Fantasy Baseball Tonight 4/30; Holliday Connects, Young Pitchers, and Injury News

Matt Holliday finally connected on his first home run of the season. Holliday has been one of the most debated players in all of fantasy baseball this year after his move from friendly Coors Field to cavernous Oakland. He has just 12 RBI, and is hitting only .240. I have seen projections anywhere from Holliday being barely a starting player with the move, all the way to him repeating his MVP-like numbers of a few years ago. I highly doubt either one will come true. I can see him being a quality player, but not an All-Star. I expect him to hit near .300 with 23 homers and 95 RBI.

Michael Wuertz got the save today for the A's, but it was only because regular closer Brad Ziegler is apparently sick. It doesn't sound like anything serious and should be pitching again over the weekend. Not worth picking up Wuertz, who gave up a home run to Andruw Jones in his one inning, and not worth worrying about Ziegler.

While I am not a fan of his, Dallas Braden has been pitching pretty good for the A's to start the season. Braden kept the Rangers in check today, throwing five shutout innings and striking out six, although he did walk four. He hasn't allowed more than three runs in any of his starts this season, but he just isn't a guy that I am buying in to. He doesn't have a history of success, walks too many guys, and doesn't strike out enough.

Do you have Brian McCann or Geovany Soto? Looking for a fill in until they return? John Buck from the Royals is hitting .300 with 15 RBI. Buck drove in five of those runs today, as he went 3-3 with two triples. Now before you get too excited, these were the first hits for Buck in five days. He also has been around the league for a while, and his average in the last two seasons were both in the .220s. He was a fairly decent prospect though, so the talent could be there.

Mitchell Boggs continues to pitch like he wants to be in the Cardinals rotation while Chris Carpenter is out. He wasn't great tonight, but more than good enough. Boggs gave up four runs over six innings, but he was able to strikeout nine. He wasn't a big prospect, or a big strikeout pitcher, but he could fill a hole for you in the short term.

Matt Garza has owned the Boston Red Sox this year, and he took a perfect game into the seventh inning tonight. It was broken up by an infield single by Jacoby Ellsbury. For the game Garza lasted 7.2 innings, just the one hit, and struck out ten. In two starts against the Sawks this year, Garza has allowed just one run over 14.2 innings. He won't be an upper echelon option, but Garza is a great fourth starter to have on your team.

Although the bats and bullpen let him down, Max Scherzer had his finest outing of the season. Scherzer threw six shutout innings, walked just one, and struck out seven. He is one of the best young players the Diamondbacks have produced, so it just a matter of time before he is a star. He is still very young, so it might not be this year, but definitely keep an eye on him. One more good start and I would be on him like white on rice.

Chris Volstad didn't get the win today, but he had another great start. I've been telling you about him all year long. He is an up and coming you guy. Volstad allowed just two runs over seven innings and struck out five guys. He still hasn't allowed more than three runs in a start this year, and has been getting more strikeouts this year than before. In fact, Volstad has only allowed more than three runs in two of his 20 career games. I see him being consistently good all year long, definitely not a sell-high guy.

Injury News

Aramis Ramirez had an MRI on Thursday, and it showed just inflammation. It is now looking like Aramis will be back in the next few days, and won't have to go on the 15 day DL after all. There's a good chance he still misses the whole weekend, so I wouldn't put him in until you see him play a game.

Joe Mauer will be back in the lineup tomorrow (Friday), so be ready to finally get your starting catcher back.

Hanley Ramirez had a batting practice session, and according to Hanley it went "not good." Apparently his hand is still swollen, and he will likely miss a few more games. Again, the X-ray was negative, so he should be ok within a few more days.......I think.

I had my first softball game of the year tonight, and there is only one word to describe my play in the field. TRAINWRECK! I had three or four balls that I misplayed badly and rolled all the way to the wall. We lost 12-7, but that was mostly because a lot of other people also played less than stellar in the field. At the plate, I was 2-3 with two singles, two runs scored, and I'm embarrassed to say, a strikeout.

Finally, I would like to take this time to post a link to one of the newest baseball blogs, The Fantasy Windup. Steve Gardner, who has been with USA Today for over 15 years, has recently started his own blog about everything baseball that is updated multiple times a day. I especially liked the post from early yesterday in which he was good enough to mention my site and link to my article from 4/26. Thanks Steve! I invite all of you to check out the Fantasy Windup and to get involved in the comments and forums with some of his great readers.

As always, your comments and questions are welcome at fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com. I guarantee a response within 18 hours. Also, don’t miss “The Fantasy Baseball Gurus Show” every Wednesday night at 10pm EST on Blog Talk Radio. The show is co-hosted by Todd Farino of fantasybaseballsearch.com, RC Rizza of junkyardjake.com and myself, Ryan Hallam at fightingchancefantasy.com. To hear the show go to www.blogtalkradio.com/the_true_guru. The Fantasy Baseball Scouting Report is also back! Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the news, free agent pickups, minor leaguers, and injuries. A can’t miss if you plan on winning your league. I also just met the people over at Baseball Trade Rumors and I invite you to visit their site. They have a page for rumors for every major league team, constant updates on the latest rumors, interactive polls, and overall some great content.