Posts Tagged ‘Nolan Reimold’

2010 Fantasy Baseball Rankings – Outfield (Part II)

Posted by Todd Lammi on February 2nd, 2010

by Todd Lammi

Continuing the sixth report looking at the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings for  outfielders, here is a look at spots 21 – 40. I have a few people ranked lower than their current ADP in Josh Hamilton (obvious possible downside there) and Ichiro Suzuki as mentioned in the previous article. I also have several players ranked a few spots higher than their current ADP in Denard Span, Jay Bruce and Nolan Reimold.

Let’s take a look at the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings for slots 21-40 to see how they shake out.

21) Alfonso Soriano – knee bothered him all season and  accounted for the drop in stolen bases among other things. Stats were good in April with seven home runs and four stolen bases before the knee issue started in May. Reunited with hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo from Texas, so perhaps he gets his batting average back up.

22) Shane Victorino – solid consistent stats across the board as his 2009 line matched 2008 except for stolen bases. Those should be rebound a bit this year.

23) Josh Hamilton – injuries ruined his 2009 campaign limiting him to only 336 at bats. I would not expect a bounce back all the way to his 2008 numbers. Remember that his ’08 season was driven by ridiculous first half numbers of 21 home runs and 95 RBI in only 377 at bats. In the second half of the season that year when the hot streak wore off, he was a more realistic 11 home runs and 35 RBI in 247 at bats.

24) Torii Hunter – a groin injury cut short what was turning in a career season for Hunter. Should be good for a 20-20 season in ’10 with an average  around .280

25) Hunter Pence – somewhat saved his season by hitting 12 home runs the last two months of the year. Has not been able to crack 80 runs scored or 85 RBI in any season in the Houston Astros lineup.

26) Ichiro Suzuki – spelled out my case for him yesterday. Average varies too much from year to year to automatically project him in the .350 range. Stolen bases could be held to same levels as 2009 if he bats second with the arrival of Chone Figgins.

27) Andrew McCutchen – it was quite a 2009 for McCutchen as upon arriving in the majors suddenly improved his power and his stolen base success rate from the minor leagues. Power was aided by a hot streak in August when he jacked eight home runs. The other three months of the season he managed to hit only four. Keep the power expectations around the same for 2010 with more stolen bases thrown in.

28) Nate McLouth – numbers were in line with the previous year when you factor in he had 100 less at bats. His 2008 batting average looks like an outlier as he been under .260 every other season.

29) Denard Span – Ichiro lite without the upside for batting average. Best thing is you can get him several rounds later than he should be going.

30) Jay Bruce – wrist injury limited him to 345 at bats, but still managed to deliver 20+ home runs. Average has not been pretty in the majors, but was .308 in the minor leagues so he has the chance to improve on that if he can improve his plate discipline. Made some gains in that department despite the smaller sample size by increasing his walk rate by three percentage points.

31) Alex Rios – a bad year all around turned even worse after being claimed by the Chicago White Sox on waivers. In 146 at bats with his new club, Rios managed to hit only .199. Have to chalk it up as one of those off years that players sometimes have (see Jason Bay 2007).

32) Raul Ibanez – was on fire the first half of the season before coming back down to earth in the second half. Hit just .232 with 12 home runs in 241 at bats after the All-Star break. Had a career year at age 37. Don’t expect a repeat in 2010.

33) Carlos Quentin – still has not had over 480 at bats in a full season after missing time with Plantar Fasciitis in foot last year and also missed time in 2007 with a bad hamstring and torn labrum. Power was tracking to 2008 numbers, but batting average regressed to years pre-2008. Career batting average now sits at .254.

34) Johnny Damon – spike in home runs driven by new home ballpark where he knocked out 17 of his 24 long balls.  Still offers five category value which will be at a slightly lower level in a few categories depending where he signs.

