Fantasy

As most baseball fans know, the season is a marathon, not a sprint.

Therefore, those intensely involved with fantasy baseball have to continually be aware of the daily changes in the sport.

Football is only once a week, and basketball is every few days but not every day like baseball.

So, since that leaves room for more injuries, trades, slumps or whatever the case may be, roster changes will occur quite a bit.

That said, here are 10 players to now put on your "watch list," and then pick up once they start rolling in May.

Seeing Jose Contreras getting a day off on Friday was not surprising. He is 39 years old and had appeared in four games in five days. According to Matt Gelb of the Philadelphia Inquirer (click here for the article), he had thrown 72 pitches over that stretch. 

Here’s a breakdown of the two-start pitchers for the fifth week of the baseball season.

Five Stars
Matt Cain: @PIT, @WAS
Cliff Lee: @ARI, NYM
Jered Weaver: vs. OAK, @TB

Four Stars
Jaime Garcia: @HOU, @ATL
Justin Masterson: vs. KC, vs. DET

Three Stars
Clay Buchholz: @BAL, vs. SEA

Here’s a look at the unheralded fantasy baseball players who played well yesterday.

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Chicago Cubs

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Sam Fuld is off to an unbelievable start. He’s hitting .366 with 11 runs, a home run, eight RBI, and nine stolen bases. The question is whether you should continue to ride his hot bat (and legs) or try to sell high on him?

My money is on holding. He has a stranglehold on the Rays’ leadoff spot. He’s hitting .369 out of that slot, including .360 leading off. While he hasn’t walked a lot (four times), he’s only struck out six times in 71 at-bats.

Moving out from behind the plate and working exclusively as the Yankees DH, Jorge Posada was supposed to be fantasy gold.  Despite being 39 years old, a player with his upside, coupled with being eligible at catcher…people were drooling over the potential for him to produce massive power while playing every day.

The power has been there, but the rest of the numbers have certainly disappointed:

Here’s a look at the unheralded fantasy baseball players who played well yesterday.

Los Angeles Dodgers @ Chicago Cubs

Jamey Carroll and Casey Blake each went two-for-five with two runs. Carroll is hitting .309 and Blake is hitting .313. Juan Uribe went two-for-four with two runs, a home run and four RBI (12). Kosuke Fukudome is hitting .417 after going three-for-four.

Chicago White Sox @ Detroit Tigers

After tossing a shutout last night, I’m sure Kyle Lohse is a popular waiver claim. What’s not to like about a guy with a 3-1 record, a 2.01 ERA and a 0.73 WHIP? You should know he’s been a fast starter for most of his career.

He got bombed last April (0-1, 6.55 ERA), but look at his recent April performances:

2009:  3-0, 1.97 ERA
2008:  3-0, 2.36 ERA
2007:  1-1, 2.88 ERA

Before I get into the notes for today, a quick tangent/tirade.

The idea of adding any more games to the playoffs in baseball through an additional round is ridiculous. This is not my being a purist. I have come to accept that the Wildcard works. The games though keep being played in colder and colder weather.

Maicer Izturis is off to an impressive start. He's 27-for-75 (.360) with eight runs, seven doubles, two home runs, nine RBI and two stolen bases. He has a .407 on-base percentage and a .940 OPS. The switch-hitter is hitting .327 against right-handed pitching and .435 against southpaws.