For those of you who were with me last baseball season, you know that this is around the time when fantasy baseball starts to fade out some. Many of your trading deadlines are passing by the day, and some of you who were holding out hope that you were still in the race are starting to come to the realization that it might not be in the cards for you in 2009. Now, while I still welcome emailed questions about baseball right up to the last day of the season and beyond, it is time that there won't be a Fantasy Baseball Tonight article on a nightly basis. For starters there will not be an article tomorrow. I will not be doing articles on nights that I have podcasts (Tuesday and Wednesday). I can't tell you exactly what night there will be articles, because some nights I will do a shorter article. You will be able to pretty much guarantee an article from me on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday, with others likely sprinkled in. If news breaks, I will also continue the email mailing group. In fact, I am starting one for football as well, if you would like to be a part of that too, please send me an email and put football mailing list in the subject line. It is time for my focus to begin to start switching over to football as that season is starting to amp up. However, don't think I will leave you hanging in baseball, I am here for you until the end.

It is all but certain that Orioles prospect Brian Matusz will be called up to start for Baltimore on Tuesday. With Brad Bergesen heading to the DL, the Orioles need a pitcher. Matusz was scheduled to pitch tonight in the minors and he did. However, he was pulled after one shutout inning. All of these factors mean that we are just waiting for the official word. Matusz is only in AA (which you know concerns me) and he is ripping it up. This is his first year in the minors, but between the two levels he has been at he has dominated. In 18 starts, Matusz is 11-4 with a 1.93 ERA and 120 strikeouts in 112 innings. Bergesen's x-rays were negative after he took the ball off his leg which means he likely won't be out too long. Matusz is likely a short term replacement, but has HUGE value in keeper leagues.

Carlos Zambrano left his start with a stiff back. Zambrano has had his fair share of nagging injuries this season, but he has pitched better than I expected. I don't foresee this being a long term injury, but he is likely a question mark for his next start. When I find more information on the situation, I will be sure to pass it along.

Hanley Ramirez suffered a bruised knee after being hit by a pitch by Carlos Zambrano. He was able to stay in the game and actually scored from second, but he was replaced in the next inning. I would be very surprised if Hanley plays tomorrow, but the fact that he did stay in the game for a little while and scored from second on a single leaves me optimistic that this injury won't cost him a long time on the bench. This is speculation on my part I want to remind you, I have seen no confirmation of any time frame that Ramirez might be out.

Although it is not yet confirmed, it looks as though Edinson Volquez is going to have Tommy John Surgery on Monday. Volquez IS going to have elbow surgery, it just has not been reported whether it was Tommy John or another form of procedure. Either wya, if you have been holding him in a seasonal league, definitely let him go now. Even in keeper leagues, he is not worth holding anymore, especially if it is Tommy John.

Wandy Rodriguez left his start against the St. Louis Cardinals in the fifth inning with a hamstring injury. He was pitching great again, and this will be a decent sized blow to fantasy teams that own Wandy. It is too soon right now to get solid information about how long he might be out. It is probably a bit optimistic to expect him to not miss any starts, but maybe it will just be one or two.

Alexei Ramirez missed another game on Saturday, and it appears that he will be out until Wednesday at the earliest. The White Sox have Monday off, so if you play in leagues with weekly roster changes it appears that Alexei will only miss one game. He is a risky play for people in that situation, but he has been good enough lately that I will likely play him in the two leagues that I have him in with weekly changes.

Joba Chamberlain was supposed to pitch on Monday, but now will be pushed back to Thursday. This could be the Yankees answer to Joba getting closer and closer to his team imposed innings limit. For those of you with Chamberlain on your team, you have to either expect more of this kind of thing or Joba back to the bullpen. Either way, his value takes somewhat of a hit for the rest of 2009.

Jeff Niemann won again after a subpar outing, cementing his status as one of the best pitching pickups of the second half. The Rays continue to win and crawl back into the race, and Niemann is a big reason why. He pitched eight innings, allowed just one run and struck out seven. He has now struck out at least six in four straight starts. If Niemann is available and you have any need for pitching, do yourself a favor and pick him up.

I have gotten more questions over the past two weeks of people wanting to drop Rick Porcello and I have just been unable in most cases to tell people to let the kid go. Even after last time out when he gave up five runs, he gave them all up early and then settled in and pitched four more shutout innings. That is not what most young pitchers do. Well, Porcello bounced back with eight innings against the Indians, allowing just one earned run and struck out three. That is the one thing that makes people worry about Porcello is that he isn't an elite strikeout pitcher. I will tell you that fact is not going to change, but the guy is only 20 and is already a meaningful part of a contending team's rotation. That is hard to give up on.

Andrew McCutchen homered three times tonight, and while he remains a great guy to have on your team, and a fantastic guy to have as a keeper, don't think that this is the start of some sort of trend. McCutchen is a guy who shows great speed, and does have a little power, but nothing that you can count on. He had three home runs on Saturday, which is also the same number he had after his first 50 games in the big leagues. McCutchen is a good young player, but he is not a big home run hitter.

Sean Rodriguez is back in the majors with the Angels, and he played in the outfield tonight, but I would not be targeting him this time around unless you are planning on using him as a keeper. He is still hitting for a great average in the minors, but not nearly the power he was contributing before his call up to the big leagues. Just like last time, I don't know where regular at bats would come from, so it seems that Rodriguez will spend most of his time on the bench.

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 the info and craziness we can pack into one hour. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your 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 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 the info and craziness we can pack into one hour. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.

