The Player's Edge welcomes and thanks you for your comments
and will try to answer questions in the context of the narrative.
Roster Shuffle:
A-Rod has tweaked his quad again, had an MRI and was
added to the DL.
Troy Tulowitzki faces the same fate. He left last night
with a quad and is probably headed for the DL.
The Bourn identity as the Astros leadoff hitter has been
assumed by Kaz Matsui. Michael's value dips somewhat
from the 2 hole where he's now hitting. It will cascade
down precipitously when he's batting 8th, which is where
he's heading if he cannot hit somewhere above the Mendoza
line.
Speedster Jacoby Ellsbury is nursing a sore groin and is listed
as day to day. You know the drill, check the Red Sox lineup
before starting Ellz.
Nick Swisher's slumping and the prevailing wisdom is to buy
him low. He can had for a bag of shells but the Edge would
rather have the shells.
Jermaine Dye returned last night against the Twins. He'll need
to find his power stroke to have any real value.
Grady Sizemore also returned to fray last evening. It remains to
be seen if he'll stay aggressive on the bases or defer to the ankle
for a few days.
Speaking of returns, Carlos Gomez and Yunel Escobar also rejoined
their clubs last evening.
Josh Willingham was a late scratch with a stiff neck. He's reportedly
day to day.
J.D. Drew left last night's action with a strained quad.
Ryan Garko was given the night off following an 0/23 skid.
Moises Alou will be activated by the Mets on Friday. The amount
of misinformation is staggering which is why it's imperative to read
the Edge daily. Apparently his could have been fractured ankle
wasn't. He's a solid candidate for a bench spot if you need offense.
Waterford Harden is on the rehab trail getting a Triple A
start on Thursday. If that goes well he'll get another and
in theory be able to go either May 11th or 13th. Las Vegas
has him even money to be back on the DL by the 12th or
14th.
John Lackey is gearing up for a mid-May return as well
with his 2nd rehab start last night.
Scott Kazmir is penciled in for his season debut on Sunday.
Big Broxton had an MRI on his lat yesterday. They say
it's nothing. He told club officials that he prefers having
MRI's on off days than heading to the beach or watching
movies. He finds the incessant humming relaxing.
John Smoltz, as expected, hit the DL due to shoulder
tendonitis.
Chad Cordero's on again, off again season is off again.
He's headed to the DL. Rauch has been a dependable
option.
Barry Zito has been relegated to the bullpen. Using Zito
in any capacity would be similar to using Andruw Jones.
There are better options, let go.
Eric Wedge maintains that Joe Borowski will resume his
closing duties when he returns to action. Eric has to be
manic to want to endure so much pain and suffering.
Johnny Cueto was finally welcomed to the bigs last night.
The Cards hammered him for 7 earned runs with 9 whip
over 1.2 innings. He threw 55 pitches. Gallardo had an
outing last season where he allowed 10 earned. It took
Yovani 2 starts after his debacle to regain his form. Cueto's
next start back could be iffy but there's no sense in cutting
him loose at this stage.
How about Mad Max. He came in middle relief and retired
all 13 batters he faced while smoking 7. The D'Backs have
got to give Scherzer a place in the rotation probably replacing
Gonzalez who he relieved last night. Fasten your seat belts.
Streamers: (tomorrow's probable starters available as free agents)
Use these players to gain advantage in wins and strikeouts.
Odalis Perez- spent summer's as a small boy searching for Pirates
treasure in Trenton. Yo, ho, ho and 500 empty bottles of rum.
2/4, 3.94/1.23 with 29 k's over 48 frames.
Paul Byrd- keeps the Mariners sleepless. 6-3, 3.38/1.41 in 69 innings.
Spotties: (tomorrow's position players available as free agents)
Use these players to fill in for injured players and on off days.
Pedro Feliz- has no fear of the big, bad Wolf. 4/11 with 3 solo homers.
David DeJesus- knows nothing more beautiful than the full figured
form of Sidney Ponson hurling a baseball. How desperate are the
Rangers!!! 10/17 with a jack. Sid the kid has never fanned him.
Start/Sit: (today)
Guide to using bench players when matchups are favorable.
Hideki Matsui (start)- Bondy remembers getting him out when they
played American Legion ball in Tokyo. H-Mat has his way with this
guy. 10/19, 4 mults, 3 jacarandas, 9 ribbies with an accidental k.
Chad Billingsley (start)- gone fishin'. 2-0, 1.89/1.00 with 24 k's in
19 innings vs. the Marlins. Does his best work on the road.
Guide to sit starters when matchups are unfavorable.
