Players of Week Seven

by Ryan Butler

OK, here are the POWs.  And by that I don’t mean pieces of work.

Alex Rodriguez (7/3/4/0/.419, 13 for 31): After a hot two-week start to the season, he went without a home run from April 24 through May 11 (16 games) with four RBI. This prompted a good deal of dissection of his leg kick by some of ESPN’s finest. Such breakdowns are  hackneyed enough to begin with, but at least Joe Morgan wasn’t the guy presenting it; his act had worn thinner than Lycra. Still waiting for Rodriguez to go on a real tear, but three home runs in his last six games is a good sign.

Finally rising above his name.

Asdrubal Cabrera (9/3/7/3/.379, 11 for 29): Look out, Hanley Ramirez, because this young man seems well on his way to dethroning you as the incumbent No. 1 shortstop in the fantasy universe. OK, maybe I’m getting a bit carried away, but I love Cabrera’s game. If the Indians continue to win, don’t be surprised if his name comes up in the AL MVP conversation.

Alexei Ramirez (6/1/9/0/.417, 10 for 24): He’s been arguably the most consistent player on a very disappointing White Sox team. If not for Ramirez and, my man Paul Konerko, Chicago would be more of a disaster than they already are. The question is, how much longer can he pick up the slack for Dunn, Rios, and Beckham?

From this point on, which player will have the most productive season?

Fantasy Prophet: Week 8

by Brian Dorsey

Week 7 has come and gone, so let’s go ahead and find out what’s on our plate for this week. Here are the Top-10 Two Start Pitchers in each league, some interesting notes, and the weather reports.

Two Start Pitchers

AL Top-10

1. Jared Weaver (OAK, @MIN): Weaver owners are licking their chops this week.
2. Dan Haren (OAK, @MIN): It was a toss up between Weaver and Haren for the number one AL pitcher this week, but just because Haren is number two on this list doesn’t mean he won’t be lights-out. Look for a good game against his former club.
3. Justin Verlander (TB, BOS): Absolutely dominating this May: 28 K and 0.77 WHIP.
4. Josh Beckett (@CLE, @DET): Only one earned run in his last four starts. That middle pick is turning a huge profit.
5. Clay Buchholz (@CLE, @DET): Four earned runs in his last four. Buchholz is following suit. Both Beckett and he are leading this staff.
6. Alexi Ogando (CHW, KC): On pace for 14 wins. We’d just like to see more strikeouts (only projected 128).
7. Justin Masterson (BOS, @TB): He got lit up like a Christmas tree last time he faced the Rays, but he has a career ERA and WHIP under one against the Red Sox.
8. Zach Britton (KC, @OAK): Brian Matusz who?
9. Bartolo Colon (TOR, @SEA): The Dominican Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man is terrorizing his demons, not the other way around.
10. Ricky Romero (@NYY, CHW): No slam dunk, especially not in NYC, but only one ER in past two.

Quick Injury Update: Chase Utley

He’s back. He’ll be in the starting lineup against the Reds, reports Todd Zolecki of MLB.com. Put him in your lineup tonight.

Players of Week Six

by Ryan Butler

Adrian Gonzalez (7/5/10/0/.346): Last week I said that he can be streaky at times. Did I mention that he hits his home runs in bunches? Week six marked the fourth time in his career that he has homered in four straight games. I also think I said something about him being capable of carrying your team for a week. He can also absolutely kill you if you’re unfortunate enough to be matched up against him.

Classic Jose. Outside pitch. Pulled for a homer.

Jose Bautista (8/6/9/0/.423): I was wrong about him, I’ll admit it. I had him (gulp) 86th in my preseason players rankings, by far the lowest of any of the Rotoballs Crew. His aggregate ranking was 58th. We didn’t believe he would come close to repeating last year’s incredible success. It looks like we were wrong. Very, very wrong.

Victor Martinez (8/6/9/0/.579): V-Mart has quietly put together a very nice season, his first  in Detroit. He’s hitting .335 overall with a .935 OPS and a terrific 12/10 K/BB rate.

Travis Wood (12.2/2/9/1.42/1.18): I loathe to put Wood on this list, or say anything good about him at all, since he burned me so bad after I picked him up (and quickly dropped him) off the free agent wire early this season. His last three starts have all been good, and he looks to be regaining his 2010 form.

Fantasy Prophet: Week 7

by Brian Dorsey

Week 6 has come and gone, so let’s go ahead and find out what’s on our plate for this week. Here are the Top-10 Two Start Pitchers in each league, some interesting notes, and the weather reports.

Two Start Pitchers

AL Top-10

1. Felix Hernandez (MIN, @SD): Minnesota’s offense has been anemic, and though the Swinging Friars are putting up some crooked numbers, they generally struggle against ace pitchers.
2. James Shields (NYY, @FLA): Pitching like the ace he should’ve been three years ago. He’s a huge reason the Rays are in first place.
3. David Price (NYY, @FLA): He’s got great career numbers against the Yankees and in 12.1 career innings against the Marlins, he’s got 13 punch-outs.
4. Max Scherzer (TOR, @PIT): God rained on his parade last week, but if you’re an owner, be stoked that he’s a two start pitcher this week instead. All he has to do is avoid Jose Bautista’s “Bat of Reckoning” and he’ll be a player of the week.
5. Gio Gonzalez (LAA, @SF): God rained on Gio’s nightmare last week and washed it all away. Let’s see if he can forget the carnage and put it behind him.
6. Brett Anderson (LAA, @SF): Struggled as of late, but that’s what two starts against the Rangers will do. Just a heads up: the Angels and Giants aren’t the Rangers.
7. Michael Pineda (MIN, @SD): Wait, he was supposed to start two times last week, too? Seems to be a theme. The rook is throwing balls of fire.
8. Zach Britton (@BOS, WAS): Not an ideal match up in Boston, but he gets a nice go at the Nats over the weekend.
9. Josh Tomlin (@KC, CIN): The dude just keeps winning. Nobody pinch him!
10. Joel Pineiro (@OAK, ATL): Pretty boring option, but he’ll get the job done.

