All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 125

Nelson Cruz - Nelson Cruz continued his torrid start to the season by going 2-for-4 with 3 Steals and 1 RBI on Tuesday against the Red Sox. Now hitting .333 with 7 HRs and 16 RBI, Cruz has an OPS...

Edison Volquez: Volquez tested positive for PED and was suspended for 50 games. He can only begin serving the suspension when he is eligible to come off of the 60-day-DL. Since he went on the DL before the season started,...

Randy Wells - Converted from catcher early in his Cub career, Randy Wells suffered through six-plus minor league seasons (and one rule V selection) to get to the point where he isn't really fighting for a rotation slot with the...

1. Casey Kotchman (1B - Mariners) - Three straight games with HRs for Casey Kotchman. That makes him 7-for-12 in XBH to start the season with 6 BB, a .367 OBP and a .963 OPS. Its been a few years...

Ike Davis(1B-NYM) – Reports this week have the Mets promoting Davis from Triple-A sometime in the next week. According to one report, should the Mets wait until after April 19,they would delay Davis’ free agent eligibility by a full year....

Brian Matusz: After two outings against one of the best offenses in MLB (the Rays), Brian Matusz got a much more favorable matchup on Sunday pitching against the A’s in Oakland Coliseum. Matusz looked good, allowing just 3 ER’s on...

Tyson Ross - RP Oakland A's It was a mild surprise that Tyson Ross came north with the A's, opening the season in Oakland's bullpen. The A's instructional staff tinkered with his landing area last year and that produced great...

Ubaldo Jimenez – Despite 6 walks through the first 5 innings, Ubaldo Jimenez buckled down and threw the first no-hitter in Rockies history by shutting down the Braves in Atlanta on Saturday evening. Jimenez finished the game with 7 strikeouts...

Ben Zobrist 2B/OF (TB) – Zobrist is off to a slow start, and his plate discipline is the cause. Last season, Zobrist chased pitches just 19.3% of the time, which was about 6 percent less than the major league average....

Zack Greinke (SP- KC) Zack Greinke continued his struggles last night in Minnesota allowing 4 runs, 2 earned, in 5 innings of work on 6 hits, 5 walks and 5 Ks. He drops to 0-2, 3.57, with a bulky 1.47...

Carlos Silva (SP—Cubs) Baseball! It's an unpredictable game. As unpredictable as the stock market, an earthquake or my wife’s cooking (I pray she doesn't read this). And once again we take a lesson from baseball that we can apply to...

Seth Smith: Smith entered the season as the deepest sleeper in the Colorado OF largely due to playing time concerns. As the 4th OF in an OF with young players that need playing time like Dexter Fowler and Carlos Gonzalez...

Joel Pineiro- LAA- Hot- After yesterday’s start, Pineiro’s GB% stands at 67.5%. His BABIP is at .245. This explains his 2.77 ERA. The odds of both of those factors being sustained are low. Pineiro’s performance will probably deteriorate. Joba Chamberlain-...

Geovany Soto (Catcher - Cubs) - Soto "broke out" of his slump to begin the 2010 season with his first HR of the year. It also was just his 3rd hit of the year, hitting just .176 through 17 AB....

American League 4 Kyle Drabek TOR SP A Probably has a better arm than most Jays on the current staff. A June debut seems likely. 5 Neftali Feliz TEX SP A He's the new Texas closer, but Frank Francisco still...

Chad Billingsley- LAD- Caution- Billingsley’s usage patterns and his performance over the past couple of seasons raise some red flags. In 2008, his first full season as a starter, he sparkled, posting a 3.14 ERA and striking out more than...

Bobby Abreu (OF—Angels) It wasn’t enough to overcome a 6 run deficit and ruin opening day at Yankee stadium, but Bobby Abreu’s 9th inning grand slam did provide a little suspense in a game that was otherwise dominated by the...

David Ortiz (DH-BOS) - Monday David Ortiz denied a report in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune that he is playing with an injured left wrist. Ortiz was 0- for -4 against the Royals with 4 strikeouts on Sunday and he didn't look...

