Fantasy Baseball Tonight 6/26

J.J. Hardy has been picking it up a little bit as of late, and hit his seventh homer of the season on Friday. Hardy has averaged hitting .280 with 25 homers over the past two seasons, but hasn't looked like the same guy this year. However, this was his fourth multi-hit game in the last ten days, so while he is hitting just .221, that is an improvement from the .207 he was hitting on June 14th. I believe that he will continue to improve and could definitely approach 20 home runs this season.

Pablo Sandoval is far surpassing my expectations with his offensive game this season. I expected him to be a guy who hit for an OK average, without much power. Now, while nine home runs isn't exactly Ruthian, when you pair that with an average over .330, he is putting together a nice year. I still believe his value lies in leagues where he is catcher eligible, but even as a corner infielder or utility player, you could do much worse. I wouldn't sell high on him. His average will obviously fall, but I don't predict a huge dropoff.

I know I talk about him every night, but when he stops hitting, I'll stop talking. Jake Fox was a triple short of the cycle for the second consecutive day. Even with the chance to DH him, Manager Lou Pinella started him at third base again, and again he didn't make an error. The way he is hitting I am hopeful that he will continue to play after interleague is over. We will find out after this weekend.

Geovany Soto homered for the fourth time in a week, giving his fantasy owners hope that he will be able to repeat last year. He has also raised his average nearly 25 points in the last ten games, and he is now a viable fantasy player again. If he is for some incredible reason available in your league, definitely pick him up immediately. If you have owned him all season, it appears your patience is paying off.

Jeremy Sowers was once one of the Indians higher ranking pitching prospects. Several years later, he has never come close to living up to the hype. Over the last six weeks Sowers has been better, but unless you are in a 20 team or A.L. only league, you still can't pick him up. Sowers allowed just two runs over seven innings, and has now allowed three runs or less in six of his last seven starts. However, outside of tonight when he struck out six and walked only one, his control has been atrocious. In his previous eight outings he walked 21, against only 18 strikeouts in 39 innings.

Ricky Romero had another dominant start, and he hasn't allowed more than three runs in an outing since returning from the Disabled List. On Friday he threw seven shutout innings, allowed just two hits, walked only one, and struck out seven. I think that he has some value as a end of the rotation kind of guy, but his less than stellar minor league numbers at the higher levels continue to weigh on my mind. I actually did pick him up in one league for a two start week, but I'm not holding on to him. I am gaining more confidence, but not total confidence yet.

Xavier Nady will undergo Tommy John Surgery and will miss the remainder of the 2009 season. Nady was on a rehab game but felt pain in that elbow during a throw in the third inning of a game the other day. Two innings later he was out of the game, and now his season is over. If you were stashing him on your DL slots, it is time to let him go.

Roy Halladay declared himself ready for his start on Monday. Be sure to have him activated in time for that start if he is on your team.

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I'm not going to stop bringing up the mailing list until I get a day where I don't get a request to join it. For those of you who haven't seen it yet, when I find news earlier in the day I will send an email to you about whatever it might be. If you were on the mailing list you would have found out about the callups of Matt Wieters, Fernando Martinez, Nolan Reimold and others. The trade of Nate McLouth, and injuries to Jose Reyes, etc. This mailing list is your way to get a step up on your competition. Anyone who is on the list, please leave a comment below on whether you think that you have benefitted from the list. Send an email to either fantasybaseballtonight@gmail.com or fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com and put Mailing List in the subject line.

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