Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Outfielder Adam Eaton suffered a setback in the rehab on his elbow. He has felt discomfort the past couple of days and believes something is wrong. No diagnosis has been made as of yet, but this is obviously not a good thing…..In mixed fantasy leagues that only start one catcher, it may be [...]

The All-Star Ballot

Major League Baseball has a huge problem and anybody who plays fantasy baseball has experienced a similar scenario as a manager. Call it what you want, jumping the gun, premature or a plain “too early” but baseball needs to wait on when they release their All-Star ballots. Any smart fantasy manager knows you can never [...]

Clearing The Bases: AL News & Notes

Baltimore Orioles: The O’s are having some problems in their bullpen of late. Closer Jim Johnson has blown three straight saves after nailing 35 straight. There have always been some doubts about Johnson’s ability to be the closer long term, the question is, are those doubts coming to fruition earlier than first thought or is [...]

Clearing The Bases

Baltimore Orioles: The Orioles depth in their starting rotation is certainly being tested. First they had to give Freddy Garcia a start and now with Wei-Yin Chen heading to the DL they will call upon Jair Jurrjens. Jurrjens has fallen a long way since a hot start to the 2011 season and somehow I don’t [...]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Looks like closer J.J. Putz will be lost to the DBacks for a bit of time and possibly even the rest of the season due to an elbow strain. In his absence Heath Bell will get first crack at the job with David Hernandez most likely next in line. If you’re looking for [...]

Clearing The Bases

Clearing The Bases May 7, 2013 by George Kurtz Baltimore Orioles: For those of you dying for a 2B Brian Roberts update, it’s not good, he’s still having problems with his knee and is visiting a specialist to find out what’s wrong…..How on Earth did SP Freddy Garcia almost throw a no-hitter over the Angels [...]

Stash for a Smash

We are now into the Sweet Spot time period starting in May and going through June where impact rookies will get called up from the minor leagues. Guys that will make an impact both for their team and YOUR team. Here are four guys who haven’t seen the majors in 2013 that could be starters [...]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Seems to be only a matter of time until closer J.J. Putz loses his job even though manager Kirk Gibson has come out and said he is safe for now. Problem for fantasy owners is the, who is next in line, David Hernandez or Heath Bell. Hernandez is the better pitcher at this [...]

So Much Theft He Should Be Arrested

This year Yahoo! leagues have added a new NA spot to their rosters. Much like adding a player on the DL, fantasy owners can pick up Minor Leaguers and set them aside, making zero impact on their roster size. Up until this season, if you wanted to stash a top prospect he had to take [...]

Clearing The Bases

Baltimore Orioles: Well I guess the news about SP Dylan Bundy is good, he had a platelet rich plasma injection earlier this week and has been advised to rest his pitching arm for six weeks. That takes us to early June and he will certainly need some kind of rehab stint before he is ready [...]

The Stamp of Disapproval

Usually I’m calling out players and giving them my stamp of approval, but not today. There are four guys I talk about who might be on your team that are sure to disappoint you in the very near future. Two of them are pitchers that you can hear me rant on in the podcast and [...]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Starting pitcher Randall Delgado, you know, one of the key pieces in the OF Justin Upton trade, is off to a rough at AAA and may not be the first call up once the Dbacks need help in the rotation, that may go to Tyler Skaggs. Good thing that Upton fellow isn’t off [...]

Clearing The Bases

Baltimore Orioles: The Orioles sent down SP Jake Arrieta to AAA after another subpar performance on Monday. Arrieta has good stuff but doesn’t seem to have figured out how to control it within the strike zone…..Speaking of SPs, Dylan Bundy is going to get a second opinion from Dr. James Andrews about his ailing elbow. [...]

Toeing The Rubber/Riding The Pine: 4/22/2013‏

Toeing The Rubber/Riding The Pine Week four is a wrap around week in fantasy baseball. Most aces from week #1 have their second two start weeks of the season this week so pitchers like David Price and Felix Hernandez have two starts with one very notable exception, Justin Verlander.  Adding to the aces in this [...]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Pretty tough week for the DBacks as they lose 2B Aaron Hill until June with a broken hand. Hill suffered the injury when he was hit by an Edwin Jackson pitch. Tried to play with it over the weekend but just couldn’t do it. Outfielder Jason Kubel was also placed on the DL [...]

Clearing The Bases

Boston Red Sox: My thoughts and prayers go out to Boston. Just another senseless act of violence once again. I’m a Yankee fan, and a Cowboy/Islander fan also, and outside of playing for a hockey team called the Blackhawks, I’ve never worn any other team’s jersey other than those three teams, would consider it disloyal, [...]

Toeing the Rubber/Riding the Pine: Week #3‏

WEEK #3 Double Start “Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em” MUST START PITCHERS Cliff Lee/Jordan Zimmerman/Kris Medlen/Josh Johnson/Lance Lynn/Doug Fister/Homer Bailey/Tommy Millone/Derek Holland/Ryan Dempster MUST SIT PITCHERS Kyle Kendrick/Eric Stutts/Dylan Aexlrod/Alex Sanabia/Aaron Laffey/Jonathan Sanchez/Mike Pelfrey/Jeff Francis/Jake Arrieta/Joe Blanton/Ubaldo Jimenez/Mark Buerhle/Wily Peralta/Ivan Nova/Juan Ncasio/Dillon Gee THE TOUGH CALLS “3-2 Count” We are in week #3 and as far [...]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Centerfielder A.J. Pollock had a big game Wednesday, hitting two HRs and driving in four runs. Pollock may not have even begun the season with the team except for the injuries suffered by Adam Eaton an Cody Ross, problem is when those two return from the DL there may be no room for [...]

