The Chantastic Blog

I can’t describe how ridiculously rewarding it feels to see this. I’m well aware that it’s just a game and no human being should be as invested in this as much as I am. But still, it feels glorious.

I don’t know who Mitch Stetter is, but he’s put up some great numbers in middle relief thus far. And he hasn’t walked anyone in June, which is a good sign since walks were his biggest problem. If your league counts holds, there’s nothing better than a situational lefty who puts up great numbers, racks up the holds, and gets the occasional vulture win.

You know who looks like a pretty good pickup for a spot-start if he’s available in your league? As I stated a couple of weeks ago (more…)

Signs of life from Troy Tulowitzki.  He hit an absolute bomb to the opposite field tonight against Milwaukee, which is a good sign in a couple of ways.  As a Tulowitzki owner in both of my leagues, let me tell you firsthand that his owners have suffered enough this season, and it wouldn’t have taken much to get him from me a couple of days ago.  I’d suggest trying to get him now while we’re still bitter about him not panning out.  One final point - Colorado has played 23 games at home thus far, but 35 away.  Starting in July, that’s going to balance out with more games at Coors, which will be good for all of the Rockies’ hitters.

Not much changes over a week or two, so that’s why most of my recommended pickups from a couple of weeks back still hold. Ten games or two starts is too short a time for the entire outlook of most players to change.

Having said that, it might be a good time to sell high on Orlando Hudson. He’s not hitting .340 anymore, and he really doesn’t offer much power or speed. But if you can still sell the fact that he’s hitting .320 and in a fantastic lineup (even though the lineup isn’t that fantastic with Pierre in place of Manny and Furcal doing nothing in front of him), then this might be a good way to take your gains on O-Dawg given that you probably drafted him in the late rounds.

On the other hand, Kelly Johnson is a good buy low candidate. After a horrendous April, he put up the type of numbers expected of him in May. His overall numbers still don’t look very good, but they’re improving by the day, so see if you can still trade for him while his trade value might be low.

And finally, Joe Blanton’s strikeout rate has been surprisingly good this year. The problem has been the homers he’s given up, which not surprisingly, is a bigger problem at home. I’d recommend stashing him on your bench to see how he’ll do in his next couple of starts, and spot starting him on the road against weaker lineups.

I’m very excited to see a link to my blog show up on a fantasy baseball website as an “excellent” resource. And because they’re giving me props, I won’t criticize them for the spelling mistake they made on that webpage…

In fantasy baseball news (so skip the rest of this if you don’t care about such things), I own Joba Chamberlain in both of my fantasy baseball leagues. In both leagues, I offered Joba straight up for Jon Lester. The offer was declined in my non-keeper league, but was accepted in my keeper league. I found this very interesting.

And one fantasy baseball tidbit before you go on your merry way - Lance Berkman’s season numbers look awful. However, look at his April/May splits - it’s really just a brutal April that’s weighing down his numbers. His May numbers are the typical Berkman numbers that you’d expect. So try to trade for him while his overall numbers still don’t look very good.

Matt Holliday is a great buy low candidate right now. His overall numbers are still below average, but that’s due to horrendous numbers in April. Take a look at the huge difference in his BB/K splits: 4/12 in April to 16/16 in May. Similarly, his OPS splits have gone from 648 to 894. Try to trade for him while his numbers still look below average.