Around The Horn: June 5, 2013

(1) What to do with Yasiel Puig and Anthony Rendon?

(2) Tyler Skaggs and Michael Wacha.

(3) Chris Perez popped for dope.

(4) Injured hurlers discussed – Ryan Madson, Daniel Hudson, Brandon Beachy and Michael Pineda.

(5) Tim Lincecum and Matt Moore - closer than you think?

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Anthony Rendon, Brandon Beachy, Chris Perez, Daniel Hudson, Joe Smith, Matt Moore, Michael Wacha, Ryan Madson, Tim Lincecum, Tyler Skaggs, Vinnie Pestano, Yasiel Puig

Starts and Expectations

Let’s bring on the party in fantasy baseball. Here are some random thoughts that have tickled the mind of The Oracle.

I tweeted this out last night. “Domonic Brown has nine homers in his last 10 games. He had 20 in his first 194 games.” Despite the success, and oh is he killing it about as well as anyone you will ever see, Brown is still a work in progress. He famously didn’t walk once in the month of May, his OBP is still just .329 (right about the league average), and he has just 11 walks compared to 41 strikeouts. He’s far from a finished product, can’t be expected to keep up the power surge, an if that isn’t falling in the obvious file, there’s this. Here are his HR/F ratios for his first three seasons: 13.3, 9.4 and 9.8 percent. Add them up and you get 32.5 percent. His HR/F ratio this season is 31.5 percent.

Joe Blanton had 11 Ks last night and he holds a 2.95 ERA over his last three starts. Maybe, just maybe, he’ll have some value this season after all after one of the worst starts you will ever see (he allowed 86 hits in his first 50.1 innings – how is that possible?).

Chris Carter has three homers in five games. He’s hitting. 225 with a .304 OBP though, so you’re paying a high price for his 12 homers and 32 RBIs. Speaking of the Astros, didn’t you used to be Carlos Pena? After 5-straight years of 28 homers and 80 RBIs he fell to 19 and 61 last season and he’s fallen even further off the pace this season with five homers and 16 RBIs in 56 games. Amazingly, his .245 average would be a five year best and his .349 OBP is actually better than a guy like Adam Jones (.340). I know, right?

Jhonny Peralta is killing it this season hitting .332 with six homers, 26 RBIs and 27 runs scored for the Tigers. One obvious problem? Peralta isn’t this good a hitter. Not only has Peralta never hit .300 in a season, he started playing back in 2003, but his career OBP of .329 is three points lower than his current batting average. Thanks can be laid at the feet of his .405 BABIP which is .091 points above his career rate.

The Rangers are trying to come up with a plan to keep Jurickson Profar with the club once Ian Kinsler returns. Would the Rangers consider sitting Adrian Beltre, Ian Kinsler or Elvis Andrus on a consistent bases to get a 20 year old in the lineup on a daily bases? Oh, and don’t think the Rangers are going to ask their 20 year old star in training to play another position like the outfield, one he’s never played before. That’s not the way to let a young player excel. You don’t ask him to play a new defensive position on top of everything else.

For my thoughts on all the rookie hurlers who have caused quite the stir in the fantasy game, make sure to check out Expectations & Rookie Hurlers.

I have a higher K/9 mark than Stephen Strasburg (9.10 to 8.84). I have a better ERA than Madison Bumgarner (3.43 to 3.46). I have a better WHIP than Mat Latos (1.16 to 1.18). I’m being dropped in some leagues because my record is only 3-3. Oh there is also this. Over my last six starts I have three wins, a 2.55 ERA and 1.08 WHIP which stands right alongside the production of the Mets “star” Matt Harvey over his last six starts (one win, 2.74 ERA, 0.94 WHIP). Who am I? I’m the Marlins’ rookie Jose Fernandez.

By the way, for more on Strasburg and what his outlook just might be see The Strasburg Dilemma.

Matt Wieters is hitting .237 with a .297 OBP and .425 SLG through 52 games. All of those numbers would be career worsts for the slugging backstop. Wieters is also on pace to barely reach 20 homers after seasons of 22 and 23. I still think he’s a prime buy low option, but there’s no disputing his effort this season has been a big disappointment. Seems like he he may never reach the heights that were expected of him with the bat when he was drafted in 2007.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Carlos Pena, Chris Carter, Domonic Brown, Jhonny Peralta, Joe Blanton, Jose Fernandez, Jurickson Profar, Matt Wieters

Fantasy Baseball – FAAB Report, Wk.10

I was away this weekend on another mini vacation (Monterey this time), but baseball never tops. Don’t think a romantic weekend away precluded me from doing my duty though. I sat there, looking at the waves crash on the beach, as I put in my bids for the waiver-wire this week. Here’s how it went down.

