2012 Fantasy Baseball Daily Notes 4/27

Jarrod Saltalamacchia, Red Sox C

A lot of you out there are familiar with what my daily recaps are all about, but here’s a quick summary for those for those of you that are new to this page. If you’re one of those new folks…welcome! I hope you enjoy.

Each and every day, I’ll be combing over box scores and scouring local beat writers’ reports to make sure you have all the information you need in order to make the right decisions for your fantasy baseball lineup. Make sure you check back at this very spot for Hot/Cold Streaks, Injury News, Closer Updates, Daily Stats, and more so that you can stay one step ahead of the rest of your league.

I added a special feature at the end of the “Grab Bag” since we’re all perennially chasing the next, great prospect that’s going to make us the envy of our league mates.

Make sure to play Daily Fantasy Sports at FP911Challenge.com

Looking Back

Before we get to today’s games, let’s take a spin through last night’s box scores to identify the Studs and Duds from Thursday, April 26th.

5 Good Nights

Jarrod Saltalamacchia: 2-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI

Kevin Youkilis: 3-4, 2 R, HR, 4 RBI

Edinson Volquez: 7 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 7 K’s

Edwin Jackson: 6.2 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 6 K’s

Brian Matusz: 6 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 3 K’s

Honorable Mention: Jay Bruce, Angel Pagan, Miguel Cabrera, Justin Smoak, Chris Davis, Mark Trumbo, Ricky Nolasco, Jonathan Niese, Homer Bailey, Jerome Williams, Matt Moore

5 Bad Nights

Philip Humber: 5 IP, 8 H, 9 ER, 5 K’s

Jordan Walden: 0.0 IP, 2 H, 2 ER, 0 K’s, BS

Heath Bell: 0.2 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 0 K’s, BS

Zack Cozart: 0-5

Eric Hosmer: 0-5

Dishonorable Mention: Will Venable, Sean Marshall, Tyler Clippard, Josh Tomlin, Rick Porcello, Ryan Vogelsong, Hector Noesi

Daily Grab Bag

Check back here for daily updates on injuries, closer battles, player news, and anything else that might affect your fantasy baseball team.

• Lance Berkman (calf) has been on the DL since last week, but he was able to take batting practice for the second straight day yesterday. As long as he doesn’t experience any setbacks, the Cardinals’ first baseman should return to the lineup sometime next week.
• Santiago Casilla struck out the side against the Reds yesterday to pick up his second save of the season. Sergio Romo could still factor into the closer discussion in San Francisco, but outings like this will go a long way towards Casilla putting a stranglehold on the job.
• Ryan Zimmerman (shoulder) didn’t feel any improvement while taking batting practice yesterday and it looks as if the Nationals’ third baseman will be headed to the disabled list. If a DL stint is necessary, the move would be backdated and allow Zimmerman to return on May 6^th as long as he’s healthy.
• Carl Crawford’s “fact-finding” mission with Dr. James Andrews didn’t go so well for the Red Sox’ outfielder as he was diagnosed with a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his left elbow and is set to miss the next three months. Crawford has decided to opt for rehab over surgery in hopes of playing again this year, but fantasy owners can safely cross the former first-round fantasy pick off their list for 2012.
• The Indians have been told by their medical staff that Shin-Soo Choo (hamstring) should only miss a couple games with his injury, but a trip to the DL is still a very real possibility and newly-signed Johnny Damon could serve as the potential replacement in such a situation.
• A day after A’s pitching prospect, Jarrod Parker, made his Major League debut, Oakland added outfielder Michael Taylor to the 25-man roster for this weekend’s series against Baltimore. Taylor has been red-hot in AAA (hitting .362) and looks to be an interesting grab for those in deeper leagues.
• Mike Trout Watch: As I mentioned to yesterday, Trout will most likely be the uber-prospect that makes a different for fantasy owners this year (sorry, Bryce Harper owners). As such, I want to dedicate this space to keeping an eye on the youngster in the hopes that we all look like geniuses once he gets promoted to the Majors. Trout went 0-3 for Salt Lake Bees yesterday, but he’s still hitting .403 on the season and Peter Bourjos (0-2) and Vernon Wells (1-3) didn’t do much in their game against Tampa Bay to quell the clamor for a call-up.