Normally sit these players in Roto formats only.
Andruw Jones (sit)- must be seeing twins when Olsen pitches
and can't hit either. 1/17, 8 k's.
Bobby Crosby (sit)- the last Crosby to get a hit off of Santana
was when Bing sang "Black Magic Christmas" with the rock
group at Pebble Beach. 0/10, 3 k's.
Studs and Duds: ( a recap of yesterday's picks and pans)
Phil Hughes (stream)- L 3.2ip/6e/11w/2k
Greg Smith (stream)- L 8ip/2e/6w/5k
Casey Blake (spot)-0/3
Ray Durham (spot)- 1/4
Kevin Youkilis (start)- 2/4, rbi
Ryan Zimmerman (start)-3/4, 2 runs, homer, 3 rbi
Vernon Wells (sit)- 0/3
Tom Gorzelanny (sit)-DNP
How To: ( this section is devoted to the fundamentals of daily play)
Head To Head: Player's Edge(PE) vs. Opposition(OP):
Week 5: Wednesday
Weekly Tot: R-H-RB-SB -BA/ W-SV-K ER-WH -SCORE
------PE----7--0--4--1--.231/-1--2--8-4.91-1.91---2
------OP---7--0--4--1--.342/-0--2--3-4.50-1.75---3
Offense: Lineups:
-----PE-----/----- OP
^B.Molina----------^I. Rodriguez
^Teixeira----------^Ortiz
^Roberts----------^Polanco
^Braun------------^Hall
^Escobar----------^Jeter
^Griffey-----------^Burrell
^C. Young---------^M. Ramirez
^Kemp----------- ^Pierre
^Figgins-----------^Ibanez
Betancourt---------Keppinger
---------------------G. Anderson
---------------------Lowell- DL
------PE------//-----OP
7/34-5-0-4-0 // 12/34-6-0-4-1 (daily totals: H/AB,R,HR,RBI)
Pitching: Rotation-Closers
-----PE----/------OP
^Harang----------J. Santana
Shields------------Zambrano
Weaver-----------Myers
Cain--------------Maine
^S.Hill----------^R. Johnson
Hughes---------^Pettitte
^Saito------------Lohse
^Fuentes-------^Rodriguez
^Wood--------- ^Jenks
^Acosta-------- ^Sherrill
R. Soriano-DL
Harden (DL)
-----PE--------//------OP
0W/2S, 5.2-6-12-5//0W/2S, 2-0-3-1 (daily tot: W/S,IP,ER,WH,K)
Weekly Totals- Batting Avg. PE(12/52) - OP (13/38)
Weekly Totals- ERA (6/(11/9) - OP ERA (2/(4/9) -(er/(ip/9)
Weekly Totals- Whip (21/11) - OP WHIP (7/4) - (w+h/ip)
Weekly Starts(est/week to date) PE--6-----OP--7
Daily Activity:
PE Milledge(drop)/Kemp-Tues
PE Hughes(drop)/Damon-Wed
Strategy: OP did not activate Santana. Milledge was released last
night for Kemp who was waived by an impatient owner last week.
Torre seems to have committed to play Kemp and bat him third.
Kemp has 5 tool ability. Milledge is a good player and will be picked
up as soon as he's available. The Betancourt for Betancourt play is
off the table until Thursday. OP has all 9 offensive players active for
Thursday while PE has 4. We'll see how things progress but it's
imperative to keep some powder dry in case it's needed to shore
up the offense. Hughes was used to grab Damon for Thursday to
give PE 6 offensive starters including Betancourt to counter the
OP's full dance card.
Game Keys: PE experienced deja vu last night as Hughes got trashed
by the Tigers. It wasn't as severe as Liriano's disaster but it was still
quite damaging to era/whip. He almost made it through the 4th
allowing 6 earned on 11 whip. The rest of the night followed suit for
PE. OP fired up on offense going 12/34 to take control of BA. PE was
an anemic 7/34. PE sends Hill and Harang tonight to offset OP's R.
Johnson and Pettitte. Both teams have 9 starters on offense. The PE
trails 3-2 with five categories even.
^ -designates an active player on today's roster.
Final Thoughts:
The Player's Edge participates in many leagues but elected to
follow a team in a Public League to better approximate what might
be faced by a wide majority of players that use the Edge daily. This
team plays in a standard 5x5 scoring format and drafted 7th of 12
teams in a 21 round on-line live event in late March. We'll follow this
team throughout the entire 2008 fantasy campaign.
PE is in 4th place, 6.5 games out of 1st and 3 games behind the
3rd place team heading into week 5.
All Done!
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