All posts under "Player Commentary" - Page 151

Carlos Pena - Carlos Pena is making a bid to keep his playing time once Aki Iwamura returns, as Pena is hitting 343/429/629 for the month of May. Ty Wigginton is the entrenched veteran in the Ray lineup, so perhaps...

Brett Tomko- LAN- Cold- When Tomko pitched a quality start against the Marlins in his previous appearance before last night, it was the first time this season that his ERA was lower after he pitched than when he took the...

Josh Willingham Willingham went 3-3 on Sunday and upped his average to .296 on the season. Willingham's a bit underrated as far as OF options go; he always showed great power at the minor league levels slugging .562 at AA...

Homer Bailey – Reds Starting Pitcher – Throws Right – 6-3, 190 – 5/3/1986 The Reds’ first round pick in 2004 out of La Grange Texas has been considered as one the top pitching prospects in baseball. As a...

Jack Cust The Jack Cust HR barrage continued on Saturday with his 4th HR in 5 games, this time off sinker-baller Fausto Carmona. Cust has an extensive and prodigious power track record in the minor leagues as he's accumulated 191...

Julian Tavarez- BOS- Cold- The conversion back to starter is not going well for Tavarez. Baltimore hammered him for 5 runs on 10 hits last night as his record fell to 1-4. The problem for Tavarez has not been strictly...

Jake Peavy of the San Diego Padres is bringing the filthy stuff almost every outing and that is what I have been waiting to see out of this guy. Peavy has looked like a CY Young candidate and he has...

Corey Patterson: When Patterson swiped 45 bases in 2006, he ran roughly half the time that he was on first base. In 33 games this year, he has only attempted 8 steals. Fantasy owners of Patterson cannot be happy with...

Adam Dunn Adam Dunn is single-handedly killing me this week. On Thursday he went 3-4 (falling a 1b short of the cycle) with 3 Runs and 3 RBI's, making him 6-13 on the week with 3 HR's, 6 Runs, and...

There is a power shift in Washington this morning as Jon Rauch takes over the closers role in place of Chad Cordero who has been placed on the bereavement list.   Rauch’s indicators hardly spell c-l-o-s-e-r. This year in...

Sammy Sosa- TEX- Caution- Sosa's name surfaced in connection with George Mitchell's steroids investigation, as did teammate Jerry Hairston's. There seems to be a focus on Baltimore Orioles past and present (thin Rafael Palmeiro) and Sosa is one of the...

I'm sure Cliff Lee is breathing easier as his abdominal strain fades in the rear view mirror, and now his owners can breathe a bit easier as well. Lee held the Angels to 1 one on 3 hits and 2...

Andy LaRoche: Nice debut for the 23-year old rookie, 3 for 8 with 2 RBI and a stolen base after his first 3 games. The problem is that Laroche was not exactly tearing it up in Triple-A, .245 average, 3...

Brad Penny- LAN- Hot- Penny absolutely dominated the Marlins, striking out 14 Fish while holding them scoreless through 7 innings on 5 hits and no walks. This ran his record to 4-0 and lowered his ERA to 1.39. Penny has...

Freddy Garcia Those owners counting on Freddy Garcia for a two start week this week may want to pay close attention to the news wires today. Garcia ran into a cart that was on the field as he was trying...

Hunter Pence – Astros Outfielder – Bats Right – 6-4, 210 – 4/13/1983 The Astros finally figured out that Chris Burke was a problem. It just took them a bit longer than the rest of us.  That brings up...

Kei Igawa: Igawa has been awful this year, 7.63 ERA in 30.2 innings. He was an effective pitcher in Japan, but one thing he did struggle with was the longball. Unfortunately that has carried over across the Pacific Ocean, as...

Ryan Theriot Theriot has now established himself as the Cubs' everyday shortstop for two reasons: Lou Piniella seems to like him, and he's the only shortstop to provide any semblance of offensive ability since the days of Shawon Dunston. Theriot...

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees is having an unbelievable start to the 2007 season and everybody knows that, but I want to try to give you a little different perspective on his fantasy value. A-Rod had another big...

Matt Cain had his issues with the Phillies on Thursday allowing 7 runs, all earned in 3 IP on 8 hits and 4 walks. Matt struck out 2 while falling to 1-2 on the year. His ERA chinned over...

Al Reyes: Reyes notched his 10th save in 10 opportunities last night against the Twins. He has shown nice skills in the past, but he has never put up these numbers, 11.6 K/9 and a 1.29 ERA. While he has...

Alfonso Soriano - Expanding on what Joe said this morning, I completely agree that Soriano is primed for an excellent month. One thing I've noticed about hot hitters is the tendency to hit the ball with authority to the opposite...

This week we start with Tom Gordon heading back to Philly to have his painful right shoulder examined. The Phillies say that Gordon will not be with the team this weekend in San Francisco. We are early in this...

Kevin Millwood- TEX- Inj- Millwood is penciled in for the first game of today's doubleheader, but may not be able to go. Word came late last night that he tweaked his hamstring and will be evaluated before the game to...

Jarrod Washburn was strong against the White Sox on Tuesday, holding them to 2 runs in 7 IP on just 4 hits and a walk while striking out 4. Both runs came on solo homers as Washburn improved to...

Tom Gordon: All the calls for Brett Myers to take over the Phillies' closer job seem premature, as Gordon converted a save last night against the Braves by pitching a perfect ninth inning, impressively fanning 2 batters. Gordon's K/9 of...

Dustin McGowan - With Gustavo Chacin hitting the DL with shoulder pain, Dustin McGowan might be getting another shot at the Toronto rotation, although Chacin's replacement has not been offically announced as of this morning. McGowan would be on the...

Mike Gonzalez- ATL- Rise Value- With Bob Wickman out, Gonzalez is one of two Braves who will be sharing the save opportunities. The other is Rafael Soriano. There was no save opportunity last night, as Atlanta won with a walkoff...

John Maine Maine was fantastic again on Sunday shutting out the Nationals for 7 innings. He allowed 3 hits and 3 walks while striking out a season high 8. Maine's now 4-5 in quality starts and pitching for the Mets...

Richie Sexson My name is Drew and I'm a Richie Sexson owner (Hi Drew!), alright so there's not any meetings for us Sexson owners just yet that we can attend, but I'm here to help you guys through it. Sexson...

Chris Sampson Sampson turned in another solid effort on Saturday, going 6 1/3 innings and allowing just one run while striking out eight. This coming off a seven-run 14-hit pounding in his previous start was certainly needed from Sampson. The...

Steve Trachsel- BAL- Caution- The 2 runs and 5 this allowed in 5-2/3 innings yesterday was not too bad, but some other numbers in Trachsel's loss to the Indians are worrisome. His workload was stretched a bit farther than you'd...

Felix Pie of the Chicago Cubs appears to have earned his spot on the Major League team. It appears Lou Piniella has no plans of moving Jacque Jones to center when Angel Guzman is recalled on May 1st. The Cubs...

Gerald Laird: Prior to his last two games in which he has gone 3 for 6 with 2 walks, Laird had been mired in a 1 for 34 slump. Laird's breakout 2006 season of 7/22/.296 was partially luck driven, .269...

The headline news in the bullpen this week comes from Texas where Eric Gagne was placed on the DL with a strained hip/glut. Akinori Otsuka returns to the closer role which he handled quite well last season, recording 32...

Bartolo Colon- LAA- Inj Update- The Angels pushed back the decision on whether Colon will start until literally the last minute. They will wait and see how he does in his pre-game warm-ups before deciding whether he will pitch. Colon's...