Line of the Day: May 31st, 2011

1B Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins homered twice and drove in three runs in an 8-7 loss to the Detroit Tigers. It was Morneau's first multi-homer game of the season and the 14th of his career.

Line: 4 AB, 3 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; 2 HR, BB

My fantasy perspective: Morneau has been a fantasy disappointment for owners up to this point but some things are more important than a game, like the fact that he's back on the field and able to perform at all after suffering a season-ending concussion in 2010. That injury derailed what was turning out to be an incredibly special statistical season in the making (81 games; .345/53/18/56/0).

Morneau owners should be excited to see his bat come alive, even if just for one game. Even more encouraging is his production over his last 19 games. He's hitting .308 (24/78) with five doubles, three home runs and 11 RBI.

This was probably the season to avoid him in fantasy baseball unless you were able to grab him late in the draft and pick and choose when to start him. If that's the case, now seems like a good as any time to have him in your lineup. Good luck to one of the good guys in the game worth rooting for as a person, not just a ballplayer.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 30th, 2011

SP Bartolo Colon of the New York Yankees pitched a complete-game four-hit shutout in a 5-0 victory over the Oakland A's. He struck out six and walked none in the first individual shutout by a Yankees pitcher in over two years.

Line: 9 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 6 K; W, QS, CG, SHO

My fantasy perspective: Colon continues to baffle fantasy baseball owners. With six quality starts in eight games started, he's getting hard to dismiss as a fluke, especially after this latest gem. In those eight starts, he's produced a 3-2 record with a 3.11 ERA, a 1.07 WHIP and 49/12 K/BB ratio over 55 innings pitched.

Owned in just 37.7% of ESPN and 36% of Yahoo! leagues, Colon deserves consideration before his next start on June 5th in Los Angeles against the Angels. Don't wait around too long to make a decision because a complete-game shutout has a way of catching the eye of fantasy owners looking for help on waivers.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Ask COSFBA: May 30th, 2011

I get asked fantasy baseball questions on Twitter all the time but this one deserves more than a 140 character response:

The first question has me a little perplexed because Colby Rasmus put up a .276/85/23/66/12 5x5 line in 2010 in 144 games at just 23 years of age. So I think my gut-reaction answer to the first question is a "yes". But wait a moment. Rasmus only has four home runs and four stolen bases in 51 games this season and projecting a .284/106/12/59/12 2011 5x5 line. So his average and runs are up but his home runs, RBI and stolen bases are down.

A deeper look into his numbers (via FanGraphs) show his BB% is up (14.1% 2011 vs 10.2% career), K% is down (23.4% 2011 vs 25.5% career) with a high BABIP (.355 2011 vs .321 career). Hmmm, deeper. His LD% isn't bad (18.2% 2011 vs 19.3% career), neither is his GB% (37.8% 2011 vs 34.2% career) or FB% (44.1% 2011 vs 46.5% career).

Where can the problem be to help explain why his home run numbers are so far down? An elevated IFFB% of 11.1% in 2011 is what his career HR/FB% normally is (11.1%) but is down to 6.3% in 2011 explains it all. He's still hitting the ball in the air but it's not leaving the infield.

If you can find an owner who's fed up with Rasmus and his low HR/RBI totals so far, make a fair offer knowing he'll eventually turn things around once he gets more fly balls out of the infield. BUY NOW!

Max Scherzer was humming right along through nine starts (57.2 IP; 6-0; 2.81 ERA; 8.34 K/9) and looking every bit the sleeper most fantasy baseball writers expected him to be in 2011. His last two starts (7.2 IP total; 10 ER; 8 K) have owners wondering if they held on too long to a good thing or if this is simply a couple of rough starts most pitchers have along the way during a 30+ start season.

A deeper looking into his numbers (via Baseball-Reference) show the 39 batters he faced over his last two starts hit .400 against him with a .464 BABIP. Ouch! An even deeper look shows through his first nine starts, he threw 62% Strikes with a 19% rate of Strikes Looking and a 9% rate on Strikes Swinging. In his last two starts, those same numbers are 68% Strikes, an 18% rate of Strikes Looking and a 6% rate on Strikes Swinging.

I'm going to say Scherzer will be fine and dandy this season and could approach 15+ wins with 200 K's if he stays on pace for 200 innings pitched. Again, if owners are panicking and in a selling mode, send them a fair offer and see if they'll bite. BUY NOW!

If you have a fantasy baseball question you'd like to see answered in an Ask COSFBA column in the future, be sure to follow me on Twitter or visit the Ask COSFBA page on this site.

Line of the Day: May 29th, 2011

SP Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers allowed two hits and walked one while striking out 10 in an 8-0 victory over the Florida Marlins. It was Kershaw's second career complete game, both of which were shutouts.

Line: 9 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 10 K; W, QS, CG, SHO

My fantasy perspective: Kershaw leads the majors with 87 strikeouts in 79 innings pitched for a career-best 9.91 K/9 ratio. He also has a career-low 2.73 BB/9 ratio. With nine quality starts in 12 games, Kershaw could easily have a better than 6-3 record on the season. Add in his 2.62 ERA and 1.10 WHIP and you can expect to see his name mentioned in the NL Cy Young Award conversation this offseason.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 28th, 2011

Chris Iannetta of the Colorado Rockies homered twice and drove in six runs in the Rockies' 15-4 rout of the St. Louis Cardinals. It was Iannetta's first career multi-homer game and the six RBI were a single-game high for him, as well.

