Fantasy Player's Edge

May 31, 2008


Roster Shuffle:

Ryan Braun is battling an inner ear infection that makes
him dizzy. He had the same effect on Astros pitching
going 4/4 with a homer last night.

Hanley Ramirez left the game last night with a bruised
left thumb. The extent of the injury is not yet known.
It's likely, at the minimum, that he'll sit today.

Howie Kendrick was finally activated taking the roster
spot of Chone Figgins who was finally put on the DL.
Kendrick started at 2B and went 0/3 with a walk.

A day after Billy Butler was demoted another promising
young slugger, Chris Duncan was optioned by the Cards
to Triple A Memphis.

Eric Byrnes has slight tears in both hamstrings but still
expects to return shortly after becoming eligible to be
activated from the DL. He's one bad step from a serious
hamstring injury. Make sure that you have a plan to
replace him even after he's activated including selling
high, especially, if he comes back hot.

Travis Hafner was added to the DL with a sore right
shoulder. This does add a bit of credibility to the theory
that this injury has contributed to his slow start in 2008.

Kevin Youkilis returned to the Red Sox lineup after
missing three games with a sore hand. He should be
good to go from this point.

Hank Blalock had surgery to relieve wrist irritation
caused by carpal tunnel. He's going to be sidelined
for 4 weeks.

Daisuke Matsuzaka has been placed on the DL with his
Tuesday start being taken by Justin Masterson.

Joba Chamberlain will make his 1st start for the Yankees
on Tuesday vs. the Blue Jays and Roy Halladay. He'll be
limited to 65-70 pitches.

Chris Carpenter is scheduled to pitch a simulated game
today. The Cards are hoping that their former ace can
return to the bigs sometime in mid to late July.

In a tale of 2 phenom's Clayton Kershaw blew up against
the Mets allowing 4 runs on 9 whip in 3.2 innings while
Jay Bruce blew up the Braves going 4/5 with 2 runs and
2 rbi.


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

Use these players to gain advantage in wins and strikeouts.

Dave Bush- has been tinkering with his mechanics and was able
to increase his velocity by 3 to 4 mph on his fastball. Has a good
matchup at home where he pitches well. 4-1, 3.45/1.10 with 42
k's in 57 innings vs. Houston.

Jamie Moyer- is undefeated against the Marlins. 7-0, 3.05/1.11
over 44 frames with 29 k's.


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

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

Richie Sexson- Big Sexy makes for a high percentage bet vs.
the Gambler. 10/23, 5 mults, a jack and 4 rbi against Rogers

Joey Gathright- beep-beep goes the roadrunner. 6/13, 2 sb's,
3 extras and only 1 k vs. Byrd.


Start/Sit: (today)

Guide to using bench players when matchups are favorable.

Todd Helton (start)- lots of experience when Helton faces
Dempster, most of it in Todd's favor. 6/17, 3 extras, 2 clouts
and 4 ribbies.

Paul Konerko (start)- Paulie "Cashews" gets untracked vs.
Tampa's ace. 4/8 with a homer against Kazmir.


Guide to sit starters when matchups are unfavorable.

Normally sit these players in Roto formats only.

Carlos Pena (sit)- can't seem to catch up to much of what
Vazquez offers. 1/11, 6 k's.

Javier Vasquez (sit)- however the rest of the Rays seem
to find much of what he throws to their liking. 5-2, 4.48/
1.43 0ver 62 innings vs. the "Devil" Rays. These guys are
much better.


Studs and Duds: (a recap of yesterday's picks and pans)

Todd Wellemeyer (stream)- W 7ip/1e/8w/4k

Kevin Millwood (stream)- W 6ip/1e/5w/5k

Jim Edmonds (spot)- 3/4, 2 runs, homer, 3 rbi

Casey Blake (spot)- 1/3, homer, 2 rbi.

