Fantasy Round Trippers

If he’s not owned and you’re looking for outfield depth, jump on Chase Headley - OF - Padres.  He should be the starting LF tomorrow and be the everyday OF on-going.  He hasn’t showed light-tower power, but should be a viewed as a .300-30-100 guy in his prime.  Key numbers at AAA this year - .305 BA, 49 Rs, 14 HRs, 40 RBIs, and a .939 OPS. 

Well let’s take a look and see how last week came out for all of us…

Bernie: Lowe - 46/Casilla - 23 Total: 69 (I think Bernie cheated this week)

Bryan: Campillo - 18/Gonzalez - 19 Total: 37

Now there was some controversy to me picking Pedro last week so instead I changed my pick to Kyle Lohse who was performing better than anyone thought he would this deep into the season.

Nate: Lohse - 37.5/Hairston - 20 Total: 57.5

For this upcoming week our picks are as follows:

Bernie ~ Hitter: Mark Reynolds - This guy started off on a tear in April. As hot as he was in April, he was even colder in May. He’s starting to get hot again, and I’m going to ride one of baseball’s streakiest hitters to a big week with a full 7 game schedule, 3 of which are against the lowly Royals. Pitcher: Mike Mussina - Moose has been solid his last two starts and gets KC this week. He has a second start in Houston though, so I’m banking on a huge game against the Royals to offset a possible shelling in the Juice Box.

Bryan ~ I’ll take a former all star coming off the DL and an underachieving top tier AL starter… Vernon Wells… another streaky hitter who has come off the DL putting up big numbers in 2 games. Get him back in your lineups with 6 against the Mariners and Cubs. Erik Bedard… He’s had some brutal matchups the past month with 2 against the Rangers, 2 against Boston, and one each against the Yanks, Angels and Padres , but he’s got the Nats this week at home. Enough said… don’t be scared off by the 1 good, 1 bad pattern of late and expect a second good start in a row. 2 in a row… that’s how streaks get started and maybe he’ll get motivated to get out of Seattle and get traded to a contender.

Nate ~ Since I need to make up ground this week I am going to go with a high-risk high-reward pitcher and his name shall be Aaron Cook. Cook has looked very impressive in the past few weeks, really working at keeping the sinker down. As the year goes on he should put up better numbers because sinker ballers tend to throw better when they are a little tired. He also has the help of Holliday coming back into the lineup. As for a hitter I am going to have to go with Aaron Boone who has quite a few games against lefties and will definitely be getting 7 starts in with the ailing corners in Washington.

Just like every Sunday we bring you the info you need for the upcoming fantasy week.  This version is a little abbreviated but you get a full Waiver Wire Watch to make sure you have the info to make the pickups your team needs…

Click Here to subscribe to the podcast using iTunes…

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (52)

After a break because of Mother Nature bringing her A-game we are back with some Cage Talk to update you on what is going on around the league as well as talk about what to do with your team from here on out…

Click Here to subscribe to the podcast using iTunes…

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (48)

Last week scores are as follows

Bryan: Votto - 21/Myers - 29.5 total = 50.5

Bernie: Gomez - 16/Burnett - 34 total = 50

Nate: Kouzmanoff - 13/Wolf - 25 total = 38

This week Bernie and Bryan wrote their own little pick blurbs, Bernie first…  Derek Lowe: I’m taking Lowe to get his first win since sometime in April (actually two wins this week). Apparently his sinker is back and he’s done getting abused.

Alexi Casilla: In case you don’t know, he plays 2B for Minnesota. The guy is typically a slap hitter with wheels but has been driving in a decent share of runs recently. He get’s three games against Baltimore which means plenty of steals on Ramon Hernandez (who is getting picked on this year for tons of steals).

Bryan says, Jorge Campillo is tempting with the 2 starts and the dominance of late, but those blister problems make him too much of a risk… but I’ll take Jake Westbrook with 2 on the road against the Rangers and Tigers. He held the Tigers to a 3.79 ERA in 3 starts in 07 and held the Rangers scoreless in one start in 07. The Tribe needs Westbrook to step up and fill the void left by Carmona and I’m hoping he’s up to the challenge.

For a hitter, I’ll take a chance of the newly called up rookie outfielder… from the A’s… c’mon, Jay Bruce isn’t a sleeper… Carlos Gonzalez…. He should get some playing time with injuries cutting into the A’s roster. He projects as a high average guy with 20+ HR power and the skills to be a good RBI guy. So, it’s risky to take a kid who might only get 3-4 starts this week, but this is a guy who was the big chip in the Haren trade so the A’s are going to give him a chance to shine.

Since my last two weeks have been lackluster and my lead has all but diminished I am not going to say much and hope my picks do the talking.  I am going to go with Pedro Martinez coming off the DL in a two start week and Jerry Hairston Jr.  Don’t ask me why I am taking Hairston Jr. maybe it is the ex-Cub factor and maybe is the Jay Bruce effect, I don’t know, but that is what I am going to go with.

I know we are running a little late today compared to usual but all the information is still here and of course you need to listen…

Click Here to subscribe to the podcast using iTunes…

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (46)

After the Cage Talk update, we take a look at some “under the radar” performers in May according to SABRMetric Stats.

Click Here to subscribe to the Podcast using iTunes…

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (50)

Well fantasy fans the internet has been down most of the day so since it is late and the Cubs are in extras this is going to be short and sweet…

I Coulda… saved my FAAB in my NL-Only auction league for Jay Bruce (OF-CIN) who will probably be the most productive rookie in the NL this year but in the back of my head some other top SP prospects came to mind that have done fairly well in the recent years (Cole Hamels, SP-PHI and “Tiny” Tim Lincecum, SP-SF).  With the huge need for pitching for my team Clayton Kershaw (SP-LAD) became my man at $25.

I Woulda… been okay with not getting Kershaw in another NL-only league off of Yahoo waivers but I am hoping in the long run he will be more valuable than Jonathon Sanchez (SP-SF) just because he is playing for a better team in just as good of a pitcher’s park.

I Shoulda… found a replacement for the struggling Billy Butler (1B,DH-KC) two weeks ago in my H2H points league, but I am glad I waited to pull the trigger b/c I was able to pick up the hot hitting Kevin Kouzmanoff (3B-SDP) just in time to collect 3 home runs and a week where he gets three starts against lefties (.326 avg against).

Since we all took a day off yesterday we are including our Weekly Sleeper League update and standings in the podcast today.  Hope everyone enjoyed some BBQ and Brews over the weekend, and don’t worry we do talk about Jay Bruce today…

Click Here to subscribe to the podcast using iTunes…

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (51)

Waiver Wire Watch, 2-start pitchers and some offenses to watch for the week of 5/26-6/1…

Click Here to subscribe to the podcast using iTunes…

Listen Now:

 Standard Podcasts: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download | Embeddable Player | Hits (51)