FANTASY BASEBALL: Who's Hurt, Who's Hot & Who's Not - Week 16 Recap
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Jul 29 2010, 3:07 PM
The Fantasy Geek is back with the latest news in fantasy baseball over the past week,
courtesy of TheFantasyGeek.com.
This is an excerpt from The Geekly Update. To read the whole column, click here...
KEEPIN’ IT ON THE D.L.
Stephen Strasburg isn’t on the DL, but it’s big news
that he missed his start Tuesday with shoulder tightness. The Nats are
being super-cautious, so don’t be surprised if he misses his Sunday
start too.
Chris Coghlan’s shenanigans are well documented at
this point. He’s out 4-6 weeks, possibly longer if he requires surgery.
The Marlins brought up Logan Morrison to fill in. He’s a solid prospect who warrants a look in keeper and deeper leagues.
Shane Victorino’s outlook is bleak after he strained his oblique. The Phillies promoted top prospect Domonic Brown, who could be a future 25-25 guy. Grab him now if you’ve got the room.
Ryan Doumit got hit in the dome and now has a concussion. Jason Jaramillo and Erik Kratz will share the catching duties in Pittsburgh. Neither should be rostered, except in deeeeep NL-Only leagues.
Carlos Gullen has the dreaded calf strain. Some guy named Will Rhymes played 2B last night. Don’t pick him up, unless you’re in a fantasy rapper league.
Magglio Ordonez fractured his ankle sliding into home. Man, the Tigers are a mess right now. The light-hitting Ryan Raburn will pick up more at bats. Yipee.
Ben Sheets is on the shelf with an elbow injury. Drop him and don’t look back.
Orlando Hudson “Orlanded” on the DL with an oblique. Nick Punto and Alexi Casilla are splitting the playing time at 2B.
David DeJesus went from trade bait to chum after busting his thumb. He’s done for the season.
Andy Pettitte has a groin issue. Tough loss, as he was having a helluva season. Now, Sergio Mitre is servin’ ‘em up in his place.
INKED & AXED
Here’s our take on the players fantasy owners are adding and
dropping the most. (Change in Ownership Percentages via CBS Sports
leagues)
Hot Commodities
Many Jack Cust owners cussed about having him benched last week.
Neil Walker (up 15%): Took a while
for fantasy owners to warm up to the lesser-hyped Pirates prospect. A
5-for-5 night got him widely added. But the kid should stick around
because he can do a little bit of everything.
Jack Cust (up 15%): Suckers.
Haven’t we seen this before? Cust had a few good games last week, but as
soon as you activate him, he’ll get back to slumpin’. No way he keeps
that .294 average up, but if you’re hurtin’ for homers, he’s ownable.
Tyler Colvin (up 11%): Gotta admit, I’m intrigued by
Colvin. He didn’t display this much power in the minors, but he’s
leading off for the Cubs, scoring runs and is worth owning while he’s
popping balls out da park in the hot Chicago air.
Cold Product
Sean Rodriguez (down 19%): A couple of weeks ago, S-Rod missed a game because his condo flooded. That put a real damper on his value because Reid Brignac
filled in and hasn’t come out of the lineup since. In the few at bats
Rodriguez is getting, he ain’t doing much. I still think the talent is
there. But right now, the opportunity isn’t.
Ben Sheets (down 17%): The DL stint is actually
doing owners a favor, making it easy for them to click “drop.” Sheets
wasn’t worth owning anyway.
James McDonald (down 8%): Dodgers starting pitchers
have a good park and a good division. But those factors alone don’t make
them good. There was a rush to add McDonald when he was announced as a
starter. That only lasted one outing, as did McDonald on many fantasy
rosters.
BIG SURPRISES
Guys who stepped up over the past week:
Danny Valencia (.736 BA, 1 HR, 8 RBI) – Normally, I
use last week’s stats for this section. But this guy came out of
absolutely nowhere to post ridiculous numbers so far this week. He’s 15
for his past 19. He’s basically been a .280s hitter in the minors, so
this is quite the fluke. But there’s nothing wrong with riding a hot
hand.
Luke Scott (.481 BA, 4 HR, 8 RBI) – Great Scott! He’s fresh off
the DL and rakin’, This cat is streakier than a naked guy running onto
the field, so enjoy it now, but don’t expect it to last.
Jeff Francis (12 IP, 10 H+BB, 2 ER, 13 K, W) – He got dropped like a bad habit and then proved that maybe he’s worth owning after all.
SUDDEN DEMISES
Stars who stumbled:
Vladimir Guerrero (.125, 0 HR, 0 RBI) – A bad week
every now and then is fine. I just hope the big fella isn’t starting to
run out of gas in that Texas heat.
Nick Markakis (.083 BA, 0 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI) – Does he
even qualify as a star anymore. I jumped off the Markakis ship a
looooong time ago. It amazes me that some people still haven’t.
