Fantasy Player's Edge

August 8, 2008


Roster Shuffle:

Carl Crawford's sore hamstring is feeling much better
and he returned to the Rays lineup going 1/3.

Michael Cuddyer went 1/6 during a minor league twin
bill for Triple A Rochester and will return to Minnesota
any day.

Jack Cust was a late scratch with an infected thumb.

Aaron Harang may be activated and start on Sunday
to give the struggling Edinson Volquez an extra day
of rest.

Philip Hughes had a 60 pitch rehab start at Triple A
Scranton last night. He'll need a few more outings to build
arm strength but could return to the Yankees by Labor
Day. He was awful earlier this season so temper your
expectations for Hughes.

Clayton Kershaw is on track. If you need SP help and
he's still a free agent you might want to make the roster
move today.

Fernando Rodney has assumed the prestigious role as
the Tigers closer du jour.


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

Use these players to gain advantage in wins and strikeouts.

Brett Myers- is still available as a free agent in many leagues.
2-4, 2.93/1.35 with 36 k's in 40 innings vs. the Pirates and
3-3, 3.81/1.16 with 57 k's in 54 innings at home this season.

There are no other reasonable stream opportunities tomorrow.

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

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

Cody Ross- makes Oliver twist uncomfortably. 7/20, 3 jacks
and 10 rbi vs. Perez.

Coco Crisp- 2nd day as a "spottie" for Puff. 9/23, a homer,
6 rbi and 3 stolen bases at the expense of Contreras.


Start/Sit: (today)

Guide to using bench players when matchups are favorable.

Carlos Delgado (start)- has productive AB's against Nolasco.
5/13 with 3 extra base raps.

Jeff Kent (start)- dust him off and wheel him out. 8/16 with
a blast vs. Zito.

Guide to sit starters when matchups are unfavorable.

Normally sit these players in Roto formats only

Troy Glaus (sit)- makes Lilly an ace. 1/14 with 6 k's.

James Loney (sit)- makes Zito look unhittable. 1/14
with 4 k's.


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

Chris Volstad (stream)- W 6ip/0e/7w/3k

Andy Sonnanstine (stream)- ND 7.1ip/1e/5w/4k

Frank Catalanotto (spot)- 2/3

Jack Hannrahan (spot)- 0/4

Edgar Renteria (start)- DNP

Juan Pierre (start)- 1/4, rbi

Edwin Encarnacion (sit)- 2/4, run, homer, 2 rbi

Dan Uggla (sit)- 0/4


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


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

Week 19: Friday

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

-------PE--19--2--13--2--.264/-3--1--23--2.18--1.40---4
-------OP--21--7--22--2--.350/-2--0--37--5.68--1.62---5

Offense: Lineups:

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

^B.Molina------------ ^Soto
^Teixeira-------------^Morneau
^Roberts------------- ^A Ramirez
^Braun---------------^Mora
^Escobar-------------^Peralta
^Griffey--------------^Sizemore
^C. Young------------^Quentin
^Kemp---------------^Holliday
^Figgins--------------^Hamilton
------------------------Cruz

------PE------//-----OP
2/15-1-0-2-0 //4/18-4-2-2-1 (daily totals: H/AB,R,HR,RBI)

Pitching: Rotation-Closers

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

Harang-(DL)-------------F. Hernandez
^Shields----------------- Haren
^Weaver-----------------Volquez
Cain--------------------- Carmona
Harden------------------Saunders
F. Cordero---------------Cook
^Broxton---------------^Lilly
^Fuentes----------------Parra
^Wood------------------Jimenez
^Putz-------------------Pelfrey
Liriano---------------- ^Maholm
Carpenter
^Wolf

-----PE--------//------OP
1W/0S, 1-0-1-2//0W/0S, 13-7-21-9 (W/S,IP,ER,WH,K)

Weekly Totals- Batting Avg. PE (29/110) - OP (36/103)
Weekly Totals- ERA (5/(20.2/9) - OP ERA (33/(52.1/9) -(er/(ip/9)
Weekly Totals- Whip (29/20.2) - OP WHIP (85/52.1) - (w+h/ip)
Weekly Starts(est/week to date) PE---7-----OP-----7

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

Daily Activity:

OP open spot/Zito- Mon
PE Morrow(drop)/Wood(activated-DL)-Tues
PE Harang(DL)/Renteria-Wed
OP Zito(drop)/Cruz-Wed
PE Renteria(drop)/Wolf-Thur
PE Wolf(drop)/Harang(act/DL)-Fri

Strategy: PE SP stream Randy Wolf was released to open a
roster spot for Harang. PE is hedging that Harang will pitch
for the Reds on Sunday pushing OP Volquez back to Monday.
If that comes to pass both teams will have 7 starts left on the
roster with OP having Lilly/Maholm today, Haren/Cook going
tomorrow and Saunders/Parra/Pelfrey on Sunday. PE with
an unexpected opportunity to take W will counter with Shields
/Weaver/Wolf today, Liriano on Saturday and Carpenter/Cain
/Harang on Sunday. PE will use 4 closers today sitting Cordero,
5 closers tomorrow and 4 closers on Sunday to try to make up
a 14 k deficit. The risk/reward of exposing ERA/WHIP vs. the
gain of W and K is deemed to be appropriate. Inexplicably, PE
spot play Renteria was benched by Jim Leyland in favor of SS
Ramon Santiago. Renteria was 12/27 vs. last night's opposing
Chi Sox SP Javier Vazquez.

Game Keys: OP SP's Hernandez/Jimenez were pedestrian in
tandem going a combined 13 innings with 7 earned on 21 whip.
Neither registered a W. PE closer Putz had a W to give PE the
lead in the category by 1. OP offense took a night off going 4/18
but PE, not to be out done to the downside went 2/15. OP, on
the strength of 2 homers, 4 runs and a stolen base reclaimed
the lead in Runs by 2 and tied SB while extending the lead in
HR to 5 and maintaining a lead of 9 in RBI. The seesaw contest
heads onto the river with OP leading 5-4.


Final Thoughts:

PE increased the 1st place lead to 11 points over the 2nd place
club and 14.5 ahead of the 3rd place team heading into Week 19.
There are only 40 points (4 weeks) left in the season so PE needs
to focus on playing consistently to assure a playoff bye.

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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