Fantasy MLB Spot Starting: 06.17.11

Welcome back to Spot Starting.  We enter Inter League play this weekend so teams aren’t as familiar with the pitchers they face which is usually advantage to the pitcher.

Happy Father’s Day to all the fellow Dads out there.  It is my wish for you that you get to read your Sunday box scores in peace if just for one day.

For games on Saturday June 18th 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:

Brian Matusz  47% /  51% (BAL) @ WAS

Edinson Volquez 41% / 38% (CIN) vs. TOR

Scott Baker 40% / 27% (MIN) vs. SD

Tim Stauffer 39% / 13% (SD) @ MIN

Matt Harrison 32% / 14% (TEX) @ ATL

Randy Wolf 27% / 28% (MIL) @ BOS

Carlos Carrasco 11% / 6% (CLE) vs. PIT

Paul Maholm 8% / 5% (PIT) @ CLE

05.23.11 Fantasy Baseball Hot & Cold List

Have a player who’s playing out of his mind or drastically underachieving? Keep reading right here and get our advice on some of the hottest and coldest players in the majors.

HOT

Adrian Gonzalez

Last 7 games: .433 Avg, 5 R, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 0 SB

Call: Buy

Of course, I say don’t expect the average but love the power so he hits for a better average and has no pop. Seriously though, buy this guy if you have the chance.

05.22.11 Box Score Breakdown: Fantasy MLB News and Notes

Interleague play always bring interesting games. Like the Mets being up 3-1 and ready to take the series from the Yanks and then giving up an 8-run inning to lose the game (and series).

Ugh…onto it…

4th and Home Player of the Day: James Shields – SHO, 3 H, 13:1…Big Game James continues to dominate. This start was just nasty!

The Bats:
Asdrubal Cabrera – 5/5, 2 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI…Wow. He now has 9 HR on the season (most in his career) and is looking to break all of his past single-season records. Yeah, I told you he was juicing.

Michael Brantley – 3/4, 3 R, 2 RBI, SB…Guy continues to produce, mostly since we talked about him on the Show of course.

Joey Votto – 2/4, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI…Votto’s been absent for a bit from this piece, so it’s good to see him back. Batting .335 with 6 HR and 28 RBI.

Jay Bruce – 2/4, R, HR, RBI…If Jose Bautista did not exist, we’d be talking about Bruce. He has been ON FIRE. He’s now up to .271 with 11 HR and 27 RBI.

Alex Rodriguez – 4/5, R, RBI…Got the average back up to .284!

Curtis Granderson – 1/4, R, HR, RBI…Number 16. Unreal.

05.19.11 Box Score Breakdown: Fantasy MLB News and Notes

Madison Bumgarner JUST missed a SHO. He’d be on your team if you read my “September Star Series…

Onto it…

4th and Home Player of the Day: Jason Giambi– 3/5, 3 R, 3 HR, 7 RBI…So he juiced before the game I assume?

The Bats:
Jay Bruce – 3/4, 2 R, 2 HR, 2 RBI…Bruce is starting to heat up as he’s now batting .333 for the past week.

Justin Morneau – 3/5, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI…Morneau with a nice night to help his disappointing season.

Trevor Plouffe – 1/5, R, HR, 3 RBI…Ok, ok. It’s about time I talk about the Rook. Through nine games he’s batting .286 with 2 HR and 8 RBI.

Howie Kendrick – 3/4, R, HR, RBI…Been quiet lately, but now hitting .322 with 7 HR and 18 RBI.

Allen Craig – 3/4, 2 R, HR, RBI…Holliday-esque in his start!

05.16.11 Fantasy Baseball Hot & Cold List

Have a player who’s playing out of his mind or drastically underachieving? Keep reading right here and get our advice on some of the hottest and coldest players in the majors.

HOT

Adrian Gonzalez

Last 7 games: .387 Avg, 9 R, 6 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB

Call: Buy

Now don’t expect Adrian (I call him that because we are tight) to hit for this kind of average all year, but the power is legit. He’s back on track for a 40 homer season which looks about right with some line up protection for Gonzalez.

05.09.11 Fantasy Baseball Hot & Cold List

Have a player who’s playing out of his mind or drastically underachieving? Keep reading right here and get our advice on some of the hottest and coldest players in the majors.

HOT

Jose Reyes

Last 7 games: .419 Avg, 3 R, 0 HR, 5 RBI, 4 SB

Call: Buy

A new Jose sits atop the list this week! While the out of his mind batting average won’t continue, the steals will and he should generate some solid run production. If he stays healthy, he should have been a value pick in the draft.

05.02.11 Fantasy Baseball Hot & Cold List

Have a player who’s playing out of his mind or drastically underachieving? Keep reading right here and get our advice on some of the hottest and coldest players in the majors.

HOT

Jose Bautista

Last 7 games: .350 Avg, 6 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 2 SB

Call: Buy

Repeat performer here on hot and cold. I may not be a fan, but the man is putting up stats! If you’re a lucky owner, hold on and enjoy the production.

04.25.11 Fantasy Baseball Hot & Cold List

Back again this week with the Top 3 hot and cold baseball players from around the major leagues. Take our advice and dominate your league!

HOT

Jose Bautista

Last 7 games: .400 Avg, 10 R, 4 HR, 4 RBI, 0 SB

Call: Buy

So I wasn’t a supporter of Mr. Bautista heading into the season. I still don’t think he’ll ever come close to last year’s home run totals again, but apparently he has found a way to remain a power hitter at this stage of his career. He won’t hit .400 for many stretches, but the power seems legit.

04.18.11 Fantasy Baseball Hot & Cold List

Every Monday we will be bringing you the Top 3 hot and cold baseball players from around the major leagues. The twist, I’ll also be providing a buy or sell recommendation on the cold players to help you decide if this is a guy to target in a trade offer or someone you should cut if they’re clogging a bench spot, while on the other side giving you the sign on whether to sell high or buy the continued dominance.

For the last week, here are your Hot & Cold recommendations:

HOT

Lance Berkman

Last 7 games: .357 Avg, 9 R, 6 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB

Call: Sell

In the “I told you so” section falls Lance Berkman. Yes he went 0 fer in his last game, but this guy has been hot. Only a matter of time until a stint on the bench with the rigors of playing OF and his numbers have nowhere to go but down from here, sell high.

2011 Fantasy Baseball Hot & Cold W/E 4-10

Every Monday we will be bringing you the Top 3 hot and cold baseball players from around the major leagues. The twist, I’ll also be providing a buy or sell recommendation on the cold players to help you decide if this is a guy to target in a trade offer or someone you should cut if they’re clogging a bench spot, while on the other side giving you the sign on whether to sell high or buy the continued dominance.

For the last week, here are your Hot & Cold recommendations:

HOT

Paul Konerko

Last 7 games: .393 Avg, 5 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB

Call: Sell

Konerko will get you around 30 home runs and 100 RBI, but if an owner in your league is seeing over 40 homers and a .300+ batting average, sell high.