Fantasy Baseball

Can we just give Miguel Cabrera all three stars? It was certainly a special night for Cabrera, who went 4-for-4 with three homers, five RBIs, four runs and an intentional walk. Read more Miguel Cabrera news

Cubs pitcher Scott Feldman is having a breakout season, but isn't doing anything drastically different. Feldman is utilizing the same four-pitch mix he's always used. Aside from throwing his changeup less, Feldman's using most of his pitches at the same rate as well [...] Read more Scott Feldman news

Gordon Beckham (hand) tallied three hits Sunday in his second rehab game with Triple-A Charlotte. Beckham went 2-for-4 on Saturday in his rehab debut and is looking ready to rejoin the White Sox. [...] Read more Gordon Beckham news

John Danks (shoulder) went 4 2/3 innings Saturday in his third minor league rehab start. If everything checks out with the left-hander early this week, he should be cleared to join the White Sox starting rotation on Friday night against the Marlins. [...] Read more John Danks news

These prospects have moved up in our composite rankings recently: Jurickson Profar (#1)... Jake Odorizzi (#42)... Michael Wacha (#56)... Gregory Polanco (#85)... Avisail Garcia (#93)... Cesar Hernandez (#275)... Chris McGuiness (#280)... Asher Wojciechowski (#282)... Michael Foltynewicz (#283)... Luke Jackson (#323)... Anthony Ranaudo (#343)... Jonathan Griffin (#388)... Vincent Velasquez (#433)... Danny Otero (#450)... Carlos Contreras (#465)... Ramon Cabrera (#540)... Carson Smith (#542)... Alex Wilson (#548)... Michael Olmsted (#558)... Taylor Thompson (#602)... Josh Phegley (#612)... Robert Benincasa (#642)... Danny Farquhar (#711)... Alec Asher (#720)... Andrew Lockett (#741)... See our detailed prospect rankings for more info. (5/20/2013)

These prospects have moved down in our composite rankings recently: None. See our detailed prospect rankings for more info. (5/20/2013)

Ubaldo Jimenez - 5 IP, 7 hits, 2 ER, 2 walks, 9 Ks, NDPhil Hughes - I don't want to talk about itJeff Locke - 13 IP, 10 hits, 3 ER, 3 walks, 10 Ks, WINBrandon McCarthy - Complete Game Shutout, 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 Ks, WINKevin Slowey - 3 IP, 7 hits, 6 ER, 1 walk, 1 K, LOSSLyle Overbay - 6-21, 4 RBI, 1 runTravis Hafner - 1-7, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 run - shoulder injuryLucas Duda - 4-24, 2 RBI, 1 runWeek Eight Starting Pitcher Read more Brandon McCarthy news

