Friday Wrapup: Kicking Off The Weekend

Ryan Theriot - He's a nice guy to have stashed on your bench as a backup middle infielder. He's eligible at both 2B and SS, at least in Yahoo, and he's a SB threat. Given he usually hits 2nd, he's valuable in both Rs and SBs. He doesn't have any power, but his AVG should remain decent as well.

Matt Morris - 6 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 3 K. I don't know how he's doing it (the .245 BAA is a big reason why), but he's been a fine starter all year long. Like I said before, his stuff isn't the same anymore as evidenced by his K rate (35 Ks in 74 1/3 IP), but he's sporting a 2.66 ERA with a solid 1.26 WHIP. He could remain in the mid 3's all year, so he's not a bad back-end starter. His ERA doesn't match his WHIP, and with his low K rate, he's still due for a rough stretch sooner than later though.

Barry Bonds - He had a brutal May, hitting .194 with only 4 HRs and 8 RBIs. He should heat up soon enough as he still remains too good a hitter to completely fall off the boat.

Jake Peavy - 7 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 Ks. Who would have thought that his worst start in over a month would be against the lowly Nationals? Good ole baseball...nobody can figure it out. Regardless though, he still turned in yet another quality start despite all the baserunners and remains as good of a pitcher as there is in fantasy.

Russell Martin - 3rd straight game with a HR, jacking his 6th last night. He's the best catcher in fantasy baseball right now given he has a big stolen base advantage over Victor Martinez, and Joe Mauer remains on the DL.

Jason Bay - Remember when I hated Jason Bay? Now I love him. Went deep for the 9th time on the season last night, so his power pace is almost back where it should be. Small 8 game hitting streak, including 6 multi-hit games and 4 HRs while raising his average 36 points to .314.

Randy Wolf - 5 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Much like Peavy, Wolf turned in his worst start in over a month against a very lowly offense. Should be nothing to worry about as he was due to struggle in an outing.

Robinson Cano - He's 6 for his last 8, including a HR and 3 doubles. Perhaps he's ready to start hitting like his owners thought he should. If he was dropped in your league, pick him up if you need 2B help, especially if you're a Weeks owner. Cano has hit .297 and .342 the last two years, and given he's only 24 years old, he has nowhere to go but up from his current .269 AVG.

Manny Ramirez - He's raised his average 39 points over the past 10 days with 17 hits, but 7 XBH and 1 HR mixed in. Given he's seeing the ball better, I imagine the power will follow.

Placido Polanco - The .340 AVG is nice, but with only 1 HR and 2 SBs, he's not helping your team that much unless you have plenty of power and speed around him. Keep that in mind if you have him, and perhaps someone will overpay for his production in a trade.

Jhonny Peralta - Blasted his 11th HR last season, and with the 3 hits, he boosted his AVG to a cool .300. He has definitely been one of baseball's best bounceback performers this year, like I predicted before the season started. Bigtime draft day value at a power-shallow position.

Fausto Carmona - 6 IP, 10 H, 5 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. From the statline, it looks like he had great control, but missed way too much within the strikezone. He was due for a rough outing, and predictably it came against a tough offense (DET).

Javier Vazquez - 8 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. A slightly more refined Daniel Cabrera is the best way to describe Vazquez. He'll dazzle you with outings like this against a bigtime offense in Toronto, and then coming back and getting bombed by a team like KC. His 56 : 18 K : BB ratio is excellent in 66 IP, and his WHIP remains a very solid 1.12. I just don't think he'll ever post a sub 4 ERA in the AL with his random blowups. He's definitely improved over last year though.

A.J. Burnett - 7 1/3 IP, 6 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 12 Ks. Another outstanding outing by Burnett. He threw 117 pitches last night, giving him 242 pitches over his last two outings. It's a bit of a concern, but only if it continues. He was abused during his breakout season in Florida, so let's hope Toronto manager John Gibbons doesn't do it again.

Brandon Webb - 8 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 Ks. Hope you didn't bench him last night given he was hit hard by the Mets the first time he faced him. Big difference in the lineup last night as David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Moises Alou were all out hurt. Still, it qualifies as another step in the right direction as Webb continues to pitch well against teams not named the Rockies.

John Maine - 6 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 7 K. Nice to see Maine put together an outing that didn't involve a walk. Still, even with only 5 hits and 0 walks, he only managed to get through 6 IP, suggesting he still wasn't pitching efficiently. Regardless, after 2 months of this, it appears he's here to stay as a very good fantasy starter.