Line: 5 AB, 2 R, 4 H, 6 RBI; 2 HR

My fantasy perspective: Iannetta's four hits helped raise his season's batting average to just .242 but the two home runs gave him seven for the season and puts him on pace for 22 this year. His seven home runs are tied for third-most among all catchers. Over the last 30 days he's appeared in 23 games and is hitting .291 (23/79) with five home runs and 15 RBI.

Fantasy owners want Iannetta to be better but his ownership numbers prove they have no faith what they are seeing is for real. Owned in just 14.4% of ESPN and 23% of Yahoo! leagues, Iannetta deserves a long look if your team is reeling from the loss of Buster Posey.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 27th, 2011

SP David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays allowed no runs, four hits and walked two while striking out a career-high 12 over seven innings in a 5-0 win over the Cleveland Indians. Price is now 4-1 with a 2.01 ERA in five career starts against the Indians.

Line: 7 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 12 K; W, QS

My fantasy perspective: Price is posting career lows in WHIP (1.06) and BB/9 (1.53), combine that with an 8.02 K/9 and his K/BB ratio comes out to 5.23, good for second-best in the AL and fourth-best in the majors.

Price was the 16th-drafted starting pitcher on ESPN this offseason with an ADP of 69.5 and is currently the 20th-ranked starter and 56th-ranked player overall on ESPN's Player Rater. Owners who invested in Price are getting the expected value in return already and can expect more of the same for years to come.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 26th, 2011

SP Anibal Sanchez of the Florida Marlins allowed five hits and struck out eight in the Marlins' 1-0 victory over the San Fransisco Giants. Sanchez improved his record to 4-1 and lowered his ERA to 2.60 and WHIP to 1.14 after his fifth career complete game and third shutout.

Line: 9 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 8 K; W, QS, CG, SHO

My fantasy perspective: Sanchez is currently ranked the #22 starting pitcher and #81 player overall on ESPN's Player Rater. Not bad for a pitcher with an ESPN ADP of 221.5 and a Yahoo! ADP of 247. Fantasy owners seemed to lack confidence he could be a reliable starter coming into 2011, even after winning 13 games with a 3.55 ERA and a slightly elevated WHIP of 1.34.

Sanchez has two complete games and one shutout this season in just 10 starts and filling in quite nicely as the ace of the Marlins' staff while Josh Johnson is on the DL. He's currently sporting career-lows in ERA (2.60), WHIP (1.14) and BB/9 (3.0) with career-highs in K/9 (9.0) and K/BB (3.0). These definitely look like the numbers of a pitcher heading in the right direction of his young career.

Sanchez is currently owned in 100% of ESPN leagues (deservingly) but only 71% of Yahoo! leagues. How does that happen? Check your free agent pool to see if you are in 29% of the leagues that already suck heading into June.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

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.

Waiver Saviors: Who's Hot and Available

This edition of Waiver Saviors is not a celebrity gossip edition. There will be no Kardashians mentioned unless one of them is dating Matt Kemp. Today's post will be focusing on those players owned in approximately 50% or less of all ESPN and/or Yahoo! fantasy baseball leagues AND having a significant statistical impact over the last 15 days (through May 24th).

Here's the latest batch of waiver wire targets you need to be aware of at this point in the season:

• OF Jon Jay, STL (13/8% ESPN; 5% Yahoo! owned) is hitting .392 (20/51) with nine RBI and three stolen bases while filling in across an outfield dealing with injuries. If your team needs offense, Jay is worth the look while he's hot and making the most of his opportunities.
• OF Laynce Nix, WAS (21.9% E; 8% Y!) is hitting .362 (17/47) with three home runs, nine RBI and a stolen base as the Nationals' regular left fielder. He's projecting to hit 20 HR this season, which isn't much of a stretch for a player averaging 17 HR per 162 games over his career.
• 1B/2B/3B Adam Kennedy, SEA (2.5% E; 4% Y!) is hitting .297 (11/37) with two home runs and two stolen bases and can be a short term fix to a fantasy roster dealing with injuries. As second basemen go, Kennedy is ranked higher than Chone Figgins, Brian Roberts, Aaron Hill and Gordon Beckham.
• OF Raul Ibanez, PHI (47.6% E; 33% Y!) is hitting .326 (15/46) with two home runs, six RBI and 10 runs scored and has raised his average from a season-low .154 on May 1st to a season-high .252 today.
• 1B/OF Brad Hawpe, SD (5.8% E; 5% Y!) is hitting .318 (14/44) with two home runs, six RBI and 10 runs scored and could be a nice addition to your team in deep leagues utilizing extra roster positions such as CI, IF, UTL and DH or NL-only leagues.
• C Jonathan Lucroy, MIL (29.4% E; 26% Y!) is hitting .390 (16/41) with four home runs, 15 RBI and a 1.188 OPS and deserves to be owned in all formats. He's climbed the charts to become the 5th-ranked catcher on ESPN in just 32 games played.
• OF Seth Smith, COL (46.7% E; 29% Y!) is hitting .372 (16/43) with three home runs, nine RBI and two stolen bases while settling in as the Rockies' everyday right fielder. He may sit against some of the tougher lefties (.327 vs RHP; .214 vs LHP), but I think the concerns over him being a platoon should be put to rest.
• 1B Juan Miranda, ARI (0.5% E; 1% Y!) is hitting .375 (9/24) with one home run and five RBI and the reason the Diamondbacks recently released Russell Branyan. He's currently dealing with a hand/wrist injury but seems to be in Arizona's long term plans at first base.
• 1B/OF Michael Morse, WAS (2.3% E; 10% Y!) is hitting .407 (11/27) with two home runs and five RBI and will get an extended look at first base while Adam LaRoche in on the disabled list. He's now showing signs of being the player who hit nine homers  this past Spring and highly touted as a sleeper.
• 2B/3B Justin Turner, NYM (46% E; 17% Y!) is hitting .326 (15/46) with one home run and 12 RBI while seeing time at second base and third base for the injured David Wright. Check your league settings to see which position(s) he qualifies at because his value increases with dual eligibility.