TOUT WARS (15 team mixed): Sent Ruben Tejada to the DL. I know big loss right? A big loss though was losing Bryce Harper to the DL, though he didn’t exactly help out the cause last week as the Nationals lamely waited to place him onto the DL with his knee issue (lineups are set weekly in this league with the chance to remove players placed on the DL mid-week). To play shortstop Pedro Florimon Jr. was added for $1. To fill in the outfield void I was able to add Chris Denorfia for $1. Surprised as all heck to get him for only $1 in a 15 teamer. He’s hit .303 on the year and .339 the past three weeks. Maybe the fact that it’s an OBP league knocked his value down, but .349 is still playable. My final move was to drop Tyler Flowers, sorry cuz, to add Wellington Castillo for $1. Flowers just wasn’t getting it done. No power, poor OBP, little run production. Time to cut the cord. I had bid on Jason Castro two weeks ago, but my $6 bid was beat at $7.
Notable bids: Trevor Rosenthal $8 (I bid $3). Really surprised he went for that much. Daniel Descalso ($2), Jason Bay ($2), Tyler Skaggs ($1), Chris Archer ($1), and Christian Yelich ($1).

LABR (12 team, AL-only): I dropped Chris Nelson to add Kevin Youkilis back into the mix. Remember, in this league that if you remove a player from your starting lineup that isn’t injured, you lose him. Therefore, I lost Nelson to the wire (injured players have to be activated within two weeks or you lose them to the waiver-wire). It’s a restrictive league in terms of the moves you can make. At least Aaron Harang and Ubaldo Jimenez have finally started to turn things around on the hill for my club.
Notable bids: David Lough ($6), Freddy Garcia ($5), Alexander Torres ($4), Chris Dickerson ($4)

To see how others are evaluating players don’t forget to go to Fleaflicker.com where you can check out the owned percentages of all your favorite players.

FSTA (13 team mixed): My DL is six players deep, or it was six deep as HanRam and Youkilis are both on the cusp of returning to active duty. Here’s what I did in terms of adding players. I dropped Ryan Roberts and added Yan Gomes ($19). Mauer/Martin are a solid duo at C, but I took a shot that Gomes will continue to be productive and play regularly with Carlos Santana being a DH/1B type a good deal of the time for the Indians. Denard Span isn’t stealing bases and he’s hit .245 over the past month. He went away for Matt Joyce ($27). For those that haven’t noticed Joyce is hitting .310 with 16 RBIs in his last 23 games. My final move was to drop WHIP killer Felix Doubront for Drew Smyly. It’s a forward thinking move since Smyly has little value as a middle reliever though he’s been great this season with a 2.08 ERA, 1.01 WHIP and 36 Ks in 34.2 innings this season.
Notable bids: Nick Franklin ($211), Michael Wacha ($123), Ike Davis ($100), Chris Archer ($73), Rex Brothers ($71)

SIRIUSXM EXPERTS (12 team mixed): Will the pain ever end? Probably not. Adam Dunn continues to stink. B.J. Upton showed some slight up of late but he’s stunk. Juan Pierre? Garbage. Austin Jackson on DL. Rajai Davis on DL. Great outfield huh? On the hill Axford lost his job eons ago and now Chris Perez is on the DL. I know I’m complaining, but that sinking of my OF and my closers has killed my team. Jeremy Guthrie went bye-bye while I added Edinson Volquez for $1 (Guthrie’s hot start finally evaporated). I also added J.J. Putz. He could be back in a bit, and as you saw, I’m grasping at straws for help in the bullpen. The cost was letting go of David Hernandez. I added both guys for $1.
Notable bids: Nick Franklin ($29), Michael Wacha ($15), Chris Archer ($12), Jeff Locke ($5), Vinnie Pestano ($3), Gordon Beckham ($2)

