Category: BASEBALL

By Dalton Del Don Over his last 10 starts, Felix Hernandez has a 1.30 ERA and a 0.947 WHIP with 73 strikeouts over 76 innings. The schedule hasn’t been particularly tough, but his 1.42 G/F ratio is also fantastic. After Tim Lincecum, Dan Haren and Roy Halladay, Hernandez enters the mix as next best fantasy…

1. Joe Mauer 2. Pablo Sandoval 3. Victor Martinez 4. Brian McCann 5. Jorge Posada 6. Bengie Molina 7. Matt Wieters 8. Mike Napoli 9. Chris Iannetta 10. Russell Martin 11. Ryan Doumit 12. Geovany Soto 13. A.J. Pierzynski 14. Jason Varitek 15. Kurt Suzuki

1. Chase Utley 2. Ian Kinsler 3. Dustin Pedroia 4. Brian Roberts 5. Brandon Phillips 6. Aaron Hill 7. Robinson Cano 8. Dan Uggla 9. Jose Lopez 10. Clint Barmes 11. Ian Stewart 12. Freddy Sanchez 13. Felipe Lopez 14. Orlando Hudson 15. Howie Kendrick 16. Placido Polanco 17. Adam Kennedy 18. Martin Prado 19.…

1. Hanley Ramirez 2. Jimmy Rollins 3. Derek Jeter 4. Troy Tulowitzki 5. Alexei Ramirez 6. Ben Zobrist 7. Stephen Drew 8. Jason Bartlett 9. Jose Reyes 10. Rafael Furcal 11. Asdrubal Cabrera 12. Jhonny Peralta 13. J.J. Hardy 14. Yunel Escobar 15. Ryan Theriot 16. Edgar Renteria 17. Elvis Andrus 18. Marco Scutaro 19.…

By Dalton Del Don Let’s be clear. Jonathan Sanchez didn’t throw a perfect game Friday. He was better than that, getting 28 outs while walking none, allowing zero hits and striking out 11. The Padres entered the night having scored the fewest runs and with the worst batting average (.234) in baseball, and that was…

By Dalton Del Don Two weeks ago, I recommended targeting Alex Rodriguez in trades but also acknowledged that his hip injury made it a risky proposition. I didn’t really follow my own advice, failing to land him in two half-hearted trade offers, mainly because I kept reading about how scouts said he looked terrible and…

By Dalton Del Don Jonathan Broxton gave up three runs while pitching in Petco Park during his last appearance, but there hasn’t been a more dominant reliever in baseball this season. How about 65 strikeouts over 39.2 innings? A 14.75 K/9 is positively astronomical. He still walks too many batters, but when you combine that…

I recently participated in an industry draft and figured I’d share the results (at least the first eight rounds). This wasn’t just a mock, as it will be played out. Starting lineup featured 2RB, 3WR and a flex, so it’s pretty deep. One point-per-reception for wide receivers and 0.5 PPR for running backs. Also, six…

By Dalton Del Don After throwing the most pitches (3,914) in all of baseball last year, I avoided Cole Hamels at the draft table in 2009. And while I’m still concerned with his health moving forward, he’s actually a pretty good trade target right now, especially for teams lower in the standings trying to swing…

By Dalton Del Don Tim Lincecum won the Cy Young last year, but he’s been an even better pitcher this season, despite a 7.56 ERA after his first two starts. His K rate is ever so slightly down compared to last year, but 10.42/9 is still an acceptable number, and his walk rate is down…

1. Evan Longoria 2. Alex Rodriguez 3. David Wright 4. Mark Reynolds 5. Chipper Jones 6. Aramis Ramirez 7. Pablo Sandoval 8. Mark DeRosa 9. Ryan Zimmerman 10. Chone Figgins 11. Michael Young 12. Hank Blalock 13. Garrett Atkins 14. Edwin Encarnacion 15. Ian Stewart 16. Casey Blake 17. Brandon Inge 18. Scott Rolen 19.…

1. Albert Pujols 2. Mark Teixeira 3. Prince Fielder 4. Miguel Cabrera 5. Justin Morneau 6. Joey Votto 7. Adrian Gonzalez 8. Ryan Howard 9. Kevin Youkilis 10. Lance Berkman 11. Carlos Pena 12. Paul Konerko 13. Todd Helton 14. Derrek Lee 15. James Loney 16. Adam LaRoche 17. Russell Branyan 18. Jorge Cantu 19.…

By Dalton Del Don Over his last six starts, Felix Hernandez has a 1.00 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. Three games against the NL West have certainly helped, but after back-to-back seasons with WHIPs approaching 1.40, Hernandez may finally be realizing all that potential, and it’s easy to forget he’s still just 23 years old. While…

By Dalton Del Don There have been a lot of rookies who have failed to impress this year, but Colby Rasmus isn’t one of them. His .772 OPS doesn’t jump out, and his .114/.220/.182 line against southpaws is an abomination, but Rasmus is hitting .358 in June, and his defense in center field has been…

Harold Reynolds made a recent blog post talking about those kids and their wacky statistics ruining baseball. What stat does he have a problem with in particular? VORP? WPA? UZR? xFIP? No, what really gets under Reynolds’ skin is the crazy, convoluted, new stat known as “OPS” – that’s on-base plus slugging for those of…

By Dalton Del Don With just six wins on the season and playing for a last place team, Dan Haren is getting a little overlooked, as he’s quietly become one of the three best pitchers in baseball since coming to Arizona. His 7.38:1 K/BB ratio ranks best in MLB, and his mediocre record obviously can’t…

By Dalton Del Don Most of the spin coming out of Cleveland is the “good news” regarding Grady Sizemore, but if you actually read the article, I’m more pessimistic about surgery being in his future than ever. Maybe I’m crazy, but I’d think about selling him for 70 cents on the dollar right now. Maybe…

By Dalton Del Don With 14 homers and six steals, Alfonso Soriano has hardly been a bust, but his on-base percentage is now below .300, and he doesn’t have a multi-hit game since May 19. He’s actually been a pretty terrible player since April ended, and it’s clear he’s not 100 percent physically. Soriano’s current…

I was on Fantasy Focus over at Blog Talk Radio on Friday. I enter for the second half of the hour.

By Dalton Del Don I really don’t know what to make of Ben Zobrist, but it’s impossible to ignore what he’s done so far in 2009. While uncommon, it’s not entirely unique for a 28-year-old to burst onto the scene like this, and he more than held his own in the big leagues during 198…