Clearing The Bases

Baltimore Orioles: Tough news for 2B Brian Roberts. He ruptured a tendon in the back of his knee and will miss most of, if not all of April. The problem for Roberts is this, even if he does return during the 2-4 week timetable, it would seem to be highly unlikely that he wouldn’t suffer [...]

Are 1800s Innings Pitched Totals Valid?

Should the enormous innings pitched totals of hurlers in the nineteenth century be adjusted based on the distance thrown? In order to compare eras, let’s take a closer look at the progression of distances from the pitching “box” to home plate since 1876. 1876-1880: 45 feet 1881-1892: 50 feet 1893-2013: 60 feet 6 in In [...]

Toeing The Rubber/Riding The Pine

In this weekly article I will be analyzing and advising fantasy baseball owners about who to start and who to sit. Starting lineups are due Sunday nights or Monday by first pitch so this article will be on weekends and will coincide with me, Chris Mitchell, taking questions on twitter @cjmitch73 and doing a live [...]

The Daily Stream: #WhoYagot

It is Saturday and today I am taking a second look at my daily transaction leagues and seeing where I need to make up some ground and in what categories I need to target. I like to first do this on Wednesday or Thursday and then look again on Friday night or Saturday morning. Something [...]

Clearing The Bases

Arizona Diamondbacks: Funny how things work out. During the off-season the DBacks were making deals because they thought they had a stockpile of outfielders, but after trading Justin Upton and Chris Young, and with the elbow injury suffered by Adam Eaton , that depth has been severely depleted…..Speaking of Upton, he just hit his second [...]

Clearing The Bases

Baltimore Orioles: Starting Pitcher Chris Tillman may be on the disabled list, but he is expected to be activated and take his regular turn in the rotation this weekend…..If 2B Brian Roberts can stay healthy and once again become the player he used to be, this would be a pretty big boon to the O’s [...]

Clearing The Bases

Well all of the fantasy rankings have been completed, it’s time to talk about real life baseball. There will be very little fantasy talk in this column as I will be making predictions on how the divisions will end. Predictions are never all that easy and in some cases completely useless once the season begins [...]

Clearing The Bases

Well all of the fantasy rankings have been completed, it’s time to talk about real life baseball.  There will be very little fantasy talk in this column as I will be making predictions on how the divisions will end.  Predictions are never all that easy and in some cases completely useless once the season begins [...]

Clearing The Bases

Welcome to the first day of spring and if you live in the Northeast well then you know it’s about 30 degrees and snowing, not exactly good news for MLB, when the season will begin in about 10 days.  Today we will complete our rankings with the outfielders.  I’m not going to rank designated hitters [...]

Clearing The Bases

Third base is loaded with great players at the top but declines rather quickly.  The top five players will be gone by the end of the 2nd round and although the second tier has some interesting players with some upside, they also come with quite a few warning flags, everything from injury concerns, to one [...]

Clearing The Bases

The position of shortstop is traditionally weak, and this year is no exception.  The first 3-4 players are studs, next two I wouldn’t mind having, then everyone else is pretty much a dartboard throw, hoping they help me more than they hurt me.  What I mean by that is that if I take someone like [...]

Clearing The Bases

Position scarcity seems to be the first phrase that comes to mind when discussing second base.  Hard to argue with the logic, after the top 6-7 players the talent dries up quickly.  Robinson Cano is in consideration for the fourth overall pick in fantasy drafts, but no other 2B will be taken in the 1st [...]

Clearing The Bases

Now we get to a position in which I would spend an early pick or high dollar amount on.  First base is deep, but not with as many top tiered players as there have been in the past.  New York Yankees 1B Mark Teixeira was taken off this list as he suffered a strained list [...]

Clearing The Bases

Catcher is yet another position that I will wait on in my draft.   I love Buster Posey, he’s a great player, but I’m not spending $40 in an auction or using a 1st or 2nd round pick to select him.  The reason is simple.  Catchers are at a much higher risk of injury than any [...]

Clearing The Bases

When it comes to relief pitchers, I’m of the mind to wait.  Last season by the middle of May, 15 of the 30 closers that were slated to have that job for their team at the beginning of spring training lost that job due to one reason or another.  Injuries (Rivera, Wilson, Soria, Madson) took [...]

Clearing The Bases

It’s that time of year again.  Players have reported to their respective spring training sites.  Games will begin later this week.  The boys of summer have returned.  This also means that it’s time to start to prepare for your fantasy drafts.  Today we will begin our series of player rankings.  Starting Pitchers are on tap.   [...]

Clearing The Bases

The non-waiver trade deadline has come and gone with a flurry of deals, but all is not lost as far as player movement.  Players can still be traded, they just have to pass through waivers first.  If they pass through unclaimed, they are free to be dealt to anyone.  If they are claimed by one [...]

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