SIRIUSXM LISTENER LG (11 team mixed): This is the only league with an open waiver-wire, and the open waiver-wire blows chunks. Example of what happened this week. We’ve got a fella in this league who lives fantasy baseball while the rest of us are living life. As a result, he’s made 61 moves as of this writing, no one else has made more than 25 (I’m at 17 moves), and he always gets the players that are called up. Take a look at the two most recent moves he made as he added Luke Gregerson and Rex Brothers. He got both the hot adds at reliever cause of his dilligence. Amazingly, he’s only in 7th place. I dropped Brandon Morrow when he was placed on the DL and added Yan Gomes to help cover for the struggling Wellington Castillo. Since I didn’t do a write up last weekend cause I was away on a mini vacation I should also note that I added Domonic Brown and Michael Wacha last week.

K-BAD (12 team mixed): Dustin Ackley was demoted. Great. I was able to slot in Martin Prado at second base and moved Hanley Ramirez off the DL to the corner infield position to cover for Prado in this league. Rickey Nolasco was added to the mix at a cost of $23. Hey, I needed an arm to cover for Brandon Morrow who was placed on the DL. It’s a never ending marathon of injury and healthy players isn’t it?
Notable bids: Yasel Puig ($202), Vinnie Pestano ($107), Luke Gregerson ($106), John Lackey ($37), Tyler Skaggs ($37), Shaun Marcum ($26)

FANBALL (13 team mixed): David Phelps is dealing with some arm woes, and though he’s still expected to pitch this week I wanted a healthy arm. In came Ricky Nolasco for $3. I bet Nolasco tanks now that I’ve added him in about half my leagues. I also let Raul lbanez go for Lucas Duda. The Mets’ outfielder has two homers and six RBIs in his last 10 games.
Notable bids: Luke Gregerson ($17), Rex Brothers ($5), Anthony Rendon ($4), Tyler Skaggs ($3), Zach Cozart ($3), Jason Bay ($3)
By Ray Flowers

Tags: Chris Archer, Chris Dickerson, Hanley Ramirez, Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, Luke Gregerson, Michael Wacha, Nick Franklin, Rex Brothers, Rikcy NOlasco, Vinnie Pestano, Yan Gomes, Yasel Puig

Fantasy Beat – Prospects

Justin Fensterman and Trevor Ray discuss some prospects that people need to keep their eye on.

Dan Straily, Wil Myers, Yasiel Puig, Joc Pederson, Billy Hamilton, Christian Yelich, Jose Fernandez, Marcell Ozuna, Aaron Hicks

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO.

Tags: Aaron Hicks, Billy Hamilton, Christian Yelich, Dan Straily, Joc Pederson, Jose Fernandez, Marcell Ozuna, Wil Myers, Yaseil Puig

FanDuel Contest: Vegas and $1 Million?

Thanks to FanDuel.com, you have a chance to enter a contest to win a free trip to Vegas, oh, and to pocket a grand prize of $200,000. All it will cost you is $10. Interested? If so, and why on earth wouldn’t a chance to seem some Vegas show girls, to put a $20 spot down on the craps table, or to walk away with enough money to buy that vacation home you always wanted?

$1 Million Daily Fantasy Baseball Championship on FanDuel

Each weekly winner will then be flown to Vegas, all expenses paid by FanDuel.com, and given a shot at the $200,000 grand prize. That’s right. Win two weekly matchups and you’ve got $200,000 coming your way. And don’t think that you have to enter hundreds of times to win. And don’t think that you have to enter hundreds of times to win. Jordy Nelson last year entered once, one time, and he ended up in the Finals in Vegas cause he won his weekly matchup. He then proceeded to win that year’s grand prize of $100,000. All from one $10 entry.

So what do you do? You go to FanDuel.com and sign up for today’s contest that also gives you a chance to win part of the $24,000 in prizes for Friday’s event.

You then put together your salary cap team (the rules are very simple and can be found at the top of the page if you follow the link). If you win, it’s Vegas here you come. If you don’t, there are still plenty of cash prizes that you can pocket in the tournament for your mere $10 entry fee (there are 250 cash prizes handed out).

Let me help you out too. If you want some of my thoughts on who the best plays are for Friday, click on the video below. Don’t worry, you don’t have to join the contest to get something out of the video. Those of you in roto leagues can also benefit from what I have to say.

