FanHouse MarcusThames

Gary Sheffield has been cut from the Detroit Tigers. You, as a fantasy baseball fanatic, have likely already heard the news. You also probably don't own Sheff, which is a good thing. At his age, lack of positional flexibility, and deteriorated skill set, Sheff wasn't worth owning in fantasy baseball this year. Now that point is hammered even further home. He'll probably catch on somewhere else as a DH, but I can't see him worth a roster spot this season.

The real spin here is what the Tigers will do with their lineup, now, and how that impacts others. Here is a partial list of who this will affect.

Dear Ozzie,

Let me start this letter off by saying that I'm a fan. I don't always agree with the moves you make, or the things you say and do, but for the most part I think you're very good at doing your job. Still, that doesn't mean there isn't one thing you do constantly that could end up costing your team a division title this season.

It nearly did last night.

In the second game of your doubleheader against the Tigers last night, your boys had jumped out to a 7-0 lead so you decided to pull starter John Danks early and go to the bullpen. I have no problem with this, and thought it was a smart move, but shortly afterward you nearly killed your team. After the Tigers had made it 7-3 in the eighth inning, you brought in Octavio Dotel with a four run lead.

I knew right then that you guys were going to blow the lead. How did I know this? Well, Ozzie, that's because every time you bring in Dotel with a comfortable lead, he blows it. Maybe you haven't noticed the 500 previous times it's happened this season, but it has. Sure enough, a few pitches later, Marcus Thames was launching a grand slam into the left field bleachers and the game was tied at seven.

The Detroit Tigers six-game win streak came to an end last night in San Francisco when John Bowker welcomed Fernando Rodney back to the bigs with a three-run homer to give the Giants the win, but that doesn't mean every streak in Detroit died on Monday night. Marcus Thames took Tim Lincecum deep in his first two at-bats thanks to a hanging curveball and a belt-high changeup, making Monday the fourth game in a row that Thames has gone deep.

Still, that's not the streak I'm talking about. Since June 7th, Thames has gone 7-for-29 (.241) which is very much in line with his .257 average on the season. Of course, his slugging percentage since June 7th is .966 because all seven of those hits have been home runs.

No singles. No doubles. No triples. All Mr. Thames has done lately is plant balls in the seats.

Now what I'm trying to figure out is, how impressive is this? Is it even impressive at all? I kind of has to be doesn't it? Sure he's not hitting well overall, but when he does he's really making it count. He says he's never been on a streak like this, and his manager Jim Leyland says he's never seen anything quite like it either.

Though it could just be that all Thames is good for is hitting home runs, as while this seven-hit streak is rather odd, it's not exactly anything new for Marcus. After all, he only has 29 hits on the season and 12 of those have been home runs.

Cheap Yard Work helps you pick out likely free agents in your league that have been raking over the past week.

Elijah Dukes, OF, WAS
7 day stats: .345/.441/.483, 0HR, 4RBI, 4BB, 5R, 3SB
The crazy thing (pun intended) is that Dukes is raking without hitting a tater. He's doing it by tearing up the basepaths though, as noted by the SB totals. Now, Dukes isn't "reliable" and he certainly isn't "sane", but right now, he's pretty warm. And he obviously has all the talent in the world; with Vicente Padilla and Kevin Slowey in a dogfight for "toughest pitcher the Nats face this week", I'd be starting him.

Marcus Thames, OF, DET
7 day stats: .222/.300/.890, 4HR, 7RBI, 2BB, 5R, 0SB
Need power? Because Thames, if he does what he did last week, ain't gonna boost your average. He did hit four taters though, and if anyone recalls his previous power surges, you know this is a pretty nice time to have him active. He can go on tears quickly. Trips to San Fran and San Diego aren't exactly hitter friendly though, so only use him in deeper leagues.

Mike Jacobs, 1B, FLA
7 day stats: .208/.192/.583, 3HR, 8RBI, 0BB, 3R, 0SB
Again, power ... because that OBP is not what you could call "great". Or even "remotely good". Still, Jacobs was straight butter (because he was on a roll) in April before getting hurt; you have to think with the power starting to pick up, he will get back around to form at some point. Or at least be useful in a deeper league. Oakland and Seattle aren't easy but it could be worse -- a nice play for a daily league.