The Week That Was: Fantasy Baseball Week Eight Review

Freddy Sanchez is back.

Sanchez batted just .271 last season, but the Pittsburgh second baseman has been solid in 2009 and hit everything in sight during fantasy week eight.

His ridiculous .650 average also came packaged with a home run and a steal.

Sanchez has never really been a great fantasy player. He struggles to hit double-digit home runs and had five career steals coming into this season.

He has four so far this year.

Sanchez's career batting average sits over .300 and if he has the green light to run, now might be a good time to grab him.

Speed and power

Three fantasy studs delivered the type of numbers their owners expected on draft day.

Except those who drafted Nelson Cruz. I doubt they expected him to be on pace to hit 46 home runs at this point in the year.

His magical season continued in week eight—.348 BA, 3 HR, 5 RBI, 7 Runs, 2 SB.

Torii Hunter hit .300 with 2 home runs, 5 RBI, 5 runs and 2 steals in week eight. Hunter remains red hot on the year with 12 homers and 42 RBI to date.

Carl Crawford added 2 steals and 2 round-trippers to a .370 average and 6 runs on the week.

Crawford's power surge likely comes as a welcome surprise to his owners.

Pitching

In a week of stellar performances—Zack Grienke pitched 16 innings with a WHIP of 0.88, Justin Verlander won both of his starts and struck out 13 in 13 innings—Chris Carpenter posted the week's finest pitching performance: 1-0, 14 IP, 15 K, 1.29 ERA, 0.64 WHIP.

Some interesting notes from the week:

Carl Pavano pitched 14 1/3 innings and posted a 2.51 ERA and a 0.91 WHIP.

Yes, that Carl Pavano.

Bronson Arroyo threw a one-run complete game against Houston. Since getting rocked by the Brewers on May 6, Arroyo has pitched at least seven innings in four straight starts.

He was only started in 57 percent of cbssports.com leagues during the week.

Chien-Ming Wang pitched five shutout innings against the Indians on Sunday, May 31.

Waivers

A couple guys already mentioned may be available in some leagues. Sanchez and Arroyo would be two to add that are not getting the fantasy love they deserve.

Also, if Wang's owners have jumped ship—and 25 percent of cbssports.com owners have—now could be the time to add him.

Some other hot bats and arms from week 8 that may be available in your league:

-OF Gerardo Parra (18 percent) hit .385 with 8 RBI.

-OF Reed Johnson (2 percent) hit .474 with 2 HR and 6 RBI.

-OF Marlon Byrd (17 percent) hit .400 with 2 HR, 5 RBI and 6 runs.

-2B Adam Kennedy (34 percent) hit .370 and had 4 SB.

-SP Kris Medlen (nine percent) struck out 12 in 11 1/3 innings with a WHIP of 0.97. Beware though—his next start looks to be against Milwaukee.

-SP Brad Bergesen (five percent) threw a complete game against Detroit on May 29. His next scheduled start is at Seattle.

-SP Matt Palmer (34 percent) threw seven shutout innings against Seattle on May 30. He has posted a 1.15 WHIP so far this season.