Categorically Speaking is designed specifically for Rotisserie GM's. The information is great for all fantasy baseball formats, but for those of you who could use some help bolstering a specific roto category, this is for you. We're going to pay close attention to players who might be readily available on your waiver wire or who you might target in non-blockbuster trade talks.
Carl Crawford has a ten stolen base lead on the rest of the major league pack. If you have him on your fantasy baseball roster, you're probably in good shape in the steals category. But, what if you need some help? Here are some options.
Michael Bourn, Astros - Bourn is only owned in 41% of fantasy leagues, but his 15 stolen bases have him tied for fourth place among all hitters. Most of you avoided Bourn on draft day (and by the looks of it, still are) because of his craptastic .229 batting average last season. Bypassing Bourn at this point is a bad idea. He's sporting a .288 batting average and has cemented his place at the top of the Astros batting order.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Remember when Rickie Weeks was a hot new prospect whose quick bat drew comparisons to Gary Sheffield? Yeah, turns out that was four years ago.
Following season after season of frustration for hopeful fantasy owners, Weeks is finally coming through. The speed isn't there, but he's homered in three straight games to give him nine total in only 140 at-bats. By comparison, he only hit 14 in 475 at-bats last year. So has our man-crush of yesteryear suddenly transformed into the new Dan Uggla, or is this impressive power display just another tease?
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
I think we can all agree that it's far too early to start voting upon who the best 2009 players are when it's only the middle of May. That being said, there are certainly some shining stars at this point who deserve some props. Plus, Major League Baseball recently released their All-Star ballots for our voting pleasure -- we vote on who will start the All-Star Game. If that's not important, I don't know what is. Let's take a gander.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's action, with a quick nod to what's ahead.
You Oughta Know... That instant replay has been in use in the majors for reviewing homers since last August, but there had not been a single home run taken away until Wednesday.
And then it happened twice.
First, Pittsburgh's Adam LaRoche hit a first-inning drive that was initially ruled a three-run homer. After umpires checked the replay, they determined that the ball had not cleared the fence, and LaRoche instead had a two-run double.
A few hours later, in Milwaukee, Marlins pinch-hitter Ross Gload had a would-be solo homer reversed.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
He's only 21 years old. He's only 21 years old. Whenever you get frustrated that your future fantasy stud is struggling, it's important to take a breather and repeat those words. When I was 21, I think I spent my Wednesday nights playing Counter-Strike and eating bad pizza. Justin Upton, on the other hand, has to deal with expectations that he's the next Willie Mays. Whatever happened to the 27-year-old "breakout" rule? Suddenly it's six years younger?
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Who would have thought that Dexter Fowler's five stolen base game wouldn't even last a week as the high steals game in 2009. Carl Crawford did him one better Sunday, taking six in as many chances. Crawford is now 17-17 in stolen base attempts this season. Lost in the shuffle was that his 4-4 day at the plate caused his average to rise all the way up to .317.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the A's might file for overtime.
Oakland's 15-inning loss at Seattle on Sunday was its fourth game this year of 12 innings or more and second of 14 innings or more. And in those two longest games, the Athletics blew three-run leads to lose.
On April 22 at Yankee Stadium, Oakland was up 3-0 in the second inning, then fell behind 7-5, then tied it in the seventh before losing in the 14th on Melky Cabrera's walkoff homer.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
In news that probably means a lot more to fantasy baseball players than real baseball fans -- with all due respect to the Pirates and their true fans -- Ryan Doumit is going to miss the next 8-10 weeks. He'll be undergoing wrist surgery and have some pins inserted. As fantasy owners, we must march on and look at how to replace the production of a very solid offensive catcher.
We just concluded our fantasy draft here at Fanhouse. I have to say that I like what I did here.
It's a 12-team, rotisserie mixed-league using standard 5X5 scoring categories and rosters that include two catchers, a first baseman, a second baseman, a shortstop, a third baseman, a corner infielder, a middle infielder, five outfielders, a utility hitter, nine pitchers and three bench players.
Here's the Extra Base Knox team:
Round 1(3) - Albert Pujols, Cardinals - Wright and Hanley Ramirez went with the first two picks. Pujols is the best remaining player so I went with him. I'll take his massive offense in four of the five categories and smile all the way.
Round 2(22) - Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners - I made a tough decision here between him and Justin Morneau. I love Ichiro's speed and great batting average. With such high batting averages from my first two picks, I should be able to grab a big home run hitter with a low average later in the draft if I choose.
Round 3(27) - Carl Crawford, Rays - I didn't go power, I went speed again. Crawford plus Ichiro will pretty much guarantee my team is near the top in stolen bases.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Tampa Bay Rays.
Although they ended up falling short at the end, 2008 was the year of the Rays. After being the butt of jokes for the first 10 years of its existence, Tampa Bay turned an impressive collection of baseball talent into an impressive team, finally assembling a competent bullpen, and utilizing some position shifts to put a much improved defense on the field. With the pieces in place, everything came together, and the Rays increased their win total by 31 games on their way to winning both the AL East and AL pennant.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
