Fantasy Player's Edge

June 2, 2008


Roster Shuffle:

Big Papi's x-ray on his sprained his wrist was negative
but he sat out yesterday. It's likely he'll have an MRI
today in Boston.

Jorge Posada return to the bigs has been pushed back
until Thursday giving Jorge a few more days to test
the shoulder in extended spring training.

Matt Holliday will begin a 3 game rehab assignment
at Triple A Colorado Springs this week before being
activated on June 8th.

Brad Hawpe is joining Holliday for a rehab assignment
at Colorado Springs and is eligible to return June 7th.

Victor Martinez is dealing with a lingering hamstring
problem and did not start yesterday for Cleveland.
He's day to day at this point.

Moises Alou will try it again as he's expected to join
the Mets next weekend. He's a useful spot player if
he can stay healthy.

Luis Castillo had a sore quad as opposed to a what was
originally reported, a hip flexor and was back in the
Mets lineup yesterday.

Justin Upton was rested today due to the flu. Hopefully
he'll return in a day or two.

Jake Peavy could return in 2 weeks. Although this
account was vague it is more realistic than previous
reports that had Peavy's return a possibility for this
week.

John Smoltz should be activated today and immediately
assume the Braves closer role.

King Felix Hernandez pitched 7 brilliant innings but did
report calf tightness once again. Sooner or later this will
cause a disruption in his normal pitching cycle of every
5th day. It might be wise to think ahead on how to cover
a start or 2 if the King has to sit out.

Tim Hudson left in the 7th inning with a strained left
hamstring. He's scheduled for an MRI today. This type
of injury normally leads to a trip to the DL.

Nick Blackburn got hit in the face by a line drive off the
bat of Bobby Abreu. He walked off under his own power
so let's hope that, unlike Chris Young, there are no
fractures.

Jair Jurrjens has a blister on his right thumb that hinders
his location and reduces his velocity. This would explain
why he was lit up over the weekend by the Reds.

Mark Prior will have season ending surgery on his right
shoulder. This, finally, could be the end of it for Prior.


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

Use these players to gain advantage in wins and strikeouts.

Kevin Slowey- another Twins youngster who's starting to come into
his own. He has no history vs. the Orioles but is 2-2, 3.95/1.13 with
36 k's in 43 innings at home. His last start was a complete game 6
hitter on the road against K.C.

Gavin Floyd- another young gun who excels at home. 0-1, 3.38/1.50
over 8 innings vs. the Royals but 2-1, 2.35/.82 in 31 innings at home
this season.


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

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

Freddy Sanchez- is thrilled to see his old amigo Wandy Rodriguez
back on the mound again. 7/17, a jack with a couple of rbi.

Lastings Milledge- has had limited exposure to major league
pitching in general but has seen Lohse enough to know that
he can hit him. 3/7 with 4 rbi.


Start/Sit: (today)

Guide to using bench players when matchups are favorable.

Todd Helton (start)- keeps his visits to Dodgers Stadium on the
down-Lowe. 11/33 with a homer and 3 rbi vs. Derek the Dodger.

Ken Griffey (start)- appears in the "start" for the 2nd day running.
4/5, 2 extras and 3 rbi against Kyle Kendrick.


Guide to sit starters when matchups are unfavorable.

Normally sit these players in Roto formats only.

Khalil Greene (sit)- you'd be better off leaving SS empty tonight.
1/16 with 6 k's against big Zambrano.

Johnny Damon (sit)- guitarzan gets strung out today. 0/9, 3k's
versus Livan Hernandez.

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

Scott Feldman (stream)- ND 6ip/3e/6w/2k

Dave Bush (stream)- W 7ip/1e/4w/5k

Jamie Moyer (stream)- W 7ip/5e/7w/3k

Richie Sexson (spot)- DNP

Joey Gathright (spot)- 0/3

Troy Glaus (start)- 3/4, homer, 2 runs

Ken Griffey (start)- 2/3, run

Dan Uggla (sit)- 0/4

Torii Hunter (sit)- 1/4, run


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


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

Week 5: Monday


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

-------PE--26--9--37--2--.277/-4-4-66--3.50--1.28---8
-------OP--29--8--27--5--.271/-1-0-44--6.50--1.70---2

Offense: Lineups:

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

^B.Molina--------- ^McCann
^Teixeira----------^D. Lee
^Roberts---------- ^Phillips
^Braun------------^A. Rodriguez
^Escobar----------^Young
^Griffey---------- ^Ichiro
^C. Young-------- ^Abreu
^Kemp----------- ^Ankiel
^Gomez------------Thome
Figgins (DL)------- Gordon
--------------------J. Guillen
-------------------^Lugo
--------------------Sheffield (DL)



------PE------//-----OP
7/29-5-2-3-0 //5/29-4-1-2-1 (daily totals: H/AB,R,HR,RBI)

Pitching: Rotation-Closers

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

Harang------------^Wainwright
Shields------------^Lowe
Weaver-------------Meche
Cain----------------McGowan
^Harden----------^Guthrie
^F. Cordero-------^Street
^Saito-------------^Marmol
^Fuentes----------^S. Shields
^Wood------------- G. Smith
Martinez
^Laffey
J. Reyes


-----PE--------//------OP
0W/1S, 2-0-0-3//0W/0S, 17-13-32-13 (day: W/S,IP,ER,WH,K)

Weekly Totals- Batting Avg. PE(64/231) - OP (56/207)
Weekly Totals- ERA (28/(72/9) - OP ERA (39/(54/9) -(er/(ip/9)
Weekly Totals- Whip (92/72) - OP WHIP (92/54) - (w+h/ip)
Weekly Starts(est/week to date) PE---0-----OP----0

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

Daily Activity:

PE Laffey(drop)/Slowey-Mon
PE Reyes(drop)/Floyd-Mon


Strategy: It's likely that PE will start Laffey and Harden
and leave JoJo Reyes inactive. OP sends Lowe, Guthrie
and Wainwright to offset PE's SP's. PE will offer 4 closers
to counter OP's bullpen of Street, Marmol and Shields. It's
a busy Monday as both teams will field full rosters on offense.
This OP has the strongest and best balanced lineup of hitters
that PE will face in this league this season. Laffey and Reyes
were dropped for Slowey and Floyd. PE will set pitching
strategy for Tuesday based on Monday's performances by
OP SP's. On offense PE will most likely play the same 9
throughout the week and spot play 1 or 2 offensive starters
on Thursday, depending on the score, when PE only has 7
active.


Game Keys: Dave Bush was made inactive about 5 minutes
before his scheduled turn as the Reds had 3 runs and 7 whip
on Tim Hudson after 3 innings. Scott Feldman was benched
at 3 pm as Ian Snell had already allowed 5 runs on 6 whip in
2 innings vs. the Cards. OP did not activate Moyer but it
would not have helped as Moyer had allowed 5 earned in
5 innings by 3pm EST yesterday. The prudent play was
for PE to bench the streams and Saito in the late game.
For the record Bush won and Feldman had a no decision.
PE offense with 2 homers and a combined 7/29 did just
enough to capture HR and BA on the way to an 8-2 win.

Final Thoughts:

Even with an 8-2 victory in week 9 PE fell to 3rd place 4
games out of 1st and 1.5 out of second place heading into
week 10. PE is 31-9 over last 4 weeks.

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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