Beyond the Boxscore–Fantasy MLB News and Notes 5/22/08

The next young arm that is going to be added in a lot of fantasy leagues in the next 24 hours is going to be the Marlins’ Andrew Miller. Miller was one of the two big pieces that the Marlins got back in the Miguel Cabrera trade, but he got off to a terrible start. This is the fourth consecutive good start for Miller, and tonight was the best of his major league career. Miller lasted seven shutout innings, while striking out nine. Not bad for a guy who turned 23 yesterday. Unless your staff is stacked, see if you have someone you can replace with Miller, and keeper league players, act quickly.

Yankees rookie Ian Kennedy finally had a start that he didn’t embarrass himself. Kennedy has been a whopping disappointment for both the Yankees and fantasy players, and I am guessing most people had given up on him by now. Kennedy gave up just one run over six innings with four punchouts. I still think that you should wait for two or three more starts like this before thinking of adding him to your roster.

After swirling rumors about his job security, Rangers’ closer C.J. Wilson collected his ninth save of the season. He still could be replaced sometime soon by Eddie Guardado, but perhaps he has bought himself some more time with the 1-2-3 performance he gave on Thursday.

Despite walking more than a batter an inning, Daisuke Matsusaka remained unbeaten with his 8^th win of the season against Kansas City. Dice allowed three runs, walked six and struck out seven over 5.2 innings in which he threw 118 pitches. It wasn’t pretty, but he got the job done.

Both Santanas took the loss on Thursday, with Johan losing to the Braves and Ervin going down to the Jays. Ervin gave up four runs over six innings with seven Ks. He has been shaky his last few times out which is to be expected. He is pitching over his head, I would try to move him if I had him (which I do, and I will).

Johan Santana had two parts to his line score which wouldn’t make me happy if I owned him. First, Santana gave up a career high 12 hits, second, he struck out only one over seven innings. He is a great buy low candidate. Don’t expect anyone to give him away, but I bet the price is lower than it was when the season started.

Even when he loses, Aaron Laffey is pretty impressive. The great Indians’ rookie threw seven, one-run innings and struck out six while only walking one. Laffey has been one of the more impressive rookies in 2008 and is starting to look like a must-start each time out.

Ryan Howard is on a tear, and is starting to show he was worthy of your first round pick. After his 13^th on Thursday, Howard now has six in his last nine games. Ryan will most likely finish with 50, or somewhere near that, you just have to hope that he starts to cut down on the strikeouts which have plagued him this year.

Tigers rookie Matt Joyce is making the most of his opportunity to play. Joyce connected on his fifth homer of the season Thursday, and raised his average to .276. Joyce is worth a look in larger leagues as he is showing that he has some pop. Joyce did have a season of 17 HRs in 130 games, so this isn’t a total fluke. Continue to watch Joyce, and if he continues to hit like this, pick him up.

Jason Bay continues on the road to fantasy relevance again with his 11^th homer of the season Thursday while he now has 22 RBI. After hitting just 21 HRs all of last season, Bay looks to be on pace to get back to the numbers he put up his first two years in the league.

With his third homer in five days, it also looks like Corey Hart is getting back to the form that made him a very sexy pickup in 2007. Hart also stole his eighth base of the year, which puts him on pace to smash his career high of 23 last season. I believe that Hart will hit fewer homers in 2008, but steal more bases than he did in 2007.
Injury News

Brewers closer Eric Gagne has been shut down indefinitely with rotator cuff tendonitis. It is too soon to have a timetable for his return, but if you have him, try ANYTHING to get someone to take him or just cut him off your team.

One day after taking a Pujols line drive to the nose, San Diego pitcher Chris Young was placed on the Disabled List with the broken nose. He hopes to miss just the mandatory 15 games, so stash him in your injury spot on your roster and hope that there are no lingering effect to that scary injury.

Indians closer Joe Borowski will be activated off the DL on Friday and immediately regain his role as closer in the Cleveland bullpen. Yeah, he gives up a lot of runs and blows some saves, but after the way his replacements performed during his absence Borowski’s job security has never been higher. Put him back in your lineup immediately.

Indians catcher Victor Martinez left the game Thursday with an injured finger, making him day-to-day. This is just the latest is in a string of tough events for one of the best catchers in the league. Martinez is hitting for a good average, but still hasn’t homered yet this year. Considering you probably have no second option behind the plate, continue to play Victor and hope this doesn’t keep him out long.

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 5/16/08

It has been an offensive night tonight, with baseballs leaving ballparks all over the country.

