Baseball Daily Digest Radio with @JoelHenard & myself will air at 7:00 ET!

Baseball Daily Digest Radio with Joel Henard and Albert Lang will air at 7:00 ET. We’ll be joined by John Halpin: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/thefantasyinsiders/2012/03/06/baseball-daily-digest-radio-with-joel-henard-and-albert-lang

We’ll talk Ike Davis, Carlos Gonzalez, A.j. Pierzynski, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Matt Wieters, Jose Bautista, Brett Lawrie, Prince Fielder, Chase Utley, Jason Kopnis, Joey Votto, Luke Hochevar, Danny Duffy, Dee Gordon, Delmon Young, B.J. Upton, Adam Jones, Hanley Ramirez, Phil Hughes, Buster Posey, Daniel Murphy, Bryce Harper and other fantasy baseball and roto news and notes!

h2h Corner ~ Katy Perry (Hot ‘N’ Cold Fantasy Baseball) All-Stars

Players get hot and cold over a seven-day period, it’s as sure as the samples are small.

That is why Katy created the Hot ‘N’ Cold All-stars.

‘Cause you’re hot…you’re yes…you’re in…you’re up

James Loney – Loney has been my whipping boy for some time now. I think a no hit/no walk first baseman barely belongs in a beer league softball league and nowhere near a fantasy baseball (or real baseball) team. That said, Loney was successful at striking the ball over the last seven days: 12/22 with a dinger. Loney brought his season HR totals up to six, which is pretty darn impressive…in that it is barely inside the top 200 on the season and behind Erick Aybar, Juan Miranda and his 174 ABs, Scott Hairston, Coco Crisp, Miguel Cairo, Peter Bourjos, Adam Kennedy and almost every MLB regular. If you’re lucky, you’ll get 1-2 more homers from him ROTW. In NL-only, his .270 or so average is worth something – outside of that it’s not worth a cheap dog biscuit.

h2h Corner ~ Putting the All-star Game in the Rear View Mirror

I don’t know what happened to the All-star game.

I remember it as the crowning jewel of the summer of my youth. I actually embraced the “This Time it Counts” PR ploy. Hey, it’s a little less random than simply switching home field between leagues every year. In an ideal world, Major Legaue Baseball would let the best interleague record to determine World Series home field advantage, but at least we aren’t just switching off.

However, this year, they took the mantra too far. Middle relievers, typically, have very little place in an All-star game. Some of them are having fine, even very good seasons, but give me some starters. You know what happens when you shorten the word ‘starters’, you see the word ‘stars’. Stephen Strasburg is a star, Mat Latos is a star, and Jered Weaver might be a star. You know who will never be a star? Evan Meek, Matt Thornton, Arthur Rhodes, Omar Infante, etc.

So how do you “fix” the All-star game? I don’t think you have to do much besides apply a little common sense. Really, this is probably a one year aberration of the players and managers making horrible choices. At least a Yankees starter got the loss, so when they are forced to play game seven at the Colorado Rockies, they’ll have no one to blame but their manager and Phil Hughes.

Switching gears to Fantasy Baseball…

You know what the ASB means to fantasy teams. It is time to take stock on where you are in the standings and what you need to do to get to the top.

Here are some guys who, while they underperformed, should help you in the second half:

1. Aramis Ramirez
2. Joe Mauer
3. Ian Kinsler
4. Ichiro
5. Jimmy Rollins
6. Mark Reynolds (if you aren’t worried about batting average)
7. Aaron Hill
8. Nelson Cruz
9. Chris Ianetta
10. Chone Figgins
11. Carlos Lee
12. Zack Greinke (unless you need wins)
13. Wandy Rodriguez (why not roll the dice?)
14. Cole Hamels
15. Scott Baker
16. Chad Billingsley (if you need Ks)
17. James Shields
18. Gavin Floyd

Here are some guys who you might want to sell at their apex:

1. Josh Hamilton
2. Torii Hunter
3. Corey Hart
4. Adrian Beltre
5. Dan Uggla
6. Scott Rolen
7. Ubaldo Jimenez
8. Cliff Lee
9. David Price
10. Andy Pettitte
11. Jeff Niemann
12. Jaime Garcia
13. Phil Hughes

Here are some guys owned in less than 50% of Yahoo! Leagues who could be the difference in the second half (in ranked order):

Pitchers:

1. Jason Hammel
2. Kris Medlen
3. John Axford
4. Madison Bumgarner
5. Travis Wood
6. Tom Gorzelanny
7. Alfredo Simon
8. Bronson Arroyo
9. Vicente Padilla
10. Jonathon Niese
11. JJ Putz
12. Scott Downs
13. Barry Enright
14. Bruce Chen
15. Vin Mazzaro

Hitters:

1. Adam LaRoche
2. Gaby Sanchez
3. Russell Branyan
4. Andres Torres
5. Drew Stubbs
6. Mike Cameron
7. Ike Davis
8. Juan Pierre
9. Coco Crisp
10. Fred Lewis
11. Angel Pagan
12. Dexter Fowler
13. Matt LaPorta
14. Cody Ross
15. Cliff Pennington
16. Lastings Milledge
17. Julio Borbon
18. Julio Lugo
19. Jonathan Herrera
20. Clint Barmes
21. Travis Ishikawa
22. Seth Smith
23. Michael Saunders

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h2h Corner ~ The Buddy Garrity, Don Draper, Ed Norton Sales Convention

Buddy Garrity sales time (sell now)
When it is Buddy Garrity sales time, you should be moving players immediately. These are players that will likely regress to means or not perform as well as they have been (i.e., sell high candidates). In addition, they include guys I don’t think will perform well at all during the rest of the season. These are players you are best cutting your losses with.

Jose Bautista, John Buck, Rod Barajas, Jon Garland – Not surprisingly, I don’t think any of these guys will sustain their pace. It’s not like you can get much for them though, unless you are swindling a newcomer. So, if you are in a league with newcomers, go ahead and offer these guys around. None will maintain their current AVG/ERA/WHIP. Buck, Barajas and Bautista do have some power, so this isn’t a complete aberration, but they’ll accompany it with horrid averages.

h2h Corner ~ Knowing ADP – How To Win Your League Before the Season Even Starts V

Maximizing every drop of value in every pick is hugely important. Taking a player in the fifth round that you could just as easily have taken in the sixth round is a major mistake. To avoid this, you need to know all about Average Draft Position (ADP).

h2h Corner ~ Keep, Trade or Drop: Phil Hughes, David Price, Joba Chamberlain?

I love this one, it’s fraught with questions, like who will even be the Yankees’ fifth starter. You know and I know that starters are typically more valuable than relievers and this is no different for fantasy. For example, why are the first pitchers off the board starters? Because they pitch more innings and impact ratios, wins, Ks in a more meaningful way.

h2h Corner ~ Katy Perry All-Stars VI

Welcome to the latest installment of the weekly hot and cold fantasy trends update. Thinking about these trends, thankfully, reminds me of that infectious pop vixen, Katy Perry. “Hot N Cold” remains one of my favorite songs — I simply run faster when it is playing. Weird, I know, but I’m fast.