Being extremely proactive in your daily leagues is the easiest way to stay ahead of lazy owners. We are nearly 1/3 of the way into the season and soon, if not already, it will be time to cut ties with under-performing players and take a chances on others that can help your team make up points in the standings. Head-to-head leaguers should be ready to treat each week separately and play as aggressively as possible to win.

Line of the Day: May 25th, 2011

OF Carl Crawford of the Boston Red Sox 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. He now has hits in 18 of 23 games in May, eight of which were multi-hit games, and has raised his average to a season-high of .229.

Line: 4 AB, 3 R, 4 H, 2 RBI; 2 2B, HR

My fantasy perspective: Crawford is quickly turning things around on a season that was looking disastrous at the end of April. He was hitting just .155 with more strike outs (17) than hits (15) and lingering at the bottom of the Red Sox lineup. He's definitely not tearing the hide off the baseball in May (.276 BA), but you won't hear his fantasy owners complaining.

A cause for concern is that he's struck out 35 times and only walked 7 (5.0 K/BB) compared to a 2.62 K/BB ratio coming into his first season with the Red Sox. Is this simply a case of a free agent pressing a bit to prove he's worth the large contract (7 yrs/$142 M) he signed or a superstar simply getting out of the gates slowly. I believe it's the latter. Any chance to acquire Crawford from a panicking owner on the cheap has probably passed but I'd still be trying to get him in a trade and simply pay market value.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Fantasy Baseball News and Notes from May 24th, 2011

Here are some fantasy baseball tidbits I picked up from games played on May 24th, 2011:

• SP Jorge de la Rosa, COL has a complete tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow and will require Tommy John surgery. He'll be out for at least a full calendar year. This is a devastating blow to the Rockies and will be hard for fantasy owners to find a decent enough replacement for the numbers de la Rosa was able to put up.
• SP Josh Collmenter, ARI had extended his scoreless streak to 24 innings before allowing home runs to Carlos Gonzalez and Seth Smith in the fourth inning of the Diamondbacks game against the Rockies. He's now 3-1 with a 1.19 ERA and 0.66 WHIP and available in 85% of ESPN and 84% of Yahoo! leagues .
• CL J.J. Putz, ARI is now 13-for-13 in save opportunities with a 1.80 ERA, 0.90 WHIP and a 19/5 K/BB ratio in 20 innings pitched. His 13 Saves are tied for fourth best in the majors.
• OF Carlos Gonzalez, COL homered twice (8) and drove in four runs (31) in the opening game of the Rockies' double-header. It was the third multi-homer game of his career.
• 2B/3B/OF Ryan Roberts, ARI stole his seventh base. He now has seven home runs and seven stolen bases on the season and is on pace for a 24/24 season. Who saw THAT coming?
• RP Rafael Soriano, NYY was shut down indefinitely with right elbow inflammation and can safely be dropped in all leagues where he was being rostered for Holds. Joba Chamberlain and David Robertson will continue to pick up the bulk of Holds in the Yankees' pen. 
• 3B/OF Jose Bautista, TOR went 0-for-4 against CC Sabathia and is now 0-for-15 in his career versus the lefty. Watch for that matchup the next time these two are scheduled to meet up.
• RP Al Alburquerque, DET earned his first major league victory. There's nothing fantasy-relevant about him (yet) except in leagues that may use K/9 as a scoring category, where he's sporting a robust 15.3 K/9 ratio. Plus that's just a great baseball name to type.
• OF Matt Joyce, TB hit his eighth home run of the season and leads the majors with a .367 batting average. He's now the 10th-ranked player on ESPN's Player Rater and the 14th-ranked player in Yahoo! leagues. Players like him are why we play fantasy baseball.
• C Alex Avila, DET homered twice and now has a 5x5 line of .292/17/8/27/2 for the season, good enough for the 2nd-best fantasy baseball catcher in 2011.
• SP Josh Beckett, BOS allowed one run and five hits in 6 2-3 innings and lowered his ERA to an AL-low 1.69. He's now 4-1 and looking like the ace of the Red Sox staff again.
• 1B Adrian Gonzalez, BOS leads the majors with 42 RBI and is unbelievable 13-for-25 (.525) with two outs and a runner in scoring position. "Pay that man his money."
• DH David Ortiz, BOS is batting .341 with seven homers and nine RBI in his last 20 games. Keep an eye on the Red Sox schedule for upcoming interleague games in NL parks.
• C Carlos Santana, CLE is in an 0-for-19 slump and hitting just .203 this season. He's made up for the low average with six home runs, 21 RBI and 21 runs scored.
• 2B Brian Roberts, BAL is seeing a specialist to deal with concussion symptoms and is expected to be out for at least three more weeks.
• OF Raul Ibanez, PHI is hitting .375 with 11 extra-base hits and 11 RBIs in 20 games since May 3rd. He's only owned in 47.6% of ESPN and 32% of Yahoo! leagues.
• OF Carlos Quentin, CHW became the fifth player over the last 13 days to homer three times in a game. It was the first three-homer game of his career and gave him 12 home runs and 31 RBI for the season.
• 1B/DH Adam Dunn, CHW ended a 3-for-33 slump with his fifth home run of the year. He's still batting just .192. If only he could hit his reported weight (285).
• SP Nick Blackburn, MIN pitched a complete game and ended the month of May with a 3-0 record with a 1.72 ERA in five starts.
• OF David DeJesus, OAK hit two home runs in a game for the second time in his career. Both have come this month. Oddly, those are his only four home runs for the year.
• RP Eduardo Sanchez, STL worked a perfect inning for his 5th save in seven chances. The Cardinals' bullpen continues to be a mystery. Five separate relievers have recorded a save for them this season (Fernando Salas , Sanchez, Mitchell Boggs, Trever Miller, Ryan Franklin).
• OF Mike Stanton, FLA hit his 11th home run for the season. He now has 33 home runs in 143 career games and is on pace for 39 this year. By the way, he's just 21 years old.
• CL Leo Nunez, FLA recorded his major league-leading 18th save (in 18 chances) and has a 24/9 K/BB ratio and a 8.9 K/9 ratio over 24.1 innings pitched.
• C Buster Posey, SF extended his current hitting streak to 12 games and has raised his average from .241 to .287. We knew there'd be some growing pains in his sophomore season, so hopefully this is a sign of good things to continue to come.

