Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 5/19 Jon Lester and more

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Tonight we get a story that is what makes sports so incredible and makes you want to follow them. For all the arrests, the cheating, the fighting that are in the news, you get a story like what happened at Fenway Park tonight and it gives you a whole new appreciation for not only sports, but the fragility of life. Just under a year and a half ago, Jon Lester was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Not only did Lester beat the cancer, but he returned to the major leagues. Now tonight, Lester makes history by throwing a no hitter against the Royals. What a feel good story, and a huge congratulations goes out to Jon Lester. That being said, for fantasy purposes, don’t go crazy trading one of the top 10-15 pitchers to acquire him, this is definitely the highlight of his season.

For those of you who have been waiting for Geovany Soto to come back to earth, it is looking like the Cubs catcher is going to be one of the top five catchers in baseball in his rookie year. Soto hit his ninth homer of the season (an inside the parker) and is leading his team in ribeyes. His average is over .315 and it is looking like his fantastic numbers in AAA last season weren’t a fluke, Soto looks like the real deal.

Astros CF Michael Bourn appears to be a unique kind of one-dimensional player. When you hear that term you usually think of home run hitters who do little else. But Bourn’s one dimension is stealing bases. He is hitting for an atrocious average (.200), not much power or RBI. But Bourn can steal bases with the best of them. He has just 31 hits and 19 stolen bases, as he makes the best of the opportunities that he has when he gets on base. If you need steals Bourn is a good option, but he will hurt you in most other categories.

Josh Hamilton is the first guy to 50 RBI this season when he hit his 11^th homer of the year. I can’t see Hamilton keeping this production level up, so if you can get someone that you would normally draft in the first or second round, I would unload Hamilton. If not, you can do so much worse than this guy on your roster. I expect him to finish with 25-28 homers with 100-110 RBI.

How long can Emil Brown keep up this level of success? Well, first off folks, he is 33 years old, most players don’t break out at 33. He has had a couple of seasons of 80 RBI in the past, so he isn’t someone I would just flat out drop while he is putting up good stats, but I would try to work him into some sort of trade where you can replace him with someone more reliable. Don’t shoot too high, I don’t think his trade value is overly high.

Adam Dunn has now homered in five straight games after hitting another on Monday. Dunn now has eleven homers, but is hitting for his usual awful average and is striking out like crazy. Dunn is going to do this season what he always does. He will hit .240, 40 homers, and 90 RBI. You can write it in the books now.

His record once sat at 1-4, but after another win on Monday, Ted Lilly has moved to 5-4 and is looking more like the pitcher we saw in 2007. At its peak, his ERA was nearly 10.00, but now after his latest good start, he is now sitting at an ERA near 5.00. If by chance he is still available, make sure he isn’t by the end of the night.

Brett Myers’ inconsistent season continued today. Myers wasn’t horrible by any stretch, giving up three runs in six innings, but today it was the Phillies who were unable to score any runs. I was asked on the Fantasy Baseball Search Gurus’ Radio show what I thought of Myers, and I said that for all the talent he had, he lacks concentration and focus. He doesn’t seem like the mentally toughest guy in the world, and I think that manifests itself in his struggles. You can have much worse options than Myers in your rotation, but it wouldn’t hurt to have someone on the next level up as well.

As always, your questions (adds, drops, trades) and comments are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Don’t forget to check me out at mlbfrontoffice.com on Tuesdays under In The News. Also go to fantasybaseballsearch.com to find me in the Gurus Blog.

Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 5/18/08

Again, I would like to thank the guys from fantasybaseballsearch.com for having me as a guest on their weekly radio show. They do an hour and a half show every Sunday, and I was lucky enough to make my second appearance. Please check out the show as well as their sites. They are fantasybaseballsearch.com, www.fantasybaseballgenerals.com, and www.junkyardjake.com. Please visit these sites as they are great tools to help your fantasy teams.

