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Fantasy Baseball: Toronto Blue Jays P Ricky Romero

By Brad Berreman | July 3, 2009 | MVN Outsider

With the various injuries that the Toronto Blue Jays have suffered within their pitching staff, the team has had to look to unexpected sources for help. Rookie left-hander Ricky Romero has answered the call so far. Romero is 6-3 with a 2.85 ERA and a 1.24 WHIP in 11 starts (72.2 innings) this season. He has shown good strikeout ability (7.6 K/9) and exhibited solid control (3.0 BB/9) as well. Romero spent some time on the DL himself earlier in the season due to an oblique strain, but has shown no lingering effects of the injury. Over his last three starts, Romero has gone 3-0 with a 0.82 ERA along with a 20/8 K/BB ratio over 22 innings and over his last six starts he is 4-1 with a 1.91 ERA with a 40/14 K/BB ratio over 42.1 innings. In his most recent outing on Wednesday, he went eight innings while allowing only four hits...

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Home Run Trot's June All-Star Team: Pitchers

By Jonathan Etkowicz | July 3, 2009 | MLB Notebook

Choosing the pitchers for June's team was just as tough as making some of the decisions for the position players. Some of the players below, like Zack Greinke and Jason Frasor, are making their third straight appearance on the team. Others, like Josh Johnson, are making the team for the first time. Take a look and leave your comments. I think it's a great pitching staff. *Stats as of 7 PM EST July 2STARTERS:SP: Zack Greinke, Kansas CityYes, Greinke had a tough June going 2-2 with a 4.05 ERA and .290 batting average against. Yet he still leads all starters...

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Andrew Bailey, Boston Red Sox, Florida Marlins, Francisco Rodriguez, Heath Bell, Home Run Trot All-Stars, Jason Frasor, Jonathan Broxton, Josh Johnson, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, Matt Cain, MLB, New York Mets, Oakland Athletics, Ramon Ramirez, Ramon Troncoso, Roy Halladay, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Tim Lincecum, Toronto Blue Jays, Zack Greinke

Friday's Games of the Day

By Jonathan Etkowicz | July 3, 2009 | MLB Notebook

The Fourth of July Weekend kicks off with a full schedule of games. The Yankees look to start a new winning streak against the Blue Jays. The Brewers and Cubs continue their seesaw NL Central battle. The Brewers need wins to stay ahead in the division because the Cardinals and Reds are battling for positioning in the division. The Mets and Phillies begin a series that will determine which team is in first in the NL East on Monday. These games, and many more, can be found in Friday's Games of the Day. Toronto at New York Yankees: The Mariners...

Read more | Discuss | Tags: AJ Burnett, Boston Red Sox, Brian Tallet, Carlos Zambrano, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Curtis Granderson, Derek Lee, Detroit Tigers, Felix Hernandez, Franklin Gutierrez, Games of the Day, Gordon Beckham, Hideki Matsui, Homer Bailey, Houston Astros, J.J. Hardy, Jeff Suppan, Joel Pineiro, Jose Lopez, Kansas City Royals, Kevin Slowey, Luke French, Mike Cameron, Milwaukee Brewers, Minnesota Twins, MLB, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Paul Konerko, Philadelphia Phillies, Rodrigo Lopez, Ryan Sadowski, San Francisco Giants, Scott Kazmir, Seattle Mariners, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Tim Wakefield, Toronto Blue Jays, Zack Greinke

Home Run Trot's June All-Star Team: Position Players

By Jonathan Etkowicz | July 2, 2009 | MLB Notebook

The monthly All-Star team is another feature I'm bringing over from my old blog. For those unfamiliar with my previous work, here are the April and May posts. I'm bringing the All-Star team over to MLB Notebook with a twist. It's going to be divided into two posts. One for the position players and a second for the pitching staff. Now that I'm working with some other great writers, these monthly posts can properly be used to start a discussion.*All stats are compiled as of 7 PM EST on July 1. Catcher: Bengie Molina, San Francisco GiantsMaking this selection was...

