Fantasy Player's Edge

July 26, 2008


Roster Shuffle:

Rich Harden is starting today. There was some talk of
pushing him out one more day as A's did with him to
keep him fresh.

Fausto Carmona returns to the hill for the Indians as
he takes on the Twins at home.

Roy Oswalt felt fine after a bullpen session and will
make a start on Monday vs. the Reds.

Mike Hampton will make his 1st start in almost 3
years against the Phillies today. This is simply a
point of interest as he has no fantasy value.

Chris Carpenter threw 78 pitches over 5.2 innings
last night in a minor league start. He allowed 2 runs
on 4 whip while striking out 5. He also hit 2 batters.
He may be activated off of this effort but seemingly
could benefit from one more rehab start to fine tune
his command.

Billy Wagner is not sure that his shoulder issues are
behind him. He's simply going to deal with it on a day
to day basis.

Damaso Marte and Xavier Nady were traded to the
Yankees for 4 prospects. Nady should be even better
surrounded by great hitters and Marte will lose all
value as Rivera's set up man.

The Pirates do not have an active pitcher that has a
save this season. It'll be interesting to see who John
Russell turns to in the 9th inning. A reasonable guess
would be John Grabow.

Chipper Jones was out last night and is doubtful for
the weekend due to a sore hamstring.

David Ortiz started for the BoSox last night. Big Papi
went 1/4 while Manny Ramirez sat out again with a
sore knee.

Torii Hunter returned to active duty. His grandmother
passed away earlier in the week.

Juan Pierre returned to the Dodgers lineup last night
going 1/4 with a run.

Lastings Milledge was activated and played going 0/4
for the Nationals.

Carlos Gomez was carted of the field after making a great
catch in the 1st inning. X-Rays were negative and he's
day to day.

Joe Crede was added to the DL with a sore back and was
replaced on the roster by Josh Fields. Fields has power
and is worth a play if your roster is HR-lite.


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

Use these players to gain advantage in wins and strikeouts.

Paul Maholm- has light hitting Padres coming into PNC Park.
0-1, 4.70/1.04 in 8 innings vs. San Diego and 5-1, 3.33/1.19
in 70 frames at home this season.

Nick Blackburn- has pitched well against the decimated Indians.
2-0, 2.04/1.13 in 18 innings vs. Cleveland.

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

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

Jayson Werth- 2nd day running as a "spottie". 3/6 vs. Campillo.

Mark Loretta- feasts on Suppan's servings. 8/19, 2 extras, a
jack, 3 rbi with 0 k's.


Start/Sit: (today)

Guide to using bench players when matchups are favorable.

Randy Winn (start)- has great swings vs. premier pitcher
Brandon Webb. 14/33, 4 extras, 6 rbi and a stolen base.

Conor Jackson (start)- hits the young fireballer Lincecum.
3/7 with 2 mults.

Guide to sit starters when matchups are unfavorable.

Normally sit these players in Roto formats only

Paul Konerko (sit)- Paulie "Cashews" need to take the night
off. 3/24 with 8 k's against Verlander.

Ryan Zimmerman (sit)- has no "eye" for Derek Lowe. 2/11
with 5 k's.


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

Cha Seung Baek (stream)- W 5.1ip/4e/8w/3k

Mike Pelfrey (stream)- W 7ip/1e/7w/5k

Ron Raburn (spot)- DNP

Luis Gonzalez (spot)- 1/2

Conor Jackson (start)- 2/4, 2 runs, solo homer

Jim Thome (start)- 0/2

Nick Swisher (sit)- 0/3, run

Nick Markakis (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 17: Saturday

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

-------PE--21--7--21--3--.315/-3--3--47--2.77--1.08---7
-------OP--19--5--27--1--.303/-1--0--26--1.45--1.03---3

Offense: Lineups:

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

^B.Molina------------^Varitek
^Teixeira-------------^Pena
^Roberts-------------^Kent
^Braun--------------^Wright
^Escobar-------------^Guzman
^Griffey--------------^Beltran
^C. Young------------^Bay
^Kemp---------------^Ordonez
^Figgins------------- ^Glaus
----------------------Jacobs

------PE------//-----OP
7/34-6-0-3-1 //11/33-5-1-5-0 (daily totals: H/AB,R,HR,RBI)

Pitching: Rotation-Closers

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

Harang-DL------------Buehrle
Shields----------------Beckett
Weaver----------------Sheets
Cain-------------------O. Perez
^Harden---------------A. Miller- DL
^F. Cordero-----------^Lyon
^Broxton------------- ^Park
^Fuentes
Wood -DL
^Putz
^Morrow
Carpenter-(DL)
^Bush


-----PE--------//------OP
1W/1S, 10.1-2-12-8//0W/0S, 7-1-10-6 (W/S,IP,ER,WH,K)

Weekly Totals- Batting Avg. PE (47/149) - OP (44/145)
Weekly Totals- ERA (17/(55.1/9) - OP ERA (5/(31/9) -(er/(ip/9)
Weekly Totals- Whip (60/55.1) - OP WHIP (32/31) - (w+h/ip)
Weekly Starts(est/week to date) PE---2-----OP-----0

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

Daily Activity:

PE Baek(drop)/Garciaparra-Sun
PE Pelfrey(drop)/Volstad-Sun
PE Volstad(drop)/Correia-Tue
PE Correia(drop)/Werth-Wed
PE Garciaparra(drop)/Rowand-Wed
PE Rowand(drop)/Carpenter-Thur
PE Werth(drop)/Baek-Thur
PE Baek/(drop)/Pelfrey-Thur
PE Pelfrey(drop)/Bush-Fri

Strategy: PE SP Harden and stream Bush will start today to
make one last effort to earn the point in WHIP. PE pitching has
a 2.77/1.08 era/whip and trails in both categories to OP who is
sporting a 1.45/1.03. Harden/Bush will need to combine for 13
or more innings with 10 or less whip to "steal" the point. ERA is
out of reach. PE controls W, Saves and K so no further streaming
will be used this week. Bush will be released for a Week 18 play
either today or tomorrow.

Game Keys: OP Josh Beckett was gritty against the Yankees
allowing 1 run on 10 whip in 7 innings in a no decision but was
outpitched by PE stream Pelfrey. Big Mike scored a W going 7
frames allowing 1 earned on 7 whip. PE Broxton went 1+ innings
for a save. OP offense went 11/33 closing the gap in BA with PE
Young stealing a base to widen the margin in SB to 2. The contest
floats down the river with PE still holding a precarious 7-3 lead.
All of the offensive categories are in play. The pitching categories
are probably going to remain status quo with OP winning ERA/
WHIP and PE taking the other 3.


Final Thoughts:

PE increased the 1st place lead to 5.5 points over the 2nd place
club and 8 ahead of the 3rd place team after a shortened Week
16 took it's toll on all the top teams.

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 will
follow this team throughout the entire 2008 fantasy campaign.


All Done!

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