It’s fitting that both the Nats and Pirates traded for a player with ‘Last’ in his name. Lastings Milledge was sent to the Pirates along with Joel Hanrahananan for Nyjer Morgan and Sean Burnett. Milledge and McCutchen can now share The Dread Pirate nickname. How much of a slap in the face is it when you’re banished for being a problem child when Elijah Dukes is your teammate? Is this a sign that the Nationals are no longer going to be the Home to Wayward 5-Tools Outfielders?
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In his last four games, J.J. Hardy has gone 8-for-17 with two homers. You waited and waited. Went for a dip in the ocean. Washed ashore in Finland. Smoked a bowl with some guy who wore only a potato sack. Fell asleep on a raft. Woke up in your kiddie pool wearing your water wings. And finally Hardy got hot. In July last year, Hardy hit .339 with 9 homers. Followed that up with a .294 August and 5 homers. I know Hardy’s sucked the life out of you with his April through June, but if he’s indeed hot now, and it seems that way, he’ll bat 2nd, he’ll hit some homers and a decent average for a month or so. He’s currently batting .232. That’ll come up. He has 8 homers, he should finish with 25. Will he always be as delightful as your Finnish friend wearing a potato sack? No, probably not, but he’s better than he’s been. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Raul Ibanez – Won’t be returning this Friday when eligible. No set backs; Phils are just taking precautions. For those wanting to say something derogatory about him, I’d wait until he doesn’t have so much free time.
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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.
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Given the plum matchup of the Nationals for his first Sawx start, John Smoltz turned the opportunity into prunes with a 4-run 1st inning. But then he started shaking off the rust and gave up only 1 ER and 3 hits in the next 4 innings.
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Matt Lindstrom hits the DL with a sore elbow and should be out at least 6 weeks. He’s fine to drop if you don’t have DL room, since he may not be the closer when/if he returns. Rudy and I were talking over IM when the news of Matt Lindstrom hitting the DL broke. We looked at the options. Dan Meyer or Leo Nunez? Meyer is a lefty that has been handling righties well this year. Nunez has posted ERAs of 3.18, 3.77, 6.43 in the first three months of the season and he just hurt his ankle on Tuesday. We went with Meyer on all of our teams. At worst, we have a guy who has pitched well. A few hours later, Nunez said his ankle was fine. If I had to do it over again, I would’ve went with Nunez because he’s probably first in line for saves. SAGNOF, after all. I’m holding Meyer for now just to see how this plays out. So far, it’s played out with Meyer getting the first save. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Edinson Volquez – Almost a month after heading to the DL, Edinson has elbow inflammation. This is obviously terrible news for his owners. An arm setback after almost of a month hiatus usually means he’s not coming back for a while.
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Brandon Webb may miss the rest of the season. Nothing good comes from drafting a top pitcher. Nothing, I tell you. I own Peavy in two leagues, so I’m right there with youse. Remind next year to revert back to not drafting starters in the first five rounds. Actually, next year you probably will be able to get Webb and Peavy after the fifth round. Hmm, that’s a pickle. Guess we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Webb was diagnosed with an “Ain’t Getting Better” problem. Captain Obvious says, “When a guy misses three months, then goes for an MRI, it’s not a good sign.” I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s shutdown for the year. But you’ve held him this long, what’s another day or two to hear the full prognosis? BTW, prognosis is doctor-talk for the 411. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Coco Crisp – Out for the season when his shoulder went snap, crackle, pop.
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Okay, now picture you’re a Mets fan who was in a coma for three months and you just looked at the starting lineup. You’d be like, “Jeremy who? Cora what? Tatis huh? Why are the Mets playing a split squad game in June?” Um, yeah. Listen, Comatose Mets fan, you might want to sit down. Carlos Beltran hit the DL yesterday with a sore knee. The Mets are saying Beltran should be back in two weeks. Yeah, and Reyes will be back three weeks ago. At this point, you really can’t do anything but wait for Beltran to return. Hopefully, there’s some decent outfielders on waivers for you to grab in the interim. I grabbed David Murphy and Jonny “Hey, Khalil give me back my H” Gomes. Gomes should be the Reds DH for interleague so he should get starts for a week, then I’ll need to look elsewhere. Jake Fox is a decent play in interleague, as well. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Ervin Santana – Went to the Disgraceful List. No way! Come on! Really? Shocker!
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CC Sabathia left his start with biceps tightness. Or is it bicep? Hmm… Either way, it’s not great to hear about an arm issue with your fantasy ace. Right now they’re saying no tests are even necessary. Give me two hundred CCs of a White Russian and I’m asking this, you pay one hundred trillion dollars for a player and then you don’t send him for tests when he hurts his bicep(s)? Are they joking? Seriously, is this Candid Camera? I thought I saw my Adam Lambert poster’s eyes move. Is there a camera behind there? Send me a signal, throw me a line. Hopefully, tests aren’t necessary because it’s so obviously not a problem. They don’t need to administer tests for how Sabathia feels about his new home park, The Jetstream. To the left, to the left… Now, up, baby, up… He has a 3.99 ERA at home and 3.35 away. His 6 K/9 is more troubling. That would be the lowest mark of his career. Even last year in April when he was struggling, he was K’ing more than one batter per inning. Hopefully in the 2nd half of the year he can rearrange the girth and makes things right. (Fun with anagrams!) Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Daisuke Matsuzaka – Disgraceful List just got one more as the Sawx made room for Smoltz. Neither funny nor that insightful, but you’d think there would be some kind of rule by the MLB that teams can’t just DL someone because they’re ineffective.
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The only thing more strained than Raul Ibanez’s patience for skeptics is his left groin as the Phillies placed him on the 15 day DL. You don’t own Ibanez for his wheels so this isn’t as troubling as Jose Reyes with a bad hammy or Willy Taveras with an allergy to getting on base. Stick him on the DL and hopefully he comes back in 15 days with an unstrained groin. As for his Philly replacement John Mayberry Jr, think Rickie Sexson. Lots of power but huge holes in his swing. He might jack a few HRs before the league figures him out but we’d only recommend him for NL-only leagues and the power-desperate in deep mixed leagues. Anyway, here’s what else we saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Tommy Hanson – 6 IP, 0 ER. With only two Ks vs.
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Surprise, surprise, Canada’s number one export after Stubby Clapp is hurt, eh? Erik Bedard takes his inflammed shoulder to the DL. The Mariners say he’ll be fine to return on June 23rd. If you were to read between the lines, here’s what you would see, “Please, someone trade us something for this pitcher that cost us Adam Jones, Sherrill and Chris Tillman. Please!” Man, Bill Bavasi really shit the Mariners house. On top of the three guys mentioned, he traded away Shin-Soo Choo, Asdrubal, Carlos Guillen, Rafael Soriano, Matt Thornton and Randy Winn. The top player he received back was Joe Borchard, who’s currently playing for the Fresno Grizzlies, the Giants minor league affiliate. Forbes Magazine rated him the worst general manager in all of baseball in 2007. No idea why Forbes is rating GMs, but that sounds pretty right on. I’d expect Bedard to come back about two weeks after he’s supposed to then to hiccup and end up back on the DL. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in fantasy baseball:
Pedro Martinez – Close to signing with either the Rays or the Cubs. Pedro on the Rays seems most likely. I wonder if Fred McGriff and Wade Boggs took him out for an early dinner to convince him Tampa was a great place to end a career. He’s worth a shot in 12 team leagues and deeper to see if he can recapture some of the glory days of carrying around a midget and dissing Karim Garcia.
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