35) Jason Kubel – gradual increases in playing time have led to upticks in stats the last two seasons. Inability to produce against left-handed pitching limits the upside to his numbers. Last season in 148 at bats, Kubel hit 2.43 with two home runs and 20 RBI against southpaws.

36) Adam Jones – had a big first off before tailing off after the All-Star break and an injury ended his season. Still needs to improve plate discipline to take the next step up in average.

37) Carlos Gonzalez – RBI total limited because 10 of his 13 home runs were solo shots. Like Jones, he still needs to work on plate discipline. Interesting though that his walk to strikeout ratio was the best when batting first, 13 to 24 vs. 15 to 46 in other spots in the batting order. Held his own against lefties, but with the depth of the Colorado Rockies, we will need to see if he plays full time against them in 2010.

38) Nolan Reimold – combine his Triple-A numbers and the Baltimore Orioles stats in 467 at bats and you get 70 runs, 24 home runs, 72 RBI and 14 steals. I think he will post a line similar to that in a full-time role this season. People want to discredit him as an older rookie but when you go to college and are advanced one level per year, you are going to hit the major leagues at the age of 25 or 26 so he is right on time in my eyes.

39) Brad Hawpe – four straight years of pretty similar numbers give or take a few stats. At bats always limited to around 500 as he sits against some left-handed pitching. Should be in line for more of the same in 2010 with the Rockies outfield depth.

40) Carlos Beltran – out at least the first month of the season after undergoing microfracture surgery on his knee and could be out even longer. Right now I have him down for 475 at bats. Should have a better guess as we get closer to the start of the season how his health is. If you are drafting now, I think this is the upside of his value.

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Next up in the series for the 2010 fantasy baseball rankings will be outfielders 41-60.

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Fantasy Baseball – the Daily Dirt for Wednesday

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 27th, 2009

by Todd Lammi

I am always torn whether St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa is somewhat smart, just a little nutty, or a combination of both. In the Cardinals 3-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, La Russa had Nick Stavinoha batting clean up. Stavinoha is only playing because Ryan Ludwick and Rick Ankiel are out with injuries, so Stavinoha is basically the team’s 6th outfielder. Yet he delivers two RBI to help the Cardinals win. For some reason, the Brewers don’t seem to like Corey Hart, regardless of who the manager is. First it was Ned Yost, now it is Ken Macha, who gave a start to Frank Catalanotto on Wednesday. With Hart off to a slow start, it would not surprise me to see the Brewers give him more time off. If the Brew Crew has no interest in Hart, they might as well trade him for pitching and stick Mat Gamel in the outfield now. Of course it would help if Gamel was hitting higher than .174, but it would also help if he received consistent at bats, something that has not happened since he was called up two weeks ago. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Wednesday…

Hitters:

Nolan Reimold hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the 11th inning to help the Baltimore Orioles pull of a come from behind win. Reimold’s home run was his second in as many days.

Aaron Hill went 2 for 6 with two RBI and connected for his 12th home run of the season. Hill, who homered for the first time since May 17th is now up to 37 RBI on the year.

James Loney went 2 for 5 with 4 RBI to lead the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 8-6 win over the Colorado Rockies. Despite having only two home runs on the season, Loney ranks in the top five in RBI in the National League with 36 runs driven in.

Russell Branyan went 2 for 4 with two RBI and belted his 11th home run of the season. Branyan is batting .311 on the season with 23 RBI.

Daniel Murphy went 3 for 4 with 5 RBI including his fourth home run of the season in the New York Mets 7-4 win over the Washington Nationals. The left-handed Murphy should see the majority of at bats at first base as part of a platoon with Fernando Tatis.

Trade rumors sometimes seem to perk up a player when they are struggling. Case in point is Dan Uggla of the Florida Marlins. Uggla went 3 for 4 with two RBI to lead the Marlins to a 6-2 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. Uggla has now homered five times in his last nine games.