Should streaming be allowed?

Closer Circle of Trust: May

by Brian Dorsey

		Trusted	Solid	Danger
		Eduardo Sanchez	Mark Melancon	Sergio Santos	Brandon League
	Ryan Madson	Drew Storen	Matt Capps	J.J. Putz	Francisco Rodriguez
	Vincente Padilla	Carlos Marmol	Mariano Rivera	Heath Bell	Brian Wilson	Jordan Walden
	Kyle Farnsworth	Houston Street	Joakim Soria	Neftali Feliz	Jose Valerde	Kevin Gregg
		Jonathan Papelbon	Craig Kimbrel	Chris Perez	Francisco Cordero	Brian Fuentes
		Frank Francisco	Leo Nunez	John Axford	Joel Hanrahan

Notes: You’ll notice more closers moving away from the Danger category and into the Solid or Trusted areas. As the season progresses, the more rounded out everything tends to get. In fact, one of the only reasons there are still so many Danger closers is due to injured pitchers behind them waiting to be activated (Brad Lidge, Andrew Bailey, David Aardsma, Brandon Lyon, and Jonathan Broxton).

We lost a few closers, too. Gone are Sean Burnett (taken over by Drew Storen), Joe Nathan (Matt Capps), Ryan Franklin (Eduardo Sanchez), Matt Thorton (Sergio Santos), and John Rauch (Frank Francisco). I don’t think any of those guys get their gigs back either. That’s not to say the guys in the closer role right now will stick for the rest of the year, but they would probably have to be taken over by someone other than their predecessors.

↑Three Up, ↓Three Down

by Jared Cothren

↑Three Up:

↑Gaby Sanchez – 1B – FLA

Gaby may have a girly name, but he’s been putting up very manly stats (.464 AVG, 2 HR and 10 RBI) over the last 7 days. Hitting .328 on the season, Sanchez is a budding star with unknown potential and he’s coming off a solid year in 2010. 2011 could prove to be a breakout season.

Just call him "Canada Dry Ginger Ale".

↑Adam Lind – 1B, OF – TOR

It seems like Lind has “bi-polar player disorder” because last year he drove fantasy owners crazy with his low batting average and high strikeout rate, but this year he looks to have returned to his 2009 form that  hit 35 home runs and drove in 114 runs. Over the last two weeks, Lind has hit .457 with 6 HR and 15 RBI. He needs to work on his K/BB rate ( 23/7), but it’s already an improvement from last year.

↑Jaime Garcia – SP – STL

Garcia is developing into the ace of the pitching staff for the Cardinals. With Adam Wainwright out for the year and Chris Carpenter entering the later stages of his career, the Cardinals have turned to Garcia for consistency and he hasn’t disappointed. With a 4-0 record and a sub-2 ERA (1.99), Garcia should now be owned in 100% of leagues. Oh yeah…and his 44 K in 45.1 IP is not to shabby either.

Players of Week Five

by Ryan Butler

Here are the Players of Week Five, playas:

Gaby Sanchez (6 R/2 HR/10 RBI/0 SB/.464 BA): He’s turned in a great season so far with solid numbers across the board (21/5/20/0/.328) and has played a large role in Florida’s surprising early success. As of Monday he’s still owned in only 68% of Yahoo! public leagues. He plays in a big ballpark, but I like his .282 career BA (small sample size, I know) and love his 18/18 K/BB rate.

Alex Rios (6/2/3/1/.458): This one is from the “back from the dead” files, as the first month of the season left everyone wondering what the hell was wrong with this guy. On May 1 he was hitting .155 and by May 8 his BA had risen to .213. Clearly things are starting to turn around for Rios, and he’s too talented a player to stay terrible for too long.

Adrian in his high school years.

Adrian Gonzalez (7/3/9/0/.321): Week five finally gave Red Sox fans and fantasy owners a glimpse of what to expect from Adrian. I personally saw his act for five seasons in San Diego (not to mention Little and Pony League), and he’s as legit a hitter as there is in baseball. He can be streaky, but when he’s hot, he can carry your team for a week.

Tom Gorzelanny (15.0 IP/2 W/10 K/1.20 ERA/0.60 WHIP): Classic case of a guy who is a pretty good real-life pitcher, but not much of an asset in terms of fantasy play. This week he was outstanding in both respects, and while he left something to be desired in the strikeout department, when a guy manages two wins in a week, who’s going to complain?

Clayton Kershaw (13.2/2/12/1.98/1.24): He’s only 23, but it seems like this guy has been around forever, doesn’t it? One of the best young pitchers in baseball, his week five performance is nothing out of the ordinary for him. He’s a solid contributor in all SP categories.