Scott Kazmir - 7 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 7 K. Not the line owners wanted to see against the lowly Royals, despite it being a quality start. His year is shaping up almost identically to his debut in 2005 than his breakthrough season in 2006. His hits allowed and walks are driving his WHIP way up at 1.44 even though his K rate remains very strong at 71 Ks in 73 IP. I have to think he'll get it straightened out, so if you can acquire him for his current 2007 value, there's definite upside to acquiring him.

Octavio Dotel - Picked up his first save since returning the closer's role with a scoreless 9th, although he did walk 2 while K'ing one. He's always been an elite setup man, but he's been a less-than-elite closer when pitching in that role. As long as he stays healthy, he should be a middle-of-the-road closer with lots of Ks.

Roy Oswalt - 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Back to form, although his offense let him down as he didn't register a win.

Adam Wainwright - 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 6 K. The 4 walks are of concern, but this is the 3rd straight outing in the right direction for the youngster. He was drafted as a back-rotation candidate in many leagues this offseason, but has definitely been dropped since then. He's worth keeping an eye on.

Hunter Pence - He's was moved from the 5th spot to the 2nd spot last night, but I'm not sure if that's a permanent change. It doesn't change his fantasy value much because he'll score plenty of runs batting ahead of Berkman/Lee instead of driving those guys home. His Rs will go up and his RBIs will go down if the switch sticks. He stole a base last night, so hopefully it won't cut into the impact he's making in the SB department since he'll be on base with more important hitters up.

Hanley Ramirez - Another lineup change to touch on here. It looks like he's settled into the #3 hole, and as long as that doesn't cut back on his SBs, he should be even more valuable in this role. He'll have more RBI opportunities here, and he'll still score plenty of Rs ahead of Cabrera and Willingham.

Francisco Cordero - Gotta love those save opportunities created in the middle of the 9th inning. 1 batter faced, 1 K, 1 save. Nice.

Willy Taveras - Looks like he's offically being platooned. He's a valuable asset in a league where you can afford to platoon players, as he's hitting .322 with 13 SBs and 29 Rs. Just make sure to only play him against righties, as he often takes a seat against lefties. Given he's hitting .351 against lefties (granted in only 37 AB), I'm not sure why.

David Weathers - 1 1/3 IP last night of scoreless baseball, only allowing 1 hit. It looks like he's settled in nicely as he puts his 6 ER blowup behind him.

John Lackey - 7 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 4 K. Another quality outing for Lackey as his ERA sits at a minscule 2.37.

Daniel Cabrera - 6 2/3 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 4 BB, 5 K. He's still putting on tons of baserunners as the Hs and BBs suggest, so he's still not pitching very well. I hold out hope that he'll get it eventually, but leave him on the waiver wire until that happens. He might need a new organization and a new pitching coach at this point.

Kevin Slowey - 6 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 3 K. Very solid debut outing for the rookie. He's a talented youngster who sported an amazing 1.54 ERA and 57:5 K:BB ratio in 64 1/3 IP in AAA. He's a bigtime control pitcher whose stuff doesn't translate to a high K rate in the majors, but if he continues to show great control, he should be an asset in ratios and Ws in his first season. His upside is what Jeremy Sowers produced last year, or he could be another Scott Baker. He was picked up before his official callup in both my leagues, but unless your staff is in big trouble, I'd make him prove himself before adding him.

Eric Chavez - Hit a HR for the 2nd time in 4 games last night, but thanks to all the injuries he's endured, he'll never produce the .300/40 HR/120 RBI season many expected him to reach at some point. In my opinion, he shouldn't be rostered in a 12 team league right now, despite the name recognition. At best, he shouldn't be close to your starting lineup.

Mark Teixeira - Took a ball in the eye last night and suffered a concussion. Doesn't appear to be a big deal, but he's rumored to be out for today and possibly the weekend. He should be back early next week at the latest.

Eric Gagne - Despite not having the same stuff he did prior to the recent arm surgeries, he's still posting a great season so far, going 1-0 with a 0.75 ERA, 0.92 WHIP, and 11 Ks in 12 IP while saving 4 games. It looks like he'll still be an elite closer when healthy, and now would be a great time to swing a small deal for Otsuka to make sure you have the Ranger's bullpen situation set on your team.