Roto Chronicles: National League–June 16th

No household names here, but they can become pretty valuable to your roster.

There aren’t very many household names in this week’s edition, however, they have the potential to become a staple in anyone’s line up. Players like Ryan Howard, Alfonso Soriano, and Albert Pujols all had to start somewhere. Am I saying the players in my Royalty section are going to do that well and become players like the aforementioned three? Maybe not, maybe so, but we’ll have to see if their tremendous play can keep up.

Ruts:

Bengie Molina: Molina is batting a measly .190 and is 0 for his last 10. However, he still has a good average of .317. Though he is in an 0 for 10 slump he’s shown that he can get out o that. He was in an 0 for 12 slump earlier in the season and he broke out of it fairly quickly. Obviously he isn’t a type of hitter that will stay down for long. He’s proven that with his average. Molina is still worth a start because when he gets hot, he gets hot. While his average is pretty good, he has a moderate On-base percentage with .346. So, if he’s not getting a hit, he’s drawing a walk.

Jason Kendall: Kendall has 8 hits in the last 7 games which isn’t bad, but where he lacks is his RBI production with only 3. He went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position. That’s not bad considering he hits last in the lineup. Yes, he bats ninth after the pitcher. His 22 RBIs on the season isn’t that impressive, but he needs to take advantage of the opportunities given to him. That number must most certainly improve in order for him to be a valuable fantasy starter.

Micah Owings: He’s given up 8 hits in each of his last two starts. Against the Royals, he gave 7 earned runs in only 4 innings. Owings has given up some big plays and he seems to have lost his control. He has 5 walks his last 2 starts. That’s not going to win games and he hasn’t put the Diamondbacks in a position to win in his last 4 starts. His last win was May 25th against the Braves and his ERA has risen since then as well from 3.73 to 5.18. Hopefully he doesn’t keep this up the rest of the season, however, bench him until he can start winning some games again. His dominant form is obviously faltering so maybe some bullpen assignments will wake him up.

David Wright: Wright’s batting an even .200 in his last 7 games. He still sports a very nice .273 average. Wright has an uncanny way to come back from slumps so don’t worry too much about it. Keep him in the lineup, but as a Utility man. If you have a better player at 3rd base, go ahead and put him in that spot until Wright can find his groove once again. He has shown some signs of a potential comeback getting 3 base hits against the Rangers on the 16th.

Randy Winn: Winn has slumped of late, batting only .220, however, he walks a lot boosting his OBP to .462 on the week. He may not be an offensive powerhouse, but he does show plenty of patience at the plate. If you place him in your line up, don’t do it because of his offensive numbers, but rather his ability to get on base. He does have 10 stolen bases on the season, which isn’t incredible, but he does have some speed and if stolen bases is a category in your fantasy league, it’s not a bad idea to keep him in your lineup as a utility man.

Royalty:

Brian Giles: Giles is batting .348 in his last 6 games and driving in 3 runs in the process. Giles has been a consistent hitter for the Padres, but that hasn’t translated into success for the Pads, but despite that Giles is a good fantasy keeper and should be kept in the line up on a consistent basis. On the season, Giles has an unimpressive 26 RBIs, but the stat that sticks out is that he has a .413 On-base percentage. That’s almost 50 percent of his at-bats. That’s not bad considering the National League average is .390. That high average is also based on the fact that he doesn’t strike out very often. He has 28 strikeouts for the season which is far less than many players in either league. Compare that to Ryan Howard (94) or Prince Fielder (34).

Mark DeRosa: DeRosa is a streaky hitter, however, he’s good enough to bat .306 on the season. In some games he’ll go 0 for 4 and some games he’ll hit 4 for 5. You just never know what kind of hitter he’s going to be on any given day. He is a risky start but a good start if he gets into one of his dominating hit nights. He has come to be an everyday player for the Cubs, and now that Soriano is on the DL for 6-8 weeks, the Cubs are going to rely more heavily on DeRosa to become more of an offensive player; he should be fine in that role. Being a utility hitter isn’t easy, but he can play every position very well and he hasn’t disappointed on the defensive side of the ball.