Carlos Silva (1 IP, 9 H+BB, 5 ER, L) – You knew he
couldn’t be that good all season long. This was Silva’s second
sub-2-inning outing. But chillax, Silva owners, he looked good in his
outing on Monday (1 run in 5 IP).
STAT THAT LOOKS LIKE A TYPO…BUT ISN’T
30
That’s how many home runs Jose Bautista has. Nope, doesn’t look like
he’s not going to slow down. Infact, he’s looking a lot like another
Toronto third baseman with a similar name who had some surprising power
years. Can you guess who I’m talking about? I’ll tell you after
HARDBALL HELP…
HARDBALL HELP
hockey geek:
Who should I pick up as a replacement for the benched Sean Rodriguez? Uribe, Wigginton or Beckham?
The Fantasy Geek:
Wigginton is probably your best bet. He started the season out really
hot, then slumped pretty bad. But he’s back to doing okay. Beckham has
picked it up a bit, but still isn’t hitting for power or stealing bases.
Uribe is done…stick a fork in him.
If you figured out that I was talking about Tony Batista, the guy
with the crazy open stance, you win 10,000,000 Euros. Just send me your
credit card number, social security number and mother’s maiden name!
Tony Batista once hit 41 homers in a season for Toronto.
WHERE AMAZING POLLS HAPPEN
Dumbest baseball injury?
NEXT
Training camps start in the next few days, so get ready for the
onslaught of football news. If you can’t get enough, I recommend joining
Twitter (if you
haven’t already) and searching #FantasyFootball. You’ll get so much
news, your head will explode. Twitter’s also a great way to be among the
first to find out about the baseball trades. I suggest following ESPN’s
Buster Olney and Fox’s Ken Rosenthal.
(You can do a search for them.) And you can always expect a fresh take
on all the news right here at TheFantasyGeek.com. Here’s what we have on
tap for the upcoming week…
ALL THE TIME – Look for our tweets with player updates as well as quick posts
FRIDAY – Simon Says with more fantasy observations from Si
FRIDAY – The Geek will try to get his Tight End Breakdown posted in the football draft kit
SUNDAY – Hustle Points with hot free agents, day-to-dayers and double-start pitchers
MONDAY @ 3ET/12PT – Back at it’s regular day and time! Hardball Help Live Chat with The Geek and Si
WEDNESDAY – Another lip-smacking-good edition of The Geekly Update
For more, visit TheFantasyGeek.com
And for updates, follow The Geek on Twitter
More on Geekweek
The Fantasy Geek is back with the latest news in fantasy baseball over the past week, courtesy of TheFantasyGeek.com. This is an excerpt from The Geekly Update. To read the whole column, click here...
KEEPIN’ IT ON THE D.L.
Stephen Strasburg isn’t on the DL, but it’s big news that he missed his start Tuesday with shoulder tightness. The Nats are being super-cautious, so don’t be surprised if he misses his Sunday start too.
Chris Coghlan’s shenanigans are well documented at this point. He’s out 4-6 weeks, possibly longer if he requires surgery. The Marlins brought up Logan Morrison to fill in. He’s a solid prospect who warrants a look in keeper and deeper leagues.
Shane Victorino’s outlook is bleak after he strained his oblique. The Phillies promoted top prospect Domonic Brown, who could be a future 25-25 guy. Grab him now if you’ve got the room.
Ryan Doumit got hit in the dome and now has a concussion. Jason Jaramillo and Erik Kratz will share the catching duties in Pittsburgh. Neither should be rostered, except in deeeeep NL-Only leagues.
Carlos Gullen has the dreaded calf strain. Some guy named Will Rhymes played 2B last night. Don’t pick him up, unless you’re in a fantasy rapper league.
Magglio Ordonez fractured his ankle sliding into home. Man, the Tigers are a mess right now. The light-hitting Ryan Raburn will pick up more at bats. Yipee.
Ben Sheets is on the shelf with an elbow injury. Drop him and don’t look back.
Orlando Hudson “Orlanded” on the DL with an oblique. Nick Punto and Alexi Casilla are splitting the playing time at 2B.
David DeJesus went from trade bait to chum after busting his thumb. He’s done for the season.
Andy Pettitte has a groin issue. Tough loss, as he was having a helluva season. Now, Sergio Mitre is servin’ ‘em up in his place.
INKED & AXEDHere’s our take on the players fantasy owners are adding and dropping the most. (Change in Ownership Percentages via CBS Sports leagues)
Hot Commodities
Many Jack Cust owners cussed about having him benched last week.
Neil Walker (up 15%): Took a while for fantasy owners to warm up to the lesser-hyped Pirates prospect. A 5-for-5 night got him widely added. But the kid should stick around because he can do a little bit of everything.