The New York Yankees used four home runs to defeat the Texas Rangers 9-2. Mark Teixeira (15), Hideki Matsui (6 & 7) and Robinson Cano (9) all left the yard for New York. Ian Kinsler was the only offense for the Rangers, knocking out his 13th home run of the season.

Jay Bruce smashed two home runs and a triple while collecting four RBI. The power is legit, with 14 home runs and only 5 doubles, the majority of fly balls he hits are going over the fence.

Denard Span went 4 for 4 with two runs scored and stole his 11th base of the season. Span is now hitting .316 with 28 runs scored for the year.

Pitchers:

Rick Porcello picked up his 6th win of the year, allowing two runs in six inning with four strikeouts in a 8-3 win over the Kansas City Royals. Porcello has allowed 5 runs in his last 30 innings while reeling off five straight victories.

Carlos Zambrano allowed one earned run in 6 1/3 innings with six strikeouts in a no decision. Zambrano was ejected in the 7th inning after bumping an umpire and making the ejection gesture and could be facing a possible suspension.

Erik Bedard allowed one run in 6 2/3 innings with five strikeouts to up his record to 3-2 on the season. He is now a perfect 3-0 on the road and 0-2 at home this season.

Bronson Arroyo picked up his 7th win of the season, tossing a complete gem against the Houston Astros in a 6-1 victory. Arroyo scattered five hits while striking out three and has given up one run in back-to-back starts.

Johan Santana battled through control problems to notch his 7th win of the year, allowing three runs in six innings with 11 strikeouts. Santana walked six batters in the game, the first time he has done that since 2002 with the Minnesota Twins.

Kevin Slowey netted his seventh win of the season in a 4-2 defeat of the Boston Red Sox. Slowey allowed two runs in six innings with five strikeouts  and has now allowed two runs or less in four straight starts.

Jered Weaver allowed one run in eight innings with eight strikeouts to improve his record to 4-2 in a 3-1 win over the Chicago White Sox. Weaver has now allowed one run in 4 of his last 5 starts.

A. J. Burnett hurled six shutout innings and struck out seven to improve his record to 3-2.

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Fantasy Baseball – the Daily Dirt for Tuesday

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 27th, 2009

by Todd Lammi

There is rejoicing in fantasy baseball land Tuesday night as top prospect Matt Wieters of the Baltimore Orioles is expected to be recalled from Triple-A on Friday.  It should not take long for Wieters to ascend to the top tier of the catching ranks, based on his expected performance. With injuries to Ryan Doumit and Chris Ianetta and Geovany Soto off to a slow start, it is not inconceivable for Wieters to be a top 5 catcher the rest of the season, behind Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer, Brian McCann and Bengie Molina.

To give you an idea of the landscape at catcher from a fantasy baseball statistical purpose, Jorge Posada ranks six among catchers in RBI with 20 despite missing the last three weeks of action. Russell Martin still is stuck on zero home runs, although he does has six stolen bases and Mike Napoli should start to lose at bats with Vladimir Guerrero returning to action as Napoli was seeing time at designated hitter when not catching.

Wieters, who was the fifth overall selection in the 2007 June draft, will take over immediately as the Orioles starting catcher upon his arrival. Wieters is currently hitting .305 with 5 home runs and 30 RBI in 141 at bats with a 2o to 30 walk to strikeout ratio in Triple-A. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Tuesday…

Hitters:

Orioles hitters responded to the news of Wieters impending arrival by collecting 14 hits in a 7-2 win over the Toronto Blue Jays. Adam Jones (11), Aubrey Huff (8) and Nolan Reimold (3) all hit home runs in the victory. With the young bats the Orioles have and the pitching in their farm system, they are probably 1 1/2 years away from competing for the division.

The Cleveland Indians used four home runs to defeat the Tampa Bay Rays 5-1. Mark DeRosa starting in left field hit his 8th home run of the year and is now up to 32 RBI on the season. It is nice the Indians are show casing DeRosa’s versatility in the outfield to boost his trade value, but that comes at the expense of playing time for Matt LaPorta who was sent back to Triple-A. LaPorta never got untracked with the Indians, batting .190 with one home run in 13 games.