How useful are these post-game notes and tidbits to fantasy owners? Would you like to see them appear more often on COSFBA as a daily game roundup feature? Please let me know. Feedback is always appreciated.

Line of the Day: May 24th, 2011

OF Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox became the fifth major league player in the last 13 days to hit three home runs in a game as the White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 8-6. It was his first three-homer game and the 12th multi-homer game of his career. Quentin drove in five of the team's eight runs and now has 12 home runs this season.

Line: 5 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 5 RBI; 3 HR

My fantasy perspective: Quentin's bat continues to provide fantasy owners with the power numbers he displayed in 2008. He's on pace for a 39 HR/100 RBI season which would set a career-high for home runs and tie his best for RBI. In 2008, his slugging percentage was .571, the same number as it is this season.

Digging deeper into his number on FanGraphs.com show nothing out of the ordinary for Quentin. His BABIP is a little low at .252 but right in line with his .251 career BABIP. His FB% is high (58.0% 2011 vs 46.2% career) but his HR/FB% is actually below his career average (14.5% 2011 vs 15.4% career).

As long as he stays healthy and on pace, Quentin could be looking at his career-best year. The White Sox lineup will start firing on all cylinders soon enough and you can be sure Quentin will be right in the middle of all that offensive goodness.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 23rd, 2011

OF Corey Hart of the Milwaukee Brewers homered three times and drove in seven runs in an 11-3 victory over the Washington Nationals. The three home runs and seven RBI each tied club records. Hart now has 101 career home runs.

Line: 4 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 7 RBI; 3 HR, BB, SB

My fantasy perspective: Hart had been homerless in his first 21 games of the season, a span of 76 at bats, before this outbreak of power. Most preseason projections (via RotoChamp.com) had him as a .270/80/22/80/12, so Hart has a lot of work to do to reach those levels. He's recovering from the "injury de jour", an oblique injury, that seems to have sapped the power of many of today's stars.

A deeper look into Hart's numbers (via FanGraphs.com) show that his LD% is down (14% 2011 vs 17.8% career), his GB% is up (50.9% 2011 vs 40.1% career) and he's hitting less fly balls (FB% 35.1% 2011 vs 42.1% career). Hopefully his injury problem is behind him and he can get back to being the slugger fantasy owners hoped he'd be when they drafted him using an ADP in the 90's.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 22nd, 2011

SS Asdrubal Cabrera of the Cleveland Indians went 5-for-5 with two home runs and a career-high five RBI in the Indians' 12-4 rout of the Cincinnati Reds. The homers give him nine in just 44 games. He's never hit more than six in an entire season. Cabrera also stole his sixth base.

Line: 5 AB, 2 R, 5 H, 5 RBI; 2 HR, SB

My fantasy perspective: Cabrera is hitting .360 with four home runs and 15 RBI in 18 games this month. With nine homers, 32 RBI, 32 runs and six stolen bases overall, he's on pace for an eye-popping 5x5 line of .302/118/33/118/22. With a .299 BABIP coming into the day, what we are seeing seems for real and not overly lucky. The only red flag I saw in his statistics was that his HR/FB% of 12.7% is more than twice that of his career average of 6.0%. He obviously stands out as a SELL HIGH guy but are people really willing to overpay to acquire him in a trade? There's no historical reference for what he's doing this season, so why bail? What if 20/20 becomes his new norm? With as hot as the entire Indians team has been so far this season, I'm hanging in there to see what Cabrera can do.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 21st, 2011

SP Michael Pineda of the Seattle Mariners allowed two hits and struck out nine in seven innings in a 4-0 over the San Diego Padres. He and two relievers combined on a four-hit shutout and struck out a total of 13 batters.

