Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
While the majority of the American workforce got a day off on Labor Day, some major league hitters were getting their power stroke on in a big way. With only 11 games on the docket, four players left the yard twice in one game: Derrek Lee, Billy Butler, Mark Teixeira and Juan Uribe. The fantasy fallout isn't huge, save for one; Lee's having a resurgence, Butler a breakout campaign and Teixeira an MVP-caliber season. Uribe, though ... that's news.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
For the second consecutive year, the Indians have given a playoff contender a huge boost. For the second consecutive year, they traded the previous season's AL Cy Young award winner. And for the second consecutive year, he's absolutely dealing in the National League.
Through five starts, Cliff Lee is 5-0 with a 0.68 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 2 complete games and 39 strikeouts (with only 6 walks) in 40 innings. Sound familiar?
It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. The Closer Report will give you that info. And if that wasn't good enough, we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.
As you'll see, Heath Bell has taken over the top spot on this edition of The Closer Report. A few big-name, top-of-the-charts closers from years past have fallen off quite a bit. How weird is it to see Brad Lidge near the bottom of the closer rankings and Joe Nathan stuck in the middle?
It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. Each week The Closer Report will give you that information. And if that wasn't good enough we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.
Here's an interesting statistic. Somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent of the closers who are listed as the the team's official closer will not be in that role by the end of the season. It's the case every year. Whether a closer loses his job due to injury or just plain can't get the job done, you're going to learn that you can find saves on the waiver wire throughout the season. You just have to know where to look.
It's inevitable. Injuries are going to take a toll on Major League rosters as players get ready for the grind of a long regular season. It's not terribly relevant whether the injury was Spring Training related or the effects of World Baseball Classic games. All you need to know is that most teams are headed into play next week without a few of their key stars.
The Los Angeles Angels have three of their starting pitchers (Escobar, Lackey and Santana) on the disabled list. Cardinals third baseman Troy Glaussuffered a setback and Yankees Alex Rodriguez, while apparently ahead of schedule in returning from Labrum surgery, will be out for a good portion of the early months of baseball. But, those are old news stories.
Let's take a look at the players who have been placed on the disabled list just this week.
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through every major player on each team. Fantasy FanHouse is here to help with a quick once-over.
Meet the... Most disappointing team of 2008. This goes for real and for fantasy. Nearly the entire team was a massive bust last year -- I said nearly, because the man in the picture to the right was immune in fantasy -- as the team finished in last place. They've made some changes, and the players coming back need to just play better.
FanHouse continues its 2009 MLB Preview with a look at the Detroit Tigers.
A preseason favorite to win the pennant a year ago, the Tigers collapsed under the weight of unreal expectations. Trading for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis was supposed to put this team over the top, but in hindsight Detroit's lineup, while potent, was never as good as it looked on paper and the pitching and defense ranked among the worst in the league.
When drafting in fantasy baseball, I often find rankings are a lot less useful than using the tier system. Simply group guys together with others who will perform similarly, and you won't focus on single players. Being frazzled when that single player is taken immediately before your pick is a good way to ruin your draft.
We're definitely not proponents of drafting closers high, but getting the last member of a tier at good value could work in the right situations.
Lyon, obviously, would want to go somewhere and be the full-time closer, seeing as how he's had success in the role before. The Tigers need to bump everyone a step back, at least, since Rodney fared poorly in his chance to close games last season.
The story of the Detroit Tigers has been pretty much the same over the last two seasons. In 2007, their bullpen cost them a chance to reach the playoffs and get back to the World Series, and in 2008 it was the bullpen bringing down a team that many thought would be the best in the American League after a winter trade for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis. So obviously general manager Dave Dombrowski's to-do list this offseason consists of fixing the Tiger bullpen if he wants his team to have a chance in 2009.
Poppin' out of the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. Each week 
Fantasy baseball draft season is coming, so you best be prepared by delving through 
According to the man who never sleeps, Ken Rosenthal, the 
The story of the Detroit Tigers has been pretty much the same over the last two seasons. In 2007, their bullpen cost them a chance to reach the playoffs and get back to the World Series, and in 2008 it was the bullpen bringing down a team that many thought would be the best in the American League after a winter trade for 