Looking Ahead

A quick look at some of today’s pitchers to start (3 Up), pitchers to sit (3 Down), pitchers to take a flier on if you need a spot-start (Throwing Darts), and batters with advantageous or disadvantageous matchups (Today’s Swings and Misses).

3 Up

Roy Halladay vs. Chicago Cubs
(There’s a lot of good pitching options today, but it’s hard to overlook a guy who’s sporting a 1.50 ERA and 0.90 WHIP and is facing a team that is 24^th in the Majors in runs scored.)

Justin Verlander at New York Yankees
(Verlander has a tough matchup today, but he has carried over his 2011 dominance into 2012 and has held the current Yankees lineup to a career .224 batting average.)

Clayton Kershaw vs. Washington Nationals
(Kershaw has only allowed four earned runs in 22.1 innings this season, and has the good fortune of going up against a team that is 23^rd in the Majors in runs scored.)

3 Down

John Danks vs. Boston Red Sox
(Danks has fairly decent career numbers against the Red Sox, but Boston has scored more than 6+ runs in each of their last five games and I’m a little worried about the left-hander running into a buzzsaw today.)

James Shields at Texas Rangers
(Since allowing six runs on Opening Day, Shields has settled down and won his past three starts, but he faces the red-hot Rangers in an extreme hitter’s park today and this matchup doesn’t look all that favorable for the right-hander.

Brandon McCarthy at Baltimore Orioles
(Over the past three seasons, McCarthy has posted a 4.73 ERA on the road as compared to a 2.82 ERA at home. As you can see above, the A’s aren’t playing at home today.)

Throwing Darts

Ivan Nova vs. Detroit Tigers
(Nova hasn’t lost a regular-season decision since June 3^rd of last year, and he looks like a very enticing start in the Bronx against a slumping Tigers squad that was just swept by the Mariners.)

Matt Harrison vs. Tampa Bay Rays
(Harrison boasts a 2.33 ERA to go along with 23 strikeouts in 19 1/3 career innings against Tampa Bay.)

Justin Masterson vs. Los Angeles Angels
(Masterson has struggled his last couple starts, but he sports a 2.43 ERA in 37 career innings against the Angels and should benefit from some home-cooking today.)

Today’s Swings and Misses

• Chipper Jones is 13-for-37 (.351) in his career against today’s starter, A.J. Burnett.
• Elvis Andrus is 7-for-12 (.583) with four extra-base hits in his career against today’s starter, James Shields.
• Nick Swisher is 8-for-46 (.154) in his career against today’s starter, Justin Verlander.
• Cameron Maybin was 7-for-36 (.194) last season atAT&T Park (which is where the Padres play today).
• David  Ortiz is 2-for-11 (.182) in his career against today’s starter, John Danks.

Don’t forget to check out some of the other great content on FantasyPros911, starting with some of FP911′s recent updates:

• Albert Lang takes a look at today’s starting pitchers in the latest edition of “Pitch or Ditch”.
• Dave Shovein previews this week’s Double Starters.
• Matthew Dewoskin takes a look at this week’s Blown Opportunities for all your premium subscribers. You haven’t subscribed yet? What are you waiting for?!?
• Collin Hager uses his patented HVaC model to update player values.
• Lenny Melnick’s award-winning podcast explores a few Oddities a whole lot more fantasy goodness!
• Check out FantasyPros911 Editor-in-Chief, Patrick DiCaprio, and the crew on this week’s edition of The Fantasy Baseball Roundtable.

See you tomorrow!

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Nick Raducanu

Nick Raducanu finished 2011 ranked in the top 20 on ESPN’s Fantasy site, and is the mystery man behind the TraderX persona at www.FantasyTrade411.com. You can follow him and ask him for fantasy advice on Twitter @FantasyTrade411.

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