It’s easy to make buy low and sell high calls. Anyone could compare a player’s current season ranking with his preseason and blindly advise fantasy owners to acquire or trade away said player. While that advice sometimes does have value, perhaps more beneficial is identifying players you should not attempt to buy at a discount or trade away at an assumed profit. That is why we sometimes have the “Not a Sleeper, Not a Bust” segment on The Sleeper and the Bust podcast, as we highlight players who should not be purchased at a discount (and are therefore Not a Sleeper) or sold high (and are therefore Not a Bust). So sticking with the Not a Sleeper theme, this is why I am not buying B.J. Upton. First off is the caveat — of course any player of Upton’s preseason dollar value range should be acquired if the price is right. If he was dropped in your league and it’s not like a 6-teamer or shallower, then pick him up immediately! But assuming your league is of at least average competitiveness, he’s not going to be a free agent and it’s unlikely his owner is giving him away for a player you both expect to earn $5 the rest of the way. My CBS league tells me that the site ranked Upton 114th in the preseason (which actually seems quite undervalued) and that he currently ranks 689. And that ranking is not due to missed time from an injury. He’s hitting .145 and is on a pace for just 11 home runs, 23 (!!) runs batted in, 39 (!!) runs, and 11 steals (with 11 caught stealings). Yeah, he’s been absolutely horrific. It’s also easy to point to a career worst K% (33.8% versus career average of 25.4%) and an atrocious .094 ISO as reasons not to bother with Upton at this point. Buy then the buy low in me looks at the .205 BABIP (of course, with a .145 batting average, his BABIP couldn’t possibly be anywhere close to his career average) and think there has to be some sort of dead cat bounce. Then the pessimistic side screams about Upton’s ridiculous 31% IFFB%, which actually kinda justifies that sad BABIP. Anyhow, none of those statistical explanations relate to why I ain’t touching Upton. There are actually two non-statistical reasons, but are affected of course by his performance. They are thus: 1) Lineup Slot On opening day, Upton started off in the number five hole, which was a pretty strong spot in a formidable Braves lineup. He would be expected to have strong RBI opportunities behind solid OBP guys in Jason Heyward, his bro Justin Upton, and Freddie Freeman. Plus, the deep Braves lineup would provide some additional power bats behind him with Dan Uggla and their third base platoon partners, which would lead to a solid runs scored total. After a slow start by Andrelton Simmons, Fredi Gonzalez, ever the tinkerer, moved him into the leadoff spot, dropping Simmons toward the bottom of the order. But all this time and no matter which spot in the order he was slotted into, Upton didn’t hit. Finally, towards the end of April, he was dropped to the seven hole. Aside from three random games when he hit leadoff again or from the two spot, he had hit seventh in every other game until last Wednesday when he batted sixth. But then in his last two games, he was dropped as far as he could be, into the dreaded eighth spot right in front of the pitcher. This is significant. When we project, rank and draft/purchase fantasy players for our teams, we do so with the underlying assumption that they will hit in a certain position in the lineup. Obviously, a hitter expected to bat cleanup is not going to knock in as many runs if he was instead slotted into the eighth spot. So all of our counting stat expectations need to be adjusted downward when a hitter gets dropped in the order. The problem now is that the Braves lineup is quite good. Heyward, Upton and Freeman in the 2, 3 and 4 slots aren’t going anywhere. Brian McCann looks clearly healthy again and when he&

Vic Black is the heir apparent to the closer’s job in Pittsburgh. The 24-year-old right-hander won’t be replacing Jason Grilli in the near future, but he may be joining Grilli in the Pirates’ bullpen. Four years after being drafted 49th overall out of Dallas Baptist University, Black looks close to big-league ready. Black cooks with gas: His fastball sits in the mid-to-high 90s and touches triple digits. His slider can be overpowering. Last season, at Double-A Altoona, he logged an Eastern League-best 12.8 strikeouts per nine innings. This year, with Triple-A Indianapolis, his K-rate is 12.5 — and he has almost as many saves [11] as hits allowed [14]. Black talked about his power repertoire this past weekend on a visit to McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I. —— Black on adapting to Triple-A: “My approach is the same, it’s just become more refined. It has to be. The hitters are better — their selectivity is better — so the sequences from me and my catcher have to be better. Being on the same page with Tony [Sanchez] or Lucas [May] is a big deal because there’s no room for missed pitches. “The situations are also different. Last year I was throwing strictly one inning. A few days ago, I had a one-and-two-thirds-inning save. I came in with the tying run on first, in the eighth inning, which is a different animal for me. “My key right now is commanding the inner and outer parts of the plate with my four-seam. I’ve been better with that this year, especially of late. Then I need to throw my breaking ball in the zone, as well as in the dirt. Last year I could get away with just throwing it in the dirt, because guys were afraid to get beat by my fastball. They needed to be on time, so they’d see the same thing out of my hand and cheat. They’d chase. But this year they’re watching it bounce, so I need to throw it in the zone more often. That’s probably been the biggest change for me, development-wise.” On his two-pitch repertoire and velocity: “I feel I have two pretty good options. I can go fastball and I can go slider, and that shortens my thought process. As a short-inning reliever, I don’t want to start thinking about too many ways to get a guy out. “In my last outing, against Buffalo, I was 97-99 [mph]. “The velocity is coming earlier this year. When you saw me in Portland last year, it was toward the end of the season and that’s when I was starting to throw that hard consistently. Throwing hard this early tells me my mechanics and timing are becoming more sound. “I think velocity is a big deal. It gives you an extra addition. To me, 98 is another pitch. You don’t really need to locate it a lot. There are times — like early in the count — when you can get away with rearing back and throwing it down the middle. It’s like, ‘Go ahead and swing and we’ll see if you‘ve got it; if you don’t, I’ll throw it again.’” On his fastball as four different pitches; “The other night I struck out Moises Sierra on a 2-2 high fastball that Tony called. It’s not something we’ve done a lot of. Sometimes I miss up, just because my arm angle is over the top and I’ll get guys to chase by accident. But there have been a few times this year we’ve gone up intentionally and guys have chased. We’ve gotten [pitches] fouled off and we’ve gotten swing-throughs. That, in itself, is another pitch. “I think a four-seam can be four different pitches. You’ve got down-angle, you have in, you have out and you have down-angle up. As long as my hand is on top of the ball, I have angle. Even if it’s up, it’s still coming down.” On Jason Grilli and the Pirates’ bullpen: “I talked to him a little bit in spring training — Mark Melancon, too — more or less discussing where they came from. Grilli has an interesting background. To see what he’s gone through, and the way he’s persevered and stuck to what he knew…. I was reading the other night how he was in Lehigh Valley in 2011, striking guys out, and he was

