindbacks rest the overworked Chad Qualls.
Francisco Cordero (11) - He is piling up saves and has a low ERA of 2.12. Great so far.
Mike Gonzalez (7)- He's doing well lately.

David Price is being called up by the Tampa Bay Rays when they placed Scott Kazmir on the 15-day DL due to a strained quad (read: sucking) according to cbs sports, and would be starting on Monday. I doubt this is a short-term thing, and I also doubt that Price is available in your league. If for some unbelievable reason he is, please do me a favor and grab him right away.

Jimmy Rollins continues on the road to recovery with two more hits, including his third home run and stole his sixth base of the season. After a horrendous start, Rollins appears to be back among the living. In the last ten days, Rollins has raised his average 42 points, hit two home runs, and drove in seven runs. I'm not sure he will return to the kind of stats he has had in the past, but it appears he won't completely go in the tank.

Rick Porcello won his fourth straight start, and actually hasn't had a no decision yet in 2009 which is fairly impressive. He was only able to last six innings, but only gave up one run, walked two, and struck out three. What can I say that I haven't already? He's still seven months away from turning 21 and he is already an effective major league pitcher. In keeper leagues he should be one of the hottest commodities, as it appears he will continue to pitch extremely well. You want him on your team, 'nuff said.

Nolan Reimold is starting to creep up the Orioles lineup, and he is making a little bit of an impact every day. Reimold has collected a hit in every game since being called up but one, and connected on his second homer of the season on Friday. Like I said from the start, I really like his chances of being a good major leaguer, and although he isn't lighting the world on fire, he is more than holding his own. If you are in a keeper league, think about grabbing Reimold, and if you are in a deeper or AL-only league, you definitely want him.

Rich Hill was pretty effective again in his second start for the Orioles as he continues on the road back to being an effective major league pitcher. Hill lasted just 5.2 innings, but only allowed two runs, and struck out six. Control continues to be an issue, as he walked four, but considering where he was just last year, he is making major strides. I still don't think I would advise picking him up at this time.

A.J. Burnett lost again after allowing five runs over six innings, walking just two, and striking out seven. Burnett has not collected a win since April 14th, and Yankee fans must be going crazy. Now while I wasn't a huge fan of the signing, you have to figure there is a big hot streak in Burnett's future. He has been around a .500 pitcher in non-contract years, but he has been quite disappointing. I wouldn't be selling low on Burnett, there has to be some great starts in his very near future.

Joel Zumaya picked up a save tonight for the Detroit Tigers, but according to manager Jim Leyland it was because he wanted to rest closer Fernando Rodney. He has been doing well with strikeouts (12 in 13 IP), but his ERA is 3.38 which isn't great for a relief pitcher. In deep leagues he still has some value, but in regular 12 team leagues, I would leave him in free agency unless something happens to Rodney.

Daisuke Matsuzaka returned from the disabled list to mixed results, but in fairness to him, he did face Johan Santana. Dice allowed four runs over five innings, walked two, and struck out four. I know Matuzaka frustrates a lot of his owners due to the amount of guys he walks, but you can't ignore the fact that he was won 33 games in his two years in America, and his ERA was under three last season. I seem to have more faith in him than others.

Another Japanese import, the Braves' Kenshin Kawakami had his best start in the States, and it was good timing for the Braves. He pitched eight shutout innings, didn't walk anyone and struck out seven. It isn't that he has been terrible, he just has been unable to pitch past the sixth inning, and has given up between two and four runs a start. He raised his record to 3-5, but his ERA is still 4.73. He is striking out nearly a batter an inning, so he does have value there, but he needs to pitch deeper into games like he did on Friday, and his ownership percentage will increase. I'm not saying go grab him now, but he is at least worth monitoring at this point. However, being on the Braves will limit his win potential.

Texas rookie Derek Holland had the first start of his career, and while it wasn't spectacular, he was more than effective. Holland pitched 5.2 innings and allowed three runs, all in the sixth inning. He didn't walk a batter and struck out four. Those of you in keeper leagues definitely want to consider grabbing this guy. He wasn't a high draft pick, but Holland was ranked as the second best prospect in the Rangers' organization by Baseball America coming into this season. In his three seasons in the minors, Holland was 17-7 with a 2.69 ERA and struck out 245 batters in 221 innings.

Michael Cuddyer is white hot, and I'm sure you are all wondering how long he can keep this up. His best season was 2006 when he hit 24 homers and drove in 109 runs, and he really hasn't been close to that since. He had his second consecutive four hit game on Friday, and hit for the cycle. Cuddyer now has seven homers, three triples, and has driven in 30 runs. If you are in a 12 team league he might be worth picking up, but I think that would only be if you need four our five outfielders. I think his max would be twenty homers, which only leaves him thirteen for the last four months of the year. I would only be grabbing Cuddyer if I was in a very deep league, or if I only needed him for a short period of time for an injury fill in. I don't see him keeping this pace up.

Gavin Floyd may have saved himself from many people's waiver wire with his performance today, although it might have been too late. He pitched eight shutout innings, allowed just two walks, and struck out eight. Even with this performance he is 3-4 with an ERA over 6.50, and it was his first win since April 13th. I'll say this. I don't expect him to reach his stats from 2008, but I also don't think that he will be a totally ineffective pitcher. I think he will win between 12-14 games and have an ERA around 4.50. He is an average strikeout pitcher, so he isn't anyone to go nuts about, but I wouldn't send him packing just yet.

Alexei Ramirez had two hits, including his second home run, and even threw in his seventh stolen base for good measure. One of my favorite readers, Martha, declared Alexei her most frustrating player to own, and I have to say I can't disagree with her. I keep hoping that this is the day that he starts to turn it around and hit like he did last year, but he continues to send you to the medicine cabinet for the Tums. I still say not to give up on him, he was an incredibly valuable fantasy player last year, and has shown flashes in 2009, just hasn't been consistent enough.

Marlins' pitcher Ricky Nolasco has been optioned back to AAA after his latest horrible start. He allowed eight runs to the Rays over just two innings, and his season ERA is over 9.00. The Marlins say he will only be down for a couple of starts to get him straightened out and he will be brought back up. If you have been this patient, I would suggest a little more patience and I think he will be back in the bigs before too long.

Brett Cecil was sent to the minors along with Travis Snider for the Blue Jays, and Ricky Romero was called back up. Adjust your lineup if you have those guys.

Injury News

Rich Harden was placed on the 15 day DL with a mild back strain which supposedly happened during a side session. Rich Harden on the DL??? You're kidding me! Never heard of such a thing! Two words. Uh-oh!

J.J. Hardy left the game with back spasms. No information available yet if he will miss any more than a day or two. I would think he won't play tomorrow though.

Vladimir Guerrero played a rehab game and doubled in a run. The Angels paln to activate him in time for Monday's game as a DH. Plan on getting him back in to your lineup then.

Chien-Ming Wang was activated, but to be put in the bullpen due to the fact that the Yanks had to go to their pen in the 1st inning yesterday when Joba Chamberlain was hit with a batted ball. He pitched three innings and allowed two runs, lowering his ERA to 25.00. No, seriously.

Troy Percival was put on the DL, which leaves a committee approach to closing games for the Rays. Isringhausen, Wheeler, Nelson, and Balfour all could get chances. Tough situation to call.

Also, the family and I will be taking a long weekend to Mystic, Connecticut to visit the aquarium and probably the children’s museum. Now, I plan on bringing the laptop with me, but I can’t guarantee how much I will use it. So if I am not as quick on the emails or posts, that is the reason. I will have access, but it will be more limited from Saturday morning until Monday night. Please feel free to continue to send your emails though, I will get to every one.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Yesterday he had a great post about the five most frustrating players to own in fantasy baseball. Go vent your frustrations on the message board.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Hey guys, I had a great interview with Toby Mergler at MLB.com and I thought I would share it with my readers. It was a fun interview and Toby runs a great blog over at MLB.com. Toby is also in our expert league and currently has one of the best records and is winning the east division. I take issue with rookies coming into my league and winning, but at last there is nothing I can do, but watch and wait for my shot at Mergler.

Here is the interview:

Fantasy Baseball Expert Interview: Todd Farino

Fernando Rodney started slow this year, but of late has been on fire. He has scored saves in 3 straight games and now has 8 saves on the season. He had a bit of a rocky inning tonight, but held the Rangers scoreless and secured the 4-3 win.

It doesn't get much hotter than Joe Mauer in the month of May. After missing the first month of the season with a lower back injury, the Twins' catcher has been scorching. With his grand slam and six RBI today, Mauer is now batting .417 with seven homers and a ridiculous 24 RBI in 19 games. The guy only had nine homers all of last year so you can't expect this power to continue, but he obviously will surpass his career high this season.

Edwin Jackson raised his record to 4-2 with an effective, yet unspectacular outing. He was able to pitch eight innings, allowed just three runs and whiffed seven, but he walked five guys. Jackson is off to the best start of his career, as his ERA is just 2.55 and he had only walked eleven batters before today. I still am not a believer in Jackson, unless he is a bottom or your rotation kind of guy. He is a decent pitcher, but nothing to get all that excited about.

Victor Martinez continues his torrid hitting with another two hits and three RBI. V-Mart is now hitting a nice even .400, with seven homers and 30 RBI. This is a great comeback after his injury riddled 2008, and Martinez has rejoined the ranks of the elite catchers. He is a little more help because he is also eligible at first base in most leagues. This to me isn't a sell high opportunity as Victor put up numbers similar to this in the past. Expect him to have a great full season.

Jon Lester pitched more along the lines of what his owners expected when they drafted him. He lasted 6.1 innings, allowed just one run, and struck out four. He has been the subject of many fantasy discussions as he went into tonight's game with a 2-4 record and an ERA over 6.00. Lester better both of those numbers, and he continues to strikeout at least a batter an inning. He is an excellent buy-low candidate as far as I'm concerned, as I expect him to bounce back nicely going forward.

Mark Reynolds continues to be white hot for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and is surpassing my expectations for him. After a two homer and five steal double dip on Wednesday, Reynolds followed that up with another home run and another stolen base on Thursday. He now is hitting .266 with 12 homers and ten steals. I think he has an outside shot at 30 home runs, but I don't see the stolen base numbers continuing,and I think he will hit below .250 for the season.

Max Scherzer and Andrew Miller dueled it out today and showed how much talent in young starting pitching there is. Scherzer pitched six decent innings, allowing three runs and striking out ten. Miller made it two good starts in a row, as he allowed just two runs over seven innings and struck out nine. Both are incredibly talented young arms, but both have shown incredible inconsistency. If I had to choose between them right now, I would go with Scherzer, but if Miller finally has figured it out, he would be a great guy to have as well. I would probably wait and see them both pitch again to see if they are worth picking up.

Aaron Cook threw a complete game shutout tonight for the Rockies, but I would not go getting excited or run to pick him up. His record is 3-1, but even with this shutout his ERA is still 4.68. Cook's ERA has been hovering around 4.00 over the past couple of years, and his strikeout numbers are Wang-like. To be more direct, in 2008, Cook struck out just 96 batters in 211 innings.

Not Hot

Kris Medlen made his major league debut for the Braves, and let's just be nice and say it didn't go to plan. Medlen was able to pitch only three innings, allowed five runs, and walked five. He did strikeout three, but he threw 80 pitches in just three innings. I'm sure they will give him another start, but he damn well be sure it is better than tonight.

Zack Greinke showed that he was somewhat human after all. In his "worst start of the season", Greinke allowed two earned runs, walked two, and struck out eight over just six innings. His ERA is still incredibly low 0.82, and he would have been 8-1 if the Royals had a better bullpen. Continue to start Greinke with the utmost confidence, as he continues to be the early leader for the AL Cy Young award.

Injury News

Edinson Volquez has landed on the 15-day DL with a sore back. He left his last start early, had to stop a throwing session, and then after being examined by the team doctors, was sat down for the two weeks. The team is going to call up Homer Bailey to take Volquez rotation spot, but I am so done with him. He has failed so many times in the majors I have lost count.

Joba Chamberlain was hit with a batted ball off the bat of Adam Jones and had to leave the game in the first inning. He initially stayed in the game, but after giving up two more singles he was pulled. This could very well be the Yankees just being overly cautious with their young pitcher, but I will keep an eye out for this one for you.

Johnny Damon sat today after being "sore" after crashing into the wall on Wednesday. This doesn't appear to be too serious, and should be back sometime over the weekend. Monitor this situation, as Damon has clearly outperformed what we expected to this point.

Joey Votto dizziness has been diagnosed as an ear infection that should clear up in the next couple of days. Whew! It was kind of scary to see this happen to a guy and not know what the problem is. Thankfully for Votto and his owners, it looks like he should be back in a couple days.

Jose Reyes' MRI came back and showed tendonitis in his calf. He is day-to-day, but at this point a trip to the DL is possible. I know they said he will avoid it, but I have heard that about three or four other players who then did go on the Disabled List, so I will believe it when he is back in the lineup. If you own Reyes, hold your breath, because I doubt you have a viable backup on your team. Hopefully it will just be another couple days.

Josh Hamilton is still out of the lineup today and no one is sure when he will return. He said that he would rather wait and come back full strength than push it and make himself unavailable longer. He did take batting practice, so he shouldn't be out much longer, but I doubt he plays tomorrow very strongly.

Softball Season

Well, we had game three of my softball season and it did not go to plan, and it was my second appearance at third base after five years in the outfield. My defense was far from spotless, but I think I made every play that a person just moving to third might make. I had one take a ridiculous bad hop over my shoulder, and then the very next one I was ready for the hop but it didn't come as it ran under my glove. At the plate I was 3-3 with three singles, including my second career bunt single. That all doesn't sound too bad until I tell you we lost 14-4, dropping our record to 1-2.

Also, the family and I will be taking a long weekend to Mystic, Connecticut to visit the aquarium and probably the children's museum. Now, I plan on bringing the laptop with me, but I can't guarantee how much I will use it. So if I am not as quick on the emails or posts, that is the reason. I will have access, but it will be more limited from Saturday morning until Monday night. Please feel free to continue to send your emails though, I will get to every one.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Yesterday he had a great post about the five most frustrating players to own in fantasy baseball. Go vent your frustrations on the message board.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Chris Carpenter returned to the Cardinals rotation tonight, and it looked like he never left. Carpenter was very sharp over five innings. He allowed just three hits, walked two, and struck out four. He only threw 68 pitches, but I think that can be attributed to the Cardinals not wanting him to overdo himself his first time out. They are still well in the race for the playoffs, and need Carpenter to stay healthy. If he was dropped during his injury, grab him up right away. He could always get hurt again, but he should be able to give you great stats while he is in there.

David Ortiz finally hit his first home run of the year. After 149 at-bats dating back to last September, Ortiz finally handed out a souvenir. It is an interesting question what to expect from him going forward, but I think the next week or so will tell the tale. If he continues to hit with some power, I think he could get into the high 20s for home runs. If he goes into another little funk, you might be looking at 18-21 homers for Big Papi.

Ervin Santana returned to the Angels' rotation tonight, and got pretty good results. Santana allowed just one run over 6.2 innings, walked two, and struck out three. He was a hot commodity going into drafts this season, and his owners' patience have finally been rewarded. I'm not sure if you should expect similar numbers to last year, but he still should be an effective pitcher.

Kevin Youkilis returned to the lineup for the Red Sox tonight, and he looked like he never left. He had three hits, all singles, and his average is .404. Get Youk back into your lineup ASAP and reap the rewards.

Brad Ziegler saved the game tonight for the Oakland Athletics after weeks of battling the flu and being used in a setup role. In three of his four appearances as a middle reliever Ziegler allowed runs (five total), and his ERA was near 4.00. You can either put him back into your lineup, or he also could be available in your league. Pick him back up as he appears to be back as the A's closer at least for the short-term. I still like Andrew Bailey to be the closer before too long.

Rick Ankiel was not activated from the Disabled List today, but he should be brought back sometime over the next couple of days. He definitely won't be back on Thursday either, and Tony LaRussa said that when he comes back he will be in right field instead of center. But it looks like it is just a couple of days from him returning after that horrible collision with the wall.

Adam Jones hit his first homer since returning from injury, but this should come as no surprise. Jones is one of my favorite players coming into the season, and has produced like a guy you drafted in the first five rounds. do yourself a favor and get him back into your lineups tomorrow if you haven't already.

Phil Hughes might have kept himself in the majors for a little while longer. With Chien-Ming Wang still unsure of his return, if Hughes can do what he did tonight, he might stay with the Yankees. Hughes allowed three runs over five innings, walked just one, and struck out nine. Of course, he was horrendous the last two times out, so I wouldn't go celebrating a win over the Orioles, but at least he didn't get rocked again. At worst, perhaps New York will be a little more patient with bringing back Wang.

Aaron Harang continues his resurgence, as he allowed only one run over seven innings and whiffed nine. In nine starts he has given up five runs in three of them, but the other six he has allowed two runs or less. Most of the time when he pitches well, his strikeout numbers are good too. But when he isn't, the Ks suffer as well. Continue to start Harang with confidence going forward.

Scott Kazmir was incredibly bad again, and it is time to start to worry about him. Kazmir lasted only 4.1 innings, allowed seven runs, walked four, and struck out three. His ERA now sits at 7.69 and he is 4-4 on the year. This is not what his owners were expecting when they drafted him. I am worried, but it isn't time to go selling him off for pennies on the dollar just yet. Stay patient with Kazmir until about June 10th. If he is still pitching poorly, it is time to see what you can get for him.