Labels: alexei ramirez, andrew mccutchen, brad bergesen, brian matusz, carlos zambrano, edinson volquez, hanley ramirez, jeff niemann, joba chamberlain, rick porcello, sean rodriguez, wandy rodriguez

I think the Phillies are going to come up with a new promotion. It will be Brad Lidge Night sponsored by Tums. Lidge did collect his 14th save, but as usual there was drama. Lidge gave up a bunt single, followed by a walk. The good news is he wiggled out of it, but boy he likes to make them interesting. Obviously, Ryan Madson can't get the job done, so it will take something monumental for them to take the job away from him. However, he will make you sweat and won't do any favors for your ERA or WHIP.

Tommy Hanson is really looking like the real deal. After his six shutout innings on Sunday, he now hasn't allowed an earned run in his last three starts against the Red Sox, Yankees, and Reds. His strikeout numbers have been a little lower than I had expected, but how can you complain about 4-0 with an ERA under 2.50? If Hanson can beat the Yanks and the Red Sox then you can feel free to start him against any opponent. He will likely come back to Earth a little bit, but he is showing that you were wise to hold him on your bench all that time.

David Price on the other hand continues to struggle some. Today he only allowed one run over 6.1 innings, but he still is having trouble with control, as he walked five batters. In five of his first seven starts in the majors, he has allowed two runs or less, so the walks aren't killing him as far as ERA is concerned. However, he usually doesn't go deep into the game, and his WHIP is over 1.50. You have to just hope that he is figuring it out and he will start to be the guy we figured he would be. The good news is they didn't take him out of the rotation when they brought back Scott Kazmir, so the Rays still believe that he can get hot and pitch well.

Ryan Sadowski had a pretty good start to his major league career, but his minor league numbers suggest that you shouldn't put too much stock into this. He did have a pretty good record in the minors, as he was 13-6 over the past year and a half, but his ERA was over 4.50. He was a pretty decent strikeout pitcher down on the farm, but he wasn't a guy who was highly thought of. If he has another couple good starts, perhaps you can think about him, but right now he isn't worth a look.

Alexei Ramirez homered today for the fifth time in the last eleven games, and you can't deny any more that the guy is back on track and is someone that you can count on. I was very tempted a couple of times to let him go or trade him cheap during the first two months of the season, but boy am I happy that I didn't and you should be too if you were patient. He hit his tenth homer of the season, and I believe that he is a lock to go 20/20 again.

Francisco Liriano won his second consecutive start, so maybe he just needs to pitch against National League teams. Liriano allowed just two runs over seven innings and struck out six. The best news may be that he only walked one guy. Until I start seeing him do this against American League teams that he will face more often, I'm not ready to put too much stock in this win. I am hopeful still because I like the guy, but I am not ready to say that he is back.

Matt Palmer may have improved his record to 7-1, but he hasn't been impressive his past couple times out. Palmer was the beneficiary of great run support to get the win, as he allowed six earned runs over just five innings and didn't strike out a batter. He's been decent most of the time and could be used against weaker teams, but I don't believe that he is a guy that you start every time out.

Chad Gaudin is a guy you can target if you really need strikeouts, but just be careful how much stock you put in him. Gaudin won his second straight start to raise his record to 4-6 with a dominating performance against the Rangers. He allowed just one hit over eight innings and struck out nine. Gaudin now has 75 Ks in just 70 innings. He isn't a rookie, and has bounced around the majors, last making an impact in Oakland. He is an OK pitcher, but his ERA of just under 5.00 should tell you exactly what to expect from him if you play him on a regular basis.

Where has the power gone for Nick Markakis? With just two days left in the month, Markakis has a grand total of ONE homer for the all of June. He did only hit twenty in 2008, so it isn't like he is way off his usual pace, but when he had five in May we thought he could top 25 for the year. It now appears that he will fall into the 20-22 range. He is still a .300 hitter and is a quality outfielder. He will get hot again, don't trade him off cheap.

Emilio Bonifacio stole another base on Sunday, giving him three on the weekend. He has gotten a hit in six straight games, and if you are DESPERATE for steals I would give him a try, but I think he will go into a tailspin again before too long.

Mariano Rivera owners should be petitioning their leagues to allow hitting stats for pitchers to count. Rivera was forced to bat tonight against the Mets and earned a walk with the bases loaded for his first career RBI. Francisco Rodriguez inexplicably walked the Yankee closer to force in a run, as you can just add one more blooper to the Mets' season. The fact that they are even close in the standings is a minor miracle between their injuries and many blunders in the field, on the basepaths, and with the pitching.

Mailing List

I'm not going to stop bringing up the mailing list until I get a day where I don't get a request to join it. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, when I find news earlier in the day I will send an email to you about whatever it might be. If you were on the mailing list you would have found out about the callups of Matt Wieters, Fernando Martinez, Nolan Reimold and others. The trade of Nate McLouth, and injuries to Jose Reyes, etc. This mailing list is your way to get a step up on your competition. Anyone who is on the list, please leave a comment below on whether you think that you have benefitted from the list. Send an email to either fantasybaseballtonight@gmail.com or fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com and put Mailing List in the subject line.

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 the info and craziness we can pack into one hour. A can't miss if you plan on winning your league.

Labels: alexei ramirez, brad lidge, chad gaudin, david price, emilio bonifacio, francisco liriano, francisco rodriguez, mariano rivera, matt palmer, nick markakis, ryan sadkowski, scott kazmir, tommy hanson