NOTE: In the video I incorrectly stated that Cueto had success against the Cubs. Should have said Pirates. Result? Cueto is a great option against the Pirates Friday.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Carlos Gonzalez, Dan Uggla, David Ortiz, Edwin Encarnacion, Hisashi Iwakuma, J.J. Hardy, Jay Bruce Troy Tulowitzki, Matt Carpenter, Matt Moore, ohnny Cueto, Wandy Rodriguez, Yovani Gallardo

Draft Day Challenge, May 30

Daily baseball is all the rage in the fantasy sports world, so I will be covering the game a couple of times a week here at BaseballGuys.com. To that end, I’ve partnered with DraftDay.com to give all my wonderful followers, that’s you, the chance to play the game on a daily basis. On Tuesday and Thursday’s here at the site, every week, I’ll be giving you some insight into the mind of The Oracle as I will give you some of my best plays for the day – even if I’m willing to admit that daily games are a bit of a crap shoot given the difficulty in predicting how a handful of at-bats will work out.

To join a daily league remember to visit DraftDay.com by clicking on the link to their site.

One other source for those of you on Twitter. @MLBDailyLineups – lists all the lineups in one spot so you can make sure you don’t have someone in your lineup that is sitting on the bench that day.

CATCHERS
1. Wilin Rosario
2. Chris Iannetta

Rosario is hitting only .229 at Colorado if you can believe it, but he has had success against righties this season with eight homers and 21 RBIs in 120 at-bats (he faces the Astros’ Lucas Harrell).

Iannetta has hit .278 with a .891 OPS against lefties this season, and it’s not like Lilly has been on a roll or anything for the Dodgers.

FIRST BASE
1. Adrian Gonzalez
2. Freddie Freeman

AGone is batting, oh, .500 over his last 22 at-bats with three homers and eight RBIs. The good times should keep on rolling against Mr. Vargas who he’s hit .357 against in 14 at-bats.

Freeman pretty much owns R.A. Dickey going .500-1-4 in 18 at-bats. He’s also blasting away with a .440 average and five RBIs the past week.

SECOND BASE
1. Jerry Hairston Jr.
2. Emilio Bonifacio

When Hairston goes 4-for-8 with a homer and seven RBIs against a guy (Vargas) you stand up and take notice.

Bonifacio has hit .375 with a homer versus Minor, and he’s also stolen a bag. He’s also hitting .269 the past week, which is a big improvement for a guy who is hitting .211 on the year.

THIRD BASE
1. Mark Reynolds
2. Ryan Zimmerman

Reynolds has three hits in seven at-bats against Bailey, one hit was a big fly, and he’s batting .292 over the past week.

Zimmerman blasted three homers Wednesday night. He’s also on quite a roll in May hitting .341 with 17 RBIs, so who cares if he is 0-for-4 against Freddy Garcia?

SHORTSTOP
1. Yunel Escobar
2. Ben Zobrist

Escobar has hit .370 with a big fly in 27 at-bats against the hot Nolasco. Still, Escobar has also hit .364 the past week as he’s finally locked in at the dish.

Zobrist has produced four hits in seven at-bats against Nolasco, so even though he’s hitting .237 on the road this year, and just .217 the past week, maybe the matchup will perk up his stroke.

OUTFIELD
1. Matt Joyce
2. Matt Holliday

Joyce has had two hits including a homer in three at-bats against Nolasco, and he’s crunched righties to the tune of a .292/.381/.558 line this season with eight homers and 21 RBIs in 120 at-bats.

Holliday is 3-for-8 against Guthrie who has hit the skids of late with a whopping 17 earned runs allowed in his last three starts ballooning his ERA from 2.28 to 3.92.

STARTING PITCHERS
1. Mike Minor
2. Jason Vargas
3. Homer Bailey
4. Jonathan Pettibone

Minor has allowed four runs in four starts. He’s also punched out 19 batters over his last 13.1 innings. Drop in a 2.47 ERA and 0.93 WHIP for the year and you’ve got a guy performing at elite levels. The Jays will be hard pressed to beat him at home where he has a 2.39 ERA and 0.68 WHIP over four starts.

Vargas has allowed four runs over his last three starts, all seven inning outings that resulted in a win, and he facse a Dodgers team that is withouth Matt Kemp and one that is starting Ted Lilly.