Mark Reynolds had himself quite the doubleheader on Wednesday. In game one, Reynolds was two for three and stole four bases. In the second game, Reynolds was just 1-5, but he connected on his tenth homer of the year. He is still incredibly inconsistent, as he is only hitting .252 but he is certainly capable of having a big game from time to time. He is a good guy to have in your utility spot, or on your bench as injury insurance.

Nolan Reimold connected on his first major league home run for the Orioles on Wednesday, and not only was it his first, but it came off of Mariano Rivera. Not too shabby for a kid's first bomb, huh? Reimold has a bright future ahead of him, and he should continue to get regular playing time. I like his prospects to contribute right away.

As soon as I got some confidence in Jorge De La Rosa, he goes out and gets hammered. De La Rosa allowed seven runs over just 3.2 innings, walked five, and struck out only one. This comes after back to back games where he struck out at least ten. If you own him, give him one more start to turn this around, but if he stinks again, then it is time to cut him loose.

After three straight good starts to open his career, Brett Cecil finally had his first bad outing for the Jays. Cecil gave up eight runs over just 4.2 innings, walked two, and struck out three. I still have high hopes for Cecil this year, so I wouldn't go jettisoning him off to free agency after this one bad start. The Red Sox are one of the most potent offensive teams in all of baseball, so it isn't a great surprise that he struggled tonight. Give him two or three more starts to see how he bounces back from this bomb.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Yesterday he had a great post about the five most frustrating players to own in fantasy baseball. Go vent your frustrations on the message board.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Dontrelle Willis was rolling again tonight for the first time in a long time.  The D-Train went 6.1 innings, allowed just one hit, walked just two, and struck out five.  Now while I think this is a great story that he worked really hard to get back to the majors, I am just not excited about this from a fantasy perspective.  I need to see a whole lot more from Dontrelle before I think about picking him up. He also seemed to grimace after throwing one of his last pitches, so hopefully that wasn't a tweak of something.

James Shields had much more of a game we have come to expect from him.  Shields pitched into the ninth but couldn't finish the game, walked just two, and struck out five.  Shields has been frustrating his fantasy owners with his inconsistent performances this season, but overall his ERA is still at 3.43.  I would like to see his strikeouts get up a little bit more, but he is still a guy that I have a good deal of confidence in.

Cole Hamels looks like he will be OK now.  After battling some elbow issues, and then a couple of freak injuries, Hamels has finally settled in and had a few uneventful starts.  He wasn't dominant, but Hamels allowed three runs over six innings, walked two and struck out seven.  He won for the second time this season, and he is looking more like the guy we saw last year now rather than the guy we saw in April.  I now feel safe with Cole.

Jason Bartlett is a good option for those of you looking for middle infield help, but I don't know how long he can stay this hot.   Obviously, he can't keep his batting average at .380, but he already has 12 steals and 22 RBI.  He is getting every day playing time for the Rays, and if he continues to play like this he could steal 30 bases.

Andy LaRoche continues to be decent, but not great, and a guy that you would definitely have in an NL-only league, or a 16+ team league.  He hit his second home run of the year tonight, and he has been consistently at least giving you a 1-4 each night.  I am starting to watch his progress, but don't think about making a move on him yet.

Shairon Martis, who I dubbed the worst 5-0 pitcher ever, somehow remained 5-0 after another shaky performance.  Martis pitched six innings, allowed five runs, walked two and struck out two.  His ERA is at 4.53, and I just don't see a reason for you to have him on your roster.  Yes he has five wins, but he's on the Nationals so you know that's not going to last.  His ERA and walks are high, but his strikeouts are low.  Stay away from him at this point.

Jair Jurrjens continues to pitch well, and is becoming one of the steals of the draft.  Jurrjens lasted seven innings, gave up just one run, walked three, and struck out eight.  His ERA for the season is still at a sparkling 1.96, but he has got to get his strikeouts up higher if he wants to take that next step.  Continue to start Jurrjens each time he starts, but I don't think it would be a horrible idea to throw his name out there on the trade block to see if you get someone who likes him more than you do.

Tim Wakefield bounced back from a couple of tough outings to get back on the right track.  He went eight innings, allowed just one run, walked two, and struck out three.  I still view Wakefield as more of a guy you pick up and drop when the matchups are right, and not a guy that you keep on your roster full time.  He will be decent most times and dominanta from time to time, but some nights that breaking ball just isn't going to work.

The Yankees continue to play really hot baseball against the Twins.  C.C. Sabathia won his third straight start, striking out seven over seven innings, Alex Rodriguez homered for the fourth game in a row, and Mark Teixeira for the fourth time in four games.  They have always owned Minnesota, so that explains some of the stats they put up over the weekend, but the Bombers are a good offensive team, and I think that you should know what to expect from these stars.

Injury news

Elijah Dukes who originally was day-to-day with that hamstring problem has now been placed on the 15-day DL.  The move was made retroactive to May 18th, which makes him out until the beginning of June.  Austin Kearns most likely stands to gain the most playing time.

Joey Votto continues to suffer from dizziness and the team has still not figured out what the problem is.  He underwent more tests today and will over the next couple days to diagnose the problem.  Bench him for the near future.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service.  I am starting a mailing list.  Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys.  Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc.  Just send me an email tofightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list.  Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it.  Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates.  Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners!  If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies.  Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights.  There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing.  I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again.  His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball.  Today he had a great post about the five most frustrating players to own in fantasy baseball.  Go vent your frustrations on the message board.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday.   The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com.  To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru.  You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show.  Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries.  A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Mark Teixeira is starting to heat up again. Teixeira had his second two homer game of the season, and has finally hit double digits in power. He has also raised his average 40 points over the last ten days. Every season Teixeira ownersgo crazy for the first six weeks to two months of the season. And every season, by the end of the year, his numbers are always there. It looks like it is about time that Tex start to hit again.

It won't go into the books, but Ricky Nolasco finally looked like the pitcher he was last year. The Marlins' game was rained out tonight, but Nolasco had gotten through 3.1 shutout innings, walked three, and struck out five. He is driving his owners completely crazy, and I have heard people wanting to let him go. Continue to keep Nolasco on your team, I still believe he will turn it around.

Rookies

Scott Richmond bounced back from two straight horrible starts and shut out the White Sox over seven innings. Not bad after being unable to get out of the second inning against the Yankees. Richmond walked just one batter and struck out seven. I was just about ready to forget about him for the year, but now he comes back into some fantasy relevance after this performance. Hold on to Richmond and see what he does next time out.

Ross Detwiler got his first major league start tonight, filling in for the injured Scott Olsen. Detwiler isn't the highest level of prospect, but he is someone that the Nationals are hoping for a contribution from in the future. He has struggled in the minors, but was really good in college. He is a good strikeout pitcher though, and that gives him some value. In his first start, he lasted five innings, allowed two runs, struck out six, but didn't walk anyone. I wouldn't go pick him up unless you are in an NL-only league, but keep an eye on his progress.

Mat Gamel finally got to start a game for the Brewers and he made the most of it, going 1-3 with a three run home run. The question with Gamel was never his bat, but his defense, and he made an error in his first game at third. It is still unclear how many at bats he will get, but I still see him playing in the upcoming interleague series.

Colby Rasmus hit his third home run of the season on Monday, as he has started to show small signs of improvement. He had also homered a few days ago in a game that got rained out, so that would be three in the last five games had that one counted. With the injury to Rick Ankiel, Rasmus has been playing everyday and making a decent showing for himself, but I don't think his major fantasy impact will come this year. The future is very bright for this kid, and it is a matter of when, more than it is a matter of if.

Kris Medlen has had his scheduled start for Tuesday pushed back until Thursday. He continues to be unavailable in Yahoo free agency as of Monday.

Injury News

Brewers 2B Rickie Weeks is out for the season with a tear in his wrist. The oft-injured second baseman is bitten by the injury bug again. Any of you who own Weeks and need help looking for a replacement, send me an email and give me a few ideas who might be available. It is rumored on CBS Sports that the Brewers might consider calling up top prospect SS Alcides Escobar and move him to second.

Carlos Delgado has been placed on the 15-day DL with a torn labrum in his hip. He will be having surgery, and there is no timetable for his return. Chase Utley, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Lowell, and now Carlos Delgado. There is a rash of torn labrums in hips going around the majors. Alex Rodriguez missed two months with his surgery, so expect Delgado to be out at least that long.

Ryan Ludwick should be returning from the disabled list when he is eligible on May 28th. He is progressing nicely from his regab, and looks to be on track for his return.

Vladimir Guerrero looks like he could be back on Memorial Day, after he is set to go on a short rehab assignment over the next couple of days. He hasn't been cleared to throw yet, so he will just be a DH upon his return. I'm sure his fantasy owners would prefer him to only bat anyway.

Starting Pitching

Clayton Kershaw bucked the trend of being nearly unstartable on the road as he shut down the Marlins today over seven innings. Kershaw allowed just one run and struck out nine as he pushed his record to 2-3 with an ERA of 4.60. That number is a little misleading because he has been bad in a few starts where he gave up nine runs in one and six in another. Other than that Kershaw has been more than I had hoped for this season, allowing one or less runs in five starts. To me is a must start against any team, as he can already shut down any team on any night. He will still have his rough patches, but Kershaw is starting to show that he is worth the hype.

Jake Peavy had one of his best outings of what has been an up and down season for him. He has been pitching well enough most nights to get the win, but since he is on the San Diego Alimony Payments he tends not to get enough run support. Not too many 3-5 pitchers have an ERA under 4.00. Today though, Peavy left none of that to chance. He went the entire nine innings, allowed just one run, and struck out nine. He might not be that top two or three option at the position, but he is still inside the top ten, and is valuable for his strikeout numbers.

Justin Masterson made what is likely to be made his last start in the Red Sox rotation for a little while, but he pretty much made the best of it. He didn't get the win, but he allowed only two runs over 6.1 innings and struck out six. He was great in all of his starts but two, and he will certainly be available for the Red Sox if they were to suffer another short term injury in the rotation.

After his "short" outing over the weekend, John Lackey will now start again on Monday, which makes him a two-start pitcher for this coming week. Lackey was ejected after just two pitches at Ian Kinsler in his first start after being on the DL. Get him activated for the start tomorrow.

After his slow start, Kevin Slowey continues to pitch very well. He had his way with the Yankees for seven innings before allowing two across in the eighth. His strikeout numbers (eight in 7.2 innings) were way better than they have been in recent starts, and his control is impeccable. In eight starts, Slowey has walked just four batters. He is your WHIPs best friend. I know he isn't the most popular pitcher in the world, but he is one of the more effective.

David Huff made his major league debut for the Cleveland Indians today with terrible results. Huff was ranked the eighth best prospect in the Indians' organization by Baseball America, but hopefully his first start is not an indication of how things will go. Huff allowed seven runs over just 3.2 innings, walked four and struck out only two. Last year in the minors he was 11-5 over two levels with an ERA around 2.00, but this season it had ballooned to 4.52. He isn't the kind of prospect I would go running out to grab, but he is worth keeping an eye on to see if he progresses.

Armando Galarraga needs to be dropped. He allowed five earned runs or more for the fourth straight starts, and today he couldn't even get out of the first inning. He gave up four hits, walked three, and didn't strike anyone out. As good as his first four starts were, his last four have been worse. He could turn it around, but I wouldn't want to have him on my roster while he is working out his troubles. In four starts his ERA went from 1.85 to 5.62. That is not easy to do.

Gavin Floyd is another pitcher that looks like he isn't worth being on your team. He won 17 games last season, but with an ERA that was pretty close to 4.00. This year it is even worse. Floyd allowed six runs or more for his third straight start, and for the fourth time this season. His ERA is now 7.71 and his WHIP is hovering close to 2.00. Again, he might get hot again and be worth a roster spot, but right now it is time to let Floyd go and pick up someone else that can help you. He is only bringing all of your stats down.

Ubaldo Jimenez was very good again, but it was the bullpen that blew it for him. Baldy allowed only one run over six innings and struck out seven. That is now three straight starts that he allowed only one run, and he has 22 Ks in the month of May. He was always supposed to be a good pitcher, and it looks like he is starting to live up to that potential. If he's available, I would evaluate my pitching staff to see if he can help you.

Luke Hochevar needs to be gone from your team. He might have lasted longer than the two innings he pitched in his first outing, but he couldn't get out of the fourth inning on Sunday. He did allow only three runs (two earned), but he walked three, and struck out only one. Until he can show any kind of consistency whatsoever, I don't see a need to keep him on your roster.

Manny Parra won his third start in a row after starting the season 0-4. He has allowed three runs or less in five straight starts, and his ERA has been cut nearly in half over those starts. He only struck out three batters in his six innings, but he had been very close to one an inning for the season. Parra is worth adding in your league if he is still available, but it is somewhat unlikely. He needs to get his 1.61 WHIP under control, but other than that, he is pretty solid.

Rich Harden continues to be less than the guy we knew last year. Even with the loss he took on Sunday his record is still 4-2, but he just isn't as dominant. Last year he was putting up zeros in bunches on scoreboards all over the National League. Today he gave up four runs over six innings. He did strikeout seven, but he also walked four. He is still a worthwhile pitcher, but his ERA is over 4.50 and his WHIP is at 1.35.

The Rest

Juan Pierre has been sensational since taking over for the suspended Manny Ramirez. In the last ten games he has 20 hits, including seven doubles, nine RBI, and five stolen bases. I have picked him up in a number of leagues, and he has been worth the addition, but you have to remember one thing, at the end of the Ramirez suspension he goes back to the bench. I would try to maximize his value and see if you can get another owner to buy into this hot streak and try trade him away for something worthwhile

Cody Ross had a grand slam, and homered for the second time this weekend. In the three days he had four hits, seven RBI to go with the two home runs. This is a very streaky hitter and one I would stay away from. He doesn't give you a very good average, but will bring you decent pop. Even with this great weekend he is still hitting just .213, so unless you are in need of some power, I would try to find another option.

Jimmy Rollins is coming around now, and his owners are perhaps coming down off the bridge. He had his third straight two-hit game, and has one hit in seven straight games. He also has a homer, four RBI, and three stolen bases over that time frame. I'm still not 100% sold that he will be what he was last year, but some of my concerns are starting to ease.

Injury News

Josh Hamilton left the game after crashing into the wall in the seventh inning. He was able to finish the inning, but left in the eighth. Hopefully he is OK, as he just came off the DL earlier this week. The fact that he didn't come right out is a good sign, chances are the Rangers were just being precautious.

Rickie Weeks left the game on Sunday and will see a specialist after experiencing pain in the wrist that he had surgically repaired in the offseaosn. Stay tuned to see what becomes of this, but it is a concern seeing that it was this wrist that cost him the final two months of the season.

Carlos Zambrano was horrible in his final rehab start, but he will be back for the Cubs on Friday versus San Diego. Zambrano allowed four runs in just 3.2 innings and walked three. I would be willing to bet he won't try to bunt for a base hit again this season.

Carlos Quentin won't be back for the White Sox until Tuesday at the earliest, and it could be later than that. Quentin has been dealing with pain in his heel that has also moved to the middle of his foot. A trip to the DL still could be a possibility, so sit him until you hear future news.

Elijah Dukes reaggravated his hamstring injury in the first inning and was removed from the game. Dukes also had a tweak of the hammy on Friday, and this one was apparently a little more severe. He has been declared day to day, so I would probably sit him tomorrow.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Go check out the blog and be sure to leave him some feedback.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Baseball has long been called a kids game. For awhile it had become nothing more than a business and a sport made up of bulging he-men with massive biceps and shrunken testicles. But now it seems the kids are back in vogue. The game is being dominated more and more by the under 30 crowd and more talented prospects are being uncovered and called up from the minors everyday. So, for this weeks Hot 8, I decided to feature some of my favorite youngsters who will make the most fantasy impact over the rest of this season. You will notice that some of these guys have already been called up while a few are still dominating the minor leagues.

1) Matt Gamel (3B/Outfield) -- Brewers -- Nobody doubts that Matt Gamel will be a very good major league hitter. He has a quick-compact swing, patience, power and an unusual ability to destroy left handed pitching which is so rare for a young left handed hitter. The only doubt about Gamel is what position he can play in the big leagues? He has committed 84 errors in two season at the hot corner. No matter how good his bat is the Brewers cannot afford that kind of defense out of him. His natural position seems to be 1B or obviously as a DH which is why I do not completely rule out a trade to an American League team. Gamel will DH against AL teams during inter-league play and will see time at both 1B and 3B during this season. If he hits the way he is capable, then he will be in the lineup. Having a Ryan Braun/Prince Fielder/Matt Gamel middle of the order would elevate the Brewers to a whole new level offensively. The upside is too great for any fantasy player to ignore Matt Gamel. Manager Ken Macha says, "He's one of our best prospects, 23 years old, so he's not going to sit on the bench." Therefore Gamel has the most fantasy potential of any prospect that has been or will be called up this season.

