Sounds like Jacoby Ellsbury will be out until the All-Star Break.  Break being the key word.  The Boston Globe reported that Ellsbury has, “a non-displaced rib fracture and edema in the left posterior-axillary line.”  Ribs and edema?  What’s that, a fusion Japanese-rib joint?  The doctors didn’t find a blooming onion in there?  Member in the preseason when I said you could have Ellsbury ten rounds later in Borbon?  Borbon has not endeared himself in fantasy owners’ hearts yet, but he’s picking up his game of late, Ellsbury can’t pick himself out of a chair.  Gotta hold Ellsbury if you have DL room and hope for a big 2nd half.  I do have my doubts though about how well a guy is going to be able to steal, most specifically slide, when this latest injury happened diving for a ball.  The good news is if you listened to me, you didn’t draft Ellsbury.  Right?  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Carlos Santana – Getting called up for Friday’s game.  Yes, the same catcher the Indians were waiting until August to bring up.  Yes, the Indians were messing with you.  Where do you think Justin Masterson:  Passive Aggressive Fantasy Starter learned it from?  As I’ve already said on the blog, I don’t expect the 2nd coming of Mike Piazza.  At least not this year.  Think about what you got from Matt Wieters last year.  Shoot, think about what you got from him this year.  If you’re starting Joe Schmohawk at catcher, sure, take a chance on some upside.  I think he can give a bit more power than Posey, but they’re in the same ballpark.  No, not literally.  For this year, I’d give him a .280 average and 13 homers.  Actually, I already wrote that.  Here’s my Carlos Santana fantasy.  In keepers, he should be owned already.  If not, grab him immediately.

Please, blog, may I have some more?

In a year where umpires like Joe West and Bill Hohn are doing all they can to show they are far from perfect, Jim Joyce went one step further by having his imperfection blow someone else’s perfection.  It’s like that O.

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Dontrelle Willis, the flat-billed pitchypus in question, was traded to the Diamondbacks for a half-used #2 pencil and a race car-shaped eraser.  When a team trades a guy and still has to pay the majority of his salary, it’s usually not a good sign.  I have maintained in the past that maybe the only thing eating at Dontrelle was the Tigers taking away the best aspect of his game –> his hitting.  It’s still not a reason to pick him up.  It’s not like the Diamondbacks stadium is a pitchers’ haven.  Let someone else take the flat-billed pitchypus under their wing and nurture it back to health.  Anyway, here’s what else we saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Mark Teixeira – Day-to-day after he left the game with a bruised foot, which is far less tasty than a braised foot.

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Victor Martinez left the game after fouling the ball off his foot.  Wanna know our trade luck?  We just traded Jason Bay, Cervelli and Mike Gonzalez for V-Mart, Boesch and Desmond.  Is this karma for punting catchers in so many leagues over the years?  I hate you, fantasy baseball Gods.  You smite my team while I give you love.  I.  Give.  You.  Love!  Oh, bee tee dubya, V-Mart’s day-to-day.  Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Mike Cameron – Returning on Tuesday.  Didn’t I already talk about this schomhawk?  Oh, yeah, I did.  (The “I did” link we lead you to the answer.  If you ignore the answer, skip 7 pages ahead and slay the dragon.)

Adrian Beltre – 3-for-4, 1 RBI.  If you would’ve popped your head out of a DeLorean in the preseason and told me at the end of May Adrian Beltre would be hitting .335, I would’ve told you he’s headed for fantasy MVP honors.  Crazy how far his power has disappeared.

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Chris Davis was sent down as a tear rolls down Bill James’ cheek.  Coming up to take his place, Justin Smoak.  Back in June, Stephen took out his incisors, chewed up and spit out some Justin Smoak fantasy value.  For those too lazy to go back and read that post, it says, “(Smoak) has a great swing because his hands move together with his body producing a short, solid swing with few holes (his plate coverage is great).

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We’ve posted the first update of the Razzball Commenter League (RCL) Master Standings! All 21 leagues (252 teams) are included.  We’ve added a permalink in the left sidebar as well for easy access to future updates.  We’ll do our best to update it every week or so.

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The Rangers bullpen costing C.J. Wilson the win is like ten thousand spoons and all you need is a knife.  Maybe Frank-Frank didn’t like Wilson cutting into his save chances last year.  I was skeptical of Wilson moving into the rotation.  I said to myself, “Grey, you’re handsome.”  Wait, wrong conversation.  I remember it now.  “Grey, why not start Neftali Feliz?  Why they fussing with C.J.

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If the Twins closer shituation were any crazier, it would be called Jeff Reardon.  For right now, grab Jon Rauch or Matt Guerrier.  In that order.  Where you can, own both.  Mijares, Crain, and Neshek are longer shots.  They don’t seem very likely to get first or second crack.  As for Joe Nathan… Well, Nathan’s shot, dawg.  He’s headed for Dr.

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Last time we checked in, we were 15 points in front of the pack in one league; yeah, lost that one.  And we were barely in first in another league, lost that one too.  In the Razzball points league, Grey was about 10,000 points up (estimate for exaggeration purposes); yup, came in 2nd there too.   If only we could blame a shirtless renegade for our losses.

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A lot of starting pitchers have been traded by the A’s.  Some fare great (Haren), some have mixed results (Hudson), some collapse (Mulder).  But there has never been an ex-A’s starting pitcher that seems to miss the AL West as much as Chad Gaudin.  While he did get crushed @ LAA, his last 3 starts @SEA, home against SEA, and @TEX have netted 21 IP / 2-1 / 2.14 ERA / 0.76 WHIP / 28 Ks.  That’s a Peavian 12 K/9 IP with a K/BB ratio of 21:5.  We’ve had Gaudin on a couple of deep league teams since we love NL West pitchers and it’s been hard to recommend him because he’s been so damn wild.  But after these past three dominating starts (8+ Ks, 2 or less BBs), he’s a must pickup in any league format at this point.  Anyway, here’s what else we saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:

Everth Cabrera – 3-for-8 this weekend, with one steal.  If you need steals, don’t wait until after the 3 steal game to grab him.  He may not be there.

Please, blog, may I have some more?