Fantasy Player's Edge

June 29, 2008


Roster Shuffle:

Pedro Martinez was tipping his pitches to the Yankees
by widening the glove to grip his change up. This is an
easily remedied flaw and Pedro deserves the benefit of
the doubt for at least one more turn.

Erik Bedard and Felix Hernandez are ready to return to
the Mariners rotation. Bedard is penciled in for today and
the King should be back Tuesday or Wednesday.

Josh Johnson, trying to return from Tommy John surgery,
will have another rehab assignment today. There's a good
chance that Johnson, if all goes well today, will be called up
and start against Colorado on Friday. If you need SP help
he's worth a pickup but give him a start or 2 before using
him to see what kind of stuff he has.

Brett Myers may be yanked from the Phillies rotation. He's
been awful and with Lidge at the back of the bullpen Myers
would serve in a set up role if demoted. His value would nil.

Fausto Carmona and Travis Hafner will be sidelined until
after the All Star break.

Billy Butler was recalled by the Royals from Triple A. He
was hitting .337 and will serve primarily as the Royals
DH. He's serviceable as a spot play only.

Chone Figgins pinch hit last night. He has an infection on
his knee and the concern would be sliding into bases. It
appears that he'll be returning soon but his base running
may be limited for a few games.

Victor Martinez is progressing well from elbow problems
but is still a month or more from returning to the Tribe.

Alphonso Soriano, on the other hand, is ahead of schedule
with his recovery from an injured hand and could return
to the Cubs a couple of days before the All Star break.

Yunel Escobar and Chipper Jones sat out with a jammed
shoulder and sore quad respectively. Both players took
BP but are expected to miss today's action as well.

Paul Konerko felt a bit of minor discomfort after taking BP.
"Cashews" will definitely need a rehab assignment, before
rejoining the Pale Hose, to be certain that his oblique has
properly healed.

Magglio Ordonez was forced out of last night's game with
an oblique injury. More details regarding the extent of the
injury should be available today.

Dan Uggla left with a sprained ankle after sliding awkwardly
into 2nd base. X-rays were negative. He's day to day.

Michael Cuddyer sat out last night with a finger injury.

Lastings Milledge hobbled off with a groin injury.

Eric Chavez is struggling with a strained shoulder. He may
return today or tomorrow.

Nomar Garciaparra, Rafael Furcal and Andruw Jones are
expected to begin rehab assignments at Triple A Las Vegas
tomorrow. Talk about 3 amigos.


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

Use these players to gain advantage in wins and strikeouts.

Gavin Floyd- has a familiar opponent coming into U.S
Cellular Field. 1-1, 4.38/1.22 with 11 k's in 12 innings
against the Indians and 5-1, 2.70/.94 with 38 k's in 57
frames at home this season.

Eric Stults- until he loses his Edge he's startable. He's
never faced Houston. 1-0, 1.50/1.17 in his only start on
the road this year.


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

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

Jack Wilson- hammers Harang. 15/42, with 3 extras and 5 rbi.

Mike Cameron- Davis deals and Cameron trumps. 16/48, 8 mults,
2 jacks, 11 rbi and 2 swipes.


Start/Sit: (today)

Guide to using bench players when matchups are favorable.

Casey Kotchman (start)- pummels Derek Lowe. 6/10 with
3 rbi.

Todd Helton (start)- knows when to hold em' vs. the Gambler.
4/10 vs. Rogers.

Guide to sit starters when matchups are unfavorable.

Normally sit these players in Roto formats only

Bobby Abreu (sit)- has no answer for Oliver Perez. 0/10
with 5 k's.

Lance Berkman (sit)- one of baseball's premier batsman
is befuddled by Beckett. 2/14 with 6 k's.


