As always, here are the fantasy studs, the players who have me concerned and the potential pick-ups for the fantasy week of June 15-21.
Fantasy Studs
Albert Pujols—.389/4/11/.522—If teams continue to pitch to Pujols, then there is a good chance he can compete for the triple crown in the National League.
Prince Fielder—.391/2/11/.483—Big Prince should start making travel plans for St. Louis in July.
Derek Lee—.364/4/9—It's nice of Derek Lee to join us this year.
B.J. Upton—.429/2/9 with two SB’s—Bossman Junior turned into the Big Bossman last week. He also hit one of the longest homeruns in Citi Field so far on Sunday.
Josh Johnson—2-0 with a 2.25 ERA with just ten hits in 16 IP—Johnson is slowly but surely becoming one of the best pitchers not only in the NL, but in all of baseball.
AJ Burnett—1-1 with a 0.68 ERA and 16 K’s in 13.1 IP—I guess last week was one of those “glimpses of greatness” that Burnett says he shows.
Jose Valverde—Three saves with a 0.00 ERA and four four K’s in four IP—Valverde is back and still remains one of the best closers in the NL.
David Aardsma—Three saves with a 0.00 ERA and seven K’s in three IP—David Aardsma is a serviceable fantasy closer in 2009. What is this world coming to?
Reasons for Concern
Jose Reyes—Here is all you need to know about the way the New York Mets handle injuries—on Friday Mets GM Omar Minaya said Reyes started “running on the treadmill.” On Saturday, Reyes said he has done nothing of the sort.
Can you now see why there is concern about Reyes' coming back? For fantasy owners who have Reyes on their team, don’t expect a return anytime soon. Reyes has been on the DL since May 26th.
Daisuke Matsuzaka—Two weeks ago, I wrote that me and my buddy Odie thought Dice-K was toast. After his last poor excuse for a start against the Braves, not only is Dice-K toast, but now is extremely burnt toast.
Dice-K was placed on the 15 Day DL with a mild right shoulder strain. I don’t expect to see Dice-K until August. Fantasy owners can thank Bud Selig’s marketing ploy, aka The World Baseball Classic for this.
Chris Davis—.050/1/1—Okay, sooner or later, something has to give with everyone’s pre-season fantasy man crush. Davis had one hit last week, a HR, and struck out nine more times; bringing his total to 101 in just 222 AB’s on the season.
Davis is batting .194 and with top prospect Justin Smoak tearing up Double A pitchers to the tune of .325/6/25/.444 in 41 games, I am not sure how much longer the Texas Rangers can stay with Davis.
Gerardo Parra—.148/1/3 with ten K’s—Parra got off to a red hot start, hitting .319 in May. However, things have been different for this talented rookie in June. Parra is hitting just .212 and has only five extra base hits this month.
Have pitchers finally figured out Parra or is he in just a slump? July should tell us a lot about Parra. Keep an eye on him to see if he continues to struggle.
Potential Pickups
Jason Frasor—With BJ Ryan sucking and with Scott Downs going on the DL, Frasor becomes the defacto closer in Toronto. Frasor does have a 2.19 ERA on the season, so he should be in line for a couple of saves while Downs is out.
- Login to post comments