2) Kris Medlen (RHP - Starter) -- Braves -- Many people thought I was nuts when just a few weeks ago I said that Kris Medlen would be called up before the great Tommy Hanson. Now that Medlen has taken the rotation spot of Jo Jo Reyes it will be up to him to hold onto this opportunity for the duration of the season. That means holding off the temptation that is Tommy Hanson. Medlen doesn't have a dominating fastball but does feature a plus curve that he changes speed on. What he will need to do is be able to use his developing changeup to get major league lefties out. He used this changeup to cruise to a 5-0 record with a 1.19 ERA, 0.83 WHIP and 44 K's in 37 1/3 innings. His control is great which means that changing speeds on all of his pitches will be a must. Medlen was at one point being groomed as a late inning setup man or closer but worked his way into the rotation due to a bulldog like mentality. This guy is a big time competitor with great passion for the game and a desire to be dominant.

3) Gerardo Parra (Outfield) -- Diamondbacks -- In case you haven't noticed a change has come in Arizona. Bob Melvin was fired and replaced with a very controversial selection in A.J. Hinch. Hinch was the head of the D-Backs player development and it should be of no surprise to any of us that Arizona has been pulling players from all over their organization to try and help the disaster in the desert. Parra is a real exciting player. He makes solid contact every time he hits the ball. He has great ability to square the barrel of the bat on the ball and line hits to all fields. Parra is not a great power threat but will be around a 10-15 HR guy in the big leagues. He also has above average speed and will likely steal close to 20 bases any given year. Of all the Arizona call-ups I think Parra will be one who will stick. Chris Young has good power and speed but his lack of contact and OBP has fallen out of favor with the new system the D-Backs are moving towards. Parra offers a much more stable, usable bat and thus will see himself plenty of time in the starting lineup the rest of year.

4) Clay Buchholz (RHP - Starter) -- Red Sox -- How can Boston ignore Buchholz any longer? You can have your Brad Penny's, Tim Wakefield's and even Jon Lester's but Buchholz has the best stuff of any Red Sox pitcher not named Josh Beckett. I understand that Dice-K is coming back soon and will certainly jump right back into the starting rotation. But Buchholz is simply dominating at AAA Pawtucket with a 2-0 record, 1.03 ERA, 0.72 WHIP and 37 K's in 35 IP. This is a kid who has already threw a no-hitter in the big leagues and has just no business being in the minors. The Red Sox will make a trade shortly that will either involve Buchholz or clear the way for him to join their rotation. Either way I have no doubts that Buchholz will be a top of the rotation starter for any team in the very near future.

5) Luke Hochevar (RHP - Starter) -- Royals -- Don't worry about his miserable season debut against the A's this week. Sure it was bad and it will be interesting to see how Hochevar bounces back but I have no doubt in him making an impact this season. This is another guy with little to prove in the minor leagues and as long as the Royals are contending for the AL Central Division they will need Hochevar to round out their rotation. With Gil Meche and Zach Grienke in place to learn from I believe Hochevar will shake of some of a slow start to be a big contributor down the stretch. His two seam fastball has a natural sink which produces great ground ball/flyball ratio's and will help at times where he struggles with control. He needs to not over-throw his 12-6 curveball which he was doing at times last season.

6) Nolan Reimold (Outfield) -- Orioles -- He is too old and too talented to spend another minute on the minor leagues. Felix Pie had plenty of opportunities to show what he can do in spring training and the first 6 weeks of the season. Reimold is a great example of the new generation of power hitters working their way up. He has pure power and will do just well hitting in Camden Yards. The problem with Reimold will be making solid contact. He strikes out a lot and also gets into ruts where he let's too many mistakes go by him early in the count. He also tends to want to pull the ball too much something he will need to adjust too in the big leagues. From a fantasy prospective, Reimold should get a chance to play a lot on an Oriole team that has had little trouble scoring runs. Reimold/Jones/Markakis may be the best young outfield in the major leagues and should be together for quite awhile. If left on the big league club the rest of the season Reimold will hit 20 or so HR's. Over a full season of starts he will be an annual 30+ HR guy without a doubt.

7) Carlos Torres (RHP - Starter) -- White Sox -- The White Sox starting rotation is terrible right now. Jose Contreras asked..that is right ASKED to be sent down to the minor leagues to work on his stuff. Gavin Floyd has completely lost his '08 form already and then there is the up and down nature of John Danks and Bartolo Colon. Torres is 3-2 with a 1.85 ERA, 1.10 WHIP and 43 K's in 39 IP for a pretty bad Charlotte Knights team. He is by far and away the first option for the White Sox to help the rotation and stop some of the bleeding. I would be surprised if he is not called up within the week. What Torres does well is pitch down in the zone and not give up the longball, something that should bring positive results in Chicago's HR happy U.S. Cellular Field. His cut-fastball is major league ready for sure but he'll have to be able to command his changeup if he is to succeed in Chicago.

8) Kameron Mickolio (RHP - Reliever) -- Orioles -- Don't even bother going to take a look at Mickolio's minor league numbers this year. They are terrible so far. But, I would not be doing my job if I left off what I believe to be the best closer prospect in the minor leagues. Mickolio is as interesting of a character as he is a pitcher. He never played baseball in high school and was noticed while playing American Legion ball out in the wilderness of his native Montana. He is 6'9" and 255 lbs. and a very menacing figure out on the mound. His fastball reaches 100 MPH and has a sweeping slider that is as unpredictable as his rise through the minor leagues. Mickolio is a very high risk type of prospect as his mechanics get derailed often which leads to terrible wildness. He has been working on a changeup which at last check is still pretty bad but his "slurve" is now a decent off-speed option. If he can correct his mechanical issues soon and he can get the slurve or change to be a third option then Baltimore will bring him up. The organization is crazy about his potential and see him as the long term answer for their closer spot.

That is the Hot 8 for this week. What do you guys think? Post your comments below or email me at jeff@fantasybaseballsearch.com

May 17, 2009  JunkyardJake.Com

Juan Pierre, LA Dodgers, OF  

Since Manny Ramirez was awarded a 50 game sabbatical, and relocated to the 'Banned Substances Suspension Fun Camp' late last week, Juan Pierre has once again asserted himself as a very relevant fantasy factor. Going back to his start on May 7th, Pierre has batted .447, with 6 extra base hits and 6 stolen bases. Fantasy managers have certainly been taking notice over the past week or so, but chances are still about 50-50 that the consummate base-swiper is still available in your league. Remember, even as a 119 game part-timer last season, Pierre still managed to steal 40 bases.

Speaking of Manny Ramirez and the 'Banned Substances Suspension Fun Camp', Manny has sent his best regards and says the camp has been a great opportunity to reunite with Canseco, Bonds, Clemens, Palmeiro and the whole HGH gang. Word is, everyone is staying out of trouble, having a fabulous time, and engaging in constructive activities like playing catch with small appliances, and reenacting scenes from the 'Scorpion King' movies. See you some time in July Manny !
Available in 44% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

---

Brett Cecil, Toronto Blue Jays, SP  
Mostly out of necessity, and partly because they are silly Canadians, the Toronto Blue Jays have been shuffling their starting rotation around pretty often through the first six weeks of the season. At this point, unless he gets caught in a pitbull fighting scandal, we know Roy Halladay is going to be pitching every five days or so, and after that it's most recently been hit or miss with Scott Richmond, Robert Ray and Brian Tallet. Standing out in the midst of Blue Jays rotation ambiguity has been Brett Cecil over his first three 2009 starts, compiling 2 wins, a 1.80 ERA, a WHIP of 1.05, while notching 15 K's over 20 innings. The young lefty already has a major-league slider, which is especially rough on left-handed hitters, and he throws a decent fastball that reaches 92 MPH. If Cecil could develop a serviceable change-up to consistently keep right-handers off balance he would register especially high on the awesometer. For now, he has obviously been quite competent, and with a currently secure spot in the Jays rotation, should be a pretty good waiver addition.
Available in 68% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

---

Nick Johnson, Washington Nationals, 1B  
Over his ten year career, when Nick Johnson hasn't been busy being fat and/or injured, he's been a fairly productive player. He always has shown decent power during his abbreviated seasons, with his best output coming in his relatively injury-free campaign of 2006 when he hit 23 homeruns in 500 ABs. Probably the most impressive aspect of Johnson's game is his patience at the plate - he actually walked 110 times in 2006, and his career OBP is .397. Besides his decent power, and terrific OBP, Nick Johnson is also known to steal a few bases. Johnson actually has 25 career steals, with a season high of 10. At his current weight of 245 pounds Johnson might be able to snag a few more for you this season, because he can only be stopped with a tranquilizer dart.
Available in 55% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

---

Trevor Cahill, Oakland A's, SP  
Trevor Cahill is a talented young pitcher who primarily throws an effective assortment of 4-seam and 2-seam fastballs. He does not exactly light up the radar gun, topping out at around 92-93 MPH, but he skillfully changes speeds, locates his pitches well, and has terrific sinking action on his 2-seamer. When things are going right for Cahill, he is hoaxing batters into futile swings at balls in the dirt, or inducing them into harmless groundouts. Although sinker ballers are not usually known for their strikeout ability, Cahill was actually striking out 10 batters per 9 innings during his short minor league career. His other numbers down on the farm were not too shabby either, with 22 wins in 42 starts, a 2.68 ERA, and an impressively trifling WHIP of 1.089. The former 2nd round pick has had only two bad outings in the majors so far (4/24 and 5/17) , but he has been otherwise exceptional, going at least 5 innings and yielding 2 earned runs or less in his six other 2009 starts.
Available in 61% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

---

Other Players To Consider:


Michael Cuddyer,Minnesota Twins,OF  
Available in 66% of all CBSSportsline leagues.


Koji Uehara,Baltimore Orioles,SP  
Available in 45% of all CBSSportsline leagues.


Ben Zobrist,Tampa Bay Rays,SS  
Available in 75% of all CBSSportsline leagues.


Emmanuel Burriss,San Francisco Giants,SS  
Available in 77% of all CBSSportsline leagues.


Joel Hanrahan,Washington Nationals,RP  
Available in 75% of all CBSSportsline leagues.

---

Raul Ibanez is out of his mind. In a rain-shortened doubleheader, Ibanez was 5-8 with three more home runs, and seven RBI. This brings his season totals to 13 homers and 35 RBI. He is now more than halfway to his season total in homers from last season, and he is still hitting a ridiculous .368. I don't know how much longer this can go on, but for those of you who own them, enjoy the ride. I would still try to trade him and get a player that was drafted in the first couple of rounds if you can, but I'm not sure what you would be able to get.

Kevin Gregg couldn't get anyone out on Saturday. Gregg came into the game when it was 4-0 and next thing you know he was out of the game, and the game was tied. His ERA is now at a mind-blowing 6.06, and you wonder what the future holds. He had improved and hadn't allowed a run in his last six appearances. Carlos Marmol pitched a hitless inning in the eighth and struck out the side. This is still one of the most frustrating situations is fantasy baseball.

Alex Rodriguez hit a game-winning two run home run in the 11th inning to give the Bronx Bombers the win on Saturday. It was his only hit of the game, and he is still hitting just .154. I still think he is a week to ten days away from being the actual A-Rod, but perhaps this will give him a few days before the fans start booing him unmercifully again.

Mark Teixeira was 4-4 on Saturday, and it seems like perhaps he is ready to break out of his season beginning funk. He has raised his batting average 47 points over the last four days, and has three homers in the last seven days. Everyone knows that he is a notoriously slow starter, and this could be the start of something big. At the end of the year, the numbers always seem to be there.

Trevor Hoffman is a perfect nine for nine in save chances since coming off of the Disabled List. Even more impressive is he hasn't allowed a run, and has only surrendered three hits over that span. The past couple of seasons Hoffman hasn't been a closer that has helped your ERA, but he is certainly off to an amazing start since coming over to Milwaukee.

B.J. Upton is also finally breaking out of his slump. He has raised his average 32 points over the last four days, has homered in back to back games, and has stolen four bases in the last three games. You had to figure this was coming sooner rather than later, and I sure hope you didn't do anything crazy like drop Upton. If you did he will be haunting you in your dreams all summer long.

John Lackey made his return to the mound, but it was incredibly short lived. It wasn't that he was ineffective, he was thrown out of the game after only two pitches. Lackey's first pitch went behind Ian Kinsler, who had two homers the day before, and the second one hit Kinsler. It is a shame considering that it was Lackey's first start back off of the DL, but perhaps he won't have to wait the full five days before he gets to start again.

Andrew Miller had a fairly good start by hist standards, but the once highly touted prospect should not be picked up in your league right now. He still is walking far too many, is giving up too many runs, and doesn't go deep into games. On Saturday, Miller went just five innings, allowed two runs, walked four and struck out four. I really want him to live up to his potential, but so far he's still a long way away from that.

Rick Porcello was great again, and won his third straight start. Porcello went six, gave up one run, and struck out five. It has now been three straight starts that he has allowed one run or less, and he has 13 whiffs in those games. I think he is now worth picking up in your leagues, as it seems he has gotten over his early season struggles.

Rich Hill made his first start for his new team, and his first start in over a year, and much to my surprise he came away with the win. Hill lasted 5.2 innings, allowed just two runs, walked two, and struck out six. It was impressive on a couple of different fronts. Hill battled injury as well as an inability to throw strikes as he went from a highly thought of starter, to nearly out of baseball. he battled, rehabbed, and made his way back to the big leagues. If he is able to continue pitching this way, he could have an impact in fantasy baseball, but I need to see another good start or two before I'm ready to make that kind of claim.

Gerardo Parra is making quite the impression over his first few days in the majors. With three more hits on Saturday, Parra is now hitting .385 since his call up. He drove in three runs on Saturday and now has five on the season. He also tripled for the second straight game, but was also caught stealing for the second straight game. He obviously is making an impact on the team, and has pushed Chris Young to the bench for the time being. If Parra keeps playing like this, he could be around for a while.

Nolan Reimold had his first mult-hit game as a pro, and drove in his first run. He has struggled a little bit out of the box, going 3-13, but I still have high hopes for him as soon this season.

Injury News

Chris Carpenter looks like he will return to the rotation instead of throwing another bullpen session. After his latest bullpen session yesterday, Carpenter said he was ready to come back. He threw over 100 pitches on Friday, and felt good. He is now being considered for a start on either Tuesday or Wednesday.

Frank Francisco is going on the 15-day DL with the biceps tendonitis. Apparently he threw a bullpen session in which he said he felt no pain, but he wasn't right either. It seems that the Rangers are just being overly cautious with their star closer, and will sit him down for a little while longer. The move was made retroactive to May 7th, so he is able to come back on Friday. C.J. Wilson will hold down the closer's duties until then.

Kevin Youkilis will start a rehab assigment on Monday, and if all goes well with him and his oblique strain, he could be back with the Red Sox when he is eligible on Wednesday. For those of you in weekly leagues, I would probably sit him down for one more week.

Daisuke Matsuzaka made his third rehab appearance and could be back with the Red Sox next week. In his third start, Dice allowed two runs on three hits over five innings, while striking out nine. If he pitches on regular rest, he could be back on the mound for Boston on Friday. Keep tabs on this situation if you own him.

Magglio Ordonez is taking a personal leave and will be out for a few games. He is going to play in Sunday's contest, but then won't be back with the team until Thursday. It is unsure whether or not that he will be back in time for the game on Thursday, which is an afternoon game. This is some unspecified personal matter, but he should be back on Friday at the latest.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Go check out the blog and be sure to leave him some feedback.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

B.J. Upton is starting to look like he is turning it around. Tonight was his second multi-hit game in his last three contests. He has also stolen four bases in the last two games. He also hit his first home run of the season, and it just so happens to have won the game. Upton is an elite talent, and although he got off to a really slow start, remain patient with him, there's no reason that he should be hitting under .200. Look for a prolonged hot streak in his near future.

Brad Hawpe is on freakin' fire! With two more hits he has 17 hits in his last ten games, with three homers and 13 RBI. There's no way this can lsat. He's hitting nearly 100 points over his career average, and is about a third of the way to his RBI total from ALL of last season. Sell high, or don't be surprised when this hot streak comes to a halt.

Jorge De La Rosa is quietly having a great year for the Rockies. He didn't get the win on Friday, but he allowed only one run over seven innings, didn't walk anyone, and struck out ten. It was his second straight outing in which he struck out at least ten, and he has only allowed more than three runs once all season and that was his first outing. He has had similar strikeout numbers in the past, but his ERA has always been hovering around five, so I don't know how long we can expect it to stay at the 3.16 level that it currently is at.

Brett Anderson has really struggled in his rookie year, and Friday was no different. He is now 0-4 as he allowed nine runs (only three earned), over 3.1 innings, walked two, and struck out just one. His ERA is now at 6.03 for the season, and he has to start pitching better if he wants to remain in the majors. I would still give him another start or two before I would think about cutting him loose.

Francisco Liriano had a win blown for him by the bullpen, but it is encouraging that he was pretty good again. He had some trouble with control (six walks), but he still only allowed one earned run over six innings, with six strikeouts. It was a nice bounce back after allowing five earned runs his last time out.

Phil Hughes was better, but still not good. Hughes lasted just five innings, allowed three runs, walked four, and struck out two. The way he has pitched I would bet that the minute that Chien-Ming Wang is able to get back on the mound for the Yankees, Hughes will be back in the minors.

Brett Cecil was pretty good again for the Blue Jays, and he is now 2-0. Cecil allowed three runs over six innings, walked two, and struck out three. This is a guy that I like to keep this up for the season. Not quite at the level that he is out right now, but he should be a quality pitcher. Cecil has allowed just four runs in his first three starts.