Let the demise of Cliff Lee as Cy Young begin. A guy who many have touted as this year’s big pitcher to have, will slowly turn back into the pitcher he has been for the last few years. He lasted just 5.2 innings and allowed five earned runs, striking out only two while taking his first loss of the season. I see Lee winning 14 games with an ERA near 4.00 by the end of the year. He is one player that I certainly would try to sell high on now, as you might be able to get one of the top15 pitchers in the league, but move quickly.

2007 17 game winner Jeff Francis finally picked up his first win of the season on Sunday. Francis had been a victim of poor run support on some days, but he was incredibly awful on others. I believe he will finish the season at around the .500 mark, and is a decent option to pick up if you have someone who is really struggling.

A guy I would work on acquiring is Seattle’s Felix Hernandez. The guy has a ton of talent, is still very young, and has a great strikeout rate. King Felix had a good start Sunday going six innings, allowing two runs and striking out five. Felix has been a bit inconsistent throughout his career, but remember he came up when he was 19. Still under 25, he is more of a veteran now, and I believe he will start being very effective regularly very soon.

Although he is almost eligible to start receiving his social security benefits, Randy Johnson continues to be an effective pitcher when he is healthy enough to take the mound. The Big Unit threw seven shutout innings and struck out five improving his record to 4-1. His ERA is higher than he would like, but at his age, if you can get any contribution from him you should be happy, and he is far exceeding my expectations.

Whenever there is a game that is big to the Mets, it always seems that Oliver Perez pitches well. Not that a game in May is huge in the grand scheme of things, but you know the Mets want to beat the Yanks, especially on national television. And right on cue Perez threw well. Oliver went 7.2 innings, allowed two earned runs and fanned four. You know my thoughts on the guy, although he isn’t the most consistent, he is one that I really like.

Although Zach Greinke continues to pitch well and win, he is starting to allow more hits and runs. In the beginning of the season he was giving up zero or one run. The last few times out it has been two or three. I know what you are thinking, boy that’s really splitting hairs. But I really don’t expect this production to continue, and if you need something to point to for backup, it is that he hasn’t been as dominant later. He is another sell high candidate.

Chris Perez is going to be a name that you will be hearing plenty about in the coming days. Perez is a minor leaguer for the Cardinals who was just called up when Jason Isringhausen was put on the DL. Chris appears to have been the Cards closer in waiting, who may not be waiting anymore. Isringhausen is close to the end of his career, and if Perez pitches well while he is in St. Louis, you might not see Izzy back in the 9^th inning when he is healthy enough to return. I’m not sure that Perez is worth all the hype he has received the past couple days, but if you are looking for a new source of saves, Perez might be closing for the Cardinals within the next few weeks.

Home Run Derby

Light hitting White Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera hit two baseballs out on Sunday, hopefully the start of a turnaround to a nightmare start of the season for the OC. Cabrera will never lead your team to the top of your game in homers, but it is nice to get this kind of game from an unexpected source. I expect his numbers will improve from the .220 he is currently hitting, just don’t expect this power showing to continue.

Adam Dunn has now homered in four straight games. One of the best home run hitters in the majors, you can pretty much write Adam down for 40 bombs now. You can also probably write him down for a .245 average too, but you didn’t draft him for his ability to take the ball the other way, or hit with two strikes. After a power outage to start the year, Dunn is now where we expected, and you can safely expect him to keep hitting homers.

In the past eight games, Ryan Howard now has four home runs, and is another player who is getting back on track from a tough start to the year. He still is striking out at an alarming rate (64 in 45 games), but at least now he is showing the power that we expect from him. Continue to start Howard (obviously) and expect him to play like the first round pick he was.

Fenway Park was a launching pad between the Red Sox and Brewers, as an amazing eight taters went over the fence. Leading the charge were formerly struggling sluggers Ryan Braun (eight in the last eight games), and David Ortiz (three in the past three games) as it seems both of them are back on track to produce like they did last season. But also leaving the yard was J.J. Hardy, Dustin Pedroia, Prince Fielder, and Kevin Youkilis.

As always, your questions (adds, drops, trades) and comments are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Don’t forget to check me out at mlbfrontoffice.com on Tuesdays under In The News. Also go to fantasybaseballsearch.com to find me in the Gurus Blog.