Carlos Pena hit his 16th home run and knocked in his 40th RBI to provide the lone run of offense for the Rays.

Joey Votto hit a two-run home in the seventh inning to propel the Cincinnati Reds to a 6-4 win over the Houston Astros. The long ball was Votto’s 8th of the season to go along with his 33 RBI.

Gary Sheffield continues to pick up the slack offensively for the New York Mets with Jose Reyes, Ryan Church and Carlos Delgado all missing from the lineup due to injuries. Sheffield went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI and belted his fifth home run of the year to lead Mets to a 6-1 win over the Washington Nationals. He has now driven in nine runs in his last five games.

Also for the Mets, rookie Fernando Martinez was recalled from Triple-A with Church going on the disabled list. Martinez got the start in right field batting sixth and went 0 for 3 with an RBI. Martinez was hitting .291 with 8 home runs and 28 RBI in 165 at bats in Triple-A with two stolen bases.

Chris Davis hit two home runs to power the Texas Rangers to a 7-3 win over the New York Yankees. Davis now has 12 home runs on the season, but is only batting .208 on the year.

Justin Morneau went 2 for 3 with 3 RBI including his 14th home run of the season in a 5-2 win over the Boston Red Sox. Morneau has driven in 11 runs in his last five games.

Mark Reynolds hit his 13th home run of the year and knocked in two in a 6-5 win over the San Diego Padres. Reynolds is currently 5th in the National League in home runs and 7th in stolen bases with 10.

Jayson Nix hit two solo home runs to give the Chicago White Sox a 4-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels.

Pitchers:

Zack Greinke continued his amazing 2009 season, tossing a complete game against the Detroit Tigers in a 6-1 win. Greinke struck out eight while lowering his ERA to 0.84. He has still yet to allow more than two runs in any start this year and also has not given up a home run through 75 innings.

Joe Blanton tossed seven shutout innings with 11 strikeouts in a 5-3 win over the Florida Marlins. The victory evened Blanton’s record at 3-3  and easily surpassed his previous season high of six strikeouts.

Carl Pavano allowed one run in seven innings with six strikeouts to pick up his fifth win of the season. Pavano has now won 5 of his last 6 starts, while allowing four runs or less in all of them.

Livan Hernandez picked up a complete game win, allowing one run with six strikeouts. Hernandez has now allowed two runs or less in four of his last five starts.

Adam Wainwright allowed one run in seven innings with nine strikeouts in a 8-1 win over the Milwaukee Brewers. Wainwright improved to 5-2 and has allowed one run in each of his last three starts, covering a total of 23 2/3 innings.

Nick Blackburn allowed one earned run in seven innings with seven strikeouts to move to 4-2 on the season. Blackburn has shaved 1 1/2 runs off his ERA in his last five starts to his current mark of 3.55

Eric Milton picked up his first win in almost three years, tossing five innings of one run ball in a 7-1 win over the Colorado Rockies. Milton allowed seven hits and struck out three in his second start since being recalled from Triple-A.

Sean Marshall allowed one run in five innings with six strikeouts to pick up a rain-shortened 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Marshall continues to keep pace with Randy Wells to see who will become the 5th starter once Rich Harden returns from the disabled list.

Max Scherzer allowed two runs in seven innings with 10 strikeouts to earn his second win of the season. Scherzer has had back-to-back 10 strikeout performances and will face the Atlanta Braves on Sunday.

Jarrod Washburn hurled six scoreless innings with four strikeouts in a 4-3 loss to the Oakland Athletics.

Tim Lincecum pitched eight shutout innings and fanned eight in a 4-0 defeat of the Atlanta Braves.  Lincecum lowered his ERA to 3.03 and has struck out eight or more in 7 of his last 8 starts.

