All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 126

Blue Jays Bullpen - The season-ending injury suffered by Joe Nathan has send tsunami warnings to baseball shores far and wide this week, with waves starting to wash ashore at Jay's camp. The Twins have reportedly expressed interest in Jason...

Cardinals SS - Brendan Ryan continues to progress. Ryan will take soft toss on Monday with hopes of seeing live BP the following week. That schedule would have him seeing game action in the third week of March. Tony La...

Blue Jays Rotation : The post-Halladay era begins in Toronto with intense focus on the three prospects acquired in exchange for the face of the franchise this offseason. Pitcher Kyle Drabek, first-baseman-to-be Brett Wallace, and catcher Travis d'Arnaud are expected...

"Are all Fantasy Baseball Projections and Rankings the same and or more beneficial than ADP?" Fantistics Player Projections has utilized a time tested forecasting algorithm that has allowed it to maintain its status as a leader in fantasy baseball...

Carlos Quentin (OF—White Sox) Carlos Quentin finished off the season with a fairly strong September, hitting 6 home runs for the month. After struggling a good portion of the year with injuries, Quentin’s .239 batting average was much lower than...

Garrett Atkins: The complete decline of a power hitter to a back up or minor leaguer has been completed for Atkins, 2007/2008/2009 AB’s 605/611/351, Doubles’ 35/32/12, Home Runs’ 25/21/9, and Averages’ .301/.286/.228. Without any real change in his approach at...

David Ortiz (DH – Red Sox) After months of debating whether or not David Ortiz was cooked, he has very quietly put together 4 consecutive very strong months to finish the season. If you remove Big Papi’s remarkably futile April...

Drew Stubbs: After hitting just 3 home runs in 411 Triple-A AB, it is surprising that Stubbs has blasted 8 home runs in 172 AB. With just 5 doubles, the power does seem fluky for the soon-to-be 25-year-old, but with...

Felipe Paulino: Paulino’s stuff is always tantalizing, but his issues with command usually impede his success. This was not the case on Thursday night as Paulino walked 3 in 5 innings, but was able to pitch around the walks, allowing...

Brian Duensing: Duensing numbers’, 5-2 with a 3.66 ERA, look much better than the numbers that a rookie with his skills, 5.8 K/9, 3.4 BB/9, and a 46%GB, should be producing. A 75% Strand Rate and a depressed 7% HR/FB%...

Michael Young- TEX- Hot- Young has bounced back since returning from his latest bout of hamstring troubles. This has been the first season that he has been seriously impacted by injuries, playing only 133 games so far. Still he has...

Ricky Nolasco (SP—Marlins) Ricky Nolasco finished off the 2009 season with his most impressive game of the year, fanning 16 batters in 7.2 innings and flirted with the record for consecutive strikeouts. Despite Nolasco falling 1 strikeout shy of Tom...

Ronny Cedeno (SS – Pirates) It is looking very likely that Ronny Cedeno will not return this season due to a pair of pulled hammies. About a month ago, I made the case advocating that teams have been too quick...

Juan Pierre- LAN- Cold- With Manny Ramirez out with a sore hamstring and likely to be rested a lot in the last days of the season, Pierre has been getting some playing time. That’s the good news for Pierre owners....

Stephen Drew (SS-ARI) – I was surprised to see that we hadn’t written about Drew since June 29, but the obvious reason is that he’s taken a step back this year. After batting .291/.333/.502 a year ago, Drew has dropped...

Jarrod Washburn (SP—Tigers) Well, for once it appears that Seattle may have made a good move, trading Jarrod Washburn to Detroit when he was at the height of his value. Since arriving in the Motor City, Washburn has pretty much...

Ricky Nolasco: Nolasco continues to get victimized by a horrible Strand Rate. He allowed just 5 base-runners on Friday night over 7 innings, but 3 of them found their way across home plate on a 3 run HR by Jeff...

Carlos Quentin (OF – White Sox) I think it is important to once again point out how truly unlucky Carlos Quentin has been this season. Quentin actually increased both his LD (+1.2%) and FB (+4.6%) rates this season, but somehow...

