2011 Fantasy Baseball Daily Fix: Chase Utley Blasts Two Homers, Beltre Hits The DL & More!
Big day for Chase Utley, a couple home runs and 4 RBI's. As good as the Phillies' pitching is, they are going to need Utley, Howard and company to score runs if they are going to be world champions.
Players to watch in the last week before the trading deadline: Carlos Beltran, Ubaldo Jimenez, Hunter Pence, Brian Fuentes. Beltran is having a bounce back year in his contract year, always a read flag. In the first half of last year Ubaldo Jimenez was the next Sandy Koufax, now the Rockies are considering dumping him and his favorable contract? Flashing red lights. Brian Fuentes, even at his best was a wild ride. Hunter Pence is young, plays hard and is probably the best long term bet of the group.
Top pitchers going on Sunday: Roy Hallady, Alexi Ogando, Justin Masterson, Yovani Gallardo, Gio Gonzalez and Michael Pineda. The hottest pitchers from this group are Alexi Ogando (3-0, 2.08 ERA) and Justin Masternson (3-0, 1.47 ERA)
From todayinbaseballhistory.com : Mets outfielder Vince Coleman throws an explosive device – the equivalent of a quarter stick of dynamite – at fans after a game at Dodger Stadium. Amanda Santos, 2, suffers injuries to her cheek, finger and eye, and two others complain of injuries as well. Prosecutors decide to charge Coleman with a felony rather than a misdemeanor because of the explosive's strength and the amount of damage. The Mets later announce the high-priced Coleman will never again play for the team; he doesn't.
The Pirates have lost three in a row to the Cardinals, I have no particular connection to the Pirates, but it is nice to see one of the underdogs come through. Let's hope this weekend is not the end of their dream season.
When the Mariners started their current 14 game skid they were 43-43, 2.5 games out of first; after their latest loss they are now 43-57 and 13.5 games out. Ouch!
I had been under the assumption that hands-down the best lead-off hitter this year was Jose Reyes, for once, the east coast media is not pimping all "their" players. Here are the stats of two players, who is having the better year? and is either having a better year, hands-down?
Player A: .349 avg, 69 runs, 30 stolen bases, 3 home runs, 32 RBI's, .391 OBP, .522 Slugging
Player B: .330, avg, 66 runs, 26 stolen bases, 13 home runs, 47 RBI's, .386 OBP, .522 Slugging
Player A is Jose Reyes, Player B is Jacob Ellsbury, who is the best lead-off hitter in baseball?
After looking at that, I thought it would be fun to look at the best #8 hitter in baseball (I decided against investigating the best #9 hitter because half of baseball use a pitcher as their #9, and that just is not a fair comparison):
The best #8 hitter is a toss-up between Jonathon Lucroy (.323 avg., 5 home runs, 30 RBI's, .849 OPS) and Alex Avila (.301 avg., 9 home runs, 31 RBI's, .919 OPS.) It really just depends if you want a little more power or if you prefer a higher batting average.
Adrian Beltre was placed on the DL tough blow for the Rangers lineup (.276 avg, 20 HR’s, 76 RBI’s), thank god they are in the anemic American League West.
Written by Chris Summers exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com
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