Fantasy Baseball Tonight, June 2: Rick Porcello's Win Streak Broken

Rick Porcello finally took a loss, but I think you can forgive him against the Red Sox. He was only able to last 4.1 innings and allowed three runs. Porcello is still just 20 years old, and has a bright future ahead of him. Don’t get upset if you own him from one subpar start, there will be plenty more good ones in the coming days.

Jorge Posada is having a tremendous season and is far exceeding my expectations. He was 3-for-5 today with his seventh home run, and he has driven in 25 runs despite missing time due to injury. If Posada can stay healthy for the rest of the season, he could have a 25-30 homer season. In a single-season league I would definitely keep him. In a keeper league I would think about trying to capitalize on his good season and try to trade him for a younger catcher.

Manny Parra got shellacked again, and he is now 3-7 on the season. It is rare that a manager leaves his starter in to give up 10 runs, but Parra did that tonight over just four innings. On a good note, he did strike out five, but it was still an awful start for Parra. His ERA on the season is now 6.75, but he's only had only one other bad start in the last six weeks or so. Hold on to Parra, he will have a fine season.

Anibal Sanchez returned to the Marlins’ rotation tonight, and the results weren’t that good. He threw 71 pitches over just three innings, allowing one run and striking out three. He is a guy I owned in the beginning of the season in a couple leagues, but he now isn’t a guy that I am running out to reacquire. I'd need to see two or three good starts before I would think about putting him on my roster.

Despite not liking him after his last outing, Randy Wells was good again for the Cubs. But he allowed just one run over seven innings against the Braves and whiffed four. His ERA is now just 1.69, and his WHIP is under 1.00. I still don’t like him long term, but he keeps putting up good numbers. If you own him, continue to start him while he is hot, but keep it in mind that it could go down hill at any time.

Kevin Gregg blew his second save of the season, but he has given up his fair share of runs. The Cubs' bullpen is a mess, as Carlos Marmol also gave up a run tonight. Gregg should continue to be the closer as long as Marmol doesn’t appear to be a better option. If they could ever figure this out, one of them could be a valuable fantasy option, but they are both inconsistent at this point.

Vince Mazzaro had an OK, but far-from-great major league debut. He did throw 6.1 shutout innings, but he also walked four and struck out only one. He was having a fine season this year at AAA, but he isn’t a top notch prospect. I wouldn’t go running out to grab Mazzaro. I would want to see another two or three starts like this one (but with less walks) before I put him on my roster. Monitor him, but unless you are desperate, I wouldn’t pick him up.

Antonio Bastardo collected the win in his first major league start, and was pretty effective for that outing. Bastardo allowed just one run over six innings, walked just one, and struck out five.  He should get himself another start as he fills in for Brett Myers, but the Phillies have announced that they will be looking for outside help to fill the void.  There is a chance that Bastardo can pitch his way into that spot, but I wouldn’t count on it.

Major Announcement

I would like to let you all know that in the near future you won’t be getting your daily fantasy update from Fighting Chance Fantasy. I have agreed to team up with my podcast mates over at Fantasy Baseball Search.

Todd Farino, Jeff Mans, RC Rizza, myself, and the guys are forming a formidable team. I am not abandoning you, but making the coverage better.

Over the next couple of weeks I will be transitioning the site over to its new home at www.fantasybaseballtonight.com. I have already started to post on that page, so feel free to start heading there whenever you want.

We are still in the process of doing some work, but your nightly fix will be there. 

You will see improved features, more professional emails, and better coverage. You can find a plethora of information at Fantasy Baseball Search from me and the guys, but Fantasy Baseball Tonight will just be me and links to the podcast. 

The email address will slightly change to [e-mail], but I will continue to check both for quite a while. 

I am very excited about this change, and I believe that it will be great. 

Mailing List

For those of you who are regular readers, or even new to the site, I would like to offer a new service. I am starting a mailing list.  Sometimes I see news during the day, but I wait until this nightly article to pass it along to you guys. Prospects coming up, injury news, closer movement, etc. 

Just send me an email at [e-mail] with "Mailing List" in the subject line and I will add you to the list. Whenever I find news that I feel is breaking and important, I will send it to you as soon as I find out about it. Hopefully this is something that you all will find valuable to make a possible move before your competition.

Also, you can now follow me on Twitter for more updates. Go to www.twitter.com/fightingchance.

Got another mention on Steve Gardner’s Fantasy Windup blog on the USA Today site.  You can check out the post here. It is a great blog, and they also have some good contests for you to check out. I know some of you have already started to participate  and are enjoying it.

Attention League Commissioners!  If you are looking to spice up your league, visit Fantasy Sports Trophies. Tom Harkins has put together a great site with all kinds of different trophies to give the winner of your league something besides just bragging rights. There are trophies for fantasy baseball, football (check out the Beer League Fantasy Football Trophy), basketball, hockey, and auto racing.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at [e-mail]. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss the “Fantasy Baseball Tonight” podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday.

The Big Show on Wednesday is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru.  Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10 p.m. EST for all the the info and craziness we can pack into one hour. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league.