http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/ Adam Ronis is allergic to losing and will help you win your fantasy baseball league. en Copyright 2008 Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:56:27 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss BY ADAM RONIS The Cubs activated Alfonso Soriano from the disabled list and he will hit leadoff tonight]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/soriano_activated.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/soriano_activated.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:56:27 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS What a shock. Robinson Cano has at least two hits in each game since the All-Star break spanning six games. He is 14-for-27 with five runs, two home runs and seven RBIs. Hope you listened and stuck with him since he thinks the season begins at this time. Mariano Rivera got one out for his 25th save. Kevin Kouzmanoff has started to get going. He went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. He is hitting .277 with 13 homers and 48 RBIs. The strikeouts and poor average are well know, but Adam Dunn hits for power and is valuable. He went 2-for-4 with a home run and five RBIs. Despite a .237 average and 104 strikeouts, he has 29 home runs and 68 RBIs and 76 walks. Edwin Encarnacion stayed hot with his 19th homer. Tough to figure Bronson Arroyo out. He looks good at times and then can allow 10 runs in one inning. He was good against the Padres going seven innings allowing six hits, three runs, no walks and struck out seven. He is 9-7 with a 5.60 ERA. Francisco Cordero got one out for his 21st save. James Shields allowed two solo home runs in the second inning and one run in the ninth. He went 8 1/3 innings and allowed six hits, three runs, no walks and struck out seven. He is 9-6 with a 3.66 ERA. Troy Percival picked up save No. 20. Carlos Quentin is showing his fast start is no fluke. He went 2-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs. He has 26 home runs and 76 RBIs. Bobby Jenks recorded his 19th save. Armando Galarraga lost a perfect game with no outs in the top of the seventh inning on a single by David DeJesus. He went seven innings, allowing three hits, one run, one walk and struck out seven. He is 8-4 with a 3.27 ERA. Manny Ramirez didn't start because of soreness in his right knee. Jason Bay keeps enhancing his stock. He hit his 21st home run and has 59 RBIs with a .288 average. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/early_wednesday_wrap_1.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/early_wednesday_wrap_1.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 17:13:00 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS If I told you before the season that on this date Mike Mussina would have five more wins than Johan Santana you would say that it's a tough break for the Mets that Santana was sidelined for the first four months of the season. But that's not the case. Mussina surprisingly has 13 wins and Santana has just eight. Mussina hasn't been that much better than Santana, but as I said before the season and numerous times during the season, you can't predict wins. Too many factors are involved. The odds of Mussina attaining more wins than Santana were as good as A-Rod staying faithful to his wife. But to quote John Sterling: "That's baseball." Mussina has made great adjustments at the age of 39 after posting a 5.15 ERA and 1.47 WHIP last season that knocked him off the fantasy radar. He threw eight scoreless innings against the Twins and allowed six hits, walked none and struck out seven. He threw 105 pitchers. He is 13-6 with a 3.26 ERA. He has an 81/16 K/BB ratio in 121 1/3 innings. He has become mainly a six-inning pitcher, but has pitched eight innings three times since the beginning of June. Would I rather own Mussina than Santana? Nope. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/early_wednesday_fantasy_wrap.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/early_wednesday_fantasy_wrap.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:47:58 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS I'll also be appearing on the Fantasy Phenoms Baseball Hour tonight for the entire show joining hosts Jason Sarney and Brett Greenfield of fantasyphenoms.com. The show begins at 7 p.m. Check it out here. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Fantasy-Phenoms/2008/07/23/Fantasy-Phenoms-Baseball-Hour]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/another_fantasy_baseball_show.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/another_fantasy_baseball_show.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 16:13:33 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS I'll be appearing on Talking Baseball Live hosted by Lenny Melnick and Paul Greco tonight at 8:30 p.m. to discuss fantasy baseball. Check it out here. The show starts at 8 p.m. http://blogtalkradio.com/fantasybaseballguy]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/fantasy_baseball_show_tonight.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/fantasy_baseball_show_tonight.