2012 Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Advice & Analysis
 Mike Stanton, FLA, 46% owned 5 R / 4 HR / 8 RBI / .583 A big week from a big guy. We've been waiting to see exactly what kind of damage Stanton can do in the majors and owners have tasted blood. Back to back to back games with homers and a six game hitting streak, should bump Stanton over 50% ownership by mid-week. Michael Brantley, CLE, 8% owned 7 R / 2 HR / 6 RBI / 2 SB / .375 Third times the charm. After struggling the first two call-ups, Brantley seems to have gotten it right. He's raised his average 33 points since the August 6th call-up. The talent has always been there and with even less pressure towards the end of the season for the Indians, Brantley should be here to stay. J.D. Drew, BOS, 41% owned 5 R / 4 HR / 6 RBI / 1 SB / .333 It's been a relatively slow season for Drew, partially due to the fact that half the Red Sox offense has been injured at one point or another. This week though, has awakened the giant and Drew has homered in three games. He's got a six game hitting streak too. Ryan Raburn, DET, 6% owned 4 R / 3 HR / 5 RBI / 1 SB / .400 Utility man out the Wazoo, Detroit is realizing how valuable Raburn can be. He has homered in three of the last four and had five multi-hits in the seven. From Jackson to Boesch and now to Raburn, Detroit has a bright future. Jeremy Hellickson, TB, 40% owned 13 IP, 2 W, 12 K, 0.69 ERA, 0.54 WHIP We knew he was going to be good, but wow! The Tampa Bay rookie is the first in team history to win his first three and it looks like more good things are to come. Three earned runs in 20 innings is sweet but even more impressive is Hellickson's .60 WHIP and .136 BAA. R.A. Dickey, NYM, 37% owned 9 IP, 1 W, 7 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.22 WHIP The knuckleballer is having a season to remember. Friday's game against Philadelphia was utter dominance, bouncing back from poor outing against Philly as well and throwing a complete game one-hitter. Dickey has never looked anywhere this good in his eight year career and I can't imagine it carrying into next year, but ride it while you can. Mike Rzepczynski, TOR, 1% owned 7 IP, 1 W, 6 K, 0.00 ERA, 0.29 WHIP Rzepczynski is a spell checker's worst nightmare. Filling in for Brandon Morrow to give him a little extra rest, Mike apparently thought he had to pitch just as well as him too. Seven innings of two-hit ball against Los Angeles proved he belongs with the already strong Toronto rotation. He pitches again this Wed against Oakland and should be a solid start. Written by Evan Marx exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. Evan will be sexting himself while his girlfriend is away on business. Is that weird? Who will you be picking up for the playoffs? Leave a comment and let us know, or reply to us on twitter @TheFantasyFix Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball Advice, Fantasy Baseball Blog, Fantasy Sports Blog, Must or Bust, Mike Stanton, Michael Brantley, J.D. Drew, Ryan Raburn, Jeremy Hellickson, R.A. Dickey, Mike Rzepczynski, Florida Marlins, Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, New York Mets, Toronto Blue Jays Add Comment  Brandon Morrow salutes the crowd Sunday Today, Toronto Blue Jay Brandon Morrow arguably pitched the strongest outing of the year, let alone one of the finest in history. Morrow went 8 2/3 before surrendering a single to Evan Longoria. In only 136 pitches (93 for strikes), he gave up 1 hit and two walks. Oh yeah, then there was the 17 strikeouts, the most in a game since Johan Santana had 17 in 2006. Morrow, the first round pick of the Mariners in 2006 never found his footing in Seattle. The most one could have said, was that the young gun could strike people out (204 K in 196.5 IP). Seattle in fact only started using Morrow as a starter towards the end of last year. We got a small glimpse at how good he could be in the last game of last year with an eight inning, one-hitter and 9 K's against Oakland. Brandon certainly has had some ups and downs this season (13 quality starts out of 22), but more than not has shown us what he can do. Although this was the first game this year that he had more than 10 strikeouts in a game, Morrow has had seven games of eight strikeouts and three games with nine. Including tonight's game Brandon is leading the league, averaging 10.69 Ks per nine. It appears that Morrow is really hitting his stride now and has won four straight. Yes, his season ERA is high at 4.46 but after tonight I'd say Morrow has turned a huge corner and