Gerardo Parra followed up his MLB debut in which he homered, with an RBI triple in his second game. Parra was batting second again, and hasn't struck out in his two games. He is also being aggressive on the base paths, although he was caught stealing tonight. There have been some questions whether he was ready to be brought up to the majors, but so far he looks pretty good.

Scott Kazmir just hasn't been the same this year. Tonight was the fourth time this year he allowed six runs or more, and his ERA is now just under 7.00. His strikeouts are down, his walks are up, and his WHIP is 1.66. I think he will still be OK, and there should be a rebound coming in his near future. He has his issues (walks, inability to go deep into games), but Kazmir is a quality pitcher and should be just fine in the long run.

It won't count because the game was postponed, but Cards' rookie Colby Rasmus would have homered for the second straight game. With the injuries the Cardinals are dealing with, Rasmus is now getting much more playing time. The kid has a ton of talent in both the speed and power categories. Perhaps this is the start of Rasmus displaying that potential.

For those of you who get a chance to listen to the Tuesday edition of the Fantasy Baseball Tonight podcast, you know that my cohost Jeff Mans has been touting Atlanta's OTHER hot pitching prospect, Kris Medlen, saying that he thought he had a chance to get the call BEFORE Tommy Hanson. Well, today Jeff proved to be correct, as Medlen was called up to take the roster spot of Jo-Jo Reyes. Medlen is having a tremendous season at AAA, as he is 5-0 with a sparkling 0.96 ERA. He has allowed just 19 hits and struck out 44 batters in 37 innings. This is a pretty big callup for the Braves, and you might want to think about adding him to your roster. I don't think that this is short term (unless he really struggles of course). Remember with all young pitchers there is usually bumps in the road, but Medlen is a good one and probably worth a risk. On a scouting report with categories ranked from 1-100, Medlen ranked: Control: 98; K-Rating: 99; Efficiency: 99. He will start Tuesday against Colorado.

I just noticed today for any of you who are in keeper leagues on CBS Sports that Stephen Strasburg has been added to your free agent pool. I don't even know if he's going to come up this year, but my guess he will at least get a short look. Unless the Nationals are unable to sign him in time, which they should be able to. You have to know what his demands are going to be before they draft him. But I am assuming he will have some sort of clause in his contract that he has to be brought up to the majors in 2009. For those of you with large benches or just want to have the next big thing, Strasburg is now available.

Brad Lidge gave up two more runs and blew another save. I still think that the Phillies will give him a bit of a longer leash, but they can't just keep letting him go out there giving up runs. It was his second blown save of the season, but his ERA now sits at 9.19.

David Ortiz has been benched for the Red Sox. Terry Francona has said that Big Papi could be out a few days. Rocco Baldelli took over at DH. He is batting .208 and hasn't hit a home run since last September. I would say get him out of your lineup at least for tomorrow. After that, who knows when he will be back.

Brandon Morrow has been removed as Mariners closer. He blew two straight saves. The mariners will now go by a committee approach led by David Aardsma. I'm not sure how long this will last because I think Morrow has the most talent, but he has struggled badly. Tough situation to predict the future for, but for right now, Morrow won't be closing games.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Go check out the blog and be sure to leave him some feedback.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Cole Hamels pitched well again, and perhaps now he has put those nagging injuries behind him. Hamels allowed just one earned run over seven innings, walked just one, and struck out nine. Even when he was getting hurt (sprained ankle, getting hit by the batted ball), he was still pitching well at the time of the injury, so I expected him to do well when he was healthy. Hamels looks like he is back to the elite level, but you always have that injury concern in the back of your mind.

Brad Lidge is not the same guy we saw in 2008. After his appearance today, he has now allowed one earned run or more in five straight times to the mound. He never allowed runs in more than two consecutive appearances last season. His ERA now sits at 8.59, and he is not striking guys out nearly as much as he did last year. He could be a sell before it's too late candidate. I'm not sure what kind of year he is going to have.

Justin Verlander continues to shine. Not only did he allow just two earned runs in 6.1 innings, but he struck out 13 Twins against just three walks. That is now three straight starts that he struck out over 10 hitters, and the one before that he racked up nine Ks. After an atrocious start, he has his ERA almost down to 4.00, and it looks like the dominant Verlander is back in business.

Matt Harrison threw his second consecutive complete game on Thursday, although this one wasn't a shutout. He had an OK, but not spectacular minor league career, so I don't know how long this will last. He is worth picking up while he's hot, but don't drop anyone too good. I think this thrill ride will be over soon.

Has Wandy Rodriguez actually become ownable? He hasn't allowed more than three runs in any start this year, and his ERA is under 2.00. He has also struck out 48 batters in just 52 innings. He has had flashes of this in other years before, but this is the longest he has ever gone this well. I would try to add Wandy if you need a pitcher, but he also has had some injury trouble over his career, so watch out for that as well.

Ervin Santana returned to the Angels' rotation tonight, and considering how long he was out, he didn't pitch half bad. Santana allowed three runs over five innings against the Red Sox. He also walked three and struck out five. I had my doubts about Santana being able to repeat last year's numbers before he was injured, but it is good to see him back. I was expecting much worse, figuring without a Spring Training he would be fairly rusty and his arm strength might not be there. I'm sure he would like the results to be better, but they could have been worse.

Is Scott Baker going to come back to the form from last year? He has given up four or more runs in all of his starts except for one this season, and his WHIP is up more than a little from last year as well. His strikeouts have remained at about the same level, which is nice, but his ERA is near 7.00 and that is unacceptable. I don't think you can start him right now, and he is in danger of getting to that 'time to drop' level.

Mat Gamel came in the game tonight as a pinch hitter and struck out. Outside of the upcoming interleague play, I think he will struggle for any sort of regular playing time.

Prince Fielder is fully hot right now. He connected on homer number eight tonight, giving him three in the last three days, and he has driven in 14 runs in the last ten games. For those of you who were worried about him and his production, it appears he is back on the right track.

Julio Lugo was 5-6 on Thursday, but he has struggled some since returning from injury. Lugo is the kind of player who will give you 8-10 homers and 15 or so steals, but isn't a great fantasy player. He is OK if you have a middle infield option, but better served as insurance on your bench.

Injury News

Jose Reyes was not in the lineup tonight due to a tight calf. I think he could have played, but after a long flight they figured it was better to give him a day off. Put him back in your lineup tomorrow.

Erik Bedard is likely to miss his start on Saturday due to a tight right hamstring. This decision is not even final yet, so it doesn't seem like this is anything serious at all. But given the injury history of Bedard, you have to be slightly nervous. If I hear the final decision tomorrow I will elt you know.

Tim Redding is going to join the Mets rotation will start this coming Monday against the Dodgers. I don't see him having any fantasy value this year, so just leave him alone. Even though he is a two start pitcher.

Troy Tulowitzki says that he will be back in there for Colorado on Friday, two days after being hit in the elbow on Wednesday. Tulo apparently lost feeling in his fingers, but had it back by Thursday morning. He was just kept out of the lineup as a precaution, but is expected back tomorrow.

Derek Jeter is back in the lineup tonight for the New York Yankees. He was 1-5 with an RBI single.

Dustin Pedroia returned to the Red Sox lineup today and went 4-5 with two doubles and an RBI. If you didn't already, get the AL MVP back in your lineup for tomorrow.

Labels: Brandon Morrow, closers, mariners, seattle

Labels: Carlos marmol, cubs, kevin gregg

Catchers

Geovany Soto finally was able to hit his first home run of the year. His owners have been cursing his name between his injury and just general struggles that he has had. I still have faith in Soto, even with his .193 average. The guy hopefully will get going now that he got that first home run out of the way. Keep the faith, it will pay off.

Chris Iannetta hit his second grand slam of the week, and is now looking like the quality catcher I thought he would be when the season started. He got off to a real tough start, but is now sitting on seven homers and 16 RBI. His average is still in the .210s, but it was .174 a week ago. Iannetta should get in the 20-25 homer range in 2009. He is one of the up and coming young catchers in the league.

Pitchers

Shairon Martis is 5-0, but I don’t know how. His ERA is 4.10, and he has 17 walks against just 21 strikeouts. He might be the worst 5-0 pitcher of all time. That being said, there is some fantasy value to a guy with five wins, let’s just not be surprised if he doesn’t keep this up.

Dontrelle Willis returned to the Tigers’ rotation, and given what he has been through lately, it wasn’t all that bad. Willis threw 87 pitches over 4.2 innings, allowed four earned runs, walked two and struck out nobody. I am still a very, very long way from advising picking him up, but it is nice to see him back on the mound.

Barry Zito wasn’t great, but he still has stayed away from being the embarrassment he was the last few years. Zito allowed four runs over 6.1 innings, walked three, and struck out five. I am still not buying in on him, but as a guy you add and drop by matchups, he could help you some.

Ross Ohlendorff was effective tonight against the Cardinals, improving his record to 4-3 on the season. Ohlendorff pitched six solid innings, allowed just one run, didn’t walk anyone, and struck out five. Of all of the Pirates pitchers, I have the most faith in him long term, but if you’ve read my recent stuff about Pirates’ pitchers, that isn’t exactly saying much.

Prospects

OK, folks the kids are coming up tonight, and this one I’m more excited about. With injuries to Adam Jones, Luke Scott, and Felix Pie’s generally suckiness, the Orioles have called up Nolan Reimold. He could be an injury fill in, but I also think he could take over left field for Lou Montanez. Reimold is the real deal. In 31 games at AAA he is hitting a ridiculous .394 with nine homers and 27 RBI. This could be short term, but I don’t think so. Last year in the minors he hit 25 homers in 139 games.

Arizona has called up one of their top prospects in Gerardo Parra, and he is in the lineup in centerfield tonight. He was ranked as Arizona’s #2 prospect in their organization by Baseball America. I’m not sure how much of a long term move this is, but the D’Backs have been benching Chris Young here and there throughout the last week or so. Parra is more of a speed than power guy, as he has 30 steals written all over him. Like I said, he is playing tonight, is batting second and even hit a homer in his first major league at bat. In 29 games at AA, Parra is batting .361 with three homers and 12 RBI with 7 steals. i’ve read some things questioning how ready he is for the majors, but apparently we are going to find out.

This is more of a rumor, but Brewers’ 3B Mat Gamel is supposed to be called up tomorrow. Now, he has extreme talent, and is doing quite well at AAA, I’m just not sure where he gets his ABs from. In AAA, in 33 games Gamel is batting .336 with 8 homers and 31 RBI. With Bill Hall still at third (for what reason, I’m not sure), I just hope Gamel isn’t being brought up to sit the bench. In keeper leagues, you should think about grabbing him.

The Marlins brought up Chris Coghlan and I thought he was goig to play third. But Emilio Bonifacio has started hitting a little again, and now it seems Coghlan might end up in left. Wherever he lands, it appears he is going to play, and he hit his first career home run tonight, and drove in his first three runs. Coghlan is now hitting .250 in his young career, but he is a guy who consistently hit around .300 in the minors and he has 15 homer and 30 steal capabilities.

Injury News (Bad)

Carl Crawford left the game tonight with a bruised shoulder that he injured trying to make a diving catch. He is, of course, listed as day-to-day. Hopefully this injury is not serious and he will be able to get back in the lineup ASAP.

Adam Jones also left the game with a strained hammy. I guess he injured something on Tuesday running the bases, and then appeared to aggravate it tonight. Keep an eye on this situation, and hopefully it won’t keep him out very long at all, as Jones is enjoying a breakout season.

Troy Tulowitzki was hit in the wrist/forearm with a pitch tonight and left the game immediately. I have been unable to find any further details, but apparently it didn’t look good. Given his recent track record of health (or lack thereof) this is not encouraging news.

Ryan Ludwick ended up landing on the DL with that strained hamstring. Keep him stashed away until he is ready to return, he is hitting the way we hoped he would coming into 2009.

Injury News (Good)

John Lackey will make his return to the Angels’ rotation on Saturday instead of Friday like originally reported. Who cares? We’ve been waiting six weeks, we can wait one more day. Get Lackey activated in time for his start. It is against the Rangers and Vicente Padilla, but I think he can be effective from the beginning.

Ervin Santana will return for Los Angeles of Anaheim on Thursday against the Red Sox. Then Angels must be doing dances of joy as they are watching their starting rotation come back to form. Get Santana activated if there’s still time before you read this.

Chien-Ming Wang is going to throw another rehab start after his six shutout inning performance on Tuesday in which he struck out six. He looks like he could be back before the end of the month, which is great considering the number of runs that Phil Hughes has been giving up.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Attention League Commissioners! If you are looking to spice up your league some, go and visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the beer league trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing. I invite you to take a look at the site and try them out.

I’m also going to start mentioning the Fantasy Windup with Steve Gardner over at the USA Today again. His blog is updated many times each day, and is always covering the stories you are talking about when it comes to fantasy baseball. Go check out the blog and be sure to leave him some feedback.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Labels: boston red sox, Jon Lester, Sabermetrics

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Adam Jones will be a star. He is progressing even faster than I thought. With his two hit game tonight, Jones is still hitting .363. Oh, did I mention both of those hits left the ballpark? Jones now has eight home runs, after only having nine all of last season. His average obviously has to come down, but the power is legit, and he should improve on his stolen bases (three so far). It will cost you dearly at this point in a trade, but maybe you can trade a guy who has a better name for him and dupe his poor owner.

First Dexter Fowler, next Carl Crawford, now Jayson Werth stole bases in bunches. Werth stole four bags tonight, including one of home plate, to bring his season total to seven. After getting off to a terrible start, Werth has gotten back on track, and that 20/20 season he had in 2008 no longer looks like a fluke.

Rich Harden is still winning games, but he hasn't been nearly the pitcher he was last season. He improved to 4-1, but his ERA is at 4.54, and his strikeouts have been down his last three or four starts. I am assuming he is all right, but he hasn't been the same dominant pitcher he was in 2008. I know Harden owners don't even want me to say this, but it is a situation worth monitoring.

Josh Hamilton triumphantly returned to the lineup for the Rangers tonight, and promptly parked his third homer in the seats. It was his only hit of the night, and he did strike out twice, but it is good to see Hamilton back on the field. Get him back in immediately into your lineups.

Ian Stewart broke out of a wicked slump in a big way on Tuesday. Stewart hit his fifth and sixth homers of the year, after having only two hits in his last ten games. The Rockies are moving him all over to keep his bat in the lineup, but he will need to do more of this to get increased playing time.

Ubaldo Jimenez got his third win of the season, and he is starting to look more like the player we were expecting him to be when the year started. Tonight, Jimenez went seven innings, allowed just one run, didn't walk anybody, and struck out four. Over his last three starts, he has now allowed just five runs, and struck out 15 against just three walks. If Baldy can get his control where it needs to be, this could be a guy that you can count on to keep on your roster.

Luke Hochevar looked worse in his 2009 debut than he did at almost any time during 2008. Hochevar survived just two innings, allowed eight runs, walked two and struck out just one. It is hard to say why he can be so effective in the minors and then can't get anyone out in the majors, but that seems to be the case so far. If he earns himself another start, I still wouldn't hold on to him for it.

Armando Galarraga was bad again on Tuesday. After getting off to an incredible start, Galarraga gave up five runs for the third straight start, walked four and struck out four over 5.2 innings pitched. Thinking of dropping him? Well, after allowing just five runs in his first four starts, Galarraga has now allowed sixteen runs in his last three. And while he struck out 24 batters in his first four starts, he has fanned just nine in his last three. He was pretty good last year and the Tigers are playing improved baseball, but with the way he has pitched lately and the fact he doesn't strikeout a ton of guys, I can see letting him go.

Injury News

Kevin Youkilis was FINALLY placed on the Disabled List by the Red Sox, but the move was made retroactive to May 5th. This means that Youk will be able to retun in just eight days. Seeing that the Sox were talking like he could have played tonight, my guess is he will be ready to go when his fifteen days are up.

Carlos Zambrano is looking at starting a rehab assignment this weekend, and is eyeing May 22 as the date he will return to the Cubs. He is out with a strained hammy that he got running the bases trying to leg out a bunt. Hopefully he won't be as careless upon his return.

Chris Carpenter threw out of the bullpen today and it was positive. Carpenter is due to throw again on Friday, and if that is good as well, he could return to the Cardinals within two weeks. Even though his team is doing well, the Cardinals desperately need Carpenter to come back healthy soon.

Lastings Milledge broke his finger in the minor leagues and needed pins inserted into that finger. There has been no timetable given for his return. If you are holding on to him hoping he will be back soon, this might be the news that sways you to drop him.

Derek Jeter didn't play tonight due to a sore oblique and Hideki Matsui left the game tonight with a sore hamstring. Both players are listed as day-to-day for the injury ravaged Yankees. Get both guys out until you see that they are back in the lineup.

It was announced tonight that Scott Downs, not B.J. Ryan will be the Jays' closer when Ryan is eligible to come off the DL, perhaps this weekend. I would say that this could be a permanent move, and it should be safe to let B.J. go. I have a feeling that if you let him go, no one in your league will be dying to get him, and he should sit in free agency for a while if you see he is getting his job back.