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 15:03:40 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS Does Francisco Liriano need to throw two consecutive perfect games to make it back to the majors? It sure appears that way. He was dominant again on Tuesday at Triple-A as he won his ninth straight by throwing seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts, two hits and two walks. He is 9-2 with a 3.13 ERA at Triple-A, but in the last 35 innings he has allowed just one run with 42 strikeouts. Liriano's agent filed a grievance against the team for keeping Liriano's service time down by keeping him in the minors. He has to be recalled soon, especially since the Twins are fighting for a division title. He may not have this type of success in the majors, but he has done all he could in the minors to show he deserves a chance with the Twins. If you have the room, pick him up.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/liriano_dominates_again.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/liriano_dominates_again.html Wed, 23 Jul 2008 14:01:04 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS The Padres traded lefthander Randy Wolf to the Astros for minor league pitcher Chad Reineke. Wolf is 6-10 with a 4.74 ERA, but was excellent at home in spacious PETCO Park and awful on the road. He was 5-4 with a 3.17 ERA at home and 1-6 with a 6.63 ERA on the road. He will start on Sunday at Milwaukee. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/wolf_traded_to_the_astros.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/wolf_traded_to_the_astros.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:59:03 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS The Nationals traded closer Jon Rauch to the Diamondbacks for minor league second baseman Emilio Bonifacio. Rauch went 4-2 with a 2.98 ERA and converted 17 of 23 save chances. He has 44 strikeouts and just seven walks in 48 2/3 innings. He should now be a setup man. Bonifacio, 23, is a speedy switch hitter and hit .302 in Triple-A this season. In Class AA Mobile last season he led the Southern League with 41 steals. Joel Hanrahan should take over as closer with the Nats.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/rauch_traded_to_dbacks.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/rauch_traded_to_dbacks.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:47:35 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS I need to get a Powerball ticket now. I had Rich Harden and Randy Johnson facing each other and I own both in a head-to-head league. I always want a 1-0 game with loads of strikeouts in that scenario. It was 2-0, but they both pitched well. I'll take it. Chad Qualls picked up his second save since Brandon Lyon pitched three straight days. In my Sunday column, I highlighted some players that got off to slow starts in the first half to target as potential bargains in the second half. I couldn't get everyone in because of space. One guy that I left out is Robinson Cano. His second-half track record, especially in New York, is so well-documented, I didn't think I needed to include him. He's been on fire and I said it even when he was struggling badly to ride it out. He went 2-for-5 with his eighth homer and raised his average to .260. Adam LaRoche's second half success is also well known, which is why I excluded him. He hit his 12th homer and is someone to look at. Another player who had a big last couple of months last year is Rickie Weeks. The Brewers acquired Ray Durham, so Weeks needs to turn it on or he could sit against some righthanders. He went 2-for-5 with two runs, a homer, three RBIs and a walk. He has nine homers and 30 RBIs. Adam Jones is another player I would buy on. He has been hitting real well the past month and has been in the second spot recently. He went 2-for-4 with two runs, a homer and two RBIs. He is hitting .282 with six homers and 43 RBIs. Kevin Kouzmanoff also had a big second half last season. He went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and is hitting .278 with 46 RBIs. Edwin Encarnacion, mentioned in Sunday's column, hit his 18th homer. Also in the Sunday column was Javier Vasquez. He lost but pitched well by going seven innings and allowed four hits, three runs, two walks and struck out 10. Francisco Cordero has been awful lately and blew his sixth save. I have benched him the last few days. Cordero should call Jose Valverde, who blew his sixth save by allowing six runs in 1/3 inning. Remember one of the first fantasy roundtables when the question was what player drafted outside of the top 275 or so would produce the most? My answer was Scott Hairston and that's looking like a good choice right now. He has been real hot and hit his 16th homer. He has the power and this is the first time he's playing every day. Johnny Damon returned from the DL and went 1-for-4 with a run and RBI. Rafael Soriano was activated from the DL. I have 10 days in the pool for when he returns to the DL. Troy Tulowitzki returned from the DL and went 5-for-5 with a run and RBI.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/monday_fantasy_wrap_12.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/monday_fantasy_wrap_12.html Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:02:31 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS The Yankees placed Jorge Posada on the 15-day disabled list because of a recurring right shoulder injury that could result in season-ending surgery. He will have an MRI. He missed a month earlier this season with the injury. He returned June 5 and has hit .248 with two home runs since then. Posada hasn't caught much either. Posada was one of the guys I said to avoid this season coming off a career year for a catcher that will turn 37 next month. Johnny Damon was activated from the DL and will start tonight.