Mauer's not alone on the Lil' Smokies

You don't want to forget the Rest of the Lil’ Smokes and their Fearless Forecast (rest of season).

1B: Pablo Sandoval(notes), SF 

Overall Rank (Preseason, Current): 30, 268 

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): 312 at-bats, .301 BA, 8 HR, 44 RBI, 39 R, 1 SB

Pablo is starting to get hot as the season heads into the All-Star Break. Fearless forecast doesn’t look too promising, but keep your eye on the Panda!

2B: Gordon Beckham(notes), ChW

Overall Rank (Preseason, Current): 134, 730

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): .272 BA, 7 HR, 36 RBI, 33 R, 4 SB

Gordon Beckham and Yunel Escobar both make the underachiever list this year. Similar situation, hot team and no production? Read more

SS: Yunel Escobar(notes), Atl

Overall Rank (Preseason, Current): 313, 695

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): 279 at-bats, .288 BA, 6 HR, 37 RBI, 40 R, 5 SB

He should be a free agent in your league but I wouldn’t recommend Escobar for your lineup. Don’t let the Braves record fool you. Read More. 

3B: Aramis Ramirez(notes), ChC

Overall Rank (Preseason, Current): 50, 79

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): 288 at-bats, .284 BA, 14 HR, 51 RBI, 42 R, 1 SB 

Oh boy! The turmoil in the Windy City. Lou Pinella – I hope your still around to enjoy a Zambrano-less Chicago Cub’s roster. As far as Ramirez goes I would recommend you trade him and if your hanging on to D. Lee just drop him and pick up a free agent.

OF: Adam Lind(notes), Tor

Overall Rank (Preseason, Current): 59, 585

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): 319 at-bats, .246 BA, 11 HR, 39 RBI, 33 R, 1 SB

Lind has been a tremendous letdown for fantasy owners this season. Toronto isn’t a bad idea though, see if Alex Gonzalez, Vernon Wells, or Jose Bautista. This All-Star Break may be just what Bautista needs, as he heads into the break starting to swing the bat well again.

SP: Wandy Rodriguez(notes), Hou 

Overall Rank (Preseason, Current): 79, 727

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): 97.0 IP, 6 W, 3.87 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 71 K 

An overall rank of 79?!?! Hope you didn’t draft him high and hope you haven’t been holding on to him hoping for Magical Wandy turnaround, because you are out of luck. Doesn’t offer much value in a trade but it may be worth a shot. If you’re stuck with him I would recommend picking up Oak SP Trevor Cahill or Tex SP Tommy Hunter.

RP: Chad Qualls(notes), Ari

Overall Rank (Preseason, Current): 180, 672

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): 32 IP, 2 W, 7 S, 4.65 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 27 K

What a shame the closer role has been for the Arizona Diamondbacks this year, from Qualls to Aaron Heilman. Things aren’t looking good in Arizona.

Honorable Mentions:

C: Matt Wieters(notes); 1B: Derrek Lee(notes); 2B: Aaron Hill(notes), SS: Alexei Ramirez(notes); 3B: Jose Lopez(notes); OF:Nick Markakis(notes), Raul Ibanez(notes); SP: John Lackey(notes), Carlos Zambrano(notes), Rick Porcello(notes), Scott Baker(notes);RP: Frank Francisco(notes), Trevor Hoffman(notes)

*Preseason ranks are from Yahoo! leagues, current from Baseball Monster

Joe Mauer and the Fifth Annual All-Wiener Team

 I found the July 1^st Yahoo! ROTO ARCADE post by Brand Evans titled Lames: Magic-less Wandy leads 2010 All-Wiener team to be quiet interesting. Mainly because one of the players lucky enough to make the 5^th annual All-Weiner Team was Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer. Ironically, Mauer leads all players in the All-Star voting.

C: Joe Mauer(notes), Min

Overall Rank (Preseason, Current): 13, 170 
"Mauer's lack of muscle, discussed in length two weeks ago, is shocking only to those who stupidly invested a first-round pick in his services. Though the AL's leading All-Star vote getter may disagree, the power redux is very real. His 1.67 GB/FB, decreased success on fastballs and spacious Target Field surroundings will continue to keep his Killebrewian side hidden – and his value behind Miguel Olivo (notes). He's still a keen-eyed hitter who's invaluable in OBP formats, but in conventional circles, he'll be an above average producer, relative to position, in BA, runs and RBI." 

Fearless Forecast (rest of season): 296 at-bats, .316 BA, 6 HR, 36 RBI, 39 R, 1 SB

Earlier in the fantasy season I was offered a trade – Miguel Cabrera and Zach Grienke for Joe Mauer and Stephen Strasburg. I turned the offer away immediately, why? Two Reasons.