Closers:

Brad Lidge was supposed to get the day off, but after the Marlins cut the lead to two in the ninth innings, he came in to record two outs for his ninth save of the season. Manager Charlie Manuel’s use of the bullpen on Tuesday night signifies he has little faith in Ryan Madson as the closer and why he continues to stick with Lidge in spite of Lidge’s recent blown saves. Instead of using Madson in the ninth inning and a different set up man in the eighth, he still pitched Madson in the eighth and had Chad Durbin come in to close the door in the ninth, which Durbin failed to do.

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Fantasy Baseball – the Daily Dirt for Friday

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 22nd, 2009

by Todd Lammi

Jimmy Rollins hit his third home run of the season and stole his sixth base of the year. He has raised his batting average 40 points in the last seven games up to .240. In addition to slumping at the plate, he has struggled on the base paths this season getting caught stealing four times in 10 attempts. As a point of reference, he was 47 for 50 on stolen bases last season and 41 for 47 in 2007. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Friday…

Hitters:

Brandon Inge hit is 12th home run of the season and drove in two runs giving him 31 RBI on the season. He is now on pace for 49 home runs for the year. And people still don’t believe in the juiced ball theory? Brandon Inge, 49 home runs in one year? His career high was 27 back in 2006.

Exhibit two of my juiced ball theory, Raul Ibanez, with his third home run in as many days, this one coming at Yankee Stadium and Ibanez is now on pace for 65 home runs and 166 RBI. He leads the National League with 16 home runs, 41 RBI and is second in runs scored with 36.

Speaking of the new Yankee Stadium, through the first 21 games, 82 home runs have been hit which is a major league record, breaking the mark of 77 hit at Houston’s Enron Field back in 2000.

Carlos Pena hit home run number 15 on the season and drove in three runs in a 15-2 victory over the Florida Marlins. Pena is currently third in the American League with 38 RBI.

Michael Cuddyer hit for the cycle, going 4 for 5 with 5 RBI and slugging his seventh home run of the season, giving him 30 RBI on the year.

Nolan Reimold went 2 for 5 and hit his second home run of the season and is now batting .313 on the year.

Elvis Andrus went 4 for 5, knocking out his third home run of the year and stealing his sixth base of the season. Andrus is now hitting .292 on the year.

Pitchers:

Johan Santana allowed two runs in seven innings with eight strikeouts to get his sixth won of the year. The 118 pitches he threw on Friday night were the most he had thrown this season.

Bronson Arroyo allowed one run in eight innings with two strikeouts to notch his 6th win of the season, good for a tie for first in the National League with Johan Santana and Chad Billingsley.

Kevin Slowey improved to 6-1, surrendering two runs in 7 1/3 innings with four strikeouts. It was the fourth straight start he has allowed three runs or fewer.

Rick Porcello allowed one run in six innings and struck out three to move to 5-3 on the season. He has now allowed three runs in his last 24 innings and has reeled off four consecutive wins.

Bret Myers allowed three runs in eight innings with five strikeouts to pick up win number four on the season.

Kenshin Kawakami picked up his third win of the year with a 1-0 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. Kawakami pitched eight shutout innings and struck out seven. Roy Halladay hurled seven shutout innings for the Blue Jays and fanned six.

Gavin Floyd tossed eight shutout innings with eight strikeouts to earn his first win in more than a month, in a 2-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. Zach Duke suffered the loss, allowing two runs in eight innings with seven strikeouts.

Jordan Zimmermann allowed two runs in seven innings with seven strikeouts in a no decision against the Baltimore Orioles.

Todd Wellemeyer threw six scoreless innings with three strikeouts to even his mark at 4-4 on the season. He was much more effective with his pitches, needing only 85 to get through six innings.

Derek Holland made his first major league start for the Texas Rangers and allowed three runs in 5 2/3 innings with four strikeouts. With Vincente Padilla on the disabled list, Holland should see another start or two.