Jered Weaver (start)- L 4ip/6e/10w/2k

Mike Jacobs (start)- 0/3

Grady Sizemore (sit)- 2/4, 2 homers, 3 rbi

Jason Bay (sit)- 1/4


How To: (this section is devoted to the fundamentals of daily play)


Head To Head: Player's Edge(PE) vs. Opposition(OP):

Week 5: Saturday


Weekly Tot: R-H-RB-SB -BA/ W-SV-K ER-WH -SCORE

-------PE--16--3--24--1--.291/-3-3-61--3.65--1.30---6
-------OP--21--6--21--3--.297/-1-0-31--6.69--1.69---4

Offense: Lineups:

-----PE-----/----- OP

^B.Molina--------- ^Johjima
^Teixeira----------^Pujols
^Roberts---------- ^Uggla
^Braun------------ ^DeRosa
^Escobar---------- ^Guillen
^Griffey---------- ^J. Upton
^C. Young-------- ^Dunn
^Kemp----------- ^Granderson
^Gomez---------- ^K. Johnson
Figgins (DL)------- Helton
--------------------Swisher
--------------------H. Matsui



------PE------//-----OP
9/43-3-1-4-1 //10/34-6-2-7-1 (daily totals: H/AB,R,HR,RBI)

Pitching: Rotation-Closers

-----PE----/------OP

Harang-------------Hudson
Shields-------------Jimenez
Weaver------------ Moyer
Cain--------------- Snell
Harden------------ Maddox
^F. Cordero-------^Gregg
^Saito-------------^Corpas
^Fuentes----------^Springer
^Wood------------- Peavy-DL
Martinez----------- Accardo-(DL)
Bush
Feldman


-----PE--------//------OP
0W/0S, 11-8-19-10//0W/0S, 1-0-1-0 (day: W/S,IP,ER,WH,K)

Weekly Totals- Batting Avg. PE(48/165) - OP (43/145)
Weekly Totals- ERA (28/(69/9) - OP ERA (26/(35/9) -(er/(ip/9)
Weekly Totals- Whip (90/69) - OP WHIP (59/35) - (w+h/ip)
Weekly Starts(est/week to date) PE---2-----OP----4

^ -designates an active player on today's roster.

Daily Activity:

PE Bergmann(drop)/Laffey-Mon
PE Laffey(drop)/Garza-Tues
PE Garza(drop)/Lannan-Wed
PE Lannan(drop)/Millwood-Thur
PE Millwood(drop)/Feldman-Fri
PE Lilly(drop)/Bush-Sat


Strategy: PE was forced to use Lilly for Dave Bush who
has a great matchup vs. Houston at home on Sunday.
Feldman's start was pushed back until Sunday so his
spot could not be used for the last stream of the week.
PE's SP's inability to record more than 1 win yesterday
made it mandatory to carry 2 SP's on Sunday to partially
offset OP's 4 SP's. OP will send Gregg and 2 set up men
vs. 4 closers for PE today. Figgins was put on the DL and
was crossed on the roster for Martinez who was activated
and starts on Tuesday. This worked out perfectly for PE
which now has 2 flex positions (Feldman/ Bush) that can
be utilized to begin week 10.


Game Keys: PE pitching was the quintessential mixed bag
with 2 starters blowing up, 2 starters pitching decent games
but getting no decisions and the streamer Millwood getting
the win with 6 great innings. PE's staff has been ineffective
the entire week with the streamers recording all 3 wins thus
far this week. Harang, Weaver and Lilly were simply dreadful
combining to allow 16 earned and 28 whip in 11 innings. It's
extremely fortuitous that PE still controls ERA/WHIP. Maddox
pitched well but did not get the win for OP. PE has a shaky
3-1 leads in W's with 2 SP's left vs. 4 for OP. PE offense was
dismal last night going 9/43 which allowed OP to take control
of BA with a pedestrian 10/34. OP also extended leads in Runs,
HRs and SBs to 5, 3 and 2 respectively while narrowing the gap
in RBI to 3. PE holds an extremely tenuous 6-4 advantage as the
contest heads on to the river.


Final Thoughts:

PE is tied for 2nd place, 4.5 games out of 1st heading into week 9.
PE is 23-7 over last 3 weeks enabling the climb to the coveted 2nd
place position.

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.


All Done!

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