Roto Chronicles: National League–June 23

Interleague play exposed some players, and another key player made it to the DL.

Interleague play posed some problems for players, but that’s to be expected. When a player spends the majority of his time in one league playing against the other is more challenging in the regards to the type of ball they play. Small ball is more of the National League motto while the American League prides itself on power hitting and pitching. Find out which players found it difficult to adjust to the matchups and which ones didn’t.

Ruts:

Jorge Campillo: Campillo is a good pitcher, but he lost control of the strike zone. Against the lowly Mariners, a team in disarray, gave up four earned runs and 8 hits in 6 innings of work. That wasn’t too bad, you say, but the fact is in the game against the M’s, he walked in 2 of those runs and couldn’t get the double play to get him out of jams. He’s still not a bad pitcher. Pitchers can’t win every game they’re out to pitch. In Campillo’s start before the Mariners against the red hot Angels, he went eight strong innings and struck out 7 giving up only two runs. For the most part, Campillo is a good pitcher with an above average fastball and curveball. It would be beneficial to keep him as a starter.

Chase Utley: Utley had a terrible week, to say the least. Utley was 0 for 23 before netting a hit against the Angels, making his average go from a very feared .313 to a very average .293. The average isn’t that bad, but the fact that Utley was in this slump for so long is an indication that he struggles against American League pitching. Last season Utley hit .185 against the American League. My suggestion is to leave Utley on the bench until Interleague is over. Fortunately for fantasy owners, Interleague ends on the 29th.

The Philadelphia Phillies: They were swept at home by the Angels and have only won 3 games in their last 10 tries. That’s not good for a team that is leading a division. If Utley, Howard, and Rollins can’t find the bags, then this will be a long season for the Phillies.

Homer Bailey: I was incorrect on my scouting of Bailey, and I’ll be the first to admit it. Bailey had good things, and showed plenty of promise, but he obviously didn’t last long with the team. Bailey was 0-3 with a whopping 8.73 ERA. What’s worse is that he only struck out 3. It was obvious the Reds rushed him a little to get up to the league, and they are paying severely for that. Bailey will rebound, but not this season. Now that he’s tasted what big league ball is all about he will use that as a focal point for the rest of his time in AAA. It would be foolish if the Reds tried to rush him back, but he needs another full season to develop.

Rickie Weeks: He was just deactivated from the DL, and in his game back he went 0 for 3. 0 for 3 is normal for any player, you say, however, his season average is .207. He is in a slump, and he’s been at a consistent low .200 hitter all season. There is room for fear in this case as Weeks has never been the ideal contact hitter. His main suit is he can steal bases and he has impeccable defense. In leagues where stealing bases is important, he’s a keeper. He does have lots of work to do at the plate, but it doesn’t look like this is the season where we see him break .300.

Xavier Nady: Nady isn’t doing that badly, but he is on a bit of a slump. He is batting .260 on the week, but he’s also gone against stronger pitching. That doesn’t give owners the right to bench him. His .314 average is good, and he didn’t get there by accident. His average is a steady one. He’ll play against the Yankees and they do have tougher pitching, but I would still have him in your lineup.

Royalty:

Jorge Cantu: He is a prime example of a player who has flown under the radar for sometime. I admit, he’s surprised me a few times this season, and I’ve even had him in the Ruts section on more than one occasion. His very quiet .281 batting average is helping the Marlins stay in contention in the NL East. With the division being as it is, Cantu finds himself hitting pretty solidly, especially against some aces. What makes him stand out this week is the fact that he’s scored 5 runs in 6 games. His strikeouts are a little high, but he’s still afloat in batting average. He’s no fluke; start him until he starts to go 0 for long streaks.

Dan Uggla: Uggla destroyed the ball this week. He has 4 homeruns for his efforts, which isn’t bad considering he was in a minor slump two weeks ago. To put this week’s monster effort into perspective, he bat .409, drove in 9 runs, walked 6 times, and scored 5 runs. Uggla is a no-brainer to keep in your lineup. He came into this season as the highly touted player and thus far his numbers aren’t giving critics any reason to doubt. Congrats to Uggla, and if he keeps this up, the Marlins have a good chance to make it back to the series.

Edwin Encarnacion: I’ll be the first to admit that his .241 batting average isn’t very good, but it’s his ability to get on base and find the plate that made him a star this week. He has 5 runs in 6 games. When he gets on base, it’s a good thing. He has the speed to stretch out an extra base and he’s not afraid to slide hard into bases. Edwin is very aggressive and his high runs scored on the year is evidence of that (47). This is where it gets tricky. I wouldn’t start him every game in the week, but if there are other 3rd basemen on your roster, use them. The only thing to shy away from is his average, but he’s very young and given time throughout the season, he could develop into a solid contact hitter.

Aramis Ramirez: He’s amazing, to say the least. He smashed 4 homeruns against the cross town rival White Sox, one of which was a walk-off homerun in the bottom of the ninth. To go on top of that he has 8 RBIs. He started off slowly against Tampa Bay early in the week, but that didn’t deter him from destroying the ball against the White Sox. Don’t count on Ramirez to smash the ball like that all the time. It may have been the heated rivalry which got him going or it could’ve been that he found his groove. Who knows, but what we do know is Ramirez is hot right now. Play him this week. He has the Orioles and the White Sox again.

Jair Jurjjens: He has an ERA of 0.00 in his last two starts. Against the Rockies he only went 7.2 innings, but didn’t give up any runs and struck out seven in the process. In his last start against the Mariners he gave up 3 unearned runs, and didn’t get the win. Jurjjens’ only set back is his strikeout totals. He has 66 on the season, which isn’t bad, but it’s not great either. Jurjjens should have a pretty good rest of the season. His breaking ball is breaking for him and he doesn’t have problems being aggressive to the numbers 1-6 batters. He’ll get you a good start, but not necessarily strikeouts. Jurjjens will play Milwaukee this week, but the Brewers have been hitting the ball very well lately. It’ll be an interesting match up, but expect Jurjjens to win out.

Guy who might have resurrected his career with a different team:

Jim Edmonds: Edmonds of late, has been a journeyman player. The Padres cut him, but the Cubs picked him up in need of center field help. He is on the downhill side of his career, however, he still has some hitting ability. Edmonds looks to be the everyday player for the Cubs which will help them immensely. While in San Diego, he bat .178, and with the Cubs he is .299. Maybe a change of scenery was what he needed. He is showing his hitting ability to hit once again so don’t hesitate to use him. If he’s available, pick him up.

DL Watch:

Carlos Zambrano: Fortunately he is going to miss 2 starts, which isn’t bad. His injury isn’t so bad that it’ll nag at him, however, the Cubs are going to be cautious with him. After his second scheduled start, see where his health is, but don’t worry about him being on the DL for too long.

Alfonso Soriano: Soriano is progressing very quickly and he may be back shortly after the All-Star break.

Nick Johnson: Johnson will have wrist surgery and may miss the rest of the season. Don’t hold out any hope that he’ll be back before the season’s over. Wrist surgeries are very difficult to come back from and he may miss part of next season as well.