Frank Francisco has some biceps tendonitis and will miss at least a few games. Rangers' GM Jon Daniels said that they can't rule out a trip to the DL for Francisco. I would think that C.J. Wilson would get the first chance at save opportunities.

Ryan Ludwick left the game with a strained hamstring and he will likely miss a few games. The Cardinals aren't exactly the most forthcoming with injury information, so I would plan on sitting Ludwick tomorrow, and hopefully more information will come out then.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with “Mailing List” in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

Jhonny Peralta had his second consecutive three hit game and now has ten hits in his last five games. Peralta now has his average up to .246, and is getting closer to where we expected him to be. Obviously, we would love to see him show more power, but I believe that will come in the near future. I've gotten a lot of emails about him being available in a good deal of leagues. I would try to find a spot for him on my roster if I needed any help at shortstop, or even just a bench spot for him to sit in until he is totally back.

Adam Rosales is really starting to come into his own. After struggling a little bit when he was called up, Rosales has started to hit over the last four days. He has three hits tonight, and is just a triple away from the cycle. Rosales is making impressive contact, and didn't miss his second home run of the night by much. In a perfect season, he could get up to 20 home runs, but more likely to fall in the 15-17 range. He could also get over 10 steals as well.

Gavin Floyd has had a rough last four starts, including his worst start of the season tonight. Floyd only went five innings and gave up a whopping eight runs. He also walked three and struck out three. He has now given up 22 runs in his last four starts, and his strikeouts have been dropping. I still think it is a bit too soon to give up on Floyd, but he is definitely now worth a closer look to see if he belongs on your roster.

Omir Santos has been playing great since being called up by the Mets due to their injury troubles at catcher. On Monday, Santos had just one hit, but drove in two more runs. In his 17 games he is hitting .302, with just one home run, but ten runs batted in. He actually never showed any real power in the minors, and his batting average wasn't even that great, but in the short term he is doing well. I can't recommend adding him, but keep an eye on him to see if this success can continue.

Jose Contreras has been sent down to the minors, although with his 0-5 record and his 8.16 ERA, I'm not sure how many fantasy teams he was on at this point. Jimmy Gobble has been called up to replace him, and I'm not sure how exciting that news is either.

According to reports, Bobby Cox flip flopped his closer Mike Gonzalez with eighth inning man Rafael Soriano because of matchups. The Phillies had three lefties due to come up in that inning. Although looking at his stats, it doesn't make much sense. Gonzalez has a 7.36 ERA against left handed batters. Either way, it looks like Gonzalez is still the man in the ninth inning.

Injury News

Josh Hamilton is ready to come off of the Disabled List on Tuesday. In a two game rehab assignment, Hamilton was 2-5 with a double and three walks. It appears to be safe to get him back into your lineup on Tuesday. If you are very conservative you can wait one more day, but it doesn't appear necessary. I plugged him into my lineup in a weekly league where I own him.

Dustin Pedroia looks like he will be back in the lineup for the Red Sox on Wednesday and will only miss the one game. Manager Terry Francona has called it "very realistic" that he would be back in there in the second game against the Angels in Anaheim, but nothing is set in stone.

Travis Hafner looks like he will need a rehab assignment after all, but the good news is he could start that soon. Hafner had been hoping to come off the disabled list when he was eligible on Thursday, but that isn't going to happen. It certainly appears his return isn't that far off though.

Chris Carpenter is due to throw off a mound twice next week, and after the second one on Friday it will be determined his next course of action. After that he could have to continue on the bullpen mound, go on a minor league rehab assignment, or it is possible that he would be able to return after that. The original projection for Carpenter's injury was four to eight weeks, it has been just under four weeks to this point.

New Feature

For those of you who are regular readers, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list. Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. Just send me an email to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com with "Mailing List" in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Then, whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

Although it is my assumption that the majority of people who read this site are men, I have to start tonight by talking about the important people in our lives.....the women. A Happy Mother's Day goes out to all of the moms out there. A very special one goes out to Martha and Jennifer, who are regular readers, they are both great examples of what mothers should be. To the rest of the women who have contacted me, sorry I don't know you well enough to know if you have children. And to all the guys, I hope you took good care of your moms and wives today because they deserve it putting up with us all the time. But, of course, there is my mother. Sure she nags, still tells me to dress warm enough, and makes sure I'm eating right. But I could not love her anymore. My mom has been everything I could have ever asked for, and so much more. She has always been there for me, regardless of the situation, and I could never thank her enough for all of the love and support she has given me throughout my life. Happy Mother's Day Mom, you are the best! And finally, to my wife, who is the force behind our two girls. Sure, I'm here and I'm involved, but these kids would be a mess if I was in charge. She is the rock of the family, and carries the perfect balance of love and discipline that will one day make our girls the fantastic people that they will someday be. She always knows exactly what is needed, and exactly what to do.

Tigers' rookie Rick Porcello had his second straight solid outing, making it possible that he could make an impact at just age 20. After hurling seven shutout innings his last time out, Porcello allowed just one run over five innings, and struck out five. You would like to see him get his strikeouts a little higher, but that's not who he is. He's not going to whiff 200 guys. But his walks are under control, and he should get his ERA down. In his first month in the majors, Porcello has been exactly what most young pitchers are, some good, some bad.

Brett Cecil had his second consecutive very impressive outing for the Blue Jays, and he has me very interested. He allowed just one earned run over six innings the first time out, and today he threw eight shutout innings. Cecil only walked two and struck out six, giving him twelve strikeouts in his first 14 professional innings. The Jays keep hitting and keep winning, and I've picked him up in a couple leagues. Cecil did struggle at AAA in 2008 in his six starts there, but other than that his minor league career was pretty good.

Top prospect Luke Hochevar has been recalled by the Kansas City Royals to take the rotation spot of Sidney Ponson. In six starts in AAA this year, Hochevar was 5-0 with a 0.90 ERA and he had 30 strikeouts in 40 innings. He isn't a huge strikeout pitcher but gets his share. He really struggled last season when he was with the major league team, so things aren't guaranteed to be good. In 22 starts in 2008, Hochevar was 6-12 with a 5.51 ERA. He has a ton of talent, but who knows what to expect.

Ryan Franklin finally allowed a run as the closer for the Cardinals, and it came with his first blown save. The bad part was how he blew it. First he gave up a homer to slugger Jerry Hairston Jr. whose career high in homers in a season is eight (in 2001). He then gave up the game tying home run to Micah Owings who is a PITCHER pinch hitting. Granted, Owings is one of the better hitting pitchers, but he is still a pitcher. Way to go Franklin. Lucky for him, the Cards offense is hitting on all cylinders this year, and he was able to still pick up the win. Hopefully this isn't the start of a trend for Franklin, who wasn't exactly effective when given the closer's role last year.

If it is possible, Albert Pujols has taken his game to another level in 2009. Not only is he hitting .330, not only does he have 12 homers and 33 RBI, but Pujols now has five steals on the season. He is a very smart base runner. If he sees the pitcher isn't paying attention, he will take off. He did steal 16 bases back in 2004, and if he can get back to that level again, he could be the number one player in fantasy this season.

Livan Hernandez has been a very effective fifth starter for the Mets, and is getting close to a decent option in deeper leagues. His ERA is over 5.00, but he hasn't allowed more than three runs in his last three times out. He also struck out five over his six innings on Sunday. He's old and doesn't have dynamite stats, but this season he is at least worth a spot start against bad teams. He won't wow you, but he can help you out here and there.

Pudge Rodriguez is another member of the ranks of the geriatric who might be able to help you out. Pudge was 4-4 on Sunday with his fourth homer of the year. He is now batting .273 on the season, and has driven in 14 runs. He has been inconsistent this season, and at this point would best be served to you as a injury replacement, or if you are someone who is just rotating hot catchers. I wouldn't want him to be my long term, everyday answer behind the dish.

Rickie Weeks continues to do two things he has struggled with his entire career, staying consistent and staying healthy. The healthy part is easy to see, but this is a guy whose lifetime batting average is just .247. He has it up to .277 right now, and connected on his seventh homer of the year on Sunday. He was a very highly touted prospect, and if he can continue to stay on the field should surpass his career high of sixteen roundtrippers. I'm still not buying however, and I feel he is a perfect sell high candidate.

Eric Byrnes has been all or nothing this season, and unfortunately, most of the time it has been nothing. He is on a nice little tear this weekend though, with two hits in each game, a home run, and four RBI. Even with this nice streak, Byrnes is still hitting just .190 and has only five steals. He seems light years away from that 50 stolen base season, but it was only in 2007. Can he come back? Not sure, but I'm not betting on it right now.

Rafael Soriano closed the game out for the Braves tonight, while Mike Gonzalez pitched the eighth inning. I have yet to find any solid information for why Manager Bobby Cox made this switch, but if you are a Gonzalez owner, I would be concerned. He had been pitching well, so it isn't because of ineffectiveness. It isn't because of fatigue, or Gonzalez wouldn't have pitched the eighth inning. As soon as information becomes available, I will pass it along.

Cameron Maybin has been sent back to the minors, mercifully stopping this miserable season he is having. Maybin was hitting just .202 on the year, and had way more strikeouts (31) than hits (17). He should be a star someday, but it clearly isn't right now.

Injury News

Joakim Soria has been placed on the 15-day DL with lingering soreness in his shoulder. No idea was given for how long Soria would be out, but it will be at least the two weeks. Juan Cruz will be closing while Soria is out.

Joey Votto came in to pinch hit today against the Cardinals after missing three games with the flu. He was out of the starting lineup, but came in the game in the seventh inning and hit a pinch hit home run. I've read that he is due to be in the starting lineup on Monday, so get him back in there.

Dustin Pedroia left the game on Sunday with a strained right groin. It is too soon to know if he will miss any time, but the Red Sox are off on Monday, so he gets an extra day of rest. Hopefully, this was just a precaution.

Luke Scott left the game with some sort of shoulder injury. It was reported that he hurt it running the bases. He is scheduled to have an MRI on Monday to diagnose the extent of the injury. If he will miss any great length of time, you might as well let him go unless you are in a deeper league.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's out there. Guys, please take care of the women in your life. Visit your Mom today, give your Wife some much needed rest and show them all how much you appreciate all they do. One day is not nearly enough for all these ladies do for us so do an extra good job on them today.

1) Chris Coghlan (2B/3B/OF) -- Marlins -- Last Tuesday I announced on Fantasy Baseball Tonight that Coghlan would be up shortly to take over for Emilio Bonifacio. Well, that day came sooner than even I expected when Coghlan was called up on Friday. He is a good OBP guy who always makes solid contact. He drives the ball to both gaps with some power. Coghlan was a first round pick in 2006, played in the Futures game in 2007 and won the Southern League All-Star Game MVP trophy in 2008. He is a very smart player with a great work ethic. The kind of player Managers love to have on their club. He has just average speed but studies pitchers well and will steal 20+ bags in a full major league season. I believe he is the Marlins answer for a leadoff hitter but in the mean time his ability to play multiple positions will keep him in the lineup quite often.

2) John Lackey (RHP - Starter) -- Angels -- It is surprising how available Lackey is in most leagues right now. Considering many leagues have a DL spot I just cannot believe people would let Lackey sit on the free agent wire this close to his eventual return. His final rehab start comes today (Sunday) for AAA Salt Lake and if it goes anywhere near how well the last one did the Angels will have him back in the rotation immediately. Lackey has always been an over-looked starter but when healthy does nothing but put up zeroes on the scoreboard and wins in fantasy owners pockets. It should also be noted that Ervin Santana is set to also be recalled after his rehab assignment this week. Both of these guys are very worthy of roster spots on your fantasy team. Getting the two of them back will also stabilize the Angels rotation enough to get them back to winning form after what has been a very difficult start to this season.

3) Josh Whitesell (First Base) -- Diamondbacks -- Just another in a long list of prospects the Washington Nationals/Montreal Expos organization let get away. Whitesell has the most important tool of any power hitting prospect and that is plate discipline. He is a patient hitter who looks for his pitch and takes a strong violent swing at what he likes. It looks as though new Arizona manager A.J. Hinch likes what he has in Whitesell and will give him plenty of opportunities to show what he can do. This will mostly come at the expense of Chad Tracy. I think the Diamondbacks still have a strong young nucleus and it will be very interesting to see what Hinch can get out of these guys that Bob Melvin just couldn't. Whitesell has tremendous upside. I can see him making a big impact in fantasy numbers such as OBP, HR, RBI and runs scored. He should also be available for OF pretty soon which makes him a valuable member of any teams bench right now.

4) Ryan Freel (3B/2B/OF) -- Cubs -- Freel was one of if not the best utility players in the league while with the Reds a couple of years ago but never was accepted after signing with Baltimore in the offseason. This trade will prove to be a difference maker for the Cubs as they now have filled a huge void that was left with the departure of Mark DeRosa. Freel will fill in immediately at 3B for the injured Aramis Ramirez who separated his shoulder and will miss nearly two months of the season. Freel is a high energy guy who gets on base and destroys left handed pitching. Freel has great speed also that will come in awfully handy in Chicago. I expect Freel to go on a tear in the next month or so as he finally is healthy and has a chance to play with a good team in a division he is very familiar with.

5) Andrew Bailey (RHP - Reliever) -- Athletics -- Brad Ziegler has been a mess lately. He has experienced elbow problems and caught a nasty case of the stomach flu over the past few weeks. Bailey meanwhile has been the A's best reliever by far this season posting a 1.27 ERA and giving up just 6 hits in 21 1/3 innings while striking out 24. While Ziegler's throwing motion and ability to get ground ball outs is good, I feel that Bailey is a better closer candidate going forward. Bailey has a unique ability to run the ball in on the hands of both lefty and righty batters. He also changes speeds on his fastball and curve which keeps hitters way off balance. He also has very good control which will limit any damage done when a hitter finally does get ahold of his pitches. Look for more save opportunities from Bailey as well as continued success as the A's setup man.

6) Matt Gamel (Third Base) -- Brewers -- Gamel will get the call up to the majors by the end of the month when the Brewers begin interleague play. I am hearing from my sources in Milwaukee that the plan is to add Gamel in time to be the DH in American League ballparks. With a stat line of .340/.425/.689 8 HR 30 RBI he simply cannot be held back for too much longer. What is most impressive about Gamel is that he is currently hitting .429 Vs. LHP and has always had success against lefties in his career. He is a pure hitter who can hit for average, power and will get on base at a solid rate. It is not a matter of IF you should pick up Gamel..it is more like WHEN should pick him up. I suggest that within the next 10 days Gamel's ownership will quadruple meaning that if you heart is set on adding a hitter of this caliber now is the time.

7) Kris Medlen (RHP - Starter) -- Braves -- Living in the shadow of Tommy Hanson ain't all that bad, just ask Kris Medlen. While everybody waits for the future ace in Hanson, all Kris Medlen has done is outperform the great one so far while pitching on the same staff in Gwinnett. Medlen is 4-0 with a 1.17 ERA and 38 K's in 30 IP. While starting pitching isn't exactly the Braves problem right now, they do have a spot occupied by Jo Jo Reyes who is filling in for Tom Glavine. Having two studs dazzling for the AAA Gwinnett team makes no sense at this point and thus my feeling is that Medlen will get a call up very soon. Medlen will be the first starter called up between now and June 1st. After June 1st, I believe the team will bring up Hanson first before Medlen. This is all due to contract structure and arbitration eligible years which is all the rage in today's game. Either way, both of these guys are worthy of being on your watch list and possibly a bench spot in NL Only leagues.

8) Jason Repko (Outfield) -- Dodgers -- Manny Ramirez is out for 50 games after a positive test for performing enhancing drugs. This leaves a big hole for the Dodgers to fill in LF and in the middle of their lineup. Xavier Paul was called up to take Manny's spot on the active roster. But I am a big believer in Jason Repko. I have followed Repko's injury prone career closer than anybody outside of his immediate family. He is a former first round pick of the Dodgers and has showed flashes of brilliance between major injuries during his eight year minor league career. This kid can hit for power, has good speed, hits for high batting average and is a plus defender in all three outfield spots. I believe that he is closer to the starting LF job in L.A. than Xavier Paul is. Obviously Juan Pierre is the immediate fill in for Manny and will get the most playing time. But I wouldn't be surprised to see Repko come up pretty soon and find his way into the lineup several times a week.

That is the Hot 8 for this week. What do you guys think? Post your comments below or email me at jeff@fantasybaseballsearch.com

Written By PCB Scout of www.profantasybaseball.com.

In my introduction I usually try to come up with some crafty way to segue into whatever it is I’ll be writing about in my article. Sometimes it comes easily and other times it’s like Craig Counsel’s batting stance: awkward and painful to look at.

Today, however, I’m totally baffled. See, I’m a Los Angeles Dodgers fan, and well… you know what news broke today. On one hand, the Dodgers will only be without Manny’s services until July 3rd, which leaves plenty of time to right the ship and win the Division. On the other hand- what a massive disappointment! Frankly, I’ve never been a huge Manny fan. I can’t stand guys who take games off. I like guys who scrap and play hard every single night. But it seemed like this was a new Manny; he was playing hard, running hard, crushing the ball, and making every other hitter around him better. I can only hope the Dodgers will still hit without him… I can only hope.

I am terribly flustered. So much so that I have no segue for you, so with that- let’s take a look at three middle infielders you may want to target if your team is in need of help.

