Oakland Athletics and Week 14s Fantasy Hitting Planner and Sleepers

Check out Week 14s Fantasy Hitting Planner by Eric Mack, a senior fantasy writer for CBS sports!

First take a look at this week’s “Best Five Hitting Schedules”

Best Five Hitting Schedules
	Team	Schedule
1.	Rangers	CLE3, BAL4
2.	Orioles	@DET3, @TEX4
3.	Phillies	ATL3, CIN4
4.	Giants	@MIL4, @WAS3
5.	Rays	BOS3, CLE4

Oakland Athletics

OF Coco Crisp – Since returning from the DL Coco Crisp has gone 10/23 with 2 HRs and three stolen bases. He’s hitting .435 in the last six games, and is returning back to the level of play he had with the Cleveland Indians.


SS Cliff Pennington – Had a strong June performance and looks to be carrying into July. He is hitting .49- over his last 15 games.

3B Kevin Kouzmanoff – has started cooling after starting the month of June hot recording only 2 hits in the last five games.


OF Raji Davis, is no longer an everyday player with the return of red-hot Coco Crisp. Jack Cust, Ryan Sweeney, and Gabe Ross now are fighting for playing time Oakland’s outfield.


Each weeks fantasy planner also includes a list of the top 10 sleepers for that week. A sleeper must be started in less than 70 percent of CBSSports.com fantasy leagues. 

Scott's top sleepers for Week 14
	Player	Start %
1.	Miguel Olivo, C, Rockies	58
2.	Gaby Sanchez, 1B, Marlins	45
3.	Buster Posey, C, Giants	60
4.	Erick Aybar, SS, Angels	41
5.	Russell Branyan, 1B, Mariners	16
6.	Miguel Tejada, 3B, Orioles	69
7.	Raul Ibanez, OF, Phillies	48
8.	Pat Burrell, OF, Giants	9
9.	Matt Wieters, C, Orioles	67
10.	Michael Bourn, OF, Astros	46
* Sleepers are players started in less than 70 percent of CBSSports.com leagues

Other notable players:
Cleveland Indians:
o    Matt LaPorta
o    Carlos Santana 
Jose Tabata Pittsburgh Pirates

“The Fantasy Baseball Hitting Planner is the essential guide to setting your lineup for the upcoming week. Every week, we provide you with news and notes for each team, tracking hot and cold players, injuries and lineup changes."
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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.