4/22 Recap

So I put CC Sabathia on the trade block. Yesterday I recieved an offer of Jermaine Dye and Brian Bannister for him. I was holding out for Jered Weaver or Chein Ming Wang. Now, it's safe to say, CC is off the trade block for the time being. I watched some of his start today, and he was throwing hard, 94-95, with good movement on the slider. He was kinda flithy. So for now, I'm keeping him. Of course today was the first time I didn't start him this year, but it's better to be safe than sorry. He's going to be getting the nod next week against the Yankees and M's. I'll start him. The guy did win the Cy Young last year, he's not really that terrible.

Red Sox 7, Angels 6
Well Ellsbury has pretty much claimed the leadoff spot for the rest of the year. Man was that a bad timing for the Crisp injury. Enjoy Jacoby owners, he's going to probably have a pretty great year. Lugo continues to be hot, and Ortiz is nearing .200, so all is well on those fronts. The big news out of this game was that Josh Beckett got bumped from his start. You can't be terribly surprised by Beckett missing starts, but he's looked pretty good lately. Jered Weaver wasn't great, and I think he's sort of overrated. Jeff Mathis should be owned in every league just about. I think he might actually be available in mine, but I can't really put him anywhere with Posada at catcher and Ortiz at DH. Looks like I was completely wrong on Casey Kotchman. He's going to hit for average, and it looks like he's going to approach 30 homers. I'm kicking myself over not grabbed Erick Aybar. He's legit. Not .356 legit, but 30 steals legit.

Tigers 10, Rangers 4
An encouraging start out of Verlander. I've seen experts saying to sell on him or stay away, and I'm not one of them. He's fine, he's been unlucky so far, although the K/BB isn't stellar. I'll buy. The other big news is Miguel Cabrera is switching to 1B and Carlos Guillen to 3B. This doesn't really do much for either as far as position eligibility goes, and the biggest concern would probably be how the switching position in the middle of the year will effect their hitting. Cabrera has looked fine at 1B, and Guillen has played over 100 games at 3B in the Majors, so maybe it won't be so important. Ramon Santiago has looked pretty good this year, but there is absolutely nothing to suggest this is for real. I don't think he's even worth a short term grab while Polanco misses time. Frankie Catalanatto is someone to watch, he's able to hit for a high average and has some pop, so if he starts getting regular at bats, take a look.

Rays 6, Jays 4
James Schields was solid, giving up 2 ER over 7, striking out 5. It seems like he lets up a lot of unearned runs. Not really sure what to make of that. It seems like that could come back to haunt him, but you can't plan on bad defense every time out (although if he keeps making the errors, maybe you can. Gotta love that for fantasy.) Dioner Navarro returned from the DL and goes 3-4. That's a good start. I like him this year, feel free to start playing him immediately. Kinske keeps hitting, so the Dan Johnson pickup will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. One thing we know is Jonny Gomes will probably lose play time for no reason. It's incredibly frustrating.

Indians 15, Royals 1
Gil Meche has been pretty brutal lately. I don't know what to say. He just got battered around today. I'm benching him for the forseeable future. Casey Blake had a huge game, hitting a grand slam and going 4-4. I'm going to guess people start believing again. Jump on the bandwagon, he's fine. Frankie Gutierrez was 3-5 with 3 RBI, so that bodes well too. I've been talking them both up lately so hopefully you jumped on them when they were struggling. David Dellucci is worth watching now too. I'm not sold on him, but he could turn into a nice steal.

Yankees 9, White Sox 5
Figures Giambi would homer off of Jose Contreras. Just because he can hit Mike Timlin and the 45 year old Contreras, there should be no reason to buy. It looks like ARod might be out for a little, so Ensberg is worth the short term grab. Thome and Konerko are two nice buy low guys right now with their averages around .200. It won't last. Juan Uribe went 2-5 to bump his average up to .172. He's not going to hit .300 or anything, but should be around .250 with 20 homers. That's not terrible out of second base. This Sox team is pretty dangerous still and I don't see them really slowing down, especially with their best hitters struggling.

Twins 5, A's 4
Craig Monroe was 3-4 with a bomb. He can crush lefties, and that's the only role he should have. Kubel seems to have the full time job on lock, so there's nothing wrong with Monroe getting time against lefties. Livan Hernandez wasn't great, and he's going to get a lot worse still. Emil Brown is looking better all the time, which is a painful thing to say. I might add him if Crisp doesn't come back and play. Yuck. Mike Lamb had three hits, and he should only be getting better too. I like him this year. Joe Blanton struck out 7 which is good. He hasn't been particularly awesome this year, and he's not an ace, but he's a great 2 still.

M's 4, O's 2
Felix is getting completely screwed this year. He's the best pitcher in the AL of today, and I wouldn't be shocked if he was at the end of the year too. If the M's don't go get Frank Thomas, they're dumb. JJ Putz came off the DL and looked solid in his return. Start him right away. I dropped Jeremy Guthrie earlier in the year, and I mildly regret it. I don't expect great things or wins out of him, but he's servicable.