Yunel Escobar, Braves: Escobar is in the top 4 amongst the majors’ Shortstops in RBI, BA and OBP. He’s hitting .391 with 5 RBI already this month, and even has an absurd name. Come on people! What are you waiting for?!

Listen, there’s a good chance your current Shortstop isn’t giving you what Escobar could. There’s also a good chance you’re waiting for Rollins, Reyes, Furcal or Troy Tulo to stop the proverbial “bowel movement in the bed” and start earning his salary. Either way, Escobar is available in 69% of ESPN and 51% of Yahoo leagues.

Alberto Callaspo, Royals: By now, everyone knows the Royals are off to a hot start. What most have yet to realize, however, is that Callaspo has been a big contributor to their efforts.

Callaspo is hitting .359, making him 2nd best in the majors among Second Basemen. He’s also showing some new power with a Homerun and 6 RBI in the past week. Not to mention Alberto is smoking left-handed pitching like strippers smoke Newports, to the tune of a .457 average. That fact alone makes him a match-ups play at the very least.

I of course don’t expect him to continue at this pace, but he hit .305 in 200+ at-bats last year, and will be getting more than that this year. So, if your Second Baseman is on the wrong side of the Hudson/Cano region, Callaspo can be had in 86% of ESPN and 74% of Yahoo leagues.

Asdrubal Cabrera, Indians: Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat: Cabrera is not a homerun hitter. He’s hit 10 in his short career, and only 1 this year. This year’s was a floater that carried over that joke the Yankees are calling their new right field wall.

That being said, Asdrubal has been consistently solid this season. He’s hitting .333 and getting on base at a .416 mark. To top it off, he’s also scored 21 runs, driven in 14 runs and stolen 4 bases. Those numbers project to over 120 runs scored, 80 driven in, and 23 steals. While he’ll probably see a small downturn on those digits, it’s not unreasonable to expect 100 runs, 20 steals. Cabrera is still available in 37% of ESPN and 42% of Yahoo leagues.




Questions? Comments? Random nonsense? Email me at: pcbscout(at)gmail.com

The games tonight were littered with players who did something to silence their critics.

Alex Rodriguez flipped the world the bird tonight when he took the first pitch he saw after hip surgery over the fence for a three run home run. No one will be under more scrutiny from the media and his own team's fans than Rodriguez. As much as he brings all of this attention on himself, I almost started to feel bad for the guy. He did himself a whale of a favor getting off to a good start in his return. If the Yankees start winning games, he could reverse his whole reputation. It was his only hit of the game, but boy was it a big one. Needless to say, if you didn't activate A-Rod in time for today, better get him in there for tomorrow.

C.C. Sabathia was in need of a big outing. He was sitting at 1-3 with an ERA near five, and nearly as many walks as strikeouts. Well, like A-Rod, he answered the call. Sabathia threw a four-hit shutout on Friday against the Orioles, walked only one, and struck out eight. Sabathia got off to a similar slow start last season, so his owners are hoping that this is the start of something big again in 2009.

Justin Verlander is BACK! I felt pretty good two starts ago when he threw seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts. I felt great after he allowed just one run over seven innings and fanned eleven his last time out. But now, the confidence is back. Verlander threw a two-hit shutout tonight against the Indians, walked two, and struck out 11. Is he back to the elite starter he was at the start of his career? I wouldn't go trading the farm for him, now's not the best time, but I haven't felt this good about Verlander in years.

Cole Hamels was finally able to get through a start without some crazy injury happening. Hamels looked fantastic in picking up his first win of the year, giving up just two runs over six innings, while striking out seven. He threw 95 pitches, so the Phillies allowed him to go as long as he could. If you sat Hamels tonight, shame on you. Just kidding, but definitely get him back in there next time out, it appears he's ok.

Cliff Lee had a lot of questions about his ability to repeat his 2008 stats this year. Lee was a hard luck loser tonight on the other side from Verlander. He gave up only one run over eight innings, and struck out five. Somehow he sits at 1-5, and hasn't allowed more than three earned runs since April 11. Lee looks pretty dominant, but can't seem to catch a break. Keep throwing Lee out there with maximum confidence.

Jayson Werth is another guy who a lot of people didn't believe in after his 20/20 season in 2008. When he finished April with a .250 average, two homers and just ten RBI, the concerns seemed to be validated. Well, Werth connected on number six tonight, and since May 4th he has four homers, drove in 11 runs, and raised his batting average by 39 points. It is imperative you find a spot in your lineup for him while he is hot.

Troy Tulowitzki has struggled horribly again this season, but perhaps he is on the road back to the kind of production from his rookie season. Tulowitzki hit a solo homer in his first at bat, and doubled in another run his second time to the plate. If you have Tulo, you have to just keep him and hope he turns it around.

Scott Baker finally had the kind of outing we knew he was capable of. Baker threw seven shutout innings, struck out five, and didn't walk a batter. It was the first start in which he didn't allow at least four runs. He was so good last year, it was puzzling why he was so bad, but hopefully this is the start of a new beginning for Baker.

Barry Zito was great again. He pitched six innings, allowed just one run, and struck out five. Zito's ERA is now just 3.57. Is it really possible? Could he possibly be good again? I'm still not buying just yet unless you are in a NL-only league.

The Rest Of The News

Carl Crawford just will not stop stealing bases. With his swipe tonight, Crawford has now stolen a base in ten of his last eleven games, including that ridiculous six steal game. He is now up to 21 on the season, and looks like he could get into the 60s or 70s if he can keep this up.

Casey Kotchman homered for the second straight game, but I beg you not to add him to your team. He usually hits around .285, but his career high is only twelve home runs, so this little power surge is sure to be short lived. He isn't worth your time, even if it is for a short term, DL replacement.

Johnathon Niese made his season debut for the Mets, and he was pretty solid. Niese lasted six innings, allowed just two runs, and struck out five. Even more impressive for a young guy, Niese didn't walk a batter. With Oliver Perez on the DL with his "injury", Niese could have earned himself another few starts.

Johnny Cueto continues his dominant season as he shut down the Cardinals over seven innings. Cueto allowed just one run, walked two, but struck out just three. He has allowed one run or less in five straight starts, and before tonight he had been striking out more batters. You all know that this is a guy I like and he isn't someone I would be selling high on. That is, unless you can get something ridiculous.

San Diego State (and sure to be number one pick) Stephen Strasburg has put another chapter into his legendary book. In a game tonight against Air Force, Strasburg threw a no hitter. But it wasn't your usual no hitter. Strasburg struck out 17 guys and walked just two. His record is now 11-0, with a ridiculous 1.24 ERA, and he has struck out 164 batters in 87.1 innings. The Nationals have got to pick this kid, and get him to the majors as soon as possible. Us fantasy players are drooling over a kid who won't turn 21 until later this year.

Injury News

Lance Berkman is day-to-day with a left wrist injury. Berkman was supposed to be moved down in the lineup, but then was scratched right before game time. The team has declared him day to day.

Aramis Ramirez dislocated his left shoulder while diving for a line drive (which he caught). He was only a back a short time, and now he is out again. I have to figure he will be going to the DL with this sort of injury, especially when it is Aramis Ramirez who suffers it. This is exactly why I don't like a guy like him.

Brian McCann returned to the Braves lineup on Friday after missigna couple weeks with a mysterious eye problem. In his first game back, McCann doubled, walked, and drove in two runs. If you haven't already, get him back in there tomorrow.

Travis Hafner got the results from his trip to Dr. James Andrews. Hafner was told that the soreness he was experiencing was "not uncommon". Team trainers are thinking that he will be able to return shortly after his required 15 days on the DL are over.

Dontrelle Willis is scheduled to return to the Tigers' rotation on Wednesday in Minnesota against the Twins. I have no idea what to expect from Dontrelle, and I would stay away from this situation. If you are holding on to someone who is really holding you down, or have an injury situation MAYBE I would grab him because of the couple of good seasons he had in the past. But I have no confidence that this will go good.

Anibal Sanchez was placed on the 15 day DL with a sprained right shoulder and will likely be out at least a month. He's been pitching to an ERA near six, so I think it is safe to drop him if you have him.

Michael Young left tonight's game with stiffness in his lower back. No news yet if this is something that will keep him out long, but it doesn't sound like anything that would keep him out for more than a day or perhaps through the weekend. Young has been playing way over his head, so this is unfortunate for his owners.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

OK everyone it is time to hear from Jesse Schwarz again. I'm sure you all remember Jesse, he wrote a couple of great articles for Fighting Chance Fantasy a few weeks back, one on underrated players, and one on overrated players. You can find them in the Featured Posts section on the FCF homepage. This time it is the always popular Buy Low, Sell High that Jesse will cover for us. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the article. Be sure to drop him some feedback, we always love to know what you think.

Buy Low

Matt Holliday, OF, OAK. Matt Holliday is one of the more established power hitters in the bigs, yet one month into the season he has only hit four home runs. His owner, who drafted him to help dominate the home run category, is probably scratching his head and starting to have major concerns about the outlook for Holliday in '09. Many people feared going into the season that the move away from Coors Field would hurt his power numbers, but I believe that it’s not the ballpark hurting Matt right now, it's something else. You see Holliday is one of those rare right handed hitters who actually demonstrates more power vs. RHP than he does vs. LHP. 41 of his first 101 AB have been against southpaws and 60 against righties, which is an unusually high percentage of left handed pitchers to face. In fact, he has already had 33% of the ABs vs. lefties than he had all last year. This obviously has not helped a guy who has hit 108 of his career 131 home runs against righties. So, if you own Holliday hold on tight and the homers will come as he gets more at bats vs. righties. He has heated up as of late hitting four homers and nine RBI in his last eight games. If you don't have Holliday, try to convince his owner that the move away from Coors truly killed his power value. Holliday is just too good to not improve, he is a perennial .300/30 /100/100 guy and this year will be no different.

Cliff Lee, SP, CLE. Much like Holliday, Lee came into the season with many question marks of whether or not he could repeat his Cy Young caliber performance of last season in 2009. His critics are beginning to have their predictions legitimized as the 30-year-old southpaw has started 1-4 with a not so fabulous 3.94 ERA. However, since Lee's first two ugly starts he has been just about as good as the 2008 version, but still not racking up wins. Six innings, one earned run vs. the Yankees, eight innings, two ER vs. the Royals, eight shutout innings vs. the Red Sox, and seven innings with three ER vs. the Tigers. All four have been quality starts, but he has only received a win in one of them (vs. NY), and in the other three outings has received but two runs in support. I have full confidence that Lee will be one of the top ten fantasy pitchers this year.

Mark Teixeira, 1B, NYY. There may be no better buy low candidate right now than Mark Teixeira. It seems like we say this every year after he struggles in April, and then every year he turns it around by blowing us all away later in the season. I think this will be a classic Teixeira season. Despite wrist problems Tex has managed to hit five bombs thus far which is better then his usual April average. Out of Teixeira's 208 career homers only 22 have come in the month of April. Also A-Rod is just days away from returning and hitting in front of Tex in the Yankees lineup. This guy is going to be BIG this year! I'm talking 35-40 home runs and 120+ RBI. Try snatching him from an inexperienced owner who is unaware that a quiet start is normal protocol for Tex.

Others to consider: Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Alex Rios, Adrian Beltre.

Sell High

Kosuke Fukudome, OF, CHC. The 32-year-old Japanese import is currently hitting .300 with four homers with 15 RBI to go along with 16 runs scored. So far Kosuke has already hit 40% as many homers as he hit last year, 25% of the RBI, and 17% of the runs- all in just 4 weeks. If you think he can keep it up go ahead and hold on to him, but if you listen to my advice now is a better time than ever to cut bait. If you remember last year Fukudome also got off to a nice start hitting .305 in April. But what you might not remember is his batting average steadily dropped every month for the rest of the year, finishing with a .217 BA after the All-Star break. I think a similar pattern will appear this year and by mid-July you will be asking yourself why the Fukudome didn’t I trade this guy in May?

Raul Ibanez, OF, PHI. Don't get me wrong, Ibanez is a solid player. Over the past three seasons he has been a consistent 100 RBI producer who can hit in the .290s with 20 home runs. He should be a reliable source of fantasy goodness all year, but he really only has one way to go and that’s down. The .347 batting average is sure to find its way back to earth eventually, along with his other numbers. He is currently on pace for around 50 homers and 140 RBI. Let me just tell you that's not happening. If you are content with 25 home runs and 100 RBI then hang on to Ibanez, but if I was you I would trade him for a younger player with more upside. Ibanez is 36, and you want to target a 27-year-old stud that can really help you win it all. Most owners will give up way too much for guys like Ibanez that are playing out of their minds.

Rich Harden, SP, CHC. Harden has been pitching well this season, picking up four quality starts in his six outings. The other two starts have been just awful. Each time, Harden was unable to make it out of the third and allowed four and five runs. But the good news for Harden is he has dodged injury and showed no signs of getting hurt. Well just wait. It’s only a matter of time before Harden goes down with some nasty injury that keeps him out for months. Now, you can never predict that someone is going to get hurt, but for a guy who averages only 92 innings per season over his seven-year career the odds are on your side. He is pitching well enough that you should be able to trade him for a more durable pitcher.

Other to Consider: Jason Marquis, Orlando Hudson, Carlos Pena, Michael Young, Mike Lowell

I am getting a lot of emails of people who are considering letting go of, or trying to trade Matt Holliday cheaply. I have to say I'm not sure why. I know he got off to a horrible start, but lately the guy has started to hit much better. Today, Holliday was 1-2 with his fourth homer, three RBI, and two walks. In the last ten games, Holliday now has four homers and has driven in ten runs. The guy is a perennial All-Star, why are you trying to get rid of him? Hold tight on Holliday, or if you feel the need to trade him, don't sell him cheap. His perceived value should be back to his preseason levels.

Another guy who is back on track is Prince Fielder. Big Prince got off to a real tough start, but he is hot now. Tonight against the Reds, Fielder was 3-3 with a double and three RBI. Since May 1st, Fielder has raised his batting average nearly sixty points, hit two home runs, and driven in eight runs. He was likely your second round pick, or perhaps early third, and it appears he is on the way to bringing you that value.

Add Jay Bruce to the hot list. Bruce homered today for the third time in five games, and now has eight on the season. You would like to see him get his average higher than the .269 he is now, but he has raised it nearly 20 points in the last five days. This young stud has an incredibly high ceiling, and I would like to have him on all of my teams.

Johnny Damon is certainly making the most of the jet stream that flows through right field at the new Yankee Stadium. He connected on his seventh homer of the season tonight. Not only have six of his seven homers come at home, but five of them have been to right field where the ball seems to fly out of. Damon's career high in home runs is 24, so even though they seem to have this launching pad, I don't think Damon can stay this hot for too long. In my opinion, he is a great sell high option.

Unfortunately for his teammate Mariano Rivera, his night was not as good. Rivera came in the ninth inning to try to hold a game tied but gave up back to back jacks to Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria. Not only has Rivera now given up as many homers this year as he did ALL of last year, but this was the first time in his entire career that he gave up back to back home runs. Not a banner night for the Yankee closer.

Last bit of Yankee news. It has been confirmed that Alex Rodriguez will be rejoining the team tomorrow night when they travel to Baltimore. Get him back into your lineups immediately. A-Rod was able to return one week ahead of the original timetable. Now let's see if he can produce, because boy do the Yankees need him.

Royals' DH Billy Butler has also started to his since that two homer game on April 29th. With his two hits on Thursday, his average has jumped over 40 points, and he has driven in nine of his twelve runs this season. If you have him, he might be worth putting into your starting lineup at this point. If you don't, I wouldn't pick him up yet, but it is getting close.

Bengie Molina continues to be one of the more underrated players in fantasy. Not only does he have pretty good stats, but he plays catcher where there are very few good options. But he still fell to very late in most drafts. Molina had three more hits today, including two more home runs. He is now hitting .310 with seven home runs, and has driven in 27 runs. That is incredible production at any position, never mind catcher, and he is still available in a couple leagues I am in.

Tim Wakefield continues to get it done, but I'm not buying. On Thursday, Wakefield allowed two runs over six innings, he did only strikeout three and walked four batters. But his ERA now sits at 2.92 after six starts. But he hasn't had an ERA under 4.00 since 2002, so do you really think that this is the year he "breaks out"? At age 43? Either try to trade Wake, or just be ready when this dream ride ends.

Same thing with Matt Cain, although he is younger. Cain is a 3.50 ERA and up guy throughout his career, and walks way too many hitters. He has continued to offer the free passes, but it hasn't effected him much yet. Cain moved to 3-1 with an ERA of just 2.61, with his six shutout innings on Thursday. He has been a sub-.500 pitcher for two seasons, and while that might turn around, Cain is due for some rough outings in the future. Now might be the time to move him.

Cole Hamels is due to start tomorrow for the Phillies. Hold you breath Hamels' owners. Hopefully he can get through the outing without any crazy injuries.

Armando Galarraga had his second consecutive rough outing, and you have to wonder if this is more of what he is going to be. I don't think he is going to give up five runs every time out like he did tonight, but that ERA under 2.00 just couldn't last. Expect Galarraga to produce very similar numbers to what he did last season.

A's rookie Trevor Cahill finally collected his first win of the season, even though he had allowed two runs or less in five of his six starts. On Thursday, Cahill allowed only one run over seven innings, and struck out four. He has great potential, and was a pretty good strikeout pitcher in the minors. However, so far he hasn't struck out many, and walked a whole host of hitters. He will have his good and bad days.

