Fantasy Baseball

Matt Kemp has had a poor season for the lofty expectations that were set for him. I projected the Los Angeles centerfielder at .301 BA/25 HR/111 RBI/28 SB. He was ranked as the second best fantasy outfielder by most, but just hasn’t been that good. He is currently at .255/22/74/18.

It’s time to continue our journey around the league, looking at each team’s closer situation.  

The AL Central is home to one of the most fluid closing situations and also one of the most stable options in the league.  Let’s take a look at their updated situation, as well as the other three teams in the division:

Chicago White Sox

It’s time to look at the potential two-start options for the upcoming fantasy week.  If I have someone rated as a three, four, or five-star option, they are someone I would definitely use.  A two-star option is someone who is borderline, but I’d strongly lean against it unless I have no other options.  The one-star options are an absolute no scenario.

So, with that said, let’s take a look at the players available to you this week—

Five-Star Options

It’s time to continue our journey around the league, looking at each team’s closer situation.  

The AL West saw a major change in their closing duties, with Brian Fuentes dealt in a waiver wire deal.  Let’s take a look at their updated situation, as well as the other three teams in the division:

Los Angeles Angels

Closer: Fernando Rodney

Are you hurting in the RBI category? Here are some reasonably available players that can help you out.

Jhonny Peralta, 3B/SS, Detroit Tigers
Peralta had 14 RBIs over the past 15 days while hitting .289 with 7 runs and 4 HRs. On the year he’s hitting .244 with 47 runs, 13 HRs, 61 RBIs, and 1 SB. Jhonny is owned in 12 percent of ESPN and 46 percent of CBS leagues.

It’s been a while since we’ve updated our first basemen rankings, and there is one major change...Joey Votto. He just continues to rake and now finds himself among the top five in the league.

Will he be able to maintain that mark? There are some concerns, so that’ll be a question for the offseason, but for now, he is looking like a potential first round pick next season.

The Toronto Blue Jays play in the most competitive division in baseball, yet have assembled a five-man rotation, who all have potential fantasy upside. 

Let’s take a look at the candidates in order to determine the potential long-term success:

Brandon Morrow

The 17-strikeout game aside, Morrow has a ton of potential and might just now be scraping the surface of his ability. 

Welcome back for this week’s edition of the NL Wire.

Last week’s edition was focused mainly on a group of older, somewhat grizzled veterans, so for this week, I decided to return to the fountain of youth, so to speak.

This week’s selections are focused on a trio of youngsters, two of whom are returning for another go-around with their big league clubs, while the other is in the process of transforming himself from a top prospect into a solid rotation contributor.

Check ‘em out...

Dan Uggla is a player who often gets little respect despite showing to be a tremendous source of power out of the middle infield year after year.

Unfortunately, he draws some criticism for the other aspects of his game, hurting his perceived value.

Obviously, we will have to reassess things once 2010 has come to a close, but thus far it appears that things are heading in a positive direction when it comes to his numbers:

Calling Josh Hamilton’s 2010 a magical year, to date, would be an understatement.  His MVP-like campaign seemingly gets better and better as the season progresses.

Have doubts about his performance? 

All you have to do is look at the numbers (through Saturday) to settle your nerves…  Or maybe not: