Fantasy Week In Review, May 17 – 23

Now that everyone has fully digested the finale of Lost, we can turn our attention to what happened in the world of fantasy baseball last week.

Here are the fantasy studs, the players who have me concerned, and the potential pickups from the week of May 17th-23rd.

Cruz could be an MVP candidate if healthy

Fantasy Studs

Nelson Cruz: .400/2/12 with two SB’s. The only thing holding this guy back is the injury prone factor. If he can stay healthy, he will be a top-10 OF in 2010.

Edwin Encarnacion: .333/5/9. Encarnacion’s week was bolstered by his three home run game in Arizona. He is still only a second-tier starting 3B in most fantasy formats.

Justin Morneau: .429/3/9/.500. Anyone else notice that Morneau is hitting .383 this year? Target Field is serving Morneau well as he is hitting .364 at home.

Joey Votto: .400/2/8 with two SB’s. In Buster Olney’s latest column he mentioned that Shin-Soo Choo might be the most underrated player in baseball. My vote goes to Votto.

Jose Guillen: .370/3/9/.433. Guillen’s hot streaks are legendary. In the weeks that he gets hot, Guillen becomes one of the better hitters in baseball.

Edwin Jackson: 2-0 with a 2.87 ERA and 21 K’s in 15.2. Jackson lowered his ERA from 7.44 to 6.28 this week. 2010 has really been a struggle for Jackson, so perhaps last week was a sign of things to come.

Gio Gonzalez: 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and nine K’s in 15 IP. Gonzalez dominated the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants in two starts, so let’s not get too excited here. However, Gonzalez does offer value in deeper mixed leagues and keeper leagues.

Clayton Richard: 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and 11 K’s in 14 IP. I wrote back in August of last year that Richard would be a good pitcher in San Diego and so far he has. Richard is 9-4 with a 3.45 ERA in a Padres’ uniform.

Josh Johnson: 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and nine K’s in 13 IP. Johnson dominated the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks in back-to-back starts. This guy is a legit Cy Young candidate in 2010.

Rafael Soriano: Three saves with a 0.00 ERA and three K’s in 3.1 IP. Soriano really has stabilized the back-end of the Tampa Bay Rays’ bullpen. He should be good for 35-40 saves in 2010.

Reasons for Concern

Homer Bailey: Bailey left Sunday’s game because of shoulder discomfort and was placed on the 15-day DL on Monday. This is unfortunate because after a rough April, which saw Bailey post a 7.06 ERA, he was pitching much better in May posting a 4.34 ERA.

Thankfully the Reds don’t believe this is serious and don’t expect Bailey to miss too much time.

Clint Barmes: Barmes is hitting .220 with a .272 OBP. That win you the support of your organization. There have been a lot of rumors of late that the Colorado Rockies are in the market for a second baseman. Usually in these situations, where there is smoke there is fire.

I would cut the cord with Barmes now and look elsewhere for second base help.

Jimmy Rollins: Rollins made a celebrity guest appearance last week and then was placed right back on the DL with the same calf injury. If this injury lingers throughout the year, then that will hurt Rollins in the steals department, which will hurt his fantasy value.

Potential Pickups

Fred Lewis: Lewis is only owned on 11 percent of fantasy teams on ESPN, but is having a very solid month of May. Lewis is hitting .326/3/14 for the month and is firmly entrenched as the Toronto Blue Jays’ leadoff hitter and LF.

If Lewis continues to hit and the rest of the Blue Jay hitters continue to hit the ball out of the ballpark, he should score plenty of runs this year.

John Jaso: If your team needs a catcher, Jaso might be your guy. Jaso is hitting .344 and will temporarily bat fifth for the Rays while Carlos Pena is struggling.

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