Jack Cust (up 15%): Suckers. Haven’t we seen this before? Cust had a few good games last week, but as soon as you activate him, he’ll get back to slumpin’. No way he keeps that .294 average up, but if you’re hurtin’ for homers, he’s ownable.
Tyler Colvin (up 11%): Gotta admit, I’m intrigued by Colvin. He didn’t display this much power in the minors, but he’s leading off for the Cubs, scoring runs and is worth owning while he’s popping balls out da park in the hot Chicago air.
Cold Product
Sean Rodriguez (down 19%): A couple of weeks ago, S-Rod missed a game because his condo flooded. That put a real damper on his value because Reid Brignac filled in and hasn’t come out of the lineup since. In the few at bats Rodriguez is getting, he ain’t doing much. I still think the talent is there. But right now, the opportunity isn’t.
Ben Sheets (down 17%): The DL stint is actually doing owners a favor, making it easy for them to click “drop.” Sheets wasn’t worth owning anyway.
James McDonald (down 8%): Dodgers starting pitchers have a good park and a good division. But those factors alone don’t make them good. There was a rush to add McDonald when he was announced as a starter. That only lasted one outing, as did McDonald on many fantasy rosters.
BIG SURPRISESGuys who stepped up over the past week:
Danny Valencia (.736 BA, 1 HR, 8 RBI) – Normally, I use last week’s stats for this section. But this guy came out of absolutely nowhere to post ridiculous numbers so far this week. He’s 15 for his past 19. He’s basically been a .280s hitter in the minors, so this is quite the fluke. But there’s nothing wrong with riding a hot hand.
Luke Scott (.481 BA, 4 HR, 8 RBI) – Great Scott! He’s fresh off the DL and rakin’, This cat is streakier than a naked guy running onto the field, so enjoy it now, but don’t expect it to last.Jeff Francis (12 IP, 10 H+BB, 2 ER, 13 K, W) – He got dropped like a bad habit and then proved that maybe he’s worth owning after all.
SUDDEN DEMISESStars who stumbled:
Vladimir Guerrero (.125, 0 HR, 0 RBI) – A bad week every now and then is fine. I just hope the big fella isn’t starting to run out of gas in that Texas heat.
Nick Markakis (.083 BA, 0 HR, 1 R, 1 RBI) – Does he even qualify as a star anymore. I jumped off the Markakis ship a looooong time ago. It amazes me that some people still haven’t.
Carlos Silva (1 IP, 9 H+BB, 5 ER, L) – You knew he couldn’t be that good all season long. This was Silva’s second sub-2-inning outing. But chillax, Silva owners, he looked good in his outing on Monday (1 run in 5 IP).
STAT THAT LOOKS LIKE A TYPO…BUT ISN’T30
That’s how many home runs Jose Bautista has. Nope, doesn’t look like he’s not going to slow down. Infact, he’s looking a lot like another Toronto third baseman with a similar name who had some surprising power years. Can you guess who I’m talking about? I’ll tell you after HARDBALL HELP…
HARDBALL HELPhockey geek:
Who should I pick up as a replacement for the benched Sean Rodriguez? Uribe, Wigginton or Beckham?
The Fantasy Geek:
Wigginton is probably your best bet. He started the season out really hot, then slumped pretty bad. But he’s back to doing okay. Beckham has picked it up a bit, but still isn’t hitting for power or stealing bases. Uribe is done…stick a fork in him.If you figured out that I was talking about Tony Batista, the guy with the crazy open stance, you win 10,000,000 Euros. Just send me your credit card number, social security number and mother’s maiden name!
Tony Batista once hit 41 homers in a season for Toronto.
WHERE AMAZING POLLS HAPPEN
Dumbest baseball injury?NEXT
Training camps start in the next few days, so get ready for the onslaught of football news. If you can’t get enough, I recommend joining Twitter (if you haven’t already) and searching #FantasyFootball. You’ll get so much news, your head will explode. Twitter’s also a great way to be among the first to find out about the baseball trades. I suggest following ESPN’s Buster Olney and Fox’s Ken Rosenthal. (You can do a search for them.) And you can always expect a fresh take on all the news right here at TheFantasyGeek.com. Here’s what we have on tap for the upcoming week…
ALL THE TIME – Look for our tweets with player updates as well as quick posts
FRIDAY – Simon Says with more fantasy observations from Si
FRIDAY – The Geek will try to get his Tight End Breakdown posted in the football draft kit
SUNDAY – Hustle Points with hot free agents, day-to-dayers and double-start pitchers
MONDAY @ 3ET/12PT – Back at it’s regular day and time! Hardball Help Live Chat with The Geek and Si
WEDNESDAY – Another lip-smacking-good edition of The Geekly Update
For more, visit TheFantasyGeek.com
And for updates, follow The Geek on Twitter
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