Fantasy Baseball Tonight 7/3

Depending on how my celebration of the Fourth of July holiday goes, there may not be an article tomorrow. I wish you all a happy, safe holiday.

Manny Ramirez returned to the lineup for the Dodgers on Friday, and went 0/3 with a walk. Obviously if you didn't have him in tonight, get him back in your lineups tomorrow. Just a question. Why does everyone still love Manny while guys like Clemens, McGwire, and Bonds are ostracized from the society of baseball? I'm not defending those other guys, but why has Manny come back to such fanfare when we have a positive test on him, while the others are just a mountain of circumstanial evidence?

Jorge Posada was out of the lineup for the second straight game after sustaining a bruised thumb on Wednesday. It doesn't appear that this will be anything that will keep him out of the lineup for much longer. It is even possible that he will return on Saturday.

Carlos Quentin will begin his rehab assignment on Saturday as he hopes to return from the Disabled List before the All-Star Break. He will start out slowly and won't even play the entire game right away. But it appears that Quentin will be back soon, which is good for those of us who have been stashing him for quite a while now.

Ryan Doumit played his first rehab game on Friday, and is likely that he will be back with the Pirates in a week or so. He will play three games in rookie ball before advancing to AAA for four or five games. Doumit caught five innings tonight and was 0-2 with a walk. He was dropped in many leagues, if he's out there and you have any issue at the catcher position I would pick him up to give him a chance. I know a broken wrist is a tough injury to come back from, but there are so few good catchers that he is worth the risk.

Edwin Encarnacion returned for the Reds tonight and hit a long impressive double nearly off the wall against Ryan Franklin. In his rookie year, Encarnacion did hit 26 homers, but that fell to 16 in 2008. He is not a guy that I have ever had a lot of confidence in, but like Doumit there aren't a ton of good options at third base and if you need any help that is the only way that I would consider him.

Raul Ibanez is feeling better but his groin is still not 100% so he hasn't started his rehab assignment just yet. It is looking now that he won't be back until after the All-Star Break, although he likely will begin his rehab assignment sometime in the next three to five days.

Alex Rodriguez homered for the third time in four games, and the fifth time in the last eight contests. He has raised his average nearly 30 points in the last seven games, and for all of you who were thinking of selling him cheap, this is the kind of streak that he is capable of. Despite all the drama and distraction, A-Rod is one of the best hitters in all of baseball, and will hit 40 home runs again in 2009.

Rodrigo Lopez had his first start in the major leagues since 2007, and he certainly made the most of it. Lopez allowed just two runs over 6.1 innings and struck out four. He did have a couple of good years early in his career, but he had elbow trouble that seriously derailed his progress. Lopez didn't have a start for nearly two years for a reason. Don't fall into the trap of grabbing a guy after one decent start. Let someone else make that mistake.

Shin-Soo Choo was a triple short of a cycle tonight, and that included two home runs. Choo is quickly becoming one of the more productive draft picks of the year. He is now hitting .301, has hit 12 homers, stolen 13 bases, and has driven in 53 runs with his seven RBI game on Friday. While I think that he will continue to produce at a similar rate, if you can trade him away for a proven power hitting run producer I would certainly do it. Choo is a good player, but I would try to shop him around to see if someone will bite on something they shouldn't.

Homer Bailey had a much better start his second time out, but I still urge you to stay away from him unless there is a sense of desperation with your pitching staff. Bailey allowed just two runs over 7.1 innings and struck out five. The best part was that he only walked two, after allowing seven free passes last time out. He has had a handful of decent starts in his career, so I am not putting too much stock in this one. Unfortunately for him, the bullpen imploded so he doesn't even get a win to show for his great effort.

Frank Francisco bounced back from his blown save on Thursday and converted an easy one tonight. Francisco collected save number 13 against Tampa Bay without giving up a hit and striking out one. I still believe that he will be an elite closer in the second half, much like he was up until his shoulder woes started. If for some crazy reason he was dropped, pick him up immediately.

Ervin Santana is really starting to frustrate his owners now. Including Friday, four of his last six starts have been awful. He gave up the booty again tonight, allowing four earned runs over only four innings, walked three and struck out five. His ERA on the season is now a whopping 7.43 and his WHIP is a terrible 1.90. Now the big question is what should you do with Santana. Unfortunately, I truly believe that this is a case by case kind of decision. If you have someone in your free agent pool that can be considered a quality pitcher, I would likely let Santana go. If you are just picking up another average retread, hold on to Santana and hope that he turns things around. He has more talent than Kenshin Kawakami, Ross Ohlendorff, and Carl Pavano.

Mailing List

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.

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 Tonight" podcast four nights a week from Monday-Thursday. The Big Show on Wednesday 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. You can also hear me weekly on the Tuesday Night show. Join me with Jeff Mans every Tuesday night at 10pm EST for all the the info and craziness we can pack into one hour. A can't miss if you plan on winning your league.