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/posada_placed_on_the_disabled.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/posada_placed_on_the_disabled.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:08:03 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS National League Offensive Player of the Week -- Troy Glaus (Cardinals): Glaus started the season slowly when it came to power, but he has turned it on in a big way. He went 7-for-16 (.438) with six runs, three home runs and five RBIs. American League Offensive Player of the Week -- Luke Scott (Orioles): He went 7-for-13 (.538) with four runs, three home runs and six RBIs. National League Pitcher of the Week -- C.C. Sabathia (Brewers): He threw a complete game and allowed one run with 10 strikeouts in a win. He allowed four hits and walked none against the Giants. American League Pitcher of the Week -- Matt Garza (Rays): He threw 7 2/3 scoreless innings in a win against the Blue Jays. He allowed two hits, no walks and struck out six.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/arons_players_of_the_week_3.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/arons_players_of_the_week_3.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:39:38 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS If Mike Pelfrey allowed three runs in the fourth inning that allowed a team to tie the score at 4 last season, there's no way he lasts until the seventh inning. When Pelfrey went through trouble, he imploded and his exit was early. That's why it was encouraging to see Pelfrey last seven innings yesterday against the Reds when he wasn't as good as his recent hot streak. He allowed three home runs and had surrendered just four on the season entering the game. Pelfrey has displayed great confidence and has battled through some tough situations. He went seven innings and allowed six hits, five runs, one walk and struck out four in a no-decision. His K/BB ratio still is shaky and also keep in mind he could struggled down the stretch as he reaches the peak for innings in his pro career.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/pelfrey_shows_maturity.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/pelfrey_shows_maturity.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:32:26 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS Kerry Wood missed the All-Star Game because of a blister on his right index finger and it is expected that he will land on the DL today. The move will be made retroactive to July 12, which means Wood would miss just one week. It will be the 12th time in Wood's career he is placed on the disabled list. Carlos Marmol, owned in many leagues, will be the closer in Wood's place. Marmol had a 1.82 ERA after May, but has an 8.83 ERA in his last 20 appearances. Also in Cubs news, Alfonso Soriano will start a rehab assignment today.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/wood_likely_to_be_placed_on_dl.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/wood_likely_to_be_placed_on_dl.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:58:40 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS Jose Contreras was placed on the 15-day DL with right elbow tendonitis. Clayton Richard was recalled from Triple-A and he will start tomorrow. The lefthander had a 2.37 ERA in six starts since being promoted to Triple-A. ]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/contreras_placed_on_dl.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/contreras_placed_on_dl.html Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:21:47 -0500 BY ADAM RONIS http://www.newsday.com/services/newspaper/printedition/sunday/sports/ny-spfantasy205770566jul20,0,649392.column PICKUPS: Mixed leagues Chad Tracy (Diamondbacks), 1B/3B: The injury to Eric Byrnes has enabled Tracy to play consistently at first base. He has hit very well this month. Jonathan Broxton (Dodgers), RP: Takashi Saito could need elbow surgery and there's a possibility he might be out for the season. Broxton is likely owned in most leagues and if he isn't, sign him. He hasn't been as dominant as the last two seasons, but two appearances in which he allowed three runs and six runs have inflated his numbers. Both games were prior to June. AL-ONLY Sean Gallagher (Athletics), SP: He was mediocre for the Cubs and was excellent in his A's debut. Pitching in Oakland should make him a solid choice. Gio Gonzalez (A's), SP: The lefthander could get promoted from Triple-A with the trade of Joe Blanton. He has 117 strikeouts in 110 innings. He has allowed three runs with 34 strikeouts in his last 281/3 innings. NL-ONLY Fernando Tatis (Mets), OF: The Mets have no choice but to play him and he's hitting .432 in 37 at-bats this month with four home runs. Ride the hot streak before it ends. Chad Gaudin (Cubs), RP: He will pitch out of the bullpen for now, but there's a possibility he could enter the starting rotation in the second half. He has a 46/17 K/BB ratio.]]> http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/sunday_column_and_pickups.html http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/fantasy/baseball/2008/07/sunday_column_and_pickups.html Sun, 20 Jul 2008 12:44:31 -0500