Chapman

Starting Tuesday. Pick him up yesterday!

Ozzie! For the Love of God, take Jake Peavy out after he throws 100 pitches

Peavy is gold for 7 innings then Ozzie keeps him in 1 inning too long. This has happened 3 times this season and each time Jake's been roughed up. Ozzie, for the sake of Manager's who own Peavy in both of his two league's like yours truly, get your act together!!

BENCH Matt Cain against the Pirates

The guy does not match up well against the Pirates offense. Takes this experts advice if you know whats good for you. Those of you in weekly update leagues you are just SOL

Ryan Dempster

Going to be short and to the point. If you have Dempster, lucky you..... You have a huge steal on your hands. If you don't have Dempster, take it from this 9 year fantasy veteran..... Make a move for him now! I just watched his outing against the Braves and he looked disgusting... Heat with movement and the breaking stuff was out of control. Just be aware, if you pick him up that awful Cubbies bullpen will cost Demp 4 or 5 wins this season (such as today). My projection- 13 wins 3.21 era 190 K's 200 inning 1.20 whip. For those of you who took him around the 15th round, congrats, I wish I would have in my two leagues.

This Year's "Bonifacio": Cliff Pennington

When I refer to this year's "Bonifacio" I am of course referring to Emilio Bonifacio, Florida Marlins Second Basemen who got off to an amazing start last year in Florida. Bonifacio went undrafted in something like 99 percent of Yahoo Fantasy Baseball Leagues, then was picked up(or traded for) by about 99 percent of leagues after his hot first week. Well then, Bonifacio became..... Bonifacio and he went into a horrific slump, then ending the season hitting .252, very close to his .248 career batting average. Last year I read of managers offering up players such as Bobby Abreu, Nick Swisher, AROD(who was injured but still)..... amongst others, for Bonifacio after the first 3 games or so of the season. The crazy part!?! Some people actually rejected these trades!! Yours truly tried to offer up Todd Helton but the manager in my league luckily didn't accept the deal.

Well, this year it's my goal to help YOU all out there stay away from the trap of dropping an "impactful" player, using a high waiver, or making a trade for someone who will have one or two good weeks, then fall back to less than stellar numbers.( I have sure learned my lesson)

My criterion for choosing this player is fairly simple.....1) Someone who went un drafted in over 90 percent of Yahoo Fantasy Leagues 2) A Starter 3) Had a good Spring Training 4) Has gone relatively unseen by big league pitching, thus has a chance to surprise some teams early who do not have an accurate scouting report on him.

The "winner" : Cliff Pennington, SS, Oakland- Pennington seems a lock for winning the job after a competition with Adam Rosales. Pennington has had a nice spring(.333 BA) and seems to be making the plays he should be making at SS. Pennington was a call up last season for about 200 ab's(being mostly a utl guy) but most teams did not get much of a look at him. It looks like he went undrafted by over 98.7 percent of Yahoo leagues. All of those points lead me to believe Pennington will rock it out the first few games, thus allowing uneducated Fantasy Owners the chance to make jeopardizing roster moves in order to pick up this Flavor of the Month/ Week. You heard it here first: stay away, have a chuckle at the owners who didn't!

A Two Handed Pitcher?!?!!?

If you are around my age(27) you remember back in the good old days of video games. No, I'm not talking Playstation 1!! I'm talking about Nintendo, and Super Nintendo. Back in those days Baseball Video Games; let's just say they weren’t as "technologically advanced as they are now. As in, pitchers would pitch with both hands.

Well, in real life finally that has come true. Pat Venditte, former Creighton pitching great, finally made his debut with the Yankees big club in Spring Training today. Normally, an end of the spring game means just about nothing, especially when a guy is pitching who was the 6,000000th pick of the draft a few years ago and has a spring era about as equally as high. Venditte, however, made history by pitching with BOTH arms in the same outing! The amazing thing about Venditte, he has velocity with both arms and even uses a different delivery from both sides! It really is mind-boggling! Check his outing out on YouTube if you get the chance!

Fantasy Relevance: Well, back in the early days of my league with my buddies, we always tried to "one-up" each other at the end of drafts by taking "joke" picks. Now, that’s not the case anymore since the league has expanded to 12 players and is very competitive, making every pick count, but back in the day we would take guys towards the end (think Carlos Baerga circa 2005)..... So, with Venditte heading back to the minors, he would make a very solid "joke pick" in the 21st round. I could actually see Venditte getting a call up come July or August, but even so no need to keep him on your long term fantasy radar.

Coming up next blog: Who has a chance to be this year's " Bonifacio? "

Blog 1: Fantasy Sleepers

With the grandest fantasy sport draft of them all, fantasy baseball, coming up for most of you soon, I thought it would be fitting to post some thoughts concerning the all important category of “fantasy sleeper". Some of these guys are young, some are recovering from serious injuries, some have had a few bad years, and some have been forgotten.

Sleeper 1: Julio Borbon- Texas Rangers OF
In only 46 games last year Borbon stole 19 bases. This year he should get 500 at bats in a loaded Rangers lineup. Grab him if he is around towards the 16th round.

Sleeper 2: Jason Heyward- Everyone who's anyone has heard of this kid. It's not if this guy is going to be a star but will he be a star this year? My guess is no but .300 in the 2nd half, along with runs and power isn’t out of the question. My guess is he starts the year batting 7th and by the end may be in the 3rd spot. 17th round or so give Heyward a look. If you're in a keeper league, draft him MUCH higher.

Sleeper 3: Kyle Blanks- This kid is legit. 10 homers in less than 150 at bats last season. This season Blanks plays full time on a rebuilding team so 500 plus at bats isn’t out of the question. .280, 30 homers are not out of the question. I'd actually rank him right around Hunter Pence right now so take that for what you will.

Sleeper 4: Aroldis Chapman- The Cuban Defector throws over 100 miles an hour. Now I don't think he will dominate this season and I think wins won’t come easy. But I do think he can strike out 170 plus batters and be #4 fantasy starter depending on what your staff needs.Era might hover around 4.70 and walks will be an issue. Don't believe the hype people like Aaron Boone are giving the Reds. They'll be lucky to win 78 games.

Sleeper 5: Brian Matusz- The young lefty has the 3 spot nailed down for Baltimore. Had an excellent end to his first trip in the big leagues last season winning his last 3 starts and looking very "Kershaw" esc in the process. I'm thinking 12 wins and a 3.95 era with a whip around 1.30. 16th round or lower, snag him and you’ll have a steal!

Sleeper 6: Billy Wagner- 38 years old and fairly recently removed from shoulder surgery. Those are the negatives..... the only negatives. Wagner is hitting 100 again on the radar, and will be closing for the Braves, A team I think can win 90 plus games. 35 saves and a sub 2.50 era will happen this year if Wagner can stay healthy. Depending on your need for closers, rank him much higher on your rp chart then most of the mock rankings is currently.

Sleeper 7: Fausto Carmona- 2 years of hell for Carmona. Man has he been bad. Why will he change this year? Tim Belcher, new Indians pitching coach has gotten Carmona under control. Only 2 walks this Spring Training. Carmona pitched Winter Ball and was lights out. The guys back. 16 wins, sub 3.6 era and a 1.23 whip will happen this year. Should be the steal of fantasy pitching this season.