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Aaron Hill, Adam Lind, Albert Pujols, Andrew McCutchen, Bengie Molina, Boston Red Sox, Brad Hawpe, Carl Crawford, Chase Utley, Colorado Rockies, Evan Longoria, Florida Marlins, Hanley Ramirez, Home Run Trot, Home Run Trot All-Stars, Jason Bay, Los Angeles Angels, Pablo Sandoval, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays, Torii Hunter, Toronto Blue Jays

FB365's Morning Drive 7/2/09

By Charlie Saponara | July 2, 2009 | Fantasy Baseball 365

Jordan Zimmermann is getting a lot of fantasy love lately. I was on this guy in late April. He out-pitched Josh Johnson yesterday. Cody Ross hit his 14th bomb of the season of newly acquired Sean Burnett. Ross is slugging .633 vs. left handed pitching this season. Josh Johnson left the game after only 3.1 innings. No injury, just a rain delay and 4 walks to go with a rising pitch count. Ricky Romero continues to impress. He's stranding over 85% of runners and his FIP is a run higher than his ERA before his start yesterday. Walks and the AL East are my concerns, but he's definitely a guy worth rostering right now. He's only owned in 33% of Yahoo! leagues. Brad Bergesen impressed against the Red Sox. He's not going to strikeout a ton of guys, but he's keeping the ball on the ground and keeping the walks to a minimum. His next start comes against the Mariners. If you need a spot start, he's worth another go. Yovani Gallardo struck out a career high 12 in 7 IP against the Mets. If Gallardo can reduce his walk rate, he's basically Lincecum light. Gil Meche, coming off a "dead arm" period, threw 121 pitches in only 6 innings. His arm looked fine with a fastball sitting in the mid 90's, but minor injuries have been an issue this season. If I'm A Meche owner (or a Royals fan) I'm not happy about the pitch count at all. Billy Butler, 4-4, continues to outperform James Loney, but it seems no one is paying attention. Jason Hammel has been pitching well for the Rockies lately. He's not quite the ground ball pitcher Aaron Cooks is, but he is getting enough groundballs and limiting walks to be an NL-only add. Troy Tulowitzki got cold just as fast as he got hot two weeks ago. I think he'll finish with an AVG around .270. Jimmy Rollins took another o'fer, but so did most of the Phillies against Jair Jurjjens who only allowed 1 hit. Justin Verlander was touched up last night. That makes two less than spectacular starts in a row. I'm not reading much into it. Jose Contreras has struck out 8 batters in 3 of his last 4 starts. Randy Wells pitched well again and got his third straight win. I'd start him again at home vs the Braves in his next start. Johnny Cueto brought back the strikeout last night against the D-Backs. Of course the D-Backs are second only to the Marlins in team strikeouts. Kevin Millwood and Jered Weaver squared off in a battle of the "sell highs". Neither faired particularly well and neither are likely to repeat their first half numbers in the second half. Nelson Cruz left with a back injury. It didn't sound serious, but I never like to hear about back problems. Keep an eye on the situation. Albert Pujols did not hit a homerun, but he did go 2-2 with a stolen...

Read more | 2 Comments | Tags: Adam Wainwright, Adrian Gonzalez, Albert Pujols, Baltimore Orioles, Billy Butler, Brad Bergesen, Cincinnati Reds, Cody Ross, Colorado Rockies, Detroit Tigers, Fantasy, Fantasy Baseball, Florida Marlins, Gil Meche, Jason Hammel, Jered Weaver, Jimmy Rollins, Johnny Cueto, Jordan Zimmermann, Josh Johnson, Justin Verlander, Kansas City Royals, Kevin Millwood, Los Angeles Angels, Matt Cain, Milwaukee Brewers, MLB, Nelson Cruz, Philadelphia Phillies, Ricky Romero, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Troy Tulowitzki, Washington Nationals, Yovani Gallardo

Left in the Dust, Rays Take Two Out of Three from Jays

By jdelator | July 1, 2009 | JC De La Torre's Tampa Bay Sports Blog

The Toronto Blue Jays ended the Tampa Bay Rays seven game winning streak but not before dropping two out of three games to a Rays team that has surpassed them in AL Eastern division. The Rays were the hottest team in the majors in the month of June and a lot of it is due to their starting pitching coming around. In the first two games of the series against the Blue Jays, Tampa Bay received sterling performances from Jeff Niemann and Matt Garza, while getting timely hitting from while the long ball powered the offense. Tampa Bay saw home runs from BJ Upton, Pat Burrell, Willy Aybar, and two from Carl Crawford in a pair of 4-1 decisions, beating Blue Jays Ace Roy Halladay in game one and young right hander Scott Richmond in the second match up. Neimann became the team leader in victories with his seventh of the...