Jered Weaver threw a complete game tonight, and is looking pretty decent this season. He has had a couple of rough outings, and hasn't struck out a ton of hitters, but he should be solid all year. He isn't someone that I would go targeting in a trade however, I don't see that rookie year coming back.

So, my second softball game was tonight, and it was much better than the first. Our opponents' starting pitcher couldn't throw strikes to start the game. We batted around in the first inning, and I walked twice during the frame. Ten pitches, I never even took the bat off my shoulder. I don't like to walk, but if you are going to hand it to me, I'll take it. I also popped up, hit a solid single, and stole two bases. So, with the 1-2, I now sit at 3-5 on the young season. It was also my debut at third base. I've played the outfield the entire five years I have been on the team, but with our 3B moving away, and a glut of good outfielders, I said I would give it a try. The first ball that came to me was traveling at about 400 miles per hour. Needless to say, it went through my legs. Second chance was a line drive that was either going to go through me, or I was going to catch it. Luckily for me I caught it. Third one was a ball that I should have gotten to, but it veered off of my glove. But we have a shortstop with good range and he got the deflection and made the play. So, not horrible, but far from great either. But since it was the first time I had ever played the position, I'll give myself somewhat of a pass. The final score was a laugher, 15-5. Stay tuned next Thursday for the next game.

Finally, even though she would never see this, Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife Kristin. I won't say how old she is today, but both numbers are the same, and she isn't 11, 22, 44 or 55. Anyone who suggests she is older than that is just gross.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

By Ryan Hallam

I just found out that it will be officially reported today that Manny Ramirez has tested positive for Performing Enhancing Drugs and will be suspended for 50 games. According to the report he will say that the positive tests stemmed from some medication he took. I’m not sure about the appeals process for this kind of thing, but the suspension is supposed to start today. If this all goes into effect, he wouldn't be eligible to return until July 3rd.

This is a crushing blow to many fantasy teams. Not only will you be missing one of your star hitters, but he will be just using up a roster spot for nearly two months. Ramirez is way too good of a hitter to just drop. I don't think this will effect him for the rest of the season once he comes back, Manny doesn’t seem to care about anything but having fun and hitting a baseball.

For fantasy purposes, act quickly and pick up Juan Pierre. This should make him an everyday player again, and his steal potential is huge.

Here is a link to a story on ESPN.com, but this story should develop more as the days go on.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4148907

As always you can email me at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com to find a replacement for Manny, or for any other fantasy question.

Labels: manny ramirez, PEDs, steriods

The first month of the season is in the books and the Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League II has already had its share of big wins, tough loses, and exciting finishes.

Week one saw newcomer Fred Lynn defeat the current champion Todd "The True Guru" Farino in strong fashion 6-3-1. It also saw the emergence of another newcomer MLB.com's Toby Mergler who made quick work of Fantasy Baseball Tonight's cohost RC Rizza 8-2. The third host of the big show Ryan Hallam also fell in week one 7-2-1 at the hands of The Fantasy Man Mike Kuchera. All three hosts of the Fantasy Baseball Tonight podcast had a tough week one and hills to climb.

Week two had several close contests, all within 2 wins. The only big wins that came from week two were The Fantasy Man's 7-3 win over Matthew Leach of MLB.com and Ryan Hallam's 8-2 defeat of RC Rizza. In the first two weeks, The Fantasy Man has emerged as the front runner of the league with a record of 14-5-1. On the flip-side, RC Rizza had the toughest start with a two week record of 4-16. Last year's east division champion swore a comeback on our podcast at http://www.fantasybaseballtonight.com/.

That setup a monster truck rally of a match up for week three, Junkyard Jake (4-14) Vs. The Fantasy Man (14-5-1). The result was not expected. RC dominated the match from the onset and by the time Sunday Night Baseball was over he ended his slow start ended with a 9-1 victory over a tough Kuchera team. RC Rizza has been known for slow starts and big finishes. This win put him right back into the race early in the season.

The MLB.com rivals fought each other for MLB.com supremacy,and round one went to Matthew Leach 5-4-1 over Toby Mergler in a knuckle buster of a match up.

After a few weeks of mostly close match ups, week four opened up and created some room in the divisions. The closest match up of the week and probably the game of the week pitted Fantasy Baseball Search's Evan Dickens Vs. Todd "The True Guru" Farino. Dickens was in first place in the west division with a 19-11 record and Farino was coming off two straight 6-4 winning weeks at 15-14-1. The end result was another 6-4 win for The True Guru and he handed The Censor his first expert vs. expert loss.

Ryan Hallam came out swinging against the east division leader Toby Mergler, but Tofy helf him off for a 7-2-1 win. It was another big win for Mergler as he cemented his hold on the east division. The Fantasy Man kept a tight hold on second place with a 7-3 win over The Sporting News' Matt Lutovsky. So far Matt has had a tough season with two 4-4-2 weeks and 5 ties already.

It's a tight race in both divisions. The west division is separated by 8 games, but Fantasy Baseball Geeks and The True Guru are hot on Evan Dicken's tail only 1.5 games back for the lead.

Toby Mergler holds the east division over The Fantasy Man Mike Kuchera by 3 games. This division is far more spread then the west, but still a dogfight. The third place team in the east, Matthew Leach is 6 games out and RC Rizza sits in last place at 8.5 games out, but only 3 games out of a playoff spot.

Here are the league standings:


Here are the standings for the expert vs expert match ups:

Fantasy Baseball Search - Dickens 3-1
The Fantasy Man 3-1
MLB - Mergler 3-1
Fantasy Baseball Search - Farino 3-1
Advanced Fantasy Baseball 2-2
MLB.com Leach 2-1-1
The Sporting News 1-1-2
Fighting Chance Fantasy 1-3
MLB - Fred Lynn 2-2
Fantasy Baseball Geeks 2-2
Junkyard Jake 1-3
Mock Draft Central 0-4


You can get all that and more at the homepage for the Fantasy Baseball Search Expert League II here: http://www.fantasybaseballsearch.com/2009_expert_league.asp

It's going to be a quick one tonight folks. Sorry about that, but got a real late start.

J.J. Hardy to me is one of the more underrated shortstops. I think it is because he had a real hot start in 2007 before fading down the stretch, but let's look at his last two seasons. His batting average has been .280, averaged 25 homers and 80 RBI. How many shortstops do you get that production from? Don't sleep on Hardy. He had two more hits on Wednesday, including his fourth homer, and now has eight RBI in the last three days.

With Tony Clark going on the DL, the Arizona Diamondbacks have called up one of their top prospects, Josh Whitesell. Last year at AAA, Whitesell hit .328 with 26 homers and 110 RBI. I'm not sure exactly how long they expect him to stay up, but considering the state of the Arizona offense, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if he was here to stay. He is 0-2 in his first game with two walks and a strikeout. There is something to be said that his manager put him 5th in the lineup in his major league debut. This will be overshadowed by the fact that Justin Upton has hit two more homers. When that kid gets hot, he scorching.

Chan Ho Park was dominating against the Mets, but please don't read too much into this. Park has been awful ever since he got that big contract from the Rangers. This isn't for real. But tonight, Park allowed just one hit over six innings and struck out five. Even the sun shines on a dog's behind from time to time.

Kevin Gregg got another save tonight, while Carlos Marmol also pitched well and got a hold. I really don't like this situation, and I really don't see Gregg holding on to this job forever. If Marmol can remain consistent and stop with the walks, he should take it over before too long. Really hard to get a read on what Pinella is doing, but you have to hold on to both guys until the roles are a little more clear.

Ubaldo Jimenez had a great outing finally for the Rockies, one that we have been waiting for since the season started. Baldy went seven innings, allowed just one run and whiffed six. This guy has plenty of talent, it is just a matter of IF or WHEN he will put it together. It might be tough from time to time, but I think you have to remain patient with the kid. If he is on your waiver wire, wait to see how his next start is before making the move.

The Mets have put that OP guy on the DL that I said I wouldn't talk about anymore. So why bring him up? Well, with that move they called up one of their promising young arms, Johanthan Niese to start on Friday. Niese almost won the job out of Spring, so keep an eye on his start. I don't think he is the kind of prospect you pick up before he starts, but if you have a rotating spot that you just pitch and ditch, I would consider Niese against the Pirates.

Don't look now, but Carl Pavano has been good in three of his last four starts. Today Pavano lasted six innings, allowed two runs and struck out four. He isn't a world beater, but could be worthwhile at the end of your rotation. He was a fairly successful pitcher in Florida before his disaster in New York.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

Francisco Liriano has now been good in three of his last four starts, and Monday was his best outing of the year. He allowed just two runs over 7.1 innings, and struck out nine to get his first win of the year. It was his most strikeouts in 2009, and in three of his last four starts he has allowed two runs or less. He has been one of my favorite pitchers since his rookie season, so I am hoping that he can continue this success.

Good to see Hanley Ramirez is hitting again after his hand injury. After not getting a hit in his first five at bats, Hanley got a hit on Sunday, and now hit a homer on Monday. I have to admit that I was just a TOUCH concerned that the hand injury could be something that lingered and effected him for a while, but it appears he will be just fine.

Matt LaPorta gave his owners what they were looking for in his second start. After going 0-4 with 2 Ks in his first game, LaPorta connected on his first career home run on Monday, a two run shot off of Brian Tallet. To be fair to LaPorta, his first game was against Justin Verlander who was absolutely dealing yesterday. The future should be very, very bright for LaPorta.

Aaron Harang continues his up and down season, following his pattern of good start/bad start. He didn't figure in the decision, but Harang allowed just two runs over seven innings, walked three, and struck out nine. For the season, his ERA is now 3.00, but he has rotated between allowing zero runs, then five, back to zero, five again, and now two. That can be a frustrating kind of player to own. Harang's strikeout numbers have down some this season, as he now has 30 Ks in 39 innings pitched. It's not bad, but during his good years he was near a strikeout an inning.

Matt Capps blew his first save of the season tonight, but he has now allowed at least one run in three straight outings. He has allowed seven runs in those three appearances, and his ERA is now north of 7.56. Capps has been a fairly consistent closer over the past few seasons, so I think this is just a hiccup and nothing to be overly concerned about. You just hate to see Capps blow a save, when the opportunities can be few and far between.

It seems every day I bad mouth the Pirates pitching staff, and every day the next starter in line goes out and has another great outing. Today it was Paul Maholm again, who lasted 7.1 innings, allowed just two runs, and struck out seven. The Pirates have lost five of six, so it appears even good starting pitching isn't enough for the Bucs to win games. I would still try to sell high on Maholm.

After a rough start to the season, John Maine had his second consecutive quality start. Maine allowed just three runs over six innings, and struck out seven. Control was a problem for Maine tonight as he walked six guys, but he was able to keep them from crossing the plate. He is so important to the 2009 success of the New York Mets, and as a late round pick, he could be the kind of player that helps you separate yourself from the competition if he's able to stay healthy.

Not only was the pitching good for the Mets tonight, but some of their slumping offensive stars might have gotten well. Carlos Beltran hit two home runs, David Wright connected on one, and Jose Reyes was able to steal two bases. Given the dearth of power that has been going on in Citi Field, it is good to see these players getting their numbers while they are on the road.

Yesterday we spoke about Mike Fontenot being hot for the Cubs, today it is another middle infielder for Lou Pinella's team, as Ryan Theriot hit his third home run in the last four games. Considering his career high in homers is three, you can't expect this kind of hitting to continue. The Riot could get up to double digits this season, but this is not going to continue.

Mark Teixeira had a two homer game tonight against the Red Sox, is this the start of something big? I would say not so fast, but it is possible. Big Tex had a horrendous April, and hadn't had a hit in early May. The guy will have his stats when the season is over, it is just a matter of how and when.

Injury News

It has been reported today that Cole Hamels is "on track" to make his next start on Friday, rather than his next turn that was scheduled for Tuesday. He was able to pass a test of the injured ankle by running in the outfield, and as of now, he should be out there to start the weekend.

Kevin Youkilis left the game tonight with some sort of soreness in his lower back or lower rib cage. Apparently, this has been something that has been bothering him for a little while. Not sure if this will effect him for tomorrow or in the future, but I would be surprised if he missed a Yankee game.

Ryan Braun was able to come in and pinch hit today (and even drove in two runs), but this is not the sign that he will be back in the lineup tomorrow. He has still been declared "day to day" so be careful of putting him in your lineup.

Alex Rodriguez could be back with the team on Friday, or early next week. He is playing in extended Spring Training games, and has been playing the field for seven innings. Keep an eye on the news for when he will be back for the Bombers.

Rick Ankiel had to be carted off the field with his neck stabilized after a scary collision with the centerfield wall. Ankiel looked like he ran into the wall with a near full head of steam as he stumbled, and his neck jerked at an unnatural angle. He flashed the thumbs up to the crowd to show that he could move his extremities, but at the hospital they said he had signs of whiplash and puffiness in his face. Honestly, if that is all that happens, he is pretty lucky. Not to downplay the importance of his health, but needless to say you can take Ankiel out of your lineups.

Carlos Zambrano was placed on the 15-day DL after injuring his hamstring, and looks like he will miss three weeks or so. Stash him away until he is ready to return.

Jorge Posada was seen holding and massaging his hamstring late in the game for the Yankees, and then was replaced in the eighth inning for a pinch hitter. Way to soon to know if anything is serious, but something to watch for an update for.

I have noticed that a lot of you guys have taken the opportunity to go check out The Fantasy Windup. Steve Gardner, who has been with USA Today for over 15 years, has started a pretty cool new blog, and he updates it at least two or three times a day. He has the fantasy hero and goat of the day, among other good posts. I especially liked the post from early in the week in which he was good enough to mention my site and link to my article from 4/26. Thanks Steve! I invite all of you to check out the Fantasy Windup and to get involved in the comments and forums with some of his great readers.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

Believe it or not folks this is a critical time of year. Right now is when the free agent and trade moves you make can define your season. We have all sat around and watched the first month of the baseball season. In most cases, teams have given their players time to work out of early season slumps. This has worked out well for players such as Justin Upton and Chris Davis. For others such as Derek Lee and Matt Holliday we are still waiting for the turn around. We are also approaching the eight week mark that allows teams another "control" year for top prospect such as Matt Wieters and Tommy Hanson. This week's edition of The Hot 8 features some big upside starting pitchers that you absolutely must pay attention to right now. Opportunities to pickup bona fide starting pitchers like this do not happen often during the course of the season.

1) Matt LaPorta (Outfield) -- Indians -- On the April 21st edition of Fantasy Baseball Tonight (FBT) I mentioned that LaPorta was on one of his tears at AAA Columbus and that it wouldn't be long before he got the call to Cleveland. Since that show and his appearance in last weeks Hot 8, LaPorta has become the hottest free agent acquisition since Emilio Bonifacio. If you would have taken my advice soon after the show you would now be sitting on a big time power hitter and excellent trade bait. If you waited chances are you have missed out on LaPorta and someone in your league is ready to make you pay for this mistake. It pays to listen to FBT and read The Hot 8 EVERY WEEK people. If there is any chance LaPorta is on the free agent market then pick him up now. He is crushing the ball right now and has the chance to put up some fine power numbers with the Indians.

2) Luke Hochevar (RHP - Starter) -- Royals -- Hochevar is now 5-0 with a 1.13 ERA and 21 K's in 32 Innings. He is ready for the big leagues without a doubt. With Sidney Ponson getting beaten up in each and every start and the Royals contending so far this seems like a no brainer move for Kansas City. I expect Hochevar to be called up by this time next week. He has been working on a cut fastball this year in order to get left handed batters out. If you look at the splits from his 2008 season in KC, you will see that Hochevar was very good against righties but struggled against lefties. If he can work his cutter and changeup better to lefties then I see Hoecevar being the perfect complement to Gil Meche and Zach Grienke in the Royals rotation. I strongly suggest plucking him off of the free agent pile right now.

3) Alberto Callaspo (2B/SS) -- Royals -- Second week in a row for Callaspo in The Hot 8 mostly because he is still available in nearly 80% of fantasy leagues right now! That is just ridiculous considering all of the trash owners are handing onto like Chris Getz and Emmanuel Burriss. Callaspo has a very real chance top be this years Mike Aviles. I am telling you guys right now, this guy is going to hit like this all season long. He has always been a good batting average guy and will continue to produce runs for the Royals for the long haul. Understand these words: Callaspo is a starting MI for a championship fantasy baseball team this season.

4) Scott Richmond (RHP - Starter) -- Blue Jays -- I love this guys story. Didn't play baseball until college, was a solid shortstop tuned relief pitcher. He didn't even get a shot as a starter until his last of 3 season playing in Edmonton of the Northern Independent League. Toronto signed him after a try out and sent him to AA New Hampshire. He has made the most of his opportunity this year going 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA and 20 K's in 23 innings. Richmond is not a flame thrower or a guy with tremendous stuff. He is a pitcher. He locates his fastball well and has a nice mix of a hard sinker and power slider that breaks in to left handers. He is an intelligent guy also who knows what he wants to do with each and every hitter. He is going to stick in the Blue Jays rotation and I wouldn't doubt if he is their #2 starter behind Halladay when all is said and done this year.