There has got to be an injury that Ricky Nolasco is hiding for him to be this bad. Nolasco allowed eight runs for the second consecutive start and now sports a 9.07 ERA.

Daisuke Matsuzaka returned from the disabled list and allowed four runs in five innings with four strikeouts in a 5-3 loss to the New York Mets.

Chien-Ming Wang returned to the New York Yankees and threw three innings from the bullpen, allowing six hits and two runs with two strikeouts.

David Price is expected to be recalled by the Tampa Bay Rays to take the rotation spot vacated by Scott Kazmir who was placed on the disabled list with a quadriceps strain. Price would likely get the start Monday against the Cleveland Indians.

Rich Harden was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a back strain. Carlos Zambrano returned from the disabled list Friday and will take Harden’s spot in the rotation.

Closers:

Troy Percival was placed on the 15-day disabled list with shoulder tendinitis. Tampa Bay Rays Manager Joe Maddon said he would go with the dreaded closer by committee in place of Percival.

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Fantasy Baseball – the Daily Dirt for Thursday

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 14th, 2009

by Todd Lammi

Milwaukee Brewers top prospect Mat Gamel was recalled from Triple-A, but don’t rush to pick him up just yet. It looks Gamel was brought up strictly to serve as the designated hitter in upcoming interleague games and as a pinch hitter off the bench. He struck out as a pinch hitter in his only at bat Thursday night. In other fantasy baseball news from around the diamond on Thursday…

Hitters:

Recent call up Nolan Reimold went 1 for 5 for the Baltimore Orioles. Reimold started in left field and hit seventh. With Adam Jones and Luke Scott out with injuries, Reimold should see consistent at bats the next few weeks.

Aubrey Huff hit his seventh home run of the season and now is second on the team with 32 RBI, one behind Nick Markakis.

Prince Fielder hit home run number eight on the season. Fielder has now driven in 12 runs in his last eight games and is up to 32 RBI on the year.

Torii Hunter, trying to carry the Los Angeles Angels on offense with Vladimir Guerrero out, went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and stole two bases.

The Cleveland Indians had an offensive outburst as three players had four hits in their 11-7 win over the Tampa Bay Rays. Asdrubal Cabrera 4 for 5, four runs scored, Victor Martinez, 4 for 5 with 4 RBI and Shin-Soo Choo, 4 for 5 with 3 RBI and home run number four on the year.

David Wright went 3 for 3 with two RBI and stole four bases, bringing his season steal total up to nine.

David Ortiz, 0 for 7 with 12 runners left on base. Not a good sign for a power hitter when your on base percentage (.318) is higher than your slugging percentage (.300). With zero home runs midway through week 6, in 2009 his nickname has become “Big Floppy”.

Pitchers:

Josh Johnson only made it through four innings for the Florida Marlins, before being removed with shoulder issues. Not a good sign for a guy who has had injury problems in the past, although Johnson said he expects to make his next start.

David Bush allowed two runs in seven innings and struck out seven to pick up his second win of the year. Bush has now tossed seven innings in three consecutive starts.

Chad Billingsley and Cole Hamels matched each other pitch for pitch for seven innings with neither pitcher factoring into the outcome. Billingsley allowed one run and struck out nine. Hamels allowed one earned run and also struck out nine.

Justin Verlander allowed two runs in 6 1/3 innings and struck out 13, but did not factor into the decision. He has now racked up double digit figures in strikeouts in three consecutive starts, but at the same time, those three starts have produced his highest pitch count totals of the season, at 121, 118, and 122 on Thursday.

Matt Harrison picked up a complete game win, allowing two runs and striking out seven. Harrison has now allowed two runs in his last 23 innings.

Ryan Dempster allowed two runs in seven innings with five strikeouts to move to 3-2 on the season. The difference in numbers for Dempster in 2009 has been an increase in both his walk rate and home run rate.

Wandy Rodriguez allowed two run sin seven innings and struck out 11 to pick up his 4th win of the season and lower his ERA to 1.90.