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Romero Runs Over Rays And Burrell's Folly

By theraysparty | July 1, 2009 | The Rays Party

July 1, 2009 Box 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Tampa Bay 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 1 Toronto 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 X 5 8 1Just two notes today as they are the most important.I have heard that Ricky Romero had a nice changeup, one that has screwball like action and registers as a slider in MLB.com's gameday. The Rays had baserunners but they always got out quickly with two pickoffs by Romero and two double plays induce, both came in with at least one runner in scoring position late in the game. What made Romero very effective by not giving too many fastballs near the zone for the Rays hitters and pound that screw-changeup low in the strike zone. He still had more flyouts than groundouts, seven strikeouts...

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Ben Zobrist, Carl Crawford, MLB, Pat Burrell, Ricky Romero, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays

Rosenthal: Wells, Holliday, Rockies

By Zach Sanders | July 1, 2009 | MLB Notebook

Notes from Rosenthal this morning:Vernon Wells is unlikely to be moved, due to his no-trade clause and massive salary. However, his teammate Alex Rios could be a popular target.Matt Holliday is not being shopped by the A's, who would "need a strong offer to move him".The Rockies are looking for bullpen help, but there aren't a lot of options available at this point....

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Alex Rios, Colorado Rockies, Matt Holliday, MLB, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, Vernon Wells

Fantasy Baseball: Toronto Blue Jays P Ricky Romero

By Brad Berreman | July 3, 2009 | MVN Outsider

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MLB Great Debates: Which Playoff Contender Needs a Trade to Stay in the Race?

By Staff Report | June 26, 2009 | MVN Outsider

MLB Outsider's Jaymes Langrehr and Kurt Evans debate the issue: Which contending team most needs to make a deal before the July 31 trade deadline in order to stay in the race? Jaymes Langrehr argues that the Brewers desperately need starting pitching:As we get closer to the trade deadline, a good number of teams are developing clear needs that need to be addressed if they're going to stay in playoff contention. Some teams will be able to cope with their weaknesses and still make the playoffs due to their other strengths. Other clubs will need to make a move if they have any chance at contending in the second half.The Milwaukee Brewers are a prime example. Heading into this season, they knew that their pitching wouldn't be as good as it was down the stretch last season. Given the strength of their offense, however, they figured to be in okay...Read more

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MLB Outsider - Hurdle Out to Competition Edition

By Kurt Evans | June 15, 2009 | MVN Outsider

We're now roughly a month away from the All Star Game and while the season is unfolding in a somewhat predictable manner, there have been more than a few unexpected developments. For example -- the Cubs. Sure, we all know that they're the Cubs (aka the Chicago Invent New Ways to Lose Surprisinglys) but did anybody expect them to have such a crappy offense? Certainly not I. But more impressive than the Cubs' historic burn-out have been the teams we'd traditionally expect to be finished due to their Rockie start only for things to develop unpredictably. (See what I did there? "Rockie" start? I'm a genius!) Let's look closer in this week's Stock Market.RisingColorado RockiesAs a simple baseball fan, I have a few rules I try to follow. When it comes to playoff expectations, I never give up on a team before September until they are either 10 games under...Read more

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Cleveland Indians, Colorado Rockies, New York Mets, NL Central, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays

MLB Stock Market - Meeting our Expectations Edition

By Kurt Evans | June 8, 2009 | MVN Outsider

Things are starting to play out as we thought they would. Not that anybody can ever be completely right -- even the experts rock a far-less-than 100% accuracy rating -- but there are fewer and fewer surprises as the season wears on. Take the AL East for example. As expected, the Yankees and Red Sox are battling it out for first place. The Jays have descended to third in the division while Tampa is struggling to get over .500. And the Orioles? Let's just say "not so good," because we don't want to hurt peoples' feelings.But that doesn't mean we can roll over and go back to sleep until September. Some pretty impressive things are happening right now -- not necessarily record-breaking things, but good baseball is happening none the less. And even if things are starting to play out like we would have assumed they would, there is plenty of time...Read more

