Kuzul

There is no position in fantasy baseball this year more shallow than shortstop. The position is so bad that I got physically ill while doing research for this article. Even at the very top, where Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki are firmly entrenched, there are doubts about the performance you will receive. Hanley hasn’t shown the power he did back in 2008 and Tulo can’t seem to stay healthy for a full season. Maybe there is help on the way, with some exciting young prospects who are coming up the ranks, so stay tuned and in the meantime we’ll help you search for the diamonds in the rough.    PLAYER AGE 2010 TEAM NEW TEAM Clint Barmes 31 Colorado Houston Jason Bartlett 31 Tampa Bay San Diego Yun. Betancourt 28 Kansas City Milwaukee Alcides Escobar 24 Milwaukee Kansas City J.J. Hardy 28 Minnesota Baltimore Edgar Renteria 35 San Francisco Cincinnati ...

We continue our offseason role call with second base, only to find there are hardly any notable players at this position who switched teams this season.  Luckily, for the purposes of this article, there were a couple notable second basemen traded including Dan Uggla and super-sub Omar Infante.  As always, the middle infield positions are incredibly thin this year and I strongly suggest locking down a couple good ones early, unless you really like to live life on the edge.    PLAYER AGE 2010 TEAM NEW TEAM Argenis Diaz 23 Pittsburgh Detroit Kevin Frandsen 28 LA Angels San Diego Jerry Hairston Jr. 34 San Diego Washington Bill Hall 31 Boston Houston Brendan Harris 30 Minnesota Baltimore Willie Harris 32 Washington NY Mets Orlando Hudson 33 Minnesota San Diego Omar Infante 29 Atlanta Florida Adam Kennedy 35 Washington Seattle Brett Lawrie 21 Milwaukee Toronto Jose Lopez 27 Seattle Colorado Tsuyoshi Nishioka 26 Japan Minnesota Dan Uggla 30 Florida Atlanta Juan Uribe 31 San Francisco LA Dodgers   For those of you looking for a sports wagering edge, be sure to check out Wager Alarm for the latest and best odds from every sportsbook around the world. With Wager Alarm you receive the best real time odds at over 25 sportsbooks in Vegas, online and international by having ...

Last week I told you it was time to add Buster Posey and Stephen Strasburg to your roster. Less than a week later Posey collects three hits and three RBIs for the big league club in a 12-1 win over the Diamondbacks. If you listened to The Hot 8 last week you already had Posey on your roster causing the rest of your league to search for him and witness that you indeed already had the coveted backstop. That is what The Hot 8 is all about, being ahead of the curve and especially your league. This week’s list is no different as I’ve got a few more players that will soon be household names and leave your fellow owners cursing your name.   Long Term Investments Carlos Santana – Catcher – Indians  As good of a hitter as Buster Posey is, Carlos Santana is probably a bit better. His defense may not rival that of the Giants prospect ...

Let’s take a spin through the closers circuit and see what guys are on the move up and which are trending down. We’ve also got the latest news on injuries, rehab appearances and a couple minor league prospects worth keeping an eye on. It’s all closers, all the time that’s why we call it, closing time! Recovering: Huston Street threw 20 pitches in the Rockies bullpen on Tuesday and reported no pain in either his elbow or sore groin. Street will throw two more bullpen sessions before heading off again on a brief rehab assignment. If all goes well, he will rejoin the Rockies sometime in mid-June. Brad Lidge also threw a successful bullpen session on Tuesday. He has yet to mix in anything but fastballs but is expected to do so on Thursday. If all goes well, Lidge will go on a weekend minor league rehab and could return by the end of next week. It should ...

It’s all about PITCHING this week. After six weeks of regular season baseball, it is time to start reading into some of the trends and stats that we are seeing develop. There are some real good starting pitchers who are being used for nothing more than pitch and ditch purposes, and it is time for wise fantasy baseball owners to pick these guys up and keep them while ditching other starters who just aren’t getting it done this season. Therefore, this edition of The Hot 8 is heavy on starters with a sprinkling of closers and middle infield help as well. I've even thrown in an extra name this week, so we could actually call this The Hot 9, or at least The Hot 8.5.    Long-Term Investments 1) Mat Latos – RHP – Padres The Latos situation is an interesting one. Here is a kid with outstanding stuff, the kind of stuff Cy ...

A couple of new names are spicing up our Farm Report this week as some middle of the road prospects are progressing right before our eyes. We’ve added a few categories as well as we will now start defining prospects as Ready, Rising or Falling depending on their current minor league production and how they fit into their organizations.  Reds prospect Juan Francisco has always had prodigious power and appeared to be headed for big things this year when he made the big league club out of spring training.  However, a miserable start got him sent back down to AAA where he continued swatting flies to the tune of a .115 batting average in April. Francisco has improved dramatically of late and posted an amazing stat line last week going 14-for-24, 5 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 14 RBI, 9 R, 3 BB and best of all just 1 strikeout on ...

A couple developments on the closer front this week should have fantasy owners taking notice and making the necessary adjustments. Included in today's report is some breaking news that one of the most exciting future closers has been called up to the big leagues. We break down these situations and give you a couple more names to look for out on the horizon in today’s edition of Closing Time. I have just gotten word that the Washington Nationals have promoted 2009 first round draft pick...Drew Storen . Thought I was going to say Stephen Strasburg , didn't you? Well, most people forget that Storen was also a first round draft pick last year, and it appears his stay in the minors was even shorter than Strasburg's. As good as Storen is it must be remembered that Matt Capps is doing a real good job and is in no danger of losing the closer job ...

The Phillies placed Brad Lidge on the DL with elbow tightness. We were told that Lidge’s MRI came back clear and only showed inflammation, but in the end I guess the Phillies are comfortable with Jose Contreras and Danys Baez in the back of the bullpen until Lidge can some back healthy. Contreras is the guy you want to own, as he’ll be called upon to get the saves, and he has been throwing the ball real well this season. Speaking of closers, Huston Street was shut down today after only five pitches due to a tired arm while pitching for AA Tulsa. It is not known at this time what or how bad this setback is, but it appears that Street won’t be back until June at the earliest now. Manny Corpas will try to finish off games until Street is healthy. X-rays on Dodgers slugger Andre Ethier’s jammed pinkie finger ...