Line: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 9 K; W, QS

My fantasy perspective: Pineda upped his record this season to 6-2 while lowering his ERA to 2.16 ERA and WHIP to 0.94. He's gone at least six innings in all eight of his starts and has record a quality start in seven of those eight. He's only allowed 41 hits in 58.1 innings while striking out 61 and walking just 14. We are witnessing a very special start to the 22 year old rookie's career. Congratulations to you fantasy owners who drafted him in the late rounds or were able to grab him off waivers. This is the kind of player that helps you win fantasy baseball leagues.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 20th, 2011

OF Jayson Werth of the Washington Nationals homered twice and drove in four runs in the Nationals 17-5 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. His home run was one of six hit by the Nationals' offense and set a team record for most home runs in a game. The 17 runs also set a franchise record.

Line: 4 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 4 RBI; 2 HR, HBP

My fantasy perspective: Werth hasn't lived up to the hype of his free agent contract (7yr/$126M) but few thought he would this season. After a disappointing month of April (hitting just .220 with 4 HR and 7 RBI), he's rebounded in May to hit .286 with 4 HR, 11 RBI and 4 SB so far. At his current pace, Werth could finish the season with 29 HR, 22 SB and 88 Runs but only 66 RBI and a .247 batting average. If he can get his average up to or above his career .269 mark and his RBI total close to the 85 he's averaged per 162 games, fantasy owners will have gotten what they paid for with their 5th or 6th round pick.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Be sure to check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards and subscribe to its feed, too.

Line of the Day: May 19th, 2011

1B Jason Giambi of the Colorado Rockies homered three times in a game for the first time in his career and drove in all seven runs in the Rockies 7-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies. It was his 39th career multi-homer game and the seven RBI tied a career high.

Line: 5 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 7 RBI; 3 HR

My fantasy perspective: Giambi was 3-for-26 (.115) before this game in a very limited role, so he hasn't been fantasy relevant. The Rockies will have some interleague games where Giambi will get to DH or a spot start at first base now and again but really doesn't deserve to be rostered unless Todd Helton goes down with an injury.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Waiver Saviors: May 19th, 2011

Waiver Saviors is a regular feature on COSFBA looking for players available in a majority of leagues (ESPN and/or Yahoo!) who are currently having a statistical impact in fantasy baseball and could/should be worth owning, if you have the need. Waiver pickups are all about filling a need with a player(s) currently hot and beating your fellow owners to the punch without destroying your current roster in the process. This advice applies best to very deep, mixed leagues and shallow league-only leagues. I'm not sure why people still insist on playing in shallow mixed leagues where EVERYONE is available on waivers.

Here's the latest batch of Waiver Saviors who may be worth owning if your roster continually has been decimated by injuries or you're finally ready to move on from an under-performing draft selection:

• OF Marlon Byrd, CHC (32.6% ESPN; 29% Yahoo! owned) is currently tied for sixth in hits (51) in the MLB, is hitting .307 and has scored 22 runs. Those are some positives. On the flip side, he only has two home runs and nine RBI, a 2.9 BB% and an inflated BABIP of .374. The Cubs will continue to run him out there everyday and slot him in the three hole in the lineup and there is value in that if you need a temporary fill-in for an injured player. And it also helps that he's hitting .340 over his last 15 games and both of his homers have come during that span.
• OF Jonny Gomes, CIN (17.2% E; 23% Y!) is only hitting .183 and officially lost his starting left field job, so why would there be any value in acquiring him? One word; interleague. The Reds are going to use him at DH in upcoming interleague games hoping to utilize his bat. This could be the wake up call his season needs. Now if he could just cut down his 31.7 K% and have a few balls drop into play (.195 BABIP).
• OF Seth Smith, COL (25.8% E; 15% Y!) has started 31 of the Rockies 41 games and made it into a total of 35, producing 4 HR, 18 RBI, 23 Runs and 3 SB. At his current pace, he'd produce a full season line of .286/91/16/71/12. In 2010, only 28 players accomplished a 16 HR/12 SB or better season. His splits (.301 BA vs RHP; .167 BA vs LHP) prove he'll be stuck in a platoon and should be utilized as such on your fantasy team, as well.
• 1B Todd Helton, COL (68.3% E; 37% Y!) looks healthy and could add value to your team in several categories from a CI, IF or UTL/DH slot in deep, mixed leagues or shallow NL-only ones (8th-ranked NL first baseman). Is a 20+ HR/75+ RBI/.315+ BA season that much of a stretch for him? He's outperforming guys like Aubrey Huff, Adam Dunn and Billy Bulter at this point and deserves a look.
• OF Corey Patterson, TOR (14.1% E; 7% Y!) is currently the Blue Jays starting left fielder and batting at the top of an offensively-potent lineup. In his last 14 straight starts, he's batting .295 (18/61) with six doubles, two triples, nine RBI, 11 runs scored and three stolen bases. Get past the name and look at the statistics and you'll see a player with plenty of fantasy value while getting the opportunity to play.
• 3B Scott Rolen, CIN (43.4% E; 39% Y!) has returned to the lineup from a shoulder injury and tearing it up. In six games since his return, he's hitting .435 (10/23) with a 1.132 OPS and should be a mainstay in the middle of the Reds' potent offense with the occasional day off for rest.
• 3B Alberto Callaspo, LAA (51.7% E; 32% Y!) is another third baseman with value on waivers. Over his last 15 days, he's hitting .339 (19/56) with 11 RBI. He doesn't offer much power or speed but would fill in nicely if you are reeling from injuries at what's proving to be an even shallower third base position than it was on draft day.
• OF Roger Bernadina, WAS (2.2% E; 2% Y!) is the Nationals' starting center fielder and leadoff hitter and deserves to be owned in more leagues. He's now hitting .293 on the year with four stolen bases in his last 11 games. His 12.8 BB% has led to a nice .383 OBP. If the Nationals' offense could find some consistency, Bernadina could be a cheap source for runs scored, too.
• C Yadier Molina, STL (60.3% E; 55% Y!) has a 5x5 line of .323/16/3/18/1 and currently stands as the third-ranked catcher on ESPN's Player Rater after hitting .483 (14/29) with a 1.190 OPS over his last seven games. There's no reason to hold onto a multi-category killing catcher this deep into the season. You should be willing to play the hot hand if you missed out on the upper-tier options.
• OF John Jay, STL (1.1% E; 2% Y!) could see some additional playing time if Tony LaRussa continues get Albert Pujols starts at third base, going forward. His .322/8/3/11/1 line has been very under-utilized up until this point, thanks to the blazing start to the season Lance Berkman has had.
• OF Ryan Ludwick, SD (20.3% E; 17% Y!) has been on a tear over his last seven games, hitting .444 (12/27) with four home runs, 13 RBI and a .889 SLG. He may only be worth rostering on road trips, though (.177/6/4/11/0 at home; .280/13/4/17/1 away).
• RP Fernando Salas, STL (55.3% E; 39% Y!) is the latest Cardinals' reliever to get a chance at some saves and has gone 4-for-4 in his opportunities. Mix in a 2-0 record, 1.02 ERA, 0.79 WHIP, 8.15 K/9, 3.20 K/BB, .153 BAA and three Holds and you got yourself a very valuable reliever in nearly all formats.

