Fantasy Week In Review, July 27—August 2nd

Believe it or not, there was more to last week than just the July 31st, trading deadline.

Hard to believe right? Well, the fantasy baseball season is in it’s final stretch. For a lot of leagues, August is the final month of the regular season.

That being said, I added a couple of more players to the potential pickups section in order to help your team out. Here are the fantasy studs, the players players of concern and the potential pickups for the week of July 27th—August 2nd.

 

Fantasy Studs

Jhonny Peralta—.407/3/12. Yes, the Cleveland Indians still have some major-league players left.

Gordon Beckham—.393/2/10 with one SB. With this second half surge, Beckham might win the American League Rookie of the Year.

Josh Willingham—.375/3/9. If a man hits two grand slams in one game, he is a fantasy stud.

Bobby Abreu—.500/1/8/.517 with two SB’s.  There are a lot of people who don’t like Abreu as a player, but there is one thing for sure, the man puts up numbers.

Matt Holliday—.536/3/8/.600. I think Holliday likes playing in front of people and in a pennant race. The complete opposite of playing in Oakland.

Tim Lincecum—2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and 23 K’s in 17 IP. When Lincecum is on a roll like this, he is one of the most exciting pitchers to watch. Just spectacular.

Chris Carpenter—2-0 with a 1.13 ERA and seven K’s in 16 IP. Carpenter isn’t striking out many batters, but he is working efficiently and deep into games.

Cliff Lee—2-0 with a 1.69 ERA and 10 K’s in 16 IP. American League, National League, it doesn’t matter to Lee. He is pitching lights out right now.

 

Reasons for Concern

Ian Kinsler—Kinsler was placed on the 15-day DL with a strained left hamstring. Can this guy stay healthy just one year? Please? Fantasy owners are begging him.

This is a big loss not only to the Rangers, but to all fantasy owners who have Kinsler on their team. Kinsler was tied for second with Chase Utley for HR’s by a second baseman with 23 and was fourth in RBI with 63.

George Sherrill—This might be one of the only issues people have with the trade deadline. In the blink of an eye, Sherrill went from valuable closer to useless fantasy setup man.

Unless your league counts holds as a stat or Jonathan Broxton gets hurt (I’ll knock on wood for all you Dodger fans), Sherrill has pretty much become useless for the purposes of fantasy baseball.

 

Potential Pickups

Jason Frasor—With current closer Scott Downs landing on the 15-day DL with a left big toe injury, Frasor becomes the de facto closer in Toronto. The Blue Jays are struggling, but Frasor should be able to get you a couple of saves down the stretch.

Clayton Richard—Richard went to the San Diego Padres in the Jake Peavy trade and now gets to pitch in the Yellowstone Park of baseball. I have always liked Richard, so if he can get any run support he could be valuable down the stretch.

Josh Reddick—The Boston Red Sox 22-year-old rookie is off to a .364/1/2 in his first three major league games. With J.D. Drew and Jason Bay hurting, Reddick should be getting his AB's in Boston.

Jim Johnson—Just as a pitcher can go from valuable closer to setup guy, the complete opposite can happen to a setup guy. With the trade of George Sherrill, the Baltimore Orioles’ Jim Johnson goes from setup guy to potential closer in Baltimore.

Johnson has a 3.28 ERA and 14 holds in 49 1/3 IP this year. Just like with Frasor, Johnson might get you some saves down the stretch.