Fantasy Baseball Week In Review: June 8-14

It was a really interesting second week of June. It seemed there was no in between. Either the performances were really great or really terrible.

As always, here are the studs, the players who have me concerned, and the potential pickups from the week of June 8-14.

Fantasy Studs

Torii Hunter—(.368 BA/4 HR/8 RBI) Any player who hits three home runs in one game is definitely a stud.

Jason Kubel—(.381/4/6) While Mauer and Morneau get all the attention, Kubel has been a force for the Twins this season.

David Wright—(.520/1/2) The power isn’t there for Wright, but the average certainly is. Wright also stole three bases last week.

Pablo Sandoval—(.480/2/5) Yes, the Giants actually have hitters on their team.

Jim Thome—(.400/3/7/.609) Year after year, Thome produces. Thome will be one of the most fascinating Hall of Fame debates in the next 10 years

Brad Bergesen—(2-0 with a 1.06 ERA and just 10 hits allowed in 17 IP) The Orioles have a bright future and Bergesen is a big part of that future.

Jose Contreras—(2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and just three hits allowed in 16 IP) Where is this coming from? It’s like 2005 all over again for Contreras.

Jered Weaver—(2-0 with a 1.20 and 11 K’s in 15 IP) Weaver has really stepped up for the Angels this year and is throwing his name in the hat for the Cy Young award.

 

Reasons for Concern

Roy Halladay—Halladay left Friday night’s game with a groin injury. It doesn’t appear to be to serious and Halladay might start against the Nationals on Saturday.

The concern I have is that groin injuries are like hamstring injuries. They just linger and never really seem to fully go away. This is an injury that I will be following closely.

Jake Peavy—Peavy was placed on the 15-Day DL with a strained tendon in his right ankle. Padres trainer Todd Hutcheson thinks Peavy could miss as many as 12 weeks with this injury.

Peavy is 6-6 with a 3.97 ERA on the season, so it’s not a typical Peavy season. Perhaps Peavy will stop pitching in the WBC. I am just sayin’...

Howie Kendrick—Kendrick was demoted to Triple A Salt Lake over the weekend. Ouch! Kendrick had a hitting line of .231/4/22, with a pathetic .281 OBP in 186 AB’s for the Angels.

I think now we can officially put an end to the “Howie Kendrick will win a batting title” nonsense that we have been hearing for the last five years.

B.J. Upton—Upton hit .200 with no HR’s, no RBI and 12 Ks last week. He now has a hitting line for the season of .218/3/15. If he didn’t have 24 SBs, he would be completely useless at the plate.

I think it’s pretty clear at this point that Upton is still affected by the offseason shoulder surgery that he had.

 

Potential Pickup

Rick Ankiel—Ankiel has been a huge disappointment so far this year. I even drafted him over Johnny Damon in my draft, based on Ankiel having a breakout 2008. Good one, Adam.

However, Ankiel had a nice week last week. He hit .360 with one HR and four RBI. I still think he can have a big second half, so it might be a good time to pick him up now before he goes on a tear.