Is it time to hit the panic button yet on some under-performing players and if so, which ones have you simply cut your losses with and moved on from already? I'd love to hear from you in the comments section.

Be sure to check back every day to see who won COSFBA's "Line of the Day" award.

Line of the Day: May 18th, 2011

SP Jake Peavy of the Chicago White Sox pitched a three-hit, complete game shutout in a 1-0 duel with the Cleveland Indians' Justin Masterson. Peavy struck out eight and didn't walk a batter in just his second start of the season since returning from experimental right shoulder surgery. This was his ninth career complete games and fifth career shutout.

Line: 9 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 8 K; W, QS, CG, SHO

My fantasy perspective: Peavy now has 12:0 K:BB ration in 15 innings in 2011 and is worth picking up if he was dumped to waivers earlier in the season. Any pitcher returning from surgery is a risk, so I wouldn't drop a pitcher of value right now to pick him up. In a very small sample size (two starts), Peavy has a 2.40 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and a .185 BAA. Here's to hoping he stays healthy and returns to his dominant ways.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Line of the Day: May 17th, 2011

C Brian McCann of the Atlanta Braves came off the bench in the ninth inning to tie the game with a pinch-hit, two-out solo home run, then hit a two-run shot in the bottom of the 11th to lead the Braves in a walk-off 3-1 win against the Houston Astros.

Line: 2 AB, 2 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; 2 HR

My fantasy perspective: McCann's big night launched him from the tenth-ranked catcher to the fifth-ranked on ESPN's Player Rater. He came into the season as the fourth-ranked catcher, so owners are now getting closer to what they paid for with an ESPN ADP of 50.9 and a Yahoo! ADP of 53.7. He's currently on pace for  a 15 HR/85 RBI season, which is below his career average of 24 HR/100 RBI, so expect him to continue to heat up as the weather does.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Line of the Day: May 16th, 2011

SP Colby Lewis of the Texas Rangers pitched a complete game, five-hitter for his first career shutout in a 4-0 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Lewis struck out seven and walked just one while recording his third career complete game. He's evened his record to 4-4 and dropped his ERA to 3.81 and WHIP to 1.14 on the season.

Line: 9 IP, 5 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 7 K

My fantasy perspective: Lewis seems to have turned things around after a rough start. In his first four starts of the season, he was 1-3 with a 6.95 ERA in 22 innings, giving up 24 hits, 17 ER with a 14:10 K:BB ratio. In his last four starts, he's gone 3-1 with a 1.67 ERA in 32.1 innings, allowing 24 hits, just 6 ER with a 24:4 K:BB ratio. Check your leagues waivers, he's owned in 71.6% of ESPN leagues and 58% of Yahoo! leagues. He should be owned in all formats.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Line of the Day: May 15th, 2011

3B/OF Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays homered three times in the Jays 11-3 win over the Minnesota Twins. He has seven home runs in seven career games at Target Field. Bautista now leads the majors with 16 home runs and the American League with a .368 batting average.

Line: 5 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 4 RBI; 3 HR

My fantasy perspective: I guess it's time to set the record straight, Bautista is the real deal. 2010 wasn't a fluke. He's AHEAD of last year's pace for home runs. At his current pace, he'll hit 65 home runs in 130 games. The number one player in all of fantasy baseball had an ESPN ADP of 33.4 and a Yahoo! ADP of 35.1 this year. I was only able to draft him in one of my five leagues this season. I won't be making the same mistake in 2012.

