2011 Fantasy Baseball Waiver Wire Gems: American League

Ok, I’ll admit it. I have at least 1 guy on my team that I drafted that hasn’t panned out. Now what, you ask? Now I show my waiver wire genius, that’s what.

Darren Oliver, RP Texas Rangers (20% owned in Yahoo, 22% ESPN)

Current Stat Line – 1 W / 2 L / 2 SV / 8 K / 2.38 ERA / 0.97 WHIP

Oliver has proven himself to be the man in Texas until Feliz returns. That will be soon, but if you are hurting for saves, Oliver would appear to be your guy in Texas for the short-term already converting his first 2 opportunities.

Projection: 3 W/ 3 L / 5 SV / 65 K / 2.58 ERA / 1.12 WHIP

Fantasy MLB Spot Starting: 05.01.11

Not a great showing for Spot Starting last night, but as I’ve said before, sometimes the stats and research let you down and that’s why the game is played on the field and not on paper.  Can’t promise we can salvage the week or win your head to head match up with one of these picks though as the pickings are quite slim.  Some of our recent picks like Carl Pavano and Chris Narveson are not recommended this go ’round.  Chris Young is coming off the DL with a dead arm and has a very poor match up today against Halladay and the Phillies who’s bats have awoken.  But as you’ll read all is not lost as there are two good plays to be had.

See you again on Monday when Spot Starting returns with picks for Tuesday.

For games on Sunday May 1st these selected pitchers might be had in your league (less than 50% owned in Yahoo! or ESPN) with percent owned Yahoo/ESPN, (team), and opponent:

Carl Pavano 42% / 16% (MIN) @ KC

Chris Narveson 28% / 20% (MIL) @ HOU

Chris Young 23% / 11% (NYM) vs. PHL

Bud Norris 20% / 5% (HOU) vs. MIL

Jon Garland 10% / 7% (LAD) vs. SD

After this, it gets down right ugly, trust me folks.  Doesn’t mean someone can’t pull a good start out of their you know what, but we don’t have a crystal ball, just good hard stats.

My Pick: Bud Norris vs. Brewers

Alternate: Jon Garland vs. Padres

Deep League Special: Garland

Killin’ the Odds & the Regular Season

Welcome back to Killin’ the Odds & the Regular Season! In the “Today’s Games” section, you will see my picks to win for the day. I will post either the “Money Line” or the “Run Line”. The money line is always a “straight up” bet which means your team will never need to win or lose by a specific amount of runs. The money line odds represent what amount has to be wagered or what can be won. For example, if there is a minus sign (-) next to an amount, you have to wager that amount to win 100. If there is a plus sign (+) next to an amount, you will receive that amount for every 100 wagered. When you see a “Run Line”, that means a spread is involved. In Baseball, the spread is always 1.5 runs but you can find alternate run lines on some websites. When I post a run line of -1.5, that means our team must win by two runs. When you see a run line of +1.5, that means our team can lose by one run and still win the wager. Listen to our show from April 5th, 2011 for more explanation and tips.

04.29.11 Box Score Breakdown: Fantasy MLB News and Notes

A Friday recap for you all. I watched about two minutes of the Mets. I turned it on and they trailed the Phillies 0-2. It was then 0-4 and I turned it off. Not even an hour later I flipped back and it was 0-10. Disgusting. Oh joy, we face Halladay and Lee to wrap up the weekend. Shoot me now.

Speaking of disgusting, can we please stop coverage of the wedding going on in England now? Shoot me again I ain’t dead yet.

Anyway, here’s what else I saw:

The Bats:
Ryan Howard  – 2/4, 2 R, 2 HR, 6 RBI…27 RBI now? That is so Zobrist!

Robinson Cano – 2/3, 3 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB…Cano is turning it on now.

Jose Bautista – 2/3, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB…He is going to make us all look stupid for saying he’d be lucky to hit 35 bombs this year. He’s on pace for 54 now. Weird.

Carlos Santana – 1/4, R, HR, 4 RBI, BB…WALK OFF!

Asdrubal Cabrera – 2/3, 3 R, HR, 2 RBI, 2 BB, SB…Box score filler-upper!

Fantasy MLB Spot Starting: 04.30.11

Not a great night for pitchers around the majors last night, lots of blow outs and big innings.  For myself, I was too giddy being a Ben Zobrist owner to care much.  We have some good options heading into the weekend for all of you trying to win your head to head games.

For games on Saturday April 30th these selected pitchers might be had in your league (less than 50% owned in Yahoo! or ESPN) with percent owned Yahoo/ESPN, (team), and opponent:

John Lackey 45% / 32% (BOS) vs. SEA

Randy Wolf 39% / 60% (MIL) @ HOU

Tim Stauffer 35% / 3% (SD) @ LAD

Brandon Beachy 26% / 23% (ATL) vs. StL

Brian Duensing 20% / 10% (MIN) @ KC

Jonathan Niese 10% / 1% (NYM) @ PHL

Rick Porcello 4% / 3% (DET) @ CLE

My Pick: John Lackey vs. Mariners

Alternate: Randy Wolf @ Astros

Deep League Special: Rick Porcello

04.28.11 Box Score Breakdown: Fantasy MLB News and Notes

Ok, so if it isn’t bad enough for Killboy that he owns Gallardo and Liriano, I was perusing match-ups tonight and came across his pitching for the night. I see Ryan Dempster’s ERA at 189.00 and WHIP at 24.00.
HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!?!!?
Shazam that has to be a record. I have never seen anything like that before in fantasy baseball. It’s the craziest thing I’ve seen since I had Clinton Portis go off for 200+ yards and 5 TDs! Mind-boggling.