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

Paul Byrd (stream)- L 6ip/4e/9w/4k

Kyle Davies (stream)- L 6.1/3e/9w/2k

Jim Edmonds (spot)- 1/4

Craig Counsell (spot)- DNP

Carlos Delgado (start)- 0/4

Orlando Cabrera (start)- 1/5, rbi

Ken Griffey (sit)- 0/4

Mike Jacobs (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 13: Sunday


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

-------PE--19--4-17-5--.261/-4-5--71--3.97--1.22---7
-------OP--15--2-15-4--.302/-3-2--38--2.53--1.06---3

Offense: Lineups:

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

^B.Molina-----------^Olivo
^Teixeira-------------Loney
^Roberts------------^Utley
^Braun--------------^Youkilis
^Escobar------------^Renteria
^Griffey-------------^Hamilton
^C. Young-----------^Ellsbury
^Kemp--------------^Victorino
^Figgins-------------^J.D. Drew
---------------------^Crede
----------------------Ludwick
----------------------Hafner (DL)


------PE------//-----OP
4/26-4-1-6-1 //15/40-7-1-7-0 (daily totals: H/AB,R,HR,RBI)

Pitching: Rotation-Closers

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

Harang-------------Webb
Shields-------------Hamels
Weaver------------ Lincecum
Cain----------------Oswalt
Harden-------------Myers
^F. Cordero-------^Rivera
^Saito-------------^Ryan
^Fuentes----------^Gonzalez
^Wood--------------Liriano
Martinez------------R. Hill
^Morrow



-----PE--------//------OP
0W/2S, 15.1-6-20-16//3W/1S, 22-6-26-29 (W/S,IP,ER,WH,K)

Weekly Totals- Batting Avg. PE(40/153) - OP (39/129)
Weekly Totals- ERA (34/(77/9) - OP ERA (9/(32/9) -(er/(ip/9)
Weekly Totals- Whip (94/77) - OP WHIP (34/32) - (w+h/ip)
Weekly Starts(est/week to date) PE---0-----OP----0

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

Daily Activity:

PE Francis(drop)/Masterson-Mon
PE Masterson(drop)/Danks-Wed
PE Danks(drop)/Nolasco-Thur
PE Nolasco(drop)/Byrd-Fri
PE Byrd(drop)/Bannister-Sat
PE Bannister(drop)/Pierre-Sat

Strategy: PE Brian Bannister was used for Juan Pierre.
The pitching points have basically been decided for this
week so Pierre, hopefully, will swipe a base or 2 and then
he'll be waived for Jack Wilson as a spot play at SS for
Escobar on Monday. PE's Week 14 match up is a difficult
one. Both squads have 10 starts on the roster but OP's
offense is well rounded and formidable. Strategy will most
certainly change on a day to day basis as PE tries to get
an Edge on this OP.

Up until last week, Week 14 OP was in 1st place and it's
easy to see why. OP offense features the top 2 hitters in
the National League, Chipper Jones and Berkman. If that's
not enough add B.J. Upton, Jose Reyes, Bradley, Posada,
Orlando Cabrera, Nady and Fukudome to the mix. OP has
devastating speed, power and a plethora of .300 hitters. OP
pitching is led by Lee and Ervin Santana with Duchscherer,
Kershaw, Matsuzaka and Wellemeyer rounding out the staff.
OP closers are Papelbon, Capps and C.J. Wilson. OP has 10
starts on the roster and will have a full card active on Monday
offensively. OP was a 7-3 winner in Week 3.


Game Keys: OP's big 3 SP's, Webb, Lincecum and Hamels
were, as expected, phenomenal. They combined for 3 W's,
27 k's with only 6 earned, 24 whip in 20 innings. OP also
had a save from Rivera. PE Weaver threw 6 innings of a
no hitter against the Dodgers and still lost the game on his
own throwing error. However, Morrow and Saito had saves
for PE to secure the point. PE leads in W's 4-3 but neither
team has an SP today so OP would need a win from its closers
to play for the point. OP offense exploded going 15/40 to take
hold of BA aided by a dismal PE showing of 4/26. PE recorded
a stolen base from Kemp to take a lead of 1 in the category. All
of the offensive points are in play, with the exception of BA, as
the contest heads into today's finale with PE holding a tenuous
7-3 advantage.


Final Thoughts:

PE remains in 3rd place 3.5 points out of 1st and .5 out of
2nd place heading into a Week 13 fracas with the 1st place
team.

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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