The first is really simple, Miguel Cabrera! Right now, no one in Major League Baseball swings a better bat than Miguel Cabrera.  


During the offseason he has made tremendous strides towards bettering himself and has straightened out all issues in his personal life that may have bothered him in the past. Simply put, he is a man on a mission, an inspired player with scary talent = clutch production and his 2010 stats don’t lie. 


Cabrera also has a total of 61 RUNS compared to Mauer’s 44 RUNS.

I have Morneau batting in a utility slot for me and the idea of that Twin Tandem sounded too good to be true.  If at any point I would have seen a drop in Morneau’s production which could be attributed to an increase in Mauer’s production who bats in front of Morneau, I would have considered it. Morneau’s numbers are outstanding and show no signs of slowing down. 


Mauer never seemed to get started this season. 

The dynamics of the Twins batting lineup and the types of hits Mauer’s getting are simply moving the runners and not scoring them.  Justin Morneau fills a utility slot on my team and though he drives in a lot of base runners, he wasn’t driving in and couldn’t drive Mauer in enough for me to consider breaking up my Brennan Boesch-Miguel Cabrera Tiger Tandem. 

Today's Starters to Watch

Fix your Bullpen for the 2^nd Half of Fantasy Baseball!

The All-Star Break is nearing and your bullpen is looking weak going into the second half of the fantasy season.  


Two Free Agent Pickups could change your season and Thursday offers the chance to watch to starting pitchers who won’t be free agents much longer:
SP Trevor Cahill– Oak Athletics (owned in 49% yahoo fantasy leagues)

SP Carl Pavano – Minnesota Twins (owned in 57% of yahoo fantasy leagues)

Trevor Cahill is the young right hander you may not have heard about yet, if not, he’s the one who’s been picking up the slack for the disappointing Ben Sheets. In the past month, he’s averaged nearly a 1K/per inning and has held a 2.50 ERA. Cahill holds a record of  7-2 on the season with an ERA of 2.88 in only 12 Starts.


GAME PREVIEW:Facing Baltimore Orioles 

Game info: 7:05 pm EDT Thu Jul 1, 2010 vs. Orioles J. Arrieta (2-1, 6.20 ERA) 

TV: CSCA, MASN2

Carl Pavano - Don’t forget Pavano was an all-star in 2006, and was a big and expensive acquisition by the Yankees only a few years ago. Pavano  was the hampered by injuries but didn’t take his upwards of $40 million from the Yankees and retire. Pavano has battled back and fought hard to regain his fastball and a changeup that looks better than ever. Pavano recently mentioned how being injuried had set the team back while his contract had locked the team up financially. He felt bad for the position it had put his team in but they stuck with him through it all and he is making it worth wait for the Minnesota Twins.

GAME PREVIEW: Facing the Tampa Bay 

Game info: 8:10 pm EDT Thu Jul 1, 2010 vs. Tampa Bay Rays J. Niemann (6-2, 2.72 ERA) 

·     TV: SUN, FSNO

The Ace Up Oakland’s Sleeve - SP Trevor Cahill

Trevor Cahill 

LAST SATURDAYS GAME 26th vs the Pittsburgh Pirates, the 2006 second-rounder Trevor Cahill had 10Ks improving to 7-2 on the season and quickly is becoming the ace in the Oakland Ahtletics bullpen 

Read more on how Barton's four RBIs back Cahill's 10 K's as A's blank Pirates 

Trevor Cahill is an young ace, and potentially an all-star. Cahill had a stress reaction in his right shoulder toward the end of spring training and opened the season on the disabled list, and quite frankly wasn't sure if he’d be back in Oakland this year. 

Cahill allowed two hits and struck out a career-high 10 in 7 2/3 innings against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Cahill walked three as the A's won two in a row. 

After suffering his first loss of the season on his second start Cahill has gone 6-0 with two no-decisions (ND - W3-2 vs STL; ND - L3-4 vs. MIN). Cahill has been locating his sinker well and going inside and out to both righties and lefties. 

Cahill pitched for a season-high 15 swinging strikes, that’s three starts in a row he has either set or matched his career high. 

Of 30 off-speed pitches thrown, hitters missed on 11 of 13 swings (84.6 percent), the highest single-start percentage in baseball this season (minimum of 20 off-speed pitches thrown). 

104/ 113 pitches were on the inside and outside corners; hitters went a combined 1-for-21. 