Everth Cabrera - There's no questioning Cabrera's raw speed, but you could certainly question everything else about him. Cabrera had a mere handful of AB's above A-ball before last year's decent showing in San Diego, but the decency was masked...

Roy Halladay (SP-PHI) – The Astros are quickly becoming the laughingstock of the National League, but whenever a pitcher goes the distance this early in the season, it’s worth mentioning. Halladay allowed one unearned run on seven hits with an...

Kendry Morales: Morales is off to a slow start this season hitting just .222 through the first week of the season with 5 K’s and 0 BB’s in his first 27 AB’s. The interesting thing about Morales’ breakout season last...

Brad Hawpe - Hawpe is now 5-9 with 2 2B's and 2 HR's in the past two games after a couple of solo shots off of Mat Latos last night. At age 31 this year, Hawpe is probably a touch...

Aroldis Chapman - SP Cincinnati Reds This 21-year-old Cuban defector probably played a pretty big role in many fantasy drafts around the country last month and for many it will be interesting to revisit this spring's distribution in a couple...

Miguel Cabrera 1B (DET) – A couple of days ago, Tom commented on Cabrera’s potential to 40 HR. While it’s tough to believe that Miggy hasn’t hit the 40 HR mark in his 6 full seasons, I certainly agree with...

Gio Gonzalez - Gonzalez looked great in his 2010 debut against the Angels last night, allowing two runs on six hits over six innings, walking only one while fanning six. Gonzalez had two critical issues that primarily influenced his subpar...

Chipper Jones (3B—Braves) Let's start this blurb off on the right foot and establish that Chipper Jones is an excellent ball player. He's a career .307 hitter with 427 home runs and a lifetime OBP of .406. He will more...

Jay Bruce: Bruce is off to a tough start going just 1-12 in the first series against the Cardinals and having struck out 3 times without drawing a walk. I’m a really big believer in Bruce for 2010 and believe...

Brandon Wood: After a 0-12 with 5 K’s start, Wood was not in the starting lineup last night. In his third season in Triple-A Wood, showed some growth in his contact skills, 2007/2008/2009 Ct%’s 72%/74%/79%, but that has yet to...

Evan Longoria- TB- Hot Player- Longoria is on pace to shatter the home run record with 162 long balls this year. Yeah, it’s an old and bad joke, but someone had to do it. Longoria won’t keep up at pace...

Dallas Braden – Where did THIS come from? In his first start of the season, Braden struck out 10 Mariners in 7 innings while yielding just 1 ER on 4 Hits. With a career K/9 of 5.68 and a fastball...

Franklin Morales: It is looking like Huston Street will be out for a least the entire month of April, which gives Morales a shot to rack up some saves. No matter how good his strike out/ground ball package looks, 9.2...

Ubaldo Jimenez - After bumping up his average fastball velocity to 96.1 in 2009, Jimenez was throwing 96-99 consistently on Opening Day against the Brewers. Although he did allow a handful (plus a few) of singles, Jimenez only walked one...

Blake DeWitt (2B-LAD) – We already know DeWitt has won the second base job, beating out Ronnie Belliard and Jamey Carroll, but now we also now know that this won’t be a platoon situation, at least initially. DeWitt will get...

Alberto Callaspo: Callaspo will be on the opening day roster but with the Royals concerned about his right abdominal injury the Royals will withhold him from the opening day lineup against RH Justin Verlander. Callaspo, a switch hitter, has just...

Happy Opening Night! Hunter Pence -- With Lance Berkman on the disabled list to begin the season, Pence will hit third in Houston’s lineup instead of his usual fifth spot. The change could provide short-term gains in RBI and Runs....

Rich Harden SP (TEX) – Not that the Ballpark at Arlington does any pitcher favors, but it should especially negatively affect Harden. One of Harden’s biggest weaknesses is his propensity to give up the long ball. While his FB% for...