Fantasy Player's Edge

April 17, 2008


Roster Shuffle:

There's absolutely no reason to keep any powder dry.
It's Thursday and there's still ample opportunity to
"earn" a point. Review your situation and react.
Properly crafted rosters afford flexibility. It's preferable
to have at least one spot on your team to be used to
drop and add players. If you're trailing in steals but hold
a comfortable lead in homers it might be advantageous
to sit a secondary power source such as Jason Bay to
add a Willy Taveras for 3 days. You get the idea.

The Braun-o-meter is up to 57 AB's without taking
a free pass.

Don't tell me you raced to jump on the Doug Brocail
bandwagon. The journeyman vultured a save last
night while big Valverde squirmed on the bench.
Expect Grande Jose to resume his duties tonight.

Pedro Martinez suggests he'll be back by months
end. It just seems unlikely but Pete's legions are
needing to see if he still has it. So sooner is better
than later

Alphonso Soriano is officially disabled. Take a look
at Carlos Quentin (power) or David DeJesus (speed)
if you need a few weeks of production.

C.C. Sabathia is gosh (expletive here) awful. See
if you can ease a fellow owner's pain and offer to
bear this "burden" on your roster. Make a decent
offer like Vernon Wells, who's off to a good start.

Same-same for James Shields but don't overpay.

Phil Hughes may be available as he was dropped
in many leagues after a series of poor starts. He's
facing the Orioles tomorrow and is worth an add
if he's there.

Shawn Hill will be activated from the DL and is
slated to return on Saturday against the Marlins.
It would not be a stretch to reach for him today.

Carpenter's going to throw BP on Monday. It's a
start. He's expected to return mid-July.

Lastings Milledge hit 5th for the first time yesterday.
He has been batting second. This is a good thing.
Let it be, Manny.

Guerrero and Youkilis both left with injuries during
their respective games last night. Be aware and adjust
accordingly.

Anybody see J-Roll? Tough week for his owners.

Drop Explorer add Mozilla.


Streamers: (tomorrow's probable starters available as free agents)

Use these players to gain advantage in wins and strikeouts.

Wandy Rodriguez- has laced up his hiking boots for a
trip over the Rockies. 3-1, 3.77/1.32 and 19k's in 31
innings plus he's at home where he fares better.

Chad Gaudin- faces newly crowned Prince Bannister.
Sir Brian is due for a Royals beating and Gaudin is
just the commoner to give him one. 2-2, 3.26/1.35
with 28 k's in 30 frames.

Todd Wellemeyer- revenge is mine!!!!!! Toddy
pitched 5 scoreless last week against these same
inept Giants before getting tagged for 5 in the 6th.
Even a blind squirrel finds an occasional nut. The
Inepts head to St. Louis giving Wellemeyer a chance
for immediate redemption.


Spotties: (tomorrow's position players available as free agents)

Use these players to fill in for injured players and on off days.

Frank Thomas- Rogers, of all people, should know when
to fold em'. The Big Hurt is fixin to open a "can". 21/61,
6 jacks, 16 rbi with only 5 k's.

Wes Helms- from the over the hill to the never was. Saw
Redding plenty during his stint with the Phils. If Gonzalez
starts him so should you. 6/19, 2 homers, 4 rbi.

Casey Kotchman- has something stuck in his Baek. 4/8.

Ryan Theriot- considers Snell absolutely insidious!!!
4/11, 2 extra base hits, 2 rbi. Always a threat to pilfer
a sack.


Start/Sit: (today)

Guide to using bench players when matchups are favorable.

Khalil Greene (start)- another Padre that drives Francis batty.
10/31, 5 extra base hits includes 3 roundtrippers.

Todd Helton (start)- the thought of this guy gives Peavy the
dry heaves. 13/38, 9 extras, 5 jacarandas and only 5 k's.

Hank Blalock (start)- marks his calendar each time this Halladay
comes around. 11/33 with a couple of homers.

Guide to sit starters when matchups are unfavorable.

Normally sit these players in Roto formats only.

Justin Verlander (sit)- his mere presence frequently incites an
Indians uprising. 3-5, 6.84/1.52. Does have 50 k's in 51 innings.

Jason Varitek (sit) - cannot solve Mussina, guess he hasn't seen
him enough. 9/62 with an astounding 25 k's. It's becoming harder
and harder to get this guy in a game. Leave the spot empty again
if you must.

Bobby Abreu (sit)- back in the fetal position once again.
9/53 with 19 k's vs. Beckett.


Game Keys: (daily strategy tips)

Streaming, or dropping and adding starting pitchers
is a strategy used primarily in Head to Head competition.
It's used to gain an advantage over your opponent in wins
and strikeouts. Be prepared to experience pain when employing
a streaming strategy. Normally streamed pitchers are back of
the rotation types so do your homework to minimize the
negative impact this strategy can have on era/whip. Read
the Player's Edge daily.

Start/Sit is crucial to the success of your team. Every player
has matchups that are either overwhelmingly favorable or
unfavorable. Even superstars have tough opponents. The
advantage of playing start/sit is as follows. Player A is a
stud batting .330 on 198 hits over 600 official atbats. If
you can isolate his unfavorable matchups and sit him for
60 atbats where he hits .200 (12 hits) then Player A's
average for your fantasy team becomes .344 (186/540).
The converse is true for bench players. If you can maximize
their best swings during the season you will greatly enhance
the overall performance of your team. Read Player's Edge
daily.


Final Thoughts:

When an offensive starter is being given a day off remove
him from your active roster completely in Rotisserie formats
if you do not have a suitable replacement on your roster.
Although there is a possibility he may enter the game in the
late innings in some capacity you would using 1 of your 162
maximum games played at his position for what quite possibly
could result in 1 atbat. It's far better to preserve the "game"
for a spot play when that player's team has an off day.

In Head to Head leagues you must track weekly totals in
batting average, era and whip. All too frequently these
categories are extremely close on Sunday's and in many
cases you'll need to adjust your strategy to safeguard a
point. That may include but not be limited to benching
your entire pitching staff because you control wins, saves
and k's but are only marginally ahead on era and/or whip.
To calculate era: total innings/9 = divisor, total earned runs/
by divisor = era.

All Done!

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