By the 5^th inning of tonight’s game, Phillies CF Jayson Werth had three home runs and eight RBI tying the franchise record for runs batted in within a single game. Werth has been a decent player to have at the end of your roster, but tonight someone will grab him and start to play him daily. He is ok as an injury replacement, or an occasional play, but I wouldn’t want to have to have him in my lineup daily. Before this explosion he had six homers in 33 games while hitting .272. Not bad, but not great. If you happen to own Werth, I would try to throw his name in some trade talks and see if you can take advantage of this guy’s career night.

Alfonso Soriano is hot, red hot. With his two home runs on Friday, Soriano now has five dingers in his last five games, with 10 RBI during that time. Is this the signal of the end of his season starting slump? The Cubs, and his fantasy owners sure hope so. After going 40/40 in 2006, Soriano took a pretty good sized step back in 2007. He struggled to start the season in 2008, but if this is any indication, Soriano could be back to first round pick production.

The third guy to hit two or more over the wall is the American League RBI leader Josh Hamilton. Hamilton homered in the third and the fourth inning on his way to a 5-5 night as he raised his RBI total to 49. In his second season back from a hiatus from baseball due to drug addictions, it appears that Hamilton is now ready to realize the potential that made him one of the brightest prospects before his lifestyle forced him from the game. He obviously can’t keep this pace up or he will finish with close to 200 ribbies, but he will hit 30 HRs and drive in 120 as long as he stays healthy.

Jarrod Saltalamacchia has been struggling since his recall to the majors, but he did take his first ball out of the park on Friday. Salty is hitting just under .200 and four batted in over ten games. Salty also most likely has catcher eligibility in your league, which makes him a sleeper candidate if the catcher you drafted isn’t living up to expectations. He isn’t playing every day, but if he goes on a little hot streak, Salty will be in the lineup on most occasions.

Dan Uggla is playing out of his mind lately. Uggla hit his seventh homer in his last ten games, and has his average up to .313. Uggla also has 14 RBI over that span. He has never had his average this high, and is due to have a dry spell. Take this opportunity to see if you can land one of the top few options at second base.

After being a fantasy darling in his first two years in the league, Jason Bay fell off the fantasy map in 2007. In 2008, he is trying to regain the form that made him the National League ROY. Bay hit his ninth homer of the year on Friday, and has his average at .271. He still isn’t back to the status that he once held, but Bay is back to being a top 20 outfielder.

Rockies outfielder Matt Holliday missed Friday’s game with some tightness in his back. Manager Clint Hurdle made a point to say that the injury was nothing serious, and he was only out due to precautionary reasons. It is possible that he will miss another game, but this is nothing that will cost him any significant time.

Not all the news concerns the guys with the bats, there were some great pitching performances as well.

Looking for a sleeper closer in the second half of the year, keep an eye on the A’s Joey Devine. Once the closer in waiting for the Braves during John Smoltz reign, Devine is now an important part of Oakland’s bullpen. Devine’s ERA is at a ridiculous 0.55, and he has allowed just one earned run in 14 appearances, striking out 22 batters in just 17 innings. If anything were to happen to Huston Street, Devine should be the next in line given his performance this season.

Johnny Cueto continues to drive his owners crazy with his inconsistency. However, his performance on Friday was a step in the positive direction. Cueto lasted six innings, allowed three runs, and whiffed seven. He didn’t factor in the decision, but continues his good start, bad start routine. Unfortunately for those of you who have Cueto, if he keeps following this pattern, his next time out will be bad.

Francisco Liriano is showing some improvements in AAA ball. Liriano had his longest outing since going down to the minors, when he went eight innings, gave up three runs, walked just one batter and struck out four. He has continued to last longer into games, walk less guys, and give up fewer runs. This doesn’t mean that his return is imminent, but it at least means that he is making progress, and all is not lost with one of the most exciting prospects in recent memory.

Orioles prospect Garrett Olson is off to a 3-0 start to 2008. Olson beat the Nationals giving up three runs over five innings and striking out three. I wouldn’t go running to the waiver wire to grab Olson, but if you have a short term injury, he could be a decent fill-in.

The FIRST PLACE Tampa Bay Rays got another strong performance from young Andy Sonnanstine. Sonnanstine threw eight great innings against the St. Louis Cardinals as he ran his record to 6-1. His record might be a little misleading, seeing that his ERA is 4.67 but he was terrific Friday. Sonnanstine allowed just one run and struck out three against the Cardinals, as the Rays went to eight games over .500. I envision the number of runs that Sonnanstine has been giving up will catch up to his win-loss record, but for now ride the hot hand if you can’t find a taker in a trade.

Marlins’ pitcher Andrew Miller had a shaky outing, but not one of the horrible ones he had been having in the beginning of the season. Miller pitched five innings and allowed four runs (only two were earned), and struck out six. It is a slight step back, but Miller has certainly been pitching better in May than he did in April. He is a decent end of the rotation starter, with the potential to be the second or third best guy on your staff.

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.