CC Sabathia allowed two runs in eight innings and struck out five., lowering his ERA to 3.70.

Eric Milton is expected to start in place of Jeff Weaver for the Los Angeles Dodgers on Saturday. James McDonald was sent to Triple-A with Milton being recalled. Milton was 3-2 with a 2.83 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 35 innings. He last pitched in the major leagues in 2007, finishing with a 5.17 ERA in 31 1/3 innings.

Closers:

Brad Lidge allowed a run in the ninth inning and has now given up a run in five straight appearances.

Brandon Morrow blew a win for Felix Hernandez, surrendering home runs to Hank Blalock (10) and Chris Davis (10) in the bottom of the ninth inning. Morrow has now given up six runs in his last three appearances.

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Fantasy Baseball – the Daily Dirt for Wednesday

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 13th, 2009

by Todd Lammi

Could we be seeing the return of the juiced ball? It is not too often you see multiple players breaking their career high in home runs a fifth of the way into the season, regardless of how low the bar is set. Such was the case Wednesday night, as Jason Bartlett has now matched his career high in home runs with 5 at game 33 on the season. Bartlett went 3 for 4 and is now hitting .369 on the year. Ryan Theriot hit two home runs giving him five on the season, two better than his career high. In other fantasy baseball news around the diamond on Wednesday…

Hitters:

Victor Martinez went 3 for 4 and connected for his seventh home run of the season. Martinez is now hitting .385 on the year.

Fernando Tatis went 3 for 5 and drove in four runs on his second home run of the year. Tatis should see additional at bats at first base with Carlos Delgado out of the line up.

Nick Johnson went 4 for 5 and drove in two runs, boosting his batting average to .333. Knowing the injury risk he carries, it might be time to sell high on him. His career high for at bats in a season is 500 back in 2006.

James Loney erased the goose egg from the home run column, hitting a three-run shot off of Jamie Moyer. Loney went 3 for 5 with 4 RBI in the game.

Brian Roberts went 3 for 4 with two runs and two RBI coming on his 5th home run of the year. He also stole his fifth base of the season.

Rickie Weeks went 3 for 5 with three runs score and slugged his ninth home of the season.

Adrian Gonzalez hit two home runs and has now homered four time in the last three games. 

The Houston Astros exploded for 24 hits and 15 runs against the Colorado Rockies. Lance Berkman went 4 for 4 with three runs, Miquel Tejada went 3 for 5 with 3 RBI and Geoff Blum knocked in five runs.

Chris Ianetta went 3 for 4 with five RBI and hit his seventh home run of the season.

Gerardo Parra was recalled from AA by the Arizona Diamondbacks. Parra started in centerfield and homered in his first at bat.

Nolan Reimold will be called up tomorrow by the Baltimore Orioles with Adam Jones and Luke Scott nursing injuries.

Pitchers:

Cliff Lee tossed seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts to pick up his second win of the season. Despite a 2-5 record, he sports a 3.00 ERA and has only allowed more than three runs in two starts this year.

Shairon Martis allowed one run in seven innings and struck out two to move to 5-0 on the season.

Randy Wolf allowed one run in six innings with eight strikeouts to pick up his second win of the year. Wolf is holding opposing batters to a .198 batting average so far on the year.

Ross Ohlendorf allowed one run in six innings with five strikeouts to pick up his fourth win of the year. Ohlendorf’s whip ratio of 1.07 ranks 10th in the National League.

Closers:

Troy Percival saw his ERA balloon from 2.00 to 6.00 after allowing four runs in 1/3 of an inning.