5) Huston Street (RHP - Reliever) -- Rockies -- Street is back as the Rockies closer after Manny Corpas once again blew his opportunity and Street has since found his changeup again. He looks more determined of late and is once again dominating right handed hitters the way he did when he was on in Oakland. There are a bunch of closer happenings around the league right now with many jobs at stake. I like the look of Huston Street right now and believe of all the guys currently in the mix for saves he has the best upside. However, I strongly recommend reading Todd Farino's Closer Report for the daily low-down on all closer happenings.

6) Ken Takahashi (LHP - Starter) -- Mets -- It is very likely that by the time your are reading this that Takahashi has already replaced Oliver Perez in the Mets starting rotation. Takahashi had been working in long relief in AAA so far this year but the 40 year old Japanese import was doing so mainly to be stretched out for an eventual starting role. Jerry Manuel has mentioned Takahashi as a possible option if the Mets needed rotation help which at this point they desperately do. He currently has a 0.77 ERA with 9 K's in 12 innings. I wouldn't expect much from Takahashi as far as strikeouts and that goes but I do feel that he would be a nice stable addition for the Mets right now something they can really use behind Johan Santana. Takahashi could have a good ERA and some wins pitching in the Mets new pitcher friendly ballpark.

7) Lou Montanez (Outfield) -- Orioles -- Whatever happened to Luis Montanez, the high school SS who was drafted third overall by the Chicago Cubs in 2000? Well, he became Lou Montanez a career minor league outfielder who all of a sudden has found plus power and plate discipline. Montanez had an outstanding run in 2008 that finished with him hitting .295 with 3 HR's in 112 AB's for the Orioles last September. He is a fairly lousy outfielder but word out of Baltimore is that Montanez will be replacing the struggling Felix Pie as the Orioles starting left fielder. Personally, I believe that both Pie and Montanez are keeping the seat warm for Nolan Reimold the eventual starting LF in Baltimore. But, if Montanez can replicate his '08 success he will make some fantasy owner pretty darn happy over the next few months.

8) Melky Cabrera (Outfield) -- Yankees -- I am putting Cabrera in The Hot 8 this week to make a point. It seems that nobody has really picked up on the fact that Cabrera has replaced Brett Gardner as the starting CF for the Yankees and done a pretty good job in doing so. Cabrera is hitting .321 with a .397 OBP and 4 HR's while serving as the fourth outfielder for the Yankees. But as the pinstripes search for a spark until A-Rod comes back it is without question that Cabrera is now that starter and actually worth taking a shot on at this point. There is no doubt he is motivated and as long as he's getting on base the numbers will be solid.

That is the Hot 8 for this week. What do you guys think? Post your comments below or email me at jeff@fantasybaseballsearch.com

Jorge Posada continues his resurgence in 2009, as he connected with home run number five. I know it was an injury plagued year for him in 2008, but he only hit three all of last year. Posada had a ton of question marks heading into this season after offseason shoulder surgery, and there was even concern about how many games he was going to be able to play. But he has answered them all positively so far this year, and is playing as perhaps the top catcher in fantasy up to this point.

Although he wasn't bad today, C.C. Sabathia still hasn't had that dominating outing that the Yankees were hoping for when they made him the highest paid pitcher in the history of baseball. Sabathia fell to 1-3 today, after allowing four earned over 6.2 innings, and struck out five. The good news for C.C. is the control problems that have plagued him all season long were not a factor, as he only walked one guy. You have to believe that sooner or later he will flip the switch and be an elite fantasy pitcher, but through the first month it hasn't happened yet.

Nationals rookie Shairon Martis improved to 3-0, bouncing back nicely after allowing seven runs his last time out. Martis went the distance against the red hot St. Louis Cardinals, allowing just one run, striking out six without walking anyone. He had more walks (11) than strikeouts (7) coming into this start, so I'm not sure exactly what to expect in the future. But I do know this. He has started five times, and in four of those, he has allowed three runs or less. Of course, the Cards did give Albert Pujols the day off today, but you still can't take the credit a complete game deserves from the guy.

Adam Jones looks more and more like a star everyday. With three hits on Saturday, Jones pushed his average to .371 on the year, connected on his fifth home run, and stole his third base. He won't be turning 24 until August, meaning that there is still room for improvement. You think the Mariners regret that Erik Bedard trade?

Curtis Granderson is hitting home runs like it is going out of style. With another tater today, Granderson now has six in the last ten games, and eight on the season. He still isn't hitting for a very good average (.263), but the power helps you forget it. Just a word of caution. Granderson's career high in homers is 23, so don't expect this power surge to go on for too much longer. He should make a good run at his best, but don't think he's going to hit 35 this season.

Joel Zumaya has been good since his return, but he hasn't been the dominant pitcher that we remember. He got the win today by pitching 1.2 shutout innings, allowing just one hit. In three appearances since his return, Zumaya has pitched 4.2 innings, allowed just four hits and hasn't walked a batter. The part that concerning part is that he has struck out only two guys. His rookie season he struck out 97 guys over 83 innings. However, he has only just returned from multiple years of injury. Be patient, he could still help you this season.

Jason Marquis ran his record to 4-1 with a 3.31 ERA after throwing a complete game on Saturday against the Giants. Marquis allowed just one run and struck out four. If you are considering picking up Marquis, please reconsider. He hasn't had an ERA under 4.00 since 2004 when he was with the Cardinals. His strikeout ratio is ugly. Over the last two seasons, he has pitched 358 innings, and struck out just 200. There MUST be a better option out there for you.

Kendry Morales is doing his best to replace Mark Teixeira. Morales was 2-4 today, hit his fourth homer of the year, and now has 16 RBI. He is hitting .280 on the year, and has been fairly consistent through the first month of the season. How's he doing in comparision to Tex? Morales is hitting .280, Tex .182. Morales has four home runs, Teixeira has three. RBI? Morales leads 16 to 10. Do I really think that he will outperform him for the year? Not a chance. But I do think that Kendry could hit 20-25 with 80 RBI or so, with a batting average around .270.

You heard about him first on Fantasy Baseball Tonight, the Tuesday podcast from Jeff Mans, and Adam Rosales is not only in the majors, but is hitting like crazy. In three games, Rosales has five hits and driven in three runs. If he keeps performing like this, I don't see any reason he gets sent back down to the minors. Of course, if he could continue to perform like this he would have a .500 batting average, so we all know that isn't going to happen. He showed some OK power with not a ton of speed while in the minors. Not a real high ceiling, but could get to 17 or so homers.

I promise that this is the last time I write about Oliver Perez. What a steaming pile of dung this guy has turned into. I have no idea what his issue is. The guy has talent, you can't argue that, but he has absolutely no idea how to use it. They have said here in New York on talk radio that the Mets resigned him because of the way he has been able to pitch in good games against their rivals. Well, today against the Phillies he was unable to get out of the third inning, but threw 77 pitches. Perez allowed four runs and walked SIX over 2.1 innings. I don't care if he goes out next time and throws a gem. You won't hear about it on this site.

Ted Lilly was his usual consistent self again. Lilly will get blown up from time to time, but three times out of four he is pretty rock solid. On Saturday, Lilly allowed just one run over eight innings, and struck out ten. He even doubled in two runs. Lilly has now given up five runs in two of his starts, and in the other three he allowed a total of one run. You generally know early on what kind of stats you are going to get from him.

Congratulations to Cardinals' rookie Colby Rasmus for connecting on his first major league home run. Rasmus has been one of the hotter prospects over recent years, but St. Louis is working him in slowly. He isn't playing every day, but is doing ok. In 20 games, Rasmus is hitting .270 with five RBI, and 15 runs scored. Not much fantasy value outside of keeper leagues right now, but keep an eye on him.

Injury News

Brian McCann is now targeting next weekend for his return to the lineup. He is attempting to play with glasses, and if that is successful, he will be back with the Braves on May 8th when he is eligible to come off the DL.

Brandon Morrow has landed on the 15 day DL with biceps tendonitis that has been bothering him for a little while now. Apparently Morrow didn't even want to go on the disabled list, so it doesn't sound like this is the most serious of injuries. Even better news, the move was made retroactive to April 24th when he pitched last, so he is eligible to come back on May 9th.

Jason Bay fouled a pitch off his ankle and had to leave the game. Looking for some updated information, but nothing has surfaced yet. Don't be surprised if Bay doesn't play on Sunday.

Ryan Braun didn't play on Saturday due to a stiff low back that cropped up on Friday night. This is another injury that I haven't found any follow up information on, but it doesn't appear to be overly serious.

Cole Hamels threw a bullpen session today, and while the results were "encouraging" it is still possible that he will miss his next start on Tuesday against the Cardinals. Being a Hamels owner myself, I will definitely let you know as soon as I know more.

Jose Valverde will indeed miss three to five weeks after draining blood from his injured calf. While it originally didn't seem that big of a deal, the swelling in Valverde's leg just wouldn't go down. LaTroy Hawkins will close games in his absence, or at least he will get the first try. I would not touch this situation unless you had to.

Finally, I would like to take this time to post a link to one of the newest baseball blogs, The Fantasy Windup. Steve Gardner, who has been with USA Today for over 15 years, has recently started his own blog about everything baseball that is updated multiple times a day. I especially liked the post from early in the week in which he was good enough to mention my site and link to my article from 4/26. Thanks Steve! I invite all of you to check out the Fantasy Windup and to get involved in the comments and forums with some of his great readers.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

For you Brandon Phillips owners, hopefully this will be the start of something for your second baseman. Phillips was on his way to another Ofer, but connected on his third homer in the eighth inning, and then drove in another run in the ninth with a sac fly. His average is still under .200, and still only has nine RBI, but I don't believe he is done yet.

Another struggling middle infielder who may have got on track tonight is Jhonny Peralta of the Indians. After having just two hits in his last ten games, Peralta had two hits on Friday, including his first home run of the year. In my opinion, Peralta is a very underrated shortstop. He gets a bad rap as a guy who hits for a bad average, but Peralta has hit over .270 in each of the last two years. He is also one of the best power hitters at his position, with over 20 bombs in 2007 and 2008. I believe that he will turn this slow start around, and if you have him, be patient.

Might as well cover another shortstop who is doing badly, although his news isn't as encouraging. Jimmy Rollins failed to get a hit again on Friday, but was able to at least draw a walk. That was the bad news. The even worse news is that Rollins got caught stealing for the second time this season. You have to figure that this guy isn't finished, but he is batting under .200, has only one home run, one steal, and has been caught twice.

Welcome back Joe Mauer. After the Twins catcher missed the entire first month of the season with back trouble, he was back in the lineup tonight and proceeded to connect on a home run in his first at bat. This is great news for his owners, but don't get too giddy. It is great to see him in the lineup, just don't expect him to turn into Babe Ruth. Mauer is a great average guy, but won't bring you more than 15 jacks.

The Cubs bullpen continues to be a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Carlos Marmol gets some save chances, Kevin Gregg gets others. I truly think that if one of these guys would step up, they would grab hold of this job. Everyone is calling for Marmol to be the guy, but let's look at this closely. In his last six appearances, Marmol has allowed a run in three of them (seven runs total), and has now walked eight guys in his last three times out. Is that the consistent stuff you can count on? Gregg's knees are no good, making him unavailable from time to time, and he has also given up runs in three of his last five appearances. Both guy's ERAs are near 6.00, so no wonder Pinella can't make up his mind.

Here comes the first big prize prospect of the season. Cleveland's Matt LaPorta will be called up to the big leagues on Saturday. He hit 22 homers in two levels of the minors in 2008, and could have an impact right away. In 21 games this season, LaPorta was hitting .333 with five homers and 14 RBI. I'm not really sure how the Indians plan on using their young stud, but left fielder Ben Francisco is hitting .241. Perhaps that is the opening that he needs to get some playing time.

Rookie Jordan Zimmerman had his first rough "welcome to the league" tonight against the Cardinals. Albert Pujols welcomed him right away in the first inning, and the Cards ended up hitting three homers off of the rookie, as he allowed five runs over 5.2 innings. The good news is that Zimmerman was still able to strikeout six, and didn't walk anyone. I feel like a broken record, but ALL young pitchers will have these games. But Zimmerman has already shown his talent, and should have a pretty decent rookie year. Being on the Nats will limit his win total unfortunately.

Armando Galarraga had his first rough outing of the year. The most consistent of all of the Tigers' starters gave up five runs over five innings, walked three, while striking out only two. Seeing that his ERA was under 2.00, it was predictable that he would have some tough starts ahead of him. The question is how he will bounce back from them. My thought is he could win 14 games, with an ERA around 3.50-3.75.

For those of you who have Ryan Doumit or Brian McCann and are looking for a replacement should look at Jesus Flores from Washington. Flores had two hits for the second consecutive night, and for the second consecutive night one of those hits was a triple. He has got his batting average to near .300, and has two homers and 11 RBI.

Zach Duke continues the great pitching for the Pirates, allowing just one run over seven innings and struck out five. I still can't believe what I am seeing with the Pittsburgh pitching staff. Duke's ERA is now 2.21, and he has 21 strikeouts in 36 innings.

Since being removed from the closer's role, Jason Motte has looked like a new pitcher. He hasn't allowed a run in his last eight appearances, and has only allowed eight hits over his last 11 times on the bump. While Ryan Franklin remains hot, Motte's role will remain as a setup man, but it is nice to see him get back on track.

Joel Hanrahan has also looked better since being removed from the ninth inning. The displaced Nats' closer has had two straight scoreless outings in the last two days. It seems only natural that he gets his job back. But I think his manager will want to see him earn it.

It doesn't get much better than Evan Longoria. The young Rays' 3B hit a grand slam tonight, giving him the AL lead in RBI with 28. I knew this kid would be good, but he is even surpassing my expectations. All I can say is, I hope you drafted him.

Carlos Pena is the first hitter in the majors to get to ten home runs. He did have a 46 homer season in 2007, but he is still a guy that I would be trying to sell high on if I owned him. A guy with ten homers on May 1st can only disappoint you in July, August, and September.

Manny Parra had his second consecutive start where he allowed only one earned run. After finishing '08 strongly, a lot of fantasy owners were picking Parra at the end of their staffs. He was pretty awful as the season began, but it seems that he has done something to improve his results. He did still walk four, which has been part of his troubles, but he also struck out eight.

White Sox rookie Chris Getz had two more hits tonight, making it seven multi hit games out his last eight. He isn't bringing you much else in the way of fantasy value, no homers, and only three steals, and he shouldn't get any higher than 15 homers and maybe 20 steals. But at second base, he could help you out at a MI spot, or at least good insurance in case of injury to your starter.

Emilio Bonifacio has started to hit again some. Now, I'm not saying go run out and grab him, but perhaps he is going to pull out of that funk he was in. With another hit on Friday, Bonifacio now has six hits in his last five games, and today was his first RBI since the fifth game of the season. He also only has two steals in his last ten games.

After not homering for the first 17 games of the year, Matt Holliday has gone yard for the second straight day. He had two hits, and his average is now up to .253.

Injury News

After days of reporting that Josh Hamilton would avoid the disabled list, that is exactly where he ended up today. He apparently is still unable to swing without pain, and the Rangers needed a roster spot to call up catcher Max Ramirez to back up Taylor Teagarden while the starter, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is dealing with an injury. The move is retroactive to April 27th, meaning he is eligible to return on May 11th.

Daisuke Matsuzaka is scheduled to make his first rehab start on Tuesday. It hasn't been determined how many rehab starts he will need to make, but it is likely to be "several." Continue to keep him on your DL, but this is at least encouraging news that he is ready to get back on the mound.

Angels' starter Ervin Santana will make a minor league rehab start on Monday at Class A, while fellow injured hurler John Lackey will make his rehab start on Tuesday at AAA. No timetable has been set for either of their returns.

Nick Swisher left the game with a bruised elbow after being hit by a pitch by Jered Weaver. The X-rays were negative, and Swisher has been deemed day-to-day.

In the ever growing blurry vision saga, Brian McCann is now trying to play with glasses. He is still trying to find something that allows him to see, and something that he is comfortable with. By now he could have had his repeat Lasik surgery and been back instead of all of this experimenting. There must be some reason he doesn't want to do that.

Bobby Abreu left tonight's game against the Yankees with stiffness in his back. No further information is available at this time.

Jose Valverde's injured calf is still not in good shape, and an MRI showed some hematomas, which were drained. The problem is he could also need a follow up procedure that would cost him three weeks. I will get you a further update as soon as it is out there.

He is still a ways away from returning to the mound, but Chris Carpenter is feeling no pain except when he makes "extreme movements". The Cards ace is hoping to make it back to the team on the short end of the four to eight weeks he was supposed to miss, but considering the way the rotation is pitching, and the recent injury history for Carpenter, don't expect St. Louis to rush him back.

Finally, I would like to take this time to post a link to one of the newest baseball blogs, The Fantasy Windup. Steve Gardner, who has been with USA Today for over 15 years, has recently started his own blog about everything baseball that is updated multiple times a day. I especially liked the post from early in the week in which he was good enough to mention my site and link to my article from 4/26. Thanks Steve! I invite all of you to check out the Fantasy Windup and to get involved in the comments and forums with some of his great readers.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.

Starting today and every two weeks I will release my top 20 closer ranking and my top 5 setup men.

You can find that and much more closer analysis by clicking the link below:

The True Guru Closer Report & Ranking