Bailey has allowed four runs over his last three starts as he’s walked four batter while striking out 21. He faces an Indians club that he’s struggled against over six career starts (5.28 ERA, 1.50 WHIP).

Pettibone is 3-0 on the year, and the Phils have actually only lost one of his seven games this season. He’s also allowed three runs or less in every one of his outings as well. Tough matchup on paper with the Red Sox though.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Adrian Gonzalez, Ben Zobrist, Chris Iannetta, Emilio Bonifacio, Freddie Freeman, Homer Bailey, Jason Vargas, Jerry Hairston Jr., Jonathan Pettibone, Mark Reynolds, Matt Holliday, Matt Joyce, Mike Minor, Ryan Zimmerman, Wilin Rosario, Yunel Escobar

Rookie Pitchers: Stop the Roller Coaster

First it was Jose Fernandez.
Then it was Shelby Miller.
Then Julio Teheran.
Then Wily Peralta.
Then Brandon Maurer.
Then Justin Grimm.
Then Tony Cingrani.
Then Jake Odorizzi.
Then Dan Straily.
Then Kevin Gausman.
Then Tyler Lyons.
Then Mike Kickham
Now it’s Michael Wacha.

I’m sure you’ve picked up on the theme for this piece, and it’s rookie pitchers. Here’s the thing folks – more often than not rookies do NOT pan out. Don’t just take my word for it, look at history. As Kyle Elfrink pointed out in Rookie & Prospects Are They Worth It?, the majority of the “elite” prospects struggle at the start of their big league career (the numbers are in the article but let’s say they aren’t anywhere near as good as most folks seem to think as the prospects were “hits” less than a third of the time). Rookies have to prove they belong by excelling in the minors. Their team has to be willing to give them a shot in the rotation. There has to be a spot in the rotation to give to the hurlers. Let’s spend a moment on that last point.

There has to be a spot for the starters. I warned everyone in every possible way I could to be leery of a Cingrani demotion when Johnny Cueto returned from injury, but as we all know no one listened (people argued with me every day). What happened when Cueto was promoted? Cingrani was sent back to the minors. So is life with rookies.

Odorizzi was called up when David Price went down with his triceps injury, and the assumption was that Odorizzi would hold down the spot until Price was ready to return (ETA likely mid-June?). Not so much. Odorizzi was demoted Wednesday after allowing nine runs in two starts (now the Rays might go with another rookie, Chris Archer in Odorizzi’s place). REMEMBER THIS SALIENT POINT – David Price gives up a run an inning for 2-3 starts and no one cares. An unproven rookie does it and more likely than not he ends up back in the minors.

To see how all the rookie hurlers are being rostered in leagues visit Fleaflicker.com.

That brings up the case of Gausman. Looked at as a top-20 arm currently in the minors, he was added with an extreme amount of hoopla to fantasy rosters all across the land a week ago when he was called up. I said it was fine to add the talent, but I also pointed out in The Future Is Now that he was a raw pitcher who needed experience. He’s made two starts for the Orioles and he’s looked pretty bad with an 11.00 ERA and 2.00 WHIP over nine innings. Now everyone is bailing from Gausman, a totally unfair call after just two starts, looking for the next big thing which is… Michael Wacha.

Wacha is an elite prospect with the Cardinals organization. However, he really isn’t ready if you ask me – he’s thrown less than 75 innings as a professional. He’s also struck out just 5.81 batters over nine starts at Triple-A. Of course, that hasn’t stopped everyone in the world from adding Wacha, and it hasn’t stopped everyone in the world from sending me some form of the following question in the last 36 hours – Gausman or Wacha? Straily or Wacha? Odorizzi or Wacha? And on, and on, and on.

Here are the words of someone you should listen to, even if you don’t want to listen to me. Cardinals’ GM John Mozeliak.

“The key thing is, from my perspective, is we just have to manage expectations a little bit. “(Wacha is) a year removed from college… a lot of expectations being put on him. And I don’t know how fair that’s going to be. And so I just think people need to be patient.”