Anyway, here’s what else I saw:

That's right, Jesse does love you.

The Bats:
Ben Zobrist – 7/10, 5 R, 2 HR, 10 RBI, SB…If you can believe it, Jesse did NOT have him on his bench. Simply one of the best fantasy game(s) you could ask for. He more than filled the box score in game one alone.

Ian Desmond – 2/4, 2 R, HR, RBI…New daddy belts a homer and raises his average to .220! Makin’ baby proud!

Elvis Andrus – 2/4, R, 3 SB…Now up to 7 SB and is on pace for 40+. Still, I was hoping for 50 this year. Andrus stinks.

Travis Snider – 1/4, K…Batting .184 this year will not cut it for the greatest team in baseball. It gets you sent to AAA.

Fantasy MLB Spot Starting: 04.29.11

In writing this article, I find most enjoyment in my Deep League Special pick.  It’s what we fantasy baseball geeks really love, digging deep for the sleeper, the high upside.  Last night, my sleeper pick, Bartolo Colon was the toast of baseball as he dazzled the White Sox over 8 very strong innings picking up his second straight win.  Tons of guys on the waiver wire to be had for Friday’s starts, grab one to help you win your match up or pad your stats.

For games on Friday April 29th these selected pitchers might be had in your league (less than 50% owned in Yahoo! or ESPN) with percent owned Yahoo/ESPN, (team), and opponent:

Javier Vazquez 34% / 4% (FLA) @ CIN

Scott Baker 33% / 25% (MIN) @ KC (Start was pushed back from Thursday)

Clayton Richard 28% / 4% (SD) @ LAD

Travis Wood 27% / 51% (CIN) vs. FLA

Kevin Correia 23% / 24% (PIT) @ COL

Daisuke Matsuzaka 22% / 16% (BOS) vs. SEA

Bruce Chen 15% / 17% (KC) vs. MIN

Freddy Garcia 11% / 12% (NYY) vs. TOR

Mike Pelfrey 7% / 1% (NYM) @ PHL

Joe Blanton 4% / 2% (PHL) vs. NYM

Jason Marquis 3% / 3% (WAS) vs. SF

Jake Arrieta 2% / 1% (BAL) @ CWS

Armando Galarrago 2% / 2% (ARI) vs. CHC

My Pick: Daisuke Matsuzaka vs. Mariners

Yesterday’s Pick (pushed up to today): Scott Baker @ Royals

Deep League Special: Freddy Garcia vs. Jays

04.27.11 Box Score Breakdown: Fantasy MLB News and Notes

The Bats:
Joey Votto – 2/4, R, HR, 4 RBI, 2 BB…Just another day at the ballpark.

Drew Stubbs – 2/5, 3 R, HR, RBI, BB…Walks up, Ks down and less streakiness for this “September Star”.

Jeff Francoeur – 2/4, R, HR, RBI…Frenchy continues to rake and the only noticeable change in his peripherals is that he’s hitting a lot more ground balls than ever before. Uhm, regression is coming.

Fantasy MLB Spot Starting: 04.28.11

Well, after 5 straight quality start picks we were due for a clunker and boy did we get one from Brandon McCarthy last night.  Let’s hope Anibal Sanchez stops the bleeding tonight and that we pick a gem for tomorrow and we have some of our favorite options going.

For games on Thursday April 28th these selected pitchers might be had in your league (less than 50% owned in Yahoo! or ESPN) with percent owned Yahoo/ESPN, (team), and opponent:

Kyle McClellan 43% / 42% (StL) @ HOU

Scott Baker 28% / 10% (MIN) vs. TB

Fausto Carmona 18% / 8% (CLE) vs. KC

Livan Hernandez 7% / 6% (WAS) vs. NYM

Jeff Niemann 5% / 1% (TB) @ MIN

Brad Penny 3% / 1% (DET) vs. SEA

Chris Capuano 2% / 0.1% (NYM) @ WAS

My Pick: Scott Baker vs. Rays

Alternate: Kyle McClellan vs. Astros

Deep League Special: Chris Capuano vs. Nationals

Last Night’s 4th and Home Show

Did you miss The 4th and Home Show last night? No problem, listen to it NOW and hear Ryan Hallam from FantasyAlarm.com and Sirius/XM Radio with a special offer from his site just for 4th and Home listeners!

Don’t forget, you have until Noon to register for the free Gary Carter autographed 8×10. Don’t know how to get it? Tune in!