Fantasy Baseball Around the Majors, June 3: Greinke, Johnson and More

Eric Stashin

Jun 4, 2010

Carlos Lee and Carlos Quentin are showing signs of warming up. Josh Johnson and Jered Weaver are rolling on the mound.

Zack Greinke fell to 1-7 on the year. Let’s look at these stories and all the rest from yesterday’s games:

Hitters:

Carlos Lee (2-5, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R) - His average still leaves a lot to be desired (.213), but he’s up to 7 HR and 26 RBI. He entered the day with a BABIP of .210, so needless to say there are better days ahead. Don’t get impatient now.
Carlos Quentin (1-3, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R) - He’s one of those guys that you just need to sit with and wait for things to turn around. He has three home runs in his last five games, so that part of his game is slowly getting there. He has a .210 average, but he entered the day with a .209 BABIP. Like Lee, he’s going to get there. Just sit tight and don’t give up hope.
Alex Rodriguez (2-5, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R) - He’s certainly starting to come around, now on a four-game hitting streak going 8-17 with 2 HR, 8 RBI and 4 R. Overall, he’s hitting .300 with 8 HR, 43 RBI and 33 R. Was anyone ever really worried about him?
Brett Gardner (2-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R, 1 SB) - Power certainly isn’t his game, but the stolen base is. He’s now hitting .304 with 19 SB and 39 R. He’s certainly outproduced most expectations and is worth taking a closer look at in the near future.
Magglio Ordonez (3-5, 1 HR, 5 RBI, 2 R) - It was easy for many people to write-off Ordonez after last season’s lack of power. However, he’s proving real quick that it was an aberration. With 8 HR and 40 RBI, he’s already approaching last year’s 9 HR and 50 RBI over 465 AB. Before we think that he’s due to regress, he opened the day with a realistic .311 BABIP, 31.0% fly ball rate and 13.2% HR/FB. There’s just nothing that says he’s going to slow down, now is there?
Kurt Suzuki (2-5, 2 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R) - He struggled early and missed time on the DL, but all is forgiven after the past two days, where he has gone 4-9 with 3 HR, 5 RBI and 3 R. The average should still improve (he entered with a .255 BABIP), and his HR (7) and RBI (23) are among the Top 10 in each category among catchers. There’s nothing not to like anymore. He should be owned in all formats.
Troy Glaus (2-4, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 R) - He’s absolutely on fire. He’s now homered four times in his last five games. He’s on a nine-game hitting streak, going 11-29 with 4 HR, 15 RBI and 10 R. Needless to say, take advantage of this hot streak while you can in deeper formats.

Pitchers:

Brett Anderson (2.0 IP, 2 ER, 5 H, 0 BB, 1 K) - He was forced from the game with soreness in his elbow. Considering he recently returned from another arm injury, this is terrible news for fantasy owners. Keep your fingers crossed, but make sure you have a viable alternative in place.
Jered Weaver (7.0 IP, 0 ER, 4 H, 1 BB, 9 K, W) - Since a tough start in Texas (7 ER over 4.2 IP), he has been great, having allowed 2 ER over his last 20 innings, though this is his only win to show for it. Overall he’s 5-2 with a 2.74 ERA to go along with 83 Ks in 75.2 innings. What is there to complain about?
Zack Greinke (6.0 IP, 4 ER, 10 H, 3 BB, 6 K) - He can’t blame his offense for this one. It happens, but don’t be concerned. He’s one of the elite in the game, despite having just one win to show for it.
Matt Lindstrom (1.0 IP, 2 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 K, W) - Yea he got the win, but this now has to be concerning. He’s now allowed 6 ER over his last four outings, seeing his ERA go from 1.40 to 3.47. With Brandon Lyon pitching relatively well, it wouldn’t be a complete surprise to see him get some save chances if Lindstrom was to continue to struggle. Keep a close eye on this situation if you are in need of some saves.
Josh Johnson (7.0 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 8 K, W) - He continues to roll, there’s no other way to put it. He’s allowed 2 ER over his last five starts, going 3-1 over that span. He hasn’t allowed more then 3 ER in a start since his first start of the year against the Mets on April 5. What is there not to like?
Felix Hernandez (8.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 9 K, W) - It’s his first win since April 21, though not entirely by his own fault. In his last four starts he had allowed 3 ER or less, yet was 0-1 over that span. We all know that he’s one of the better pitchers in the league, so ignore the win-loss record.

What are your thoughts from yesterday’s games? Which ones caught your eye? And which ones did I miss?

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