Not to mention that the Cardinals also have guys like Chris Carpenter, Jaime Garcia, Jake Westbrook and John Gast at various levels of return from injury, and another elite level prospect in Carlos Martinez being stretched out in the minors. Will Wacha get a chance to make 20 starts the rest of the season? Oh, there’s also this too, something a whole lot of rookies have to deal with – an innings pitched concern. The Cardinals want to keep Wacha at about 150 innings this season. He’s already thrown 52.2 innings. If he made 20 starts at five innings a pop, and five innings an outing isn’t going to cut it for a starter, he’d reach reach his innings pitched limited. The Cardinals are aware and they have a plan. Again the voice of Mozeliak. “…if we get some of our pitchers back healthy and we can skip starts to protect him, then we’re going to be open (to that).” So even IF Wacha has success (A) he’s not a lock to keep a spot in the Cardinals rotation and (B) even if he does keep the spot, he’s not a lock to take the ball every five days.

Look, you have to take a shot on someone to fill out your rotation, and the temptation of a talented youngster is very alluring. At the same time your fantasy squad just might be better off if you add a Chris Tillman or Brandon McCarthy type off of waivers than taking a shot on the next hotshot rookie who may not even be in the big leagues in three weeks.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Brandon Mauerer, Dan Straily, Jake Odorizzi, Jose Fernandez, Julio Teheran, Justin Grimm, Kevin Gausman, Michael Wacha, Mike Kickham, Shelby Miller, Tony Cingrani, Tyler Lyons, Willy Peralta

Draft Day Challenge, May 28

Daily baseball is all the rage in the fantasy sports world, so I will be covering the game a couple of times a week here at BaseballGuys.com. To that end, I’ve partnered with DraftDay.com to give all my wonderful followers, that’s you, the chance to play the game on a daily basis. On Tuesday and Thursday’s here at the site, every week, I’ll be giving you some insight into the mind of The Oracle as I will give you some of my best plays for the day – even if I’m willing to admit that daily games are a bit of a crap shoot given the difficulty in predicting how a handful of at-bats will work out.

To join a daily league remember to visit DraftDay.com by clicking on the link to their site.

One other source for those of you on Twitter. @MLBDailyLineups – lists all the lineups in one spot so you can make sure you don’t have someone in your lineup that is sitting on the bench that day.

CATCHERS
1. Yadier Molina
2. Victor Martinez

Molina has six hits, five RBIs and four runs scored his last three games as he’s pushed his average up to .346. He’s also hitting .363 on the road this year and has hit .330 in 29 games against the Royals.

V-Mart is 1-for-2 against Jeanmar Gomez and he’s hit .042 points higher this year vs. right-handed pitching (.259). Martinez is also hitting .345 over the past week with five RBIs.

FIRST BASE
1. Adrian Gonzalez
2. Mike Napoli

AGone faces Mr. Blanton Tuesday, and you can read about Joe B’s struggles below. Gonzalez is hitting .368 with two homers in 19 at-bats against Blanton, and Adrian is hitting .435 with two homers and eight RBIs the past week.

Napoli has a difficult matchup against the Phillies’ Lee, but he’s hit .313 against him in 16 at-bats. He’s also knocked in 20 runners in just 103 at-bats at home this season.

SECOND BASE
1. Kelly Johnson
2. Marco Scutaro

Johnson is crushing it to the tune of a .471 average the past seven days and he has two homers and seven RBIs the past two games. He’s also managed two hits in four ABs against Mr. Slowey and he’s batting .317 in home games this season.

Scutaro has hit .323 on the season and he’s batting .325 on the road. He faces Jarrod Parker, who he is 0-for-3 against, but Parker has bombed at home this season with a 7.43 ERA and 1.69 WHIP over five starts.

THIRD BASE
1. Josh Donaldson
2. David Wright

Donaldson is batting .318 at home with a .947 OPS and has hit .337 with a 1.036 OPS and six bombs in 24 May games. He faces rookie Mike Kickham.

Wright is hitting .353 in 17 at-bats against Hiroki Kuroda but it should be noted that he has hit only .234 with one homer in 94 at-bats at home this season.

SHORTSTOP
1. Everth Cabrera
2. J.J. Hardy

Hardy has hit in 6-straight games as he’s driven in five runs. He’s slated to face rookie Nate Karns Tuesday.

Cabrera has scored four runs in his last four games while driving in five runs. He’s also hitting .296 on the road this season, has hit .304 against the Mariners in his career and has at least two hits in five of his last nine games on the year.

OUTFIELD
1. Andre Ethier
2. Raul Ibanez

Ethier was recently called out by his manager, and he’s found himself on the bench a couple of times. Still, he faces Joe Blanton who has allowed an unfathomable 93 hits in 56.2 innings. Ethier is also 7-for-17 (.412) with two homers against the righty.