Cahill retired 19 of 21 hitters until tiring in the eighth when he gave up a leadoff hit to Lastings Milledge. The Pirates lost their 16th consecutive road game, their second-longest streak in the past 25 years, and have lost 17 of 19 overall. 

In addition, yahoo fantasy sports, ranks Trevor Cahill as a top-50 player in yahoo fantasy leagues with a 2.50 ERA and nearly a K per inning. In the June 28th article MLB Skinny: Summing it up, discusses Cahill’s rookie to sophomore season improvements, saying: 

“He was a miserable strikeout pitcher as a rookie last season, but he had a fantastic minor league track record in that department, thanks in no small way to a nasty curveball. One thing you’ll notice, though, is that Cahill hardly threw his curve as a rookie, but he’s now throwing it nearly nine percent more often. I don’t think it’s a small coincidence that we are seeing his K rate rise as he’s throwing more breaking balls – nor is it a coincidence that he is inducing a higher percentage of swings at pitches outside the strike zone. Coming up in the A’s system, Cahill was always considered on the same level as teammate Brett Anderson(notes). Now that he’s turning the corner on the major league level, he’s moved beyond spot-start territory and warrants a more permanent position with fantasy clubs.” 

For the skinny on the rest of the MLB 

Read More: MLB Skinny: Summing it up JUNE 28th 

COCO CRISP IS BACK

Coco Crisp – Oakland Athletics have been looking for some kind of spark and the return of Coco Crisp from the DL might just have been what they needed.  Crisp started the season on the disabled listed with a broken finger and only played two games before returning to the DL with a pulled ribcage muscle.  But now he’s back and the question now is can he stay healthy.

The Athletics lost 9-6 to the Baltimore Orioles in the last game of June.  For a brief moment, the thousands of new Coco Crisp fantasy owners held their breath as Crisp laid on the warning track for several minutes after colliding with the wall on an outstanding catch in centerfield.  Crisp continued to play and continued to make his  return known, hitting another home run tonight.

In eight games this season, Crisp has an OPS of 1.216/ .759 SLG/ .457 OBP/ .414 AVG.

Before tonight, had one homerun with six runs batted in and nine runs scored. In addition, Crisp has already stolen three bases and has a solid career steal percentage.

The only concern for those looking to pick up Coco Crisp is his previous injury history, let’s hope he stays healthy for the 2^nd half of the season. Crisp has only averaged 104 games played since 2006, and he has never played more than 145 games in a season. For those who own Rajai Davis, keep a watchful eye because Coco’s stellar return has put Davis in danger of losing playing time.

Rajai Davis currently ranks third this year in stolen bases and this could be an issue for those of you counting on Davis for your stolen bases.

 If you need the same stolen base production as Rajai, veteran Chicago White Sox OF Juan Pierre is available in most yahoo fantasy leagues. Juan Pierre had struggled early in the year, but has been swinging the bat well as of late and is getting the green light from manager Ozzie Guillen.

GAME RECAP: Baltimore Orioles WIN 9-6 vs Oakland Athletics

*RELATED: Baltimore Orioles OF Adam Jones early season struggles seem to be old news, and with another home run last night has his 13^th of the season. Jones is available in many fantasy leagues, his slow start was too much for many fantasy owners to bear.

Carl Pavano – Behind the Mustache! Back to Back Complete-Games - Beat Santana, Beat Halladay

Behind the Mustache! Back to Back Complete-Games - Beat Santana, Beat Halladay

June 26^th at Citi Field the Minninesota Twins beat the New York Mets 6-0 in a 3-hit complete-game shutout thrown by Carl Pavano. Facing Pavano for the Mets was veteran lefty Johan Santana. 

"I knew I was going against a pitcher who just had a great outing. There's not much room for mistakes," Santana said. "It's just they were better in the first inning and took advantage right away and I think that's the difference."

Pavano (9-6) gave up three hits in his second consecutive complete game, both of which have come against an NL East ace. The well-traveled right-hander tossed a four-hitter Sunday to beat Roy Halladay and the NL champion Phillies 4-1. 

He only walked one Saturday while striking out four and never allowed a runner to reach third base. Of his last 12 starts, Pavano has pitched into at least the seventh inning in 11 of those contests.


 In his last two games he has give up only one run, and now has his sixth career shutout.  Pavano had two hits and a sacrifice at the plate for Minnesota, which ended a four-game skid.  The Twins began the day a half-game up on Detroit in the AL Central.

Game Recap: Twins vs Mets

Read more on the June 26th Mets shutout: Pavano out-pitches Johan Santana 

Game Recap: Twins vs. Phillies 
Read more on Pavano’s complete-game win against the Phillies on June 20^th