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Fantasy Baseball Minor League Report – week 5

Posted by Todd Lammi on May 9th, 2009

by Todd Lammi

Although he is not yet in the minor leagues, in fact, he may never spend a day there, keeper league owners should be tracking Stephen Strasburg, the pitcher from San Diego State who should be the first pick by the Washington Nationals in the  June draft. Strasburg threw a no-hitter on Friday night against Air Force with 17 strikeouts in a 5-0 victory. On the year, Strasburg’s record stands at 11-0 with 164 strikeouts in 87 1/3 innings. There is a good chance, depending on when he signs his contract after being drafted, that he could head right into a major league rotation. In other fantasy baseball news from the minor leagues…

Chris Coghlan was recalled from Triple-A by the Florida Marlins and will have a chance to earn a starting role while playing a variety of positions. Coghlan was hitting .344 with three home runs, 22 RBI and nine stolen bases in 96 at bats. He showed a good eye at the plate, with 12 walks and only 10 strikeouts. He started at second base on Friday, going 2 for 4, but should see the majority of time in left field initially.

Xavier Paul was recalled by the Los Angeles Dodgers to fill the roster spot for the suspended Manny Ramirez. Paul was hitting .344 with two home runs and eight stolen bases and will serve as the fourth outfielder for the next fifty games until Ramirez returns.

Nolan Reimold could be one of the next call ups from the minor leagues if the Baltimore Orioles ever get serious about improving their outfield. Although a bit older at 25, Reimold has been hitting non-stop since the season started. He currently holds a batting average of .387 with eight home runs, 25 RBI and five stolen bases.

Tommy Hanson struck out 10 in six innings while allowing one run in his last start. With David Price struggling with his command in Triple-A, Hanson seems to have taken over the spot as top pitching prospect currently in the minors. I liked the comparison Baseball America had on their weekly Hot Sheet from a statistics standpoint between Hanson and Tim Lincecum from his time in Triple-A.

Hanson       IP: 32 2/3      Walks: 11     Strikeouts: 48

Lincecum  IP: 31               Walks: 11     Strikeouts: 46

Kris Medlen (Braves) is still managing to keep pace with his teammate Hanson in Triple-A, striking out 10 in seven innings in his last start. Medlen now has a 1.17 ERA and 0.78 whip ratio, while holding batters to .167 average. In 30 2/3 innings, he has struck out 38 hitters.

Could he be hiding an injury? David Price (Rays) has run into command problems in his last three starts, walking 12 in 11 innings. His whip ratio has climbed to 1.62 on the year and he has struck out only two batters in his last two starts.

Luke Hochevar is patiently waiting for a call up from the Kansas City Royals as he continues to dominate in Triple-A. Hochevar struck out nine in eight shutout innings on Thursday, and is now 5-0 on the season. Hochevar’s ERA is now a sparkling 0.90, with 30 strikeouts in 40 innings of work.

Also biding his time in Triple-A is Clay Buchholz (Red Sox). Buchholz hurled seven shutout innings on Friday in a 4-0 win. Buchholz allowed one hit and struck out eight in seven innings. On the season, his ERA is now 1.33 with 26 strikeouts in 27 innings.

Desmond Jennings (Rays) continues to rake in AA, at one point putting together six consecutive multi-hit games, raising his batting average to .400 on the season. Jennings has three home runs with 22 RBI and nine stolen bases.

Aaron Poreda (White Sox) currently carries an 1.65 ERA in AA with 28 strikeouts in 27 1/3 innings. With Jose Contreras and Bartolo Colon in the major league rotation, Poreda will see starts in the major leagues at some point this season.

Jarrod Parker (Diamondbacks) who jumped to AA at the beginning of May has found the hitters a little tougher in his two starts there. In 10 1/3 innings, he has allowed 16 hits with 11 strikeouts.

Ian Kennedy (Yankees) will undergo surgery on Tuesday, after being diagnosed with an aneurysm under his right armpit. Kennedy, 24, will have the surgery performed by the same doctor who did David Cone’s procedure for an aneurysm back in 1996.

Neftali Feliz (Rangers) missed his start on Friday after complaining of shoulder soreness. Feliz has struggled with his control this year, allowing 16 walking and 23 hits in 19 2/3 innings.

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