could be part of the elite for years to come, or at the very least a feared strikeout artist. As of this morning, Morrow was only owned in around 30% of leagues and that number will probably jump to around 40% by tomorrow. Comparatively, Max Scherzer of the Tigers is owned at around 60% and has similar numbers for the year so before you know it, Morrow will be gone in 2/3 of the leagues as well. Written by Evan Marx exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. Evan stares at goats but nothing ever happens. Check back daily for more poor humor. Do you think Morrow will be a top ten pitcher by next year? Leave a comment and let us know, or reply to us on twitter @TheFantasyFix Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball Advice, Fantasy Baseball Blog, Fantasy Sports Blog, Brandon Morrow, Evan Longoria, Johan Santana, Max Scherzer, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays, Detroit Tigers  Phillies Ryan Howard sprained his left ankle against the Nationals Tuesday While 2010 has been the year of the pitcher, it's also becoming the year of the injury. The Philadelphia Phillies placed slugging giant Ryan Howard on the DL today to the dismay of many fantasy baseball owners. He joins the ever growing list of injured All-Stars including teammate Chase Utley, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Troy Tulowitzski, Ian Kinsler, Justin Morneau and Jason Bay to name a few (trust me there's plenty more). Although scans were negative on his ankle, he will still be out for at least two weeks. So who do you pick up to pick up the slack? Lets take a look… Exactly what will you be missing from Ryan Howard? You will be missing a bat forged by Zeus himself! (doesn't Zeus have better things to do than making baseball bats?) Season: 65 R / 23 HR / 81 RBI / 1 SB / .292 Last Month - 13 R / 8 HR / 23 RBI / 1 SB / .280 Here are some options from 50% owned all the way down to 5% Adam LaRoche (50% owned) Season: 52 R / 16 HR / 70 RBI / .254 Last Month - 11 R / 4 HR / 17 RBI / .264 LaRoche is the closest you can get to Howard's 81 RBIs for someone only owned in half the leagues. He will easily surpass his career RBI total and even has a shot at runs. Adam is striking out a lot (very Howard'esque) and OBP/SLG/OPS are all lower than his career averages. Nonetheless, a very fine replacement. Luke Scott (40% owned) Season: 44 R / 18 HR / 43 RBI / 1 SB / .282 Last Month - 9 R / 6 HR / 13 RBI / .315 Scott hasn't been Luke warm, he's been red hot recently. OPS is equal to Howard and actually slugging is 28 points higher! A very respectable .282 average too. Imagine how many RBI's he'd have playing on a good team. Gaby Sanchez (31% owned) Season: 49 R / 12 HR / 49 RBI / 4 SB / .288 Last Month - 8 R / 3 HR / 11 RBI / 1 SB / .227 Even hitting .227 in the last month, Sanchez is still close to .290 for the year. The rookie has power and has been a nice surprise since the beginning of the season. Ike Davis (21% owned) Season: 50 R / 15 HR / 53 RBI / 1 SB / .249 Last Month - 11 R / 6 HR / 17 RBI / .215 Oh if Ike could only hit more than one out of every four. Not only is Davis a good pickup, he will be a great option for keeper leagues. Only negative to Davis right now, is that the whole Mets team can't score for their lives. Lyle Overbay (5% owned) Season: 51 R / 12 HR / 40 RBI / 1 SB / .249 Last Month - 14 R / 5 HR / 12 RBI / .287 The season numbers aren't great but he's had a solid last month and one can only hope that he keeps it up in August. Article by Evan Marx exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com Evan says NO to drugs, helps little old ladies cross the street, reads to the blind and still somehow has time to write articles. What did you do today? Who are you picking up? Leave a comment at the top or hit us up on Twitter @TheFantasyFix Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball Advice, Fantasy Baseball Blog, Waiver Wire, Injury, Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Troy Tulowitzski, Ian Kinsler, Justin Morneau, Jason Bay, Adam LaRoche, Luke Scott, Gaby Sanchez, Ike Davis, Lyle Overbay, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Colorado Rockies, Texas Rangers, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Arizona Diamondbacks, Baltimore Orioles, Florida Marlins, Toronto Blue Jays What a rough year for second basemen! As if fantasy owners didn't have enough trouble working around Chase Utley, Dustin Pedroia and Ian Kinsler injuries – now Martin Prado, one of the best run producers goes down with a broken knuckle on his pinkie. So assuming you were playing Prado at second and not third, who are the waiver wire options to replace all those wonderful runs and sweet batting average? Let's take a look…  1. Gordon Beckham, CWS - 60% owned Year: 43 R / 5 HR / 33 RBI / 4 SB / .245 Last Month: 12 R / 3 HR / 13 RBI / .359 People have been waiting for Beckham to break out of his shell all season long and it looks like he is slowly getting there. The past month has shown he can hit for power and average too. Yes, his ownership is high at 60%, so he is only available in smaller leagues - but this is the guy you want the most right now. 2. Neil Walker, PIT, 18% owned Year: 26 R / 5 HR / 27 RBI / 2 SB / .301 Last Month: 11 R / 2 HR / 14 RBI / .309 Walker is having an amazing rookie season. One thing is for sure, he can hit. In 52 games since being called up, 18 have been multi-hit games. From the stats right now, if Walker were to play a full season, he would end up with around 15 homers, 80 runs and 80 RBIs. 3. Alberto Callaspo, LAA - 47% owned Year: 44 R / 8 HR / 47 RBI / 3 SB / .277 Last Month: 7 R / 1 HR / 11 RBI / .292 In 2009, Alberto rigged up 79 runs and 73 RBIs. This year he is on pace for similar numbers and has a chance to surpass those now that he has joined a team that can actually score runs and win. 4. Ryan Theriot, LAD - 58% owned Year: 45 R / 1 HR / 21 RBI / 16 SB / .281 Last Month: 8 R / 1 HR / 4 RBI / 1 SB / .289 Theriot brings something to the table that none of these other guys do, speed. Sixteen stolen bases so far and a very good chance to steal 25 plus. He's hitting right around his lifetime average of .287, so no worries there. 5. Jeff Keppinger, HOU - 22% owned Year: 43 R / 5 HR / 36 R / 3 SB / .291 Last Month: 13 R / 4 HR / 8 RBI / 1 SB / .350 For the first time in his career, Keppinger is actually getting a chance to play a full season. The season numbers aren't jaw-dropping but he batting .291 and has been hot, hot, hot the past month! 6. Ian Desmond, WAS, 14% owned Year: 38 R / 7 HR / 45 RBI / 9 SB / .257 Last Month: 11 R / 6 HR / 18 RBI / .282 In his second season, Desmond has youth on his side. In the past six games, three have been multi-hits. Season numbers are pretty much on par with Hairston. 7. Jerry Hairston, Jr., SD - 12% owned Year: 41 R / 7 HR / 42 RBI / 8 SB / .251 Last Month: 15 R / 2 HR / 12 RBI / 3 SB / .277 The man of a million teams and positions, Hairston had the sixth most runs for a second baseman this past month. Jerry is on his way to have his best season ever, mostly because he usually only gets 200-300 total at bats in a whole season. He is currently on a five-game hitting streak. 8. Skip Schumacher, STL - 19% owned Year: 47 R / 3 HR / 26 RBI / 5 SB / .259 Last Month: 8 R / 1 HR / 7 RBI / 1 SB / .259 Things haven't exactly gone Skippy's way this year, but there's no denying that he can hit for average and score runs. The past two years he has averaged 86 runs and batted .303. 9. Sean Rodriguez, TAM, 10% owned Year: 36 R / 6 HR / 31 RBI / 7 SB / .259 Last Month: 8 R / 1 HR / 3 RBI / .246 Rodriguez had a 15-game hitting streak at the end of May and even had a spectacular week at the end of June (multi-hit games in six of seven), but has cooled off since. Currently, Sean is riding a five game streak, although all are one-hit games. 10. Christian Guzman, TEX - 32% owned Year: 44 R / 2 HR / 25 RBI / 4 SB / .276 Last Month: 8 R / 1 HR / 4 RBI / 1 SB / .206 Aquired from Washington, Guzman can hit for average and even has the ability to score around 80 runs in a season. Last month has been a poor showing of his talented bat, but hopefully the new team will inspire him. Article written by Evan Marx exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. That's right exclusively... I ain't no cheatin man. Who are you picking up to replace Prado? Leave a comment at the top or respond to us on Twitter! Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Sports Blog, Fantasy Baseball Advice, Injury, Fantasy Baseball, Martin Prado, Chase Utley, Dustin Pedroia, Ian Kinsler, Gordon Beckham, Neil Walker, Alberto Callaspo, Ryan Theriot, Jeff Keppinger, Ian Desmond, Jerry Hairston, Jr., Skip Schumacher, Sean Rodriguez, Christian Guzman, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Boston Red Sox, Texas Rangers, Chicago White Sox, Pittsburgh Pirates, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Houston Astros, Washington Nationals, San Diego Padres, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays  5 R / 1 HR / 4 RBI / 2 SB / .367 Torres has been Torrid in the past month. He's batting .317 with 23 R, Seven HR, and 20 RBI. Not to mention the five steals. From Huff to Posey to Torres, the Giants have some hot hitters as of late. Juan Pierre (43% owned) 7 R / 5 RBI / 4 SB / .440 In what world does the leader in stolen bases, only owned in less than half the leagues? (its a rhetorical question if you didn't figure that out). Pierre can hands down win you this category every week, so besides his low average he should be on your team. Danny Valencia (5% owned) 5 R / 1 HR / 7 RBI / .565 Since being called up and owning third base for Minnesota, Valencia has batted a sweet .384. Nicknamed "The Franchise", Valencia became the first Twins rookie this week to have back to back four-hit games. Chris Johnson (8% owned) 3 R / 2 HR / 5 RBI / 1 SB / .500 The hot bat of Johnson is on a 14-game hitting streak. His power has finally found its way into the majors too, hitting four homers in the past 11 games. Matt Joyce (1% owned) 3 R / 3 HR / 10 RBI / .261 It's hard not to join in the fun when playing for a good team. In the past fifteen games, Joyce has increased his average from .175 to .232. Raul Ibanez (59% owned) 5 R / 2 HR / 5 RBI / .435 Ibanez has been on the top of his game for the past four years so this year was a bit of a surprise to fantasy owners with a poor first half of play. He has picked up recently with a ten-game hitting streak and three homers in that span. At 59% owned, there is a chance Ibanez is on the waiver wire in lighter leagues.  HURLERS Anibal Sanchez (23% owned) 9 IP / 1 W / 8 K / 0.00 ERA / 0.22 WHIP In Thursdays game against the Giants, Sanchez was one walk and one hit away from a perfect game. This was Anibal's only win in the month of July for five starts though. Hopefully this will lead into a strong August. Kevin Slowey (57% owned) 14 IP / 2 W / 7 K / 0.64 ERA / 0.64 WHIP Total season numbers aren't anything to brag about but the past two games have been gems – although against two of the worst teams in the league, Baltimore and Seattle. One amazing stat though is that Slowey hasn't walked more than one batter in a game in the past 16 starts. R.A. Dickey (32% owned) 14 IP / 1 W / 8 K / 0.00 ERA / 0.57 WHIP Although Dickey has struggled to get a win in the past seven starts (1-4, 2 no decisions), his ERA is only a measly 2.33. At least we know its not Dickey's fault for the dreadful 9-17 record in July. Brett Myers (44% owned) 9 IP / 1 W / 12 K / 1.00 ERA / 0.56 WHIP Myers manhandled the Cubs, pitching a complete game four-hitter while striking out 12. Myers seems to like the heat and has dominated teams in July. In those five games Brett has a 1.69 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, and averaged 7.5 K/9. Josh Tomlin (3% owned) 12.1 IP / 1 W / 7 K / 1.46 ERA / 0.73 WHIP In his second career start, Tomlin picked right back up from where he started in his dominance over the Yankees. Josh has only allowed one run in both games. Now don't get too excited, Tomlin is in no way supposed to be this good. As of right now he is a lucky rookie, trying to make an impression but I do wonder how he amounted a 51-24 minor league record… Brad Mills (0% owned) 7 IP / 1 W / 4 K / 0.00 ERA / 0.71 WHIP In his first start of the season, Mills destroyed Baltimore (shocker!) and only gave up two hits over seven innings. I'd like to see him pitch well against a better team before deciding if he'll stay in the majors. Miguel Batista (0% owned) 7.1 IP / 1 W / 6 K / 0.00 ERA / 0.95 WHIP Reliever Miguel Batista had the honor to fill in for rookie phenom, Stephen Strasburg (jeez… no pressure or anything). Well fill in he did, pitching five innings of scoreless ball, allowing only three hits and striking out six. Unfortunately its only a nice story, seeing as how he has given up 25 runs in only 56 innings. Article written by Evan Marx exclusively for TheFantasyFix.com. That's right exclusively... I ain't no cheatin man. Think Valencia or Johnson are the real deal? Leave a comment at the top or respond to us on Twitter! Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Sports Blog, Fantasy Baseball Advice, Must or Bust, Week 18, Fantasy Baseball, Juan Pierre, Danny Valencia, Chris Johnson, Matt Joyce, Raul Ibanez, Andres Torres, Kevin Slowey, R.A. Dickey, Anibal Sanchez, Brett Myers, Josh Tomlin, Brad Mills, Miguel Batista, Chicago White Sox, Minnesota Twins, Houston Astros, Tampa Bay Rays, Philadelphia Phillies, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, Florida Marlins, Cleveland Indians, Toronto Blue Jays, Washington Nationals | CategoriesAll  ArchivesFebruary 2012 |