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB, MLB Outsider, Oakland Athletics, Pittsburgh Pirates, Toronto Blue Jays

MLB Stock Market - June Already Edition

By Kurt Evans | June 1, 2009 | MVN Outsider

Another week gone by and ... holy crap it's June already? Wasn't it just last week that we were laughing at those poor northern teams playing in the snow? And I could've sworn it was just yesterday that the Nationals weren't the laughing stock of baseball.Nevertheless, the season is getting a move-on. Surprises abound, perhaps none more than the ace-like outburst of Zack Grienke, but he's hardly "rising" at this point. Let's take a closer look at this week's movers, shakers, and bonehead-play makers.RisingJohn Smoltz's chances of a returnWhen he signed an incentive laden contract with the Red Sox, the general tone of those who "know" baseball was that the Sox were nuts to respond to the Yankee signings of CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett with "project players" like Smoltz, Rocco Baldelli, Brad Penny, and Jason Varitek*. Or maybe they were so crazy that it just might work. Either way,...Read more

Read more | 2 Comments | Tags: Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, MLB, MLB Outsider, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays

MLB Outsider - It's Not "Early" Anymore

By Kurt Evans | May 31, 2009 | MVN Outsider

June tends to be the month where the talented baseball teams separate from the pretenders. It's not that the playoff picture will suddenly become clear, but rather the mediocre teams will stop competing with the half dozen good teams vying for the four playoff spots available to each league. Two easy examples: in the AL East, we've already seen the Toronto Blue Jays, once invincible-looking, lose 9 straight as they plummeted to a 2nd place tie with Boston. In the AL Central the pesky Royals, who were once 18-11, have gone 5-14 since May 8th and will either be made or broken by the month of June.But rather than look at early team accomplishments that will ultimately mean nothing, we instead will focus in this article on individual feats. There's always that one guy who looks as if he might challenge for the homerun record, or for a .400 AVG,...Read more

Read more | Discuss | Tags: Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Kansas City Royals, MLB, MLB Outsider, New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, San Diego Padres, Tampa Bay Rays, Toronto Blue Jays

MLB Outsider Mock Draft: Toronto Blue Jays Select Max Stassi

By Staff Report | May 26, 2009 | MVN Outsider

MLB Outsider is hosting a 2009 MLB mock draft, where bloggers from all over come together in an attempt to project the draft results that will take place June 9. Scouting the Sports' Sam Katz picks for the Toronto Blue Jays at No. 20. Having J.P. Arencibia in the system doesn't stop them from taking catcher Max Stassi from Yuba City High. Follow the mock draft here.Max Stassi is easily one of the finest young catchers to come along in awhile. He is an elite talent with few, if any, holes in his game. Stassi is driven to work harder and play better, simply because he loves the game of baseball. His tremendous work ethic combined with his exceptional skills make him the perfect candidate for a Toronto Blue Jays team that is finally starting to compete in the American League East. Despite not having as many premier tools as...Read more

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MLB Great Debates: The Ballpark Experience

By Staff Report | May 26, 2009 | MVN Outsider

MLB Outsider's Jaymes Langrehr and Kurt Evans debate the issue: Which experience is better, going to a Major League Baseball game or going to a minor-league one?Jaymes Langrehr says MLB's quality is top-notch:Where I grew up, I was about a three-hour drive east away from Milwaukee County Stadium, and a three-hour drive west away from the Metrodome. I was literally stuck in the middle of nowhere when it came to the MLB map, and looking back, I was definitely jealous of the kids who were able to spend their summers buying cheap Brewers tickets and move their way up to field level (because it's not like anyone was sitting in those seats, anyway). Still, the few major-league games that I was able to attend were incredible -- even though the home team almost always got crushed. Even when your team stinks, there's something special about a Major League game that...Read more

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