You see, when it comes to marquee names like Pedro, the expectations are always a bit unrealistic. It would be nice if legends could harness the same stuff at age 37, but that's just not the way it goes. In fact, the Martinez we saw in his season debut Wednesday wasn't all that impressive from a fantasy perspective.
When the Seattle Mariners sent five players to the Baltimore Orioles last February to land Erik Bedard, they did so with the intent of having Bedard help them win the AL West. Instead, in his two seasons as a Mariner Bedard has been paid $14.75 million to make thirty starts while Adam Jones appears on the verge of superstardom for the Orioles.
Needless to say, it hasn't been the greatest trade for the Mariners, and on Wednesday it got a bit worse. Bedard is going to undergo exploratory surgery on his left shoulder and it's going to put an end to his season.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Nearly a month ago, we ran out a roundtable on Jimmy Rollins, advising you to trade for the underperforming shortstop. Well, his struggles seem like a distant memory now. Rollins is not only back, he's one of the hottest middle infielders in fantasy baseball. Oh, and he's also one funny dude (great Dick's commercial if you've never seen it).
Just how hot is J-Roll? Let's go to the statistical tape ...
This handsome devil, former Vice President Dick Cheney pitcher Erik Bedard, is on the disabled list again, this time because of inflammation in his left shoulder. Wikipedia tells me that about half of the letters in Erik Bedard's name are supposed to have accent marks over them, but I don't know how to put an accent over a capital E. The Mariners are hanging in there in the AL West and even closer to a Wild Card, so losing one of their top pitchers right here in the middle of the season when they can't use him or trade him is tough.
Tonight's Dugout deals with this important talking point and others (for example, "why does Don Wakamatsu's face look like that in his photo day picture, I mean were they shining a light in his face or what"), after the jump.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
Sure, he gave up a home run to Joey Votto on Sunday, but that's about all the Cincinnati Reds got facing the Cubs' Rich Harden.
For Harden this was his third consecutive start where he showed the potential of being a front-line ace. He struck out eight in only six innings and that home run was the only hit and only run he allowed the Reds in route to earning his seventh win.
Over his last three starts Harden has struck out 21 while walking only two batters in 19 innings. His ERA over this time is 0.47 and he has two wins to show for great pitching.
This is the first time in 2009 Harden has put together this kind of run. He's been able, on a number of occasions, to put two good starts together, but never three as he seems to get shelled every time he's about to take that next step towards becoming the solid number one guy the Cubs desperately need him to be.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
When Paul Konerko finished 2008 with a dismal .240 average and only 22 HRs, most fantasy players were quick to write off the 33-year-old Chicago first baseman as finished. A deeper look into the stats revealed two consecutive seasons with poor BABIPs (batting average on balls in play), alerting the shrewd among us that Konerko might have just been the victim of an unlucky two-year streak. Sure enough, his BABIP is back to its normal level in 2009, and it was kind enough to bring along Konerko's batting average.
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
"This concludes our test of the emergency attendance enhancement system. We now return to the regularly scheduled season."
Yes, the 13th season of interleague play wraps up Sunday, except for a Cubs-White Sox makeup game. We have survived six San Diego-Seattle games (that's more zeroes than an A-Rod paycheck).
We didn't learn much we didn't already know: the system has inherent flaws and the American League rules.
For the sixth straight year, the AL has had** the better record in interleague play – 129-108 going into today.
Take out Cleveland and Oakland, and the AL is 119-84.
"It probably is" as big a gap between leagues as in past years, one AL team official said, "until you get to the World Series. Then it doesn't matter."
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
By the looks of his season stats, you wouldn't know that Jordan Zimmermann has actually been one of the most dominant pitchers in the majors over the past month. We're talking a 1.90 ERA and a .198 batting average against. On that same note, Minnesota's Scott Baker is holding opposing hitters to a .205 average over his last five starts. The turnaround of these pitchers teach fantasy owners an important lesson about staying patient and swooping in when the time is right.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
It sure didn't take long for Pirates outfielder Andrew McCutchen to get used to the big leagues. Matt Wieters, on the other hand, needed 48 at-bats to respond to the hype.
Both top prospects hit their first home runs at the major-league level on Wednesday -- matching two-run jacks to left field -- but there's an acute difference in perceived fantasy value between them.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
As Joey Votto heads out to a rehab assignment, the Reds are anxiously awaiting the return of their best hitter. Votto hasn't started a game since May 27 -- when the Reds stood at 26-20. Since then, they've gone 8-11. As a team, the Reds are hitting .244 and rank 11th in the National League in runs scored. Votto is hitting .357 with eight home runs and 33 RBI in only 38 games. Translation: The Reds really, really need him. They aren't the only team in baseball that will be missing a star player in the upcoming weeks. After the jump, we'll list the Top 10 most important injuries in baseball moving forward in 2009.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
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Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