Ibanez has a .868 OPS with seven bombs in 87 at-bats against righties. He faces Edinson Volquez who has a 6.08 ERA and 1.76 WHIP, not to mention a terrible 1.00 K/BB ratio, in five road starts.

STARTING PITCHERS
1. Cliff Lee
2. Zach McAllister
3. Jeremy Hellickson
4. Kevin Gausman

Lee has a 2.48 ERA and 1.02 WHIP on the year, and he’s allowed two runs in his last three outings. He’s also gone at least seven inning in 4-straight starts and he’s the owner of a 4-1 record, 1.60 ERA and 0.82 WHIP on the road this season. He travels to Boston to take on the Red Sox.

McAllister has a 2.89 ERA and 1.21 WHIP for the Indians and he’s allowed three or fewer earned runs in all nine of his starts this year. He does have a 3.97 ERA and 1.54 WHIP on the road, so traveling to Cincy to take on the Reds isn’t likely to be a cakewalk.

Hellickson has been all over the place this season. Still, he has a 1.21 WHIP and 50 Ks in 63.2 innings. The Marlins, you may have heard, suck. They’ve gone 1-8 with 17 runs scored in that time.

Gausman faces a Nationals team that has hit .221 while averaging 3.0 runs over the past 15 games. He has the talent to keep those struggles going.

By Ray Flowers

Tags: Adrian Gonzalez, Andre Ethier, Cliff Lee, David Wright, Everth Cabrera, J.J. Hardy, Jeremy Hellickson, Josh Donaldson, Kelly Johnson, Kevin Gausman, Marco Scutaro, Mike Napoli, Raul Ibanez, Victor Martinez, Yadier Molina, Zack McAllister

Memorial Day Fun

Livin’ the life.

It’s a holiday, and though I’m back at it Monday, I did take a couple of days off over the weekend for a Memorial Day break. I went to Cambria and stayed at a wild bed & breakfast joint that was plenty o’ fun (Victoria’s Last Resort), and then drove down the coast to see Hearst Castle (this is a picture of the fancy pool with my feet as I took a break from the tour to enjoy the view). It was a nice little break away.

The Gnome loves the fire… it compliments his smoking hot bat.

Nick Franklin is up as Dustin Ackley was sent to the minors. Franklin needs to be added in every format (.324/.440/.472 in 39 games at Triple-A), while those of you holding on to Ackley might as well hit the waiver-wire and find something else that can help you out.

Oh, I went with the official Baseball Guys’ Gnome too. Some action photos of him follow.

Hanley Ramirez is running the bases. Seems like his hammy is improving. Could be back in a week to 10 days maybe?

Fernando Rodney is still awful. Five blown saves, 18 walks an a 6.05 ERA and 1.76 WHIP over 19.1 innings. His May numbers are even worse: 7.36 ERA, 1.82 WHIP, two loses, four blown saves. The team STILL says he will be the closer. Don’t get it. Meanwhile Joel Peralta has a 1.93 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 27 Ks in 23.1 innings…

You rang? That’s one bright colored phone.

Going great, likely to exceed expectations by a large amount, but still thy make me nervous…

Starling Marte in May: .278/.333/.444. Be wary of the approach (22 Ks, three walks in 23 games).

Carlos Gomez in May (homers be damned): .291/.319/.535. Be wary of the approach: 27 Ks, four walks in 23 games.

The Nit Wit House in Cambria which is totally made out of junk.

Tags: Carlos Gomez, Dustin Ackley, Fernando Rodney, Hanley Ramirez, Joel Peralta, Nick Franklin, Starling Marte

Fantasy Beat – 2 Start Pitchers

This week on “The Fantasy Beat” Justin ‘Fensty’ Fensterman and Trevor Ray talk about two-start pitchers for next week and how to add two-start pitching to your overall fantasy baseball strategy of stream-lining pitchers throughout the season.

Kevin Guasman, Kevin Slowey, Jose Fernandez, Ervin Santana, James Shields, Mike Leake, Dan Straily

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Tags: 2-start pitchers, Dan Straily, Ervin Santana, James Shields, Jose Fernandez, Kevin Guasman, Kevin Slowey, Mike Leake