Bronson Arroyo: Consistency is a word you don’t typically associate with Bronson Arroyo, but he spun his twelfth consecutive quality start on Thursday, limiting the Pirates to just 1 ER over 7 innings. The extended hot streak has dropped his...

Placido Polanco: It has been a typical season for Polanco, moderate power in the form of 30 doubles and 10 home runs, a little bit of speed, 7 steals, poor plate patience, 5% BB%, and outstanding contact skills, 93%. The...

Scott Kazmir- LAA- Hot- Kazmir took the loss against the Yankees last night, but still pitched decently. It was a quality start, with 3 runs allowed on 6 hits and 3 walks while striking out 4 in 6 IP. Since...

Chris Coghlan (OF—Marlins) Chris Coghlan has tossed his name into the Rookie of the Year race as he has been on fire the past couple of months. From the beginning of August, Coghlan is batting an amazing .383 in 214...

Pablo Sandoval (3B – Giants) Pablo Sandoval has experienced a true breakout in ’09, and in this season, he has adopted a much more patient approach at the plate. He has swung at 11.8% fewer pitches outside the strike zone,...

Joe Blanton- PHI- Stats- A big part of Blanton’s surge after a poor April has been a turnaround in his comparative home and road performances. He has not been effected by the hitter bias at Citizens Bank Park, posting a...

Andres Torres (OF-SF) – Torres provided all the punch for the Giants in Sunday’s loss to the Dodgers, hitting a pair of solo home runs off Randy Wolf in going 2-for-4. Torres, 31, is batting .257/.339/.522 in 113 at-bats for...

Jake Peavy (SP--White Sox) Congratulations to all Jake Peavy owners who have waited over 3 months to use the ace pitcher this season. Your patience has been rewarded. Saturday was Peavy's White Sox debut against the Royals and he was...

Cliff Lee: The National League seems to agree with Lee, as he has pitched better since the mid-season trade, AL/NL splits of ERA 3.14/2.67, K/9’s 6.3/8.4, and BB/9’s 2.0/1.3. Given his track record, 2007/2008 K/9’s 6.1/6.9, the high strike out...

Clay Buchholz (SP – Red Sox) Clay Buchholz picked up another win on Friday night by allowing just 1 ER over 6 IP, but once again he was not dominant in doing so based on his 1 K and 3...

Chris Young: With 6 home runs in 53 September AB, Young is reminding people why they were so high on him coming into this year. However with an historically low BHIP%, 2007/2008/2009 BHIP’s .192/.216/.147, Young is going to have to...

Scott Feldman: It has been a breakout year for Feldman, 16-5 with a 3.65 ERA, but he has one of those skill sets, 5.3 K/9, 2.9 BB/9, and a 48% GB% that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence that he can come...

Zack Greinke- KC- Stats- Greinke has thrown 4 consecutive quality starts in which he has given up a total of 4 runs, only three earned. There have been three factors that have driven Greinke’s success this year. First is an...

Josh Johnson (SP--Marlins) With just a little over 2 weeks left in the regular season, every game the Marlins play have serious implications as they try to hang on for the NL Wildcard spot. Josh Johnson is someone they will...

Alfonso Soriano (OF – Cubs) With Soriano out for the remainder of the season following knee surgery, we can get a head start on evaluating what was his ’09 season. Soriano posted the lowest OPS of his 9 year career...

Carlos Marmol- CHN- Caution- Marmol picked up his 9th save and has yet to blow an opportunity since his promotion into the closer role, but there are some things that can make you queasy. Half of Marmol’s 14 pitches were...

Dan Hudson - The White Sox have already brought their 2008 5th rounder up to pitch out of the bullpen, and those of you who can find value out of non-closer RP's would be well served to grab him. Even...

Will Venable (OF-SD) – The Padres are giving Venable an extended look as a starting outfielder as they look towards 2010, and as of now, he’s probably done enough to be considered a favorite to start on Opening Day 2010....