This is not a case of performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). IT BETTER NOT BE. The game of baseball has ensured us fans that the game is clean and what we are witnessing on the field is worth celebrating and the players are worthy of our admiration and affection. And I, for one, am enjoying every swing Bautista takes.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Line of the Day: May 14th, 2011

SP Brad Bergesen of the Baltimore Orioles pitched a complete game, four-hit shutout, beating the Tampa Bay Rays 6-0. It was his fourth career complete game and first career shutout. Baltimore starters recorded consecutive complete games for the first time since July 10 and 11, 2003.

Line: 9 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 5 K; W, QS, CG, SHO

My fantasy perspective: Bergesen is virtually unowned in all leagues and formats, so it makes him virtually useless to fantasy owners at this early stage of the season. If this had been much later in the year, he very well could have been a Saturday afternoon streaming option. Keep an eye on who becomes the odd man out when Brian Matusz returns from the disabled list. It will either be Bergesen or Chris Tillman.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Line of the Day: May 13th, 2011

SP Jeremy Hellickson of the Tampa Bay Rays threw a four-hit, complete game shutout in a 3-0 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. He walked one and struck out three in recording his first career complete game in just his 11th career start. Hellickson retired the final 13 batters.

Line: 9 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K; W, QS, CG, SHO

My fantasy perspective: Hellickson is 4-2 with a 2.98 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP in seven starts. A deeper look into his numbers show his K/9 rate is down (6.0 in 2011; 8.2 in 2010) and his BB/9 is up (3.6 in 2011; 2.0 in 2010). Batters are hitting .218 off of him with a .243 BABIP, so he has either been lucky balls are being hit at fielders or has a very good defense behind him. Either way, Hellickson is showing why he was on many preseason "sleeper" lists and a great bargain investment with an ESPN ADP of 159.8 and a Yahoo! ADP of 177.9. Keeper and dynasty league owners will definitely want to keep an eye on his progression and/or regression.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Line of the Day: May 12th, 2011

OF Carlos Beltran of the New York Mets went 3-for-5 with three home runs and six RBI in a 9-5 victory over the Colorado Rockies. It was the first time in his career that Beltran hit three homers in a game and became the eighth Mets player ever to do so.

Line: 5 AB, 3 R, 3 H, 6 RBI; 3 HR

My fantasy perspective: Beltran looks to be healthy again and is thriving with the bat (.295/.387/.590, 8 HR, 24 RBI, 21 Runs). He has no stolen bases (or even attempts), so double-digit steals are probably a part of his game he'll never get back. Beltran is currently the 43rd-ranked player on ESPN (203.3 ADP) and 41st-ranked on Yahoo! (180.5 ADP) and looking like a steal for owners that took a chance on him late in their drafts. I, for one, am hoping he stays healthy in 2011 and beyond.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Apologies

Please accept my apologies if you encounter a "Page Not Found" error message when trying to access several of my most recent articles. Blogger has encountered a major crash of its site and put out this explanation:

Here’s what happened: during scheduled maintenance work Wednesday night, we experienced some data corruption that impacted Blogger’s behavior. Since then, bloggers and readers may have experienced a variety of anomalies including intermittent outages, disappearing posts, and arriving at unintended blogs or error pages. A small subset of Blogger users (we estimate 0.16%) may have encountered additional problems specific to their accounts. Yesterday we returned Blogger to a pre-maintenance state and placed the service in read-only mode while we worked on restoring all content: that’s why you haven’t been able to publish.  We rolled back to a version of Blogger as of Wednesday May 11th, so your posts since then were temporarily removed. Those are the posts that we’re in the progress of restoring.

 I hope these articles will return soon and am working on new content, as well.

Again, my apologies. I guess you get what you pay for, sometimes, in the world of "free".

In the meantime, be sure to follow me on Twitter and I'd appreciate a "like" on Facebook.

Sincerely,

Daniel
COSFBA

Line of the Day: May 11th, 2011

OF Rajai Davis of the Toronto Blue Jays went 4-for-4 with two RBI, two runs scored and two stolen bases in a 9-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox. The four hits against Boston tied a career high. He's now tied for the American League lead in stolen bases with 11.

Line: 4 AB, 2 R, 4 H, 2 RBI; 2 SB

My fantasy perspective: Davis is 12-for-43 (.279) in the 11 games played since returning from an ankle injury that caused him to mis 16 games. He has 10 stolen bases over that span, as well. More amazingly, the 10 stolen bases have come in just five of those games. When Davis runs, he runs in bunches. He's owned in 80% of ESPN leagues but only 46% of Yahoo! leagues. How does such a disparity happen? Check your league's waivers to see if he's available, but don't get your hopes up if your league has any value to it at all. Davis' fantasy value comes from his speed and being on base, so hope his .269 OBP rises quickly to at least his career OBP of .325, if not beyond.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Where Can I Find: Home Runs

If you're in a standard 5x5 Rotisserie league, you need to do all you can to not fall too far behind in any one category. A common belief is that you should shoot for no worse than fourth place in any category to keep yourself in the running to win your league.

With that in mind, here are some players that are available in a large percentage of ESPN and/or Yahoo! leagues who could help you make up some ground in the Home Runs category. Be very aware, though, of the reasons why these players are sitting out there on waivers.

