Reader Week: Why is Ben Zobrist's Power Zapped?

Written by Charlie Saponara on .

This week is going to feature players deemed "the biggest question mark" specifically identified by FB365 readers. If you have a player for specific evaluation, email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The 2009 season was a magical one for Ben Zobrist. He hit .297/.405/.543 with 27 home runs in 501 at-bats. That season not only caused Zobrist's value to skyrocket on draft day 2010, but it became a big topic for debate in the months prior to the draft. The Rays seemed to think Zobrist was the real deal, they signed him to a three-year contract extension.

Fast forward to May 11, 2010: Zobrist is hitting .267/.346/.358 with zero home runs in 120 at-bats.

Trade Debate: Bell for Gregg

Written by Charlie Saponara on .

An interesting trade went down in the FB365 League last week. Two teams swapped closers Heath Bell and Kevin Gregg straight up. This caught the attention of not only myself, but other league members.

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Favorable Two Start Starters for H2H Leagues

Written by Mark Schruender on .

Here are the best two start pitchers for May 10 through May 16. Ownership is listed in parenthesis for Yahoo leagues.

Brian Matusz (Owned 48%) vs. SEA, vs. CLE

Over the last week, Cleveland and Seattle are 13th and 14th in the American League in runs scored and both teams are also 13th and 14th respectively in runs scored for the whole season. Matusz has a 10:1 strikeout to walk rate in two starts at Camden Yards this year.

Swing and Miss: Pitchers Missing Bats Early On

Written by Charlie Saponara on .

Yesterday we looked at the worst contact hitters in the big leagues so far in 2010. While posting a low contact rate is not good for hitters, it is great for pitchers. Getting swings and misses is one indicator of a pitcher's pure "stuff". Below is a list of the starting pitchers who have shown the ability to miss bats with high frequency early this season.
 
For reference: 80 percent is about league average, 79-76 percent is good, 75 percent and below is very good and anything around or below 70 percent is just filthy (in a good way).
 

Swing and Miss: Early Season Whiffers

Written by Charlie Saponara on .

One of my favorite stats provided by the incomparable fangraphs.com is contact rate. Contact rate is simply the percentage of swings by a batter that induce some type of contact. For pitchers, it is the percentage of swings by the batter that produce a contact result off of that pitcher's pitches. It's such a simple concept when applying this stat toward evaluations: the more a hitter swings and misses, the less likely they are to maintain a high AVG. On the pitching side, less is more. The more swings an misses generated by a pitcher, the better. It is an indication of the raw dominance (or lack thereof) of a pitcher's "stuff".

Today, we'll take a look at the worst contact hitters through the first week in May. Some of these names are obvious (Mark Reynolds), but some may surprise a bit. The sample size is still small enough that big turnarounds are possible. Who will turn things around and who destined to remain the same?

As a guideline, 80 percent is about league average, between 79 and 76 percent is not good, anything under 75 percent is bad and anything under 70 percent is very bad.

Travel Day, Reader Week, Etc...

Written by Charlie Saponara on .

Wow, I miss one day and I feel like I missed a month. Beckett blowing up, Starlin Castro has a day, Jonathan Broxton actually gets a save (and Hoffman too)!
 
Yesterday was a travel day for me. I was scheduled to get into my destination in enough time to write an article. Flight delays and hour-and-hours spend in Airport terminals (without my laptop!) turned into an arrival time in the early hours of the am. So, while I'll try to keep things updated around here, it may be a little difficult this weekend.
 
That being said, I want to do something special next week.
 
This time of year is somewhat of a turning point for fantasy owners. A multitude of players are over-performing and under-performing. So, I post the question to you:
 
Who is the one biggest question mark on your fantasy team?
 
Send your answers to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and I will be sure to feature my player analysis on your specific player at some point next week.

Wigginton Homers Again, Simon Gets the Save; Is it Time to Sell High?

Written by Charlie Saponara on .

The Orioles may be struggling as a team, but Ty Wigginton and Alfredo Simonhave been pleasant surprises for fantasy teams.  For Wigginton it has been an impressive showing of power. For Simon, it's all about taking the closers role and running with it. Both have been great values so far, but both are candidates to regress soon.
 

One Man's Trash...Week Five

Written by Charlie Saponara on .

A slew of pitchers are being dropped in ESPN leagues for week five. Some deservedly, some maybe not so much. Which of these pitchers (and a few hitters) might be worth snagging off of waivers for your fantasy team?
 
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