Thursday, May 26, 2011

Fantasy Baseball News and Notes from May 25th, 2011

Here are some fantasy baseball-relevant tidbits and notes I picked up from box scores and recaps from games played on May 25th, 2011:
  • OF Carl Crawford, BOS went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run, two RBI and three runs scored in the Red Sox 14-2 rout of the Cleveland Indians (and earned himself a "Line of the Day" award). Crawford went 6-for-11 in this series and seems ready to reward fantasy owners that hung onto him through all of his struggles.
  • OF Grady Sizemore, CLE ran the bases without any problems and is expected to be activated from the DL before this weekend's series versus the Rays.
  • DH David Ortiz, BOS hit his 10th home run of the season and is 13/32 (.406) with three homers and a 1.250 OPS over the last seven days. Keep an eye on late-June when the Red Sox play road interleague games without a DH.
  • OF Andruw Jones, NYY hit a pair of two-run home runs in a spot start in left field. He doesn't play regularly enough to have much fantasy value but it's nice to see he still has some gas left in the tank.
  • SP Jo-Jo Reyes, TOR suffered the loss against the Yankees and dropped his record to 0-4 on the season and tied a major league record with 28 starts without a victory. With only three quality starts in 10 games started, it's probably safe to avoid Reyes until he proves he can be effective.
  • 1B/OF Mike Morse, WAS hit his third home run in three days and should be owned in all leagues except the most shallow. He'll play first base regularly until Adam LaRoche returns.
  • SP Zack Greinke, MIL struck out 10 (or more) batters for the 10th time in his career and also hit his second career home run. His 39 K's in just 28 innings translates into a 12.54 K/9 ratio to go along with a ridiculous 39:3 K:BB ratio of 13-to-1. Wow. Hopefully he's given up pick-up basketball.
  • SP Erik Bedard, SEA pitched six shutout innings and earned his third win in his last five starts without a loss. He's allowed two runs or less in all five of those starts. With 45 K's in 51.2 innings pitched, Bedard seems to have returned to the land of the fantasy relevant. Owned in only 47% of ESPN and 36% of Yahoo! leagues, now would be a good time to take a shot at streaming him in his next start against Baltimore.
  • CL Brandon League, SEA pitched a perfect ninth inning to record his 12th save in 15 chances (and three in a row now) and seems to have regained control over the closer's role after nearly losing it with three straight blown save opportunities.
  • C J.R. Towles, HOU broke an 0-for-32 slump with three hits and a walkoff RBI in the 9th inning. You can do much better at the catcher position in fantasy baseball.
  • OF Melky Cabrera, KC hit his sixth home run of the season and has 15 RBI and 11 runs scored over his last 19 games. He's 93.9% owned in ESPN leagues but only 60% in Yahoo! leagues. Why the disparity? Odd. Check your Yahoo! waiver wires if you are in need of some outfield depth.
  • OF Mike Stanton, FLA was 4-for-6 with four RBI in a wild game against the Giants. Over the last 15 games, Stanton is 17/44 (.386) with six home runs, 14 RBI, eight runs scored, 10 extra-base hits and a 1.309 OPS.
  • C Buster Posey, SF has reportedly suffered a broken leg and torn ligaments in a home plate collision. Details are just coming out this morning. Horrible news. On a positive note, 1B/OF Brandon Belt was recalled and should receive regular playing time going forward.
  • SP Ian Kennedy, ARI raised his record to 6-1 on the season and went 3-0 with a 2.02 ERA in five May starts. Eight of his 11 starts have been quality starts.
  • CL J.J. Putz, ARI pitched a perfect ninth inning, registering a franchise-record 14th straight save to start the season.
  • CL Jordan Walden, LAA recorded his 10th save in 13 opportunities and has regained control over the closer's role. He now has a 24:11 K:BB ratio in 23.1 innings with a 2.70 ERA and 1.24 WHIP.
I'd love some feedback from readers about this feature. Is it useful? Worth continuing? More in depth analysis needed to make it useful? More commentary to make it fun? Any information is greatly appreciated.

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