Category: BASEBALL

By Dalton Del Don David Wright is having quite an interesting season. He has just three home runs, putting him on pace for nine for the year, and his .492 slugging percentage is easily a career-low. Just 5.6% of his flyballs have gone over the fence, and when you compare that to 16.9% in 2007…

By Dalton Del Don Joe Blanton currently has a 5.86 ERA, a 1.51 WHIP and pitches in a hitter’s park. What does this mean? There’s a worthy add likely available on your waiver wire, at least for those in deeper leagues. Blanton never lived up to Oakland’s expectations, and although his strikeout rate increased after…

By Dalton Del Don While Mark Buehrle is a perfect guy to be shopping right now, there’s still no denying how well he has pitched this season. Despite playing in a park that ranked as the second easiest venue to homer in last season, the soft-tossing lefty has a 2.71 ERA and 1.15 WHIP. While…

By Dalton Del Don Chris Carpenter remains a huge injury risk, but it’s clear he’s back to being one of the game’s best pitchers when on the mound. Chances are he eventually gives up a run this season, but Monday’s start against the Brewers was one of the most dominant performances of 2009. Despite the…

By Dalton Del Don Some pitchers, like Josh Johnson, come back stronger after Tommy John surgery, even seeing an increase in velocity. Sadly, Francisco Liriano is not one of these pitchers. In 2006, he was baseball’s best starter when on the mound, striking out 144 batters over 121 innings with a 2.16 ERA and 1.00…

By Dalton Del Don Posting a 1.239 OPS in Triple-A, Nolan Reimold was making a case to be called up even before Felix Pie left Tuesday’s game with a stomach issue. Pie has done nothing but continue to disappoint this season, batting .180 while looking overmatched at the plate. In fact, he has just two…

By Dalton Del Don I’m beginning to think Albert Pujols is pretty good at baseball. Entering Thursday, he led the NL with a 1.215 OPS and an outrageous 9:19 K:BB ratio, making a total mockery of pitchers. He has more homers (11) than strikeouts, which is a joke. Pujols is also one of the game’s…

By Dalton Del Don It’s safe to say Jorge Posada is recovered from his shoulder surgery, at least at the plate. Fantasy owners who gambled on the 37-year-old catcher coming off an injury ruined season have been rewarded big time, as he’s posted a .955 OPS in the early going. He’s hit five homers with…

By Dalton Del Don It’s obviously too early to make any conclusions, but Ryan Dempster owners can’t be feeling too comfortable right now. He was fantastic last season, which was a big surprise considering the switch to the rotation figured to result in a decline in performance, not significant improvement. The main problem with Dempster…

By Dalton Del Don Josh Anderson isn’t going to hit .341 all year long, but he needs to be owned in most formats right now. Injuries have opened the door for regular playing time, and although he’s hitting toward the bottom of Detroit’s lineup and offers little power, Anderson is a major threat on the…

By Dalton Del Don Over his last three starts, Melky Cabrera has four homers. With Hideki Matsui’s knees still a major issue and Brett Gardner off to a horrendous start (.240/.283/.300), Cabrera should be looking at increased playing time. Last season was a humbling experience for Cabrera, who doesn’t figure to take anything for granted…

By Dalton Del Don After Carlos Quentin hit just two homers over 79 at-bats this spring, it was safe to question whether his wrist injury would cost him some power in 2009. After all, he may have played a bit over his head last season even discounting the injury. However, with seven long balls over…

By Dalton Del Don I don’t care if it came against the Giants, Clayton Kershaw’s performance last week was special. A one-hitter with a 13:1 K:BB ratio over seven innings? He just turned 21 less than a month ago! He’s had about as easy of a schedule as possible through two starts, but this is…

By Dalton Del Don I write this coming down from a 103-plus degree fever, so if anything comes across as even more off the wall than usual, blame the meds. Edwin Encarnacion currently has a .167 batting average, but his 4:8 K:BB ratio is highly encouraging. He makes for a decent buy-low if the opportunity…

By Dalton Del Don The first week of the season might be the toughest time to write about baseball. There’s no more looking forward before fantasy drafts, yet the sample size is so small there’s also little information to form an opinion about what’s happened. As Joe Sheehan might say, no one would notice a…

By Dalton Del Don One of the bigger surprises so far might be the Giants’ offense exploding for 10 runs during their opener, including three homers. For comparison‘s sake, the team didn’t hit their third home run until the eighth game of the season last year. As for Tim Lincecum’s poor outing, I wouldn’t worry…

By Dalton Del Don First, a recap of my division previews: NL West 1. L.A. Dodgers 2. Arizona Diamondbacks 3. S.F. Giants 4. Colorado Rockies 5. S.D. Padres NL Central 1. St. Louis Cardinals 2. Chicago Cubs 3. Cincinatti Reds 4. Milwaukee Brewers 5. Houston Astros 6. Pittsburgh Pirates NL East 1. Atlanta Braves 2.…

By Dalton Del Don 1. Minnesota Twins Hitting: In one of the toughest divisions to predict, the Twins enter 2009 with a bunch of health questions. Joe Mauer is the team’s most important player, and his ability to recover will be paramount.  Justin Morneau isn’t as good as MVP voters suggest, but he’s capable of…

By Dalton Del Don 1. Boston Red Sox Hitting: With no Manny Ramirez and a declining David Ortiz, the lineup certainly isn’t as formidable as it was 2-3 years ago. Still, Kevin Youkilis and Dustin Pedroia have developed into stars, and Jason Bay is a pretty good No. 6 hitter. Boston shouldn’t expect much from…

By Dalton Del Don 1. Los Angeles Angels Hitting: What a terrible division. Still, the Angels remain the class of the West, although injuries have certainly made it closer. Kendry Morales should be a fine option at first, and Bobby Abreu was a great bargain signing. Vladimir Guerrero is in decline, but Mike Napoli will…