Week Seven Results Ubaldo Jimenez - 5 IP, 7 hits, 2 ER, 2 walks, 9 Ks, ND Phil Hughes - I don't want to talk about it Jeff Locke - 13 IP, 10 hits, 3 ER, 3 walks, 10 Ks, WIN Brandon McCarthy - Complete Game Shutout, 3 hits, 2 walks, 5 Ks, WIN Kevin Slowey - 3 IP, 7 hits, 6 ER, 1 walk, 1 K, LOSS Justin Ruggiano - 0-15 Lyle Overbay - 6-21, 4 RBI, 1 run Travis Hafner - 1-7, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 run - shoulder injury Lucas Duda - 4-24, 2 RBI, 1 run Week Eight Starting Pitchers 1. Julio Teheran vs. Minnesota Twins (5/20) at New York Mets (5/26) 2. Brandon McCarthy vs. San Diego Padres (5/24) 3. Rick Porcello vs. Minnesota Twins (5/23) 4. Jerome Williams vs. Seattle Mariners (5/21) at Kansas City Royals (5/26) 5. Scott Kazmir vs. Seattle Mariners (5/20) at Boston Red Sox (5/25) 6. Jonathon Pettibone at Washington Nationals (5/25) 7. Wade Davis at Houston Astros (5/21) vs. Los Angeles Angels (5/26) 8. John Gast at Los Angeles Dodgers (5/25) 9. Edwin Jackson at Pittsburgh Pirates (5/23) 10. Tyler Chatwood at San Francisco Giants (5/24) Risky Pick: Tyler Lyons at San Diego Padres (5/22) I really like Teheran's two matchups in Week Eight. Porcello, Jackson, and Chatwood will also face some weak lineups. McCarthy made me look good in Week Seven, so he sits at number two this week as he will face San Diego. Kazmir and Williams have resurrected their careers and they have both been solid of late. Pettibone has been an impressive youngster for Philadelphia. Wade Davis has been pretty shaky in 2013, but I like his matchup against Houston and will take the risk of starting him against the Halos. I am going to ride the Cardinals pitching train in Week Eight and Gast and Lyons are the conductors. Lyons will make his major league debut. He has a 4.76 ERA in Triple-A this year. Week Eight Hitters Arizona Diamondbacks 3 games at Coors Field Oakland Athletics 3 games at Texas Rangers / 3 games at Houston Astros Colby Rasmus Brandon Moss Travis Snider Rasmus and Snider will face righties in every game during Week Eight. Moss will also face a decent amount of right-handed pitching and he will play in Texas and Houston.