• OF Matt Joyce, TB has three home runs and is slugging .739 in May and now leads the AL in batting with a .356 average. ESPN owners are catching on as he's now owned in 72.1% of leagues but how is he still just 30% owned on Yahoo!? Make no assumptions. Check your waivers now to see if he's somehow available.
• C Jorge Posada, NYY is tied for the major league-lead in home runs (6) for catcher-eligible players. His .147 batting average (15/102) has everything to do with the fact that he's only owned in 42.5% of ESPN leagues and 63% of Yahoo! leagues (and dropping). At this point, he should only be owned in two-catcher leagues with 12 or more teams, as he's currently the 25th-ranked catcher on ESPN's Player Rater. But if you are desperate for home runs, he may be worth rostering and only playing on days when he has a history of success against opposing pitchers until he heats up. That's assuming he ever does.
• C Rod Barajas, LAD is also tied for the major league-lead in home runs (6) for catchers and gets the majority of starts for the Dodgers. His .236 batting average is going to do more damage than good to a competitive team, but he deserves to be owned in more than 1.9% of ESPN leagues and 9% of Yahoo! leagues. He's averaged 20 HR/162 games over his career. Spot starting verses a left-handed starter would be ideal. He's hitting .357 vs LHP compared to .192 vs RHP this season.
• OF Jonny Gomes, CIN has six home runs, 17 RBI, 18 runs scored and five stolen bases. Surely those numbers deserve to be owned in more than 31.9% of ESPN leagues and 34% of Yahoo! leagues, right? Wrong. His .192 batting average, 32.7 K% and a loss of playing time are why he's being dropped in huge chunks of leagues right now. He hit five of his six homers during a seven game span, so he may be worth picking up the next time he hits a home run and home he goes on a binge.
• OF Josh Willingham, OAK leads the A's in home runs (6) and RBI (22) but also in strikeouts (37). His .229 batting average is nothing to write home about, either. As long as the entire Oakland offense continues to struggle, his ownership numbers will remain low (10.5% ESPN; 16% Y!). On a positive note, he's still projecting to hit 20+ HR with 90+ RBI.
• 1B/OF Luke Scott, BAL is known to be a streaky home run hitter, so the time to grab him is when he's going through a dry spell. All six of his home runs this season came within a 16-game period (14 games played). His .263 average won't kill your team and he should be benched against LHP (2/23; .087 BA). Owned in 51.9% of ESPN leagues and just 39% of Yahoo! leagues, Scott could be the most widely available 30-HR potential player out there.
• 1B Mark Trumbo, LAA has a nice .270/14/6/17/2 line but was losing playing time to an overly crowded Angels' infield. Vernon Wells' injury has opened up some more opportunities to get Trumbo's bat into the lineup and he should continue to produce. At his current pace, he's projected to hit 26 HR for the season. His 16.5% ESPN and 16% Yahoo! ownership rates make him a widely available target, especially in leagues using a CI, IF or multiple DH/UTL roster positions.
• SS Alex Gonzalez, ATL is the 14th-ranked shortstop on ESPN's Player Rater, so I'm thinking his ownership numbers should be a bit higher than 41.8% on ESPN and 37% on Yahoo!, especially with a decent .252/20/5/16/0 from a thin shortstop position that's on pace to produce 22 HR, 70 RBI and 88 Runs.

Six weeks into the season may be time to start evaluating when to give up on some players. Swallow leaguers probably have the most flexibility to cut an under-performing player because they have the deepest waivers. Deep mixed or AL/NL Only leaguers have to be looking for incremental changes on a weekly basis to make up points. There's no time to sit back and continue to wait if you've fallen to the middle or the back of the pack. 

Line of the Day: May 10th, 2011

1B Adrian Gonzalez of the Boston Red Sox went 3-for-6 with two home runs, including a game-tying one in the the top of the 9th inning, in the Red Sox 7-6 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays. It was the 11th multi-homer game of Gonzalez's career.

Line: 6 AB, 2 R, 3 H, 3 RBI; 2 HR

My fantasy perspective: Gonzalez has hit in 20 of his last 22 games with 11 multi-hit games during that span and raised his average from .244 to .324. Add in a .375 OBP and .541 SLG with a lowered K% (16.9% vs 20.7% career) and he could be looking at another monster (no pun intended) season. He leads all first basemen with 48 hits, 19 extra-base hits and 80 total bases. The only concerns so far are an elevated BABIP of .359 (career .312 BABIP) and low BB% (6.9% vs 11.2% career).

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.

Line of the Day: May 9th, 2011

OF Carlos Quentin of the Chicago White Sox went 3-for-4, homered and drove in five runs in an 8-0 victory over the Los Angeles Angels. The home run was his eighth of the season and now has 23 RBI. He also doubled twice, accumulating 10 total bases on the night.

Line: 4 AB, 1 R, 3 H, 5 RBI; 2 2B, HR

My fantasy perspective: Quentin is currently leading or tied for the White Sox lead in doubles (15), runs (18), home runs (8) and total bases (75). His current .279 batting average is 26 points higher than his career average of .253, so there may still be some regression to his overall numbers if his average dips. At his current pace, he'd hit 36 home runs and drive in 104 runs. Both are right in line with career highs set in 2008.

Agree? Disagree? Check out ESPN's formula for determining the best daily performances and nominate your own Line of the Day player using the comments section or hitting me up on Twitter.

Check out the past winners of COSFBA's Line of the Day awards here.