Pat Burrell: Burrell has hit 2 homeruns, 5 runs, and 2 RBIs in his last 6 games. He’s also batting .300 in that span. Burrell started the season on a hot streak, tailed off a little bit and now is coming back into a good groove again. It wouldn’t be a bad call to play him against weaker pitching. Thus far he hasn’t faired well with the ace of any staffs so that is an area where he will have to improve in. He’s still good enough to hit on a consistent basis batting .283 and smashing in 18 homeruns. His next opponents are Boston and Anaheim. They both have good pitching, but something will have to give. I suggest starting him for one game in each series to see how well he’ll hit in against American League pitching. If he’s not doing well, yank him from your lineup.

Ryan Doumit: Since coming off the DL he’s hitting .339, scoring 7 runs and hitting 4 homeruns. If he can play this well throughout the season, it’s worth keeping him in the lineup everyday. Obviously his injury isn’t affecting him in a negative way. In fact, some aspects of his game have improved since being off the DL. Doumit will be facing the White Sox and the Blue Jays this week and both have good pitching teams, however, he has shown that he can rise up to the challenge and tackle the more dominant pitching. It’s rare that a catcher also possesses the tangibles as a hitter, and the last to balance the two well and show it season after season was Ivan Rodriguez. Watch his progress; he could easily be a Golden Glove recipient, and is in the mix for the batting title…not bad for a catcher.

Ryan Ludwick: Ludwick was a virtual unknown this season until week 14 came around. He’s been nothing short of excellent in this hot streak he’s been on. He has 8 RBIs in his last 6 games and has hit .320 in that span. That’s not bad for a player that wasn’t even a starter at the beginning of the season. He worked his way into the starting lineup by producing when he gets his chances at the plate and in the field. He’s a pretty good fielder too, committing only 2 errors this season. Ludwick has 16 homeruns on the season which may not be very much to some, but that’s even with fellow teammate Albert Pujols. He hits for power, but let’s hope that isn’t because he’s on steroids.

Elijah Dukes: I never thought I would see the day when Elijah Dukes would be in my Royalty section, but stranger things have happened. Congratulations to him, but let’s see how long he lasts. Some might criticize me for putting him here, but you can’t ignore is .318 average over the week or his 2 stolen bases. Dukes is coming around as a player on the field. Despite the bad press he’s been getting off the field, it appears that he is finally maturing to be the player that he was touted to be when he was with the Devil Rays. For the season (spanning only 34 games), he’s hitting .211, but he was on the DL for half the season which does things to a players psyche. Does that mean don’t take a chance on him? No. That means, see what he can do with the opportunities he has and if you an empty spot on your team, pick him up. He may surprise you. The glorious thing about fantasy leagues is that you can drop them whenever you want. Assuming he can keep himself clean off the field and continue to work on his behavior on the field, he could have a very special season.

Comeback Players:

Jason Isringhausen: Issy is coming back off the DL, and pitched a few rehab games and looks good to go. The Cardinals gave him extra rest this weekend, but he should resume his play against the Royals this week. Perhaps a stint away from the game is what he needed. Isringhausen is a risk at this point, but he has the ability to be really special, especially now that he’s had adequate rest. I suggest playing him in one game and seeing if he can handle it. If not, like I said with Dukes, just drop him. Simple enough, but pitching is one of the areas that are the most difficult to judge after a game.

DL Watch:

Alfonso Soriano: This one was pretty tragic. He will be out 6-8 weeks, but the Cubs will be fine without him. They have many weapons to choose from. His bat will be sorely missed, but there’s really nothing you can do when a player gets injured. Sometimes it’s the player’s fault, sometimes it’s not. He’ll come back after the All-Star game and he will most likely need a little time healing his broken hand. Breaks in the foot or the hand take the longest to heal because they’re both constantly being used for everyday activities. He’s older, however, so that may prevent him from healing as quickly as he or the Cubs would like. It’s not for sure, but expect him to come back at the end of July, but not to his purest form.

Adam Wainwright: Wainwright will miss approximately 40-45 days which translates to 8-9 starts. His injury was a sprained middle finger. Sprains are pretty painful especially if it’s on a smaller part of the body. However, Wainwright could recover from it fairly quickly. 40-45 days is only precautionary.