Kuzul

This weekly column focuses on guys who are out there to be had for nothing in most leagues that can help your team, even if only as a short-term fill in. If you have injuries, like that of an owner who will go unnamed, which includes Josh Hamilton, Matt Holliday, Zack Greinke, Ryan Zimmerman and Joe Mauer, and you have not quit yet, then these are some guys who may help to ease the pain.   David Murphy, OF Texas Rangers (39 percent owned in Yahoo, 13 percent in ESPN leagues) Current Stat Line – .350 Avg/ 4 R/ 1 HR/ 4 RBI/ 4 SB With Hamilton out for an extended time, we can expect to see a lot more of David Murphy. He looked good as a fill in last September and his start to this year would suggest it wasn’t a fluke.   Corey Patterson, OF Toronto Blue Jays (1 percent Yahoo, 1 percent ESPN) Current ...

Barry Bonds is the all-time home run leader in major league baseball with 762. He also holds the record for most home runs in a single season with 73 in the 2001 season. Overall, Bonds ended up with a career .298 batting average, 2,935 hits, 1,996 RBI, 2,558 walks (MLB record), 688 intentional walks (MLB record), and 514 stolen bases. Barry was a 14 time all-star, 8 time gold glove winner, 12 time silver slugger award winner, 7 time NL MVP and 3 time Hank Aaron award winner.  Let that sink in for just a minute, all of these statistics, awards and accolades for one man. Yet, he is still probably most widely remembered for his association with the BALCO scandal ahead of all of these other things. This week we were reminded, once again, that the greatest player of his generation had to cheat to achieve that status. The government has ...

This weekly column will focus on guys who are out there to be had for nothing in most leagues that can help your team even if only as a short term fill in. So if you’re like me and have Evan Longoria, Jason Bay, Brian Matusz and Chase Utley sitting on your DL, these are some names you might have to call to the rescue!   Jeremy Guthrie: SP Baltimore Orioles (40 percent owned in Yahoo, 29 percent in ESPN leagues) Current Stat Line: 1 W/6 K/ 0.00 ERA While clearly we can not expect his next few starts to go as well or better than his first, Guthrie is a solid starter backed by an improved offense in Baltimore. He may not make Sunday’s start due to a bout with Pneumonia, but beyond that, he should be ready to go. We can expect wins in the teens, an ERA under 4 and 125+ ...

Every Monday I will be bringing you the Top 3 hot and cold baseball players from around MLB. The twist, I’ll also be providing a buy or sell recommendation on the cold players to help you decide if this is a guy to target in a trade offer or someone you should cut if they’re clogging a bench spot. I'll also give advice on those playing well, if you should sell high or buy the continued dominance.   For the last week, here are your Hot & Cold recommendations—   HOT   Paul Konerko Last 7 games: .393 Avg, 5 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI, 0 SB Call: Sell Konerko will get you around 30 home runs and 100 RBI, but if an owner in your league is seeing over 40 homers and a .300+ batting average, sell high.   Matt Kemp Last 7 games: .407 Avg, 4 R, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 5 SB Call: Buy Kemp’s average will cool off, closer to ...

Chris Young has always been a tantalizing player with the capability to be a top tier pitcher, but he's never been able to prove his prowess over the long run. A plethora of injuries have allowed him to pitch no more than 180 innings in a single season during his major league career, and over the last three seasons, he has maxed out at 102 innings in 2008. Young’s two best statistical seasons came in 2006 and 2007, his lone All-Star season, with the Padres: Year Games W L ERA SO WHIP 2006 31 11 5 3.46 164 1.132 2007 30 9 8 3.12 167 1.098   Sometimes with pitchers, they have that little something special where you can just tell that they work on a different level than most other people. Chris Young definitely had that extra something, and that was why the Padres went so many years just hoping to be able to capture it for an entire season. Unfortunately, Young’s appearances became less and less in future seasons, culminating with only four ...

During the first decade of this millenium, Lance Berkman was a staple in any conversation about the best hitters in baseball. Through almost 12 seasons in Houston he had become the face of the franchise, along with Roy Oswalt, and was a former member of the Killer Bs, taking Derek Bell’s place in 2000 alongside Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. In his first three full seasons, Berkman was 6th in Rookie of the Year voting and was a two-time All-Star: Year Games R HR RBI SB AVG 2000 114 76 21 67 6 .297 2001 156 110 34 126 7 .331 2002 158 106 42 128 8 .292   Clearly, Lance was off to an incredible start to his career. Starting out with other superstars around and then having the team fade into mediocrity, Berkman flew considerably under the radar based upon the kind of offensive stats he was posting ...

In 2009 Ian Kinsler was just the fifth second baseman to complete a 30/30 season since 2000. Think about that—During those heady days of crazy power numbers he was only the fifth second baseman to accomplish this feat. That should give you a pretty good idea of just how good this young man is capable of becoming. Below are Kinsler’s stats for the last three seasons: Year Games R HR RBI SB AVG 2008 121 102 18 71 26 .319 2009 144 101 31 86 31 .253 2010 103 73 9 45 15 .286 Obviously 2009 really sticks out because of his power numbers and a nice amount of steals. Unfortunately, it also came with his lowest batting average in the majors. Runs have been fairly consistent, averaging about .74 runs per game played. The rub with Kinsler has been just that, how many games can you expect him to play? Normally ...

Panda is coming off a year in which he took a considerable step backwards. Through his first two seasons in the big leagues he had consistently performed offensively: Year Games R HR RBI AVG OBP SLG BABIP 2008 41 24 3 24 .345 .357 .490 .356 2009 153 79 25 90 .330 .387 .556 .350   These stats show a player who is very consistent from a balls-in-play and batting average standpoint. Quite frankly, someone who is drafting a third baseman after the first three or four rounds would love this type of production. In 2010 someone changed the tune and forgot to tell Sandoval: Year Games R HR RBI AVG OBP SLG BABIP 2010 152 61 13 63 .268 .323 .409 .291 Definitely a steep fall for a player who fantasy owners had good expectations for heading into the season. Unfortunately, the Round Mound of Pound had continuing expanding in size throughout his tenure in the big leagues. I guess it does become harder to get to first base when you’re trying to drag almost 280 pounds down the base line. This off-season Panda was able to slim down to 240 after undergoing arduous work outs and will enter ...

No doubt that all of us who have been playing fantasy baseball for at least a few years have heard of position scarcity. Over the last several seasons, I think the popularity of this theory has become even greater. Prior to it getting a cool name I think most players acknowledged the fact that there were few great shortstops to choose from, but I’m not sure how many people actually factored that into their draft strategy. Well, like many good ideas, once they get into the popular conscience they tend to be overblown, and after time settle into a nice useful medium. The basic premise behind position scarcity is that there are few elite players at some positions and therefore, the elite players at those spots should have their value elevated somewhat to account for this fact. I agree with the logic wholeheartedly. Where I think we may have gone slightly astray is in ...

In from the one-year wonder category, it has recently been reported by ESPN Deportes that the Toronto Blue Jays have agreed to a five year, $65 million deal with slugger Jose Bautista.That works out to a $13 million annual value for the player that led the majors last season with 54 home runs.Prior to last season, Bautista had never hit more than 16 in his first six seasons in the majors. Also, with the scheduled arbitration hearing, Bautista was set to earn either $10.5 million or $7.6 million depending upon how the arbitrator ruled.This is an interesting move by Alex Anthopoulos and the Blue Jays considering the great job they have done ridding themselves of poor contracts over the last two seasons.Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com