Fantasy Baseball Tonight 8/8

T-Minus 3 days until my birthday!

As a change of pace, let's start with some injury news

Jake Peavy will make his first rehab start for the White Sox on Thursday, and will likely need three such starts before taking the mound for his new team. If he suffers no setbacks, that would put Peavy in the Windy City before the calendar changes to September. There is still many days between now and then, but for those of you who have been stashing him, this is incredible news.

Carlos Zambrano has had a rough last 24 hours. He was all set to make his start on Friday night, but was scratched late with what was called some muscle spasms. Well, today Big Z lands on the 15 day DL with a lower back "problem". Not sure exactly what that means, but it does mean he will miss another two starts. Even though I don't like this guy as a player, he is a bulldog and I would be absolutely shocked if he missed anymore than the mandatory time.

Bad news for those of you stashing Jordan Zimmerman.....the worst kind of news. The Nationals used the "A-word" when talking about his MRI, but it likely isn't the "a" word you are thinking of. The team is sending his MRI to be looked at by Dr. James Andrews. That's right, Dr. Kevorkian of fantasy pitchers. For those of you who are unfamiliar, he is the Tommy John doctor. Pitchers go in.....but they don't come out usually for 12-18 months. The team says that there were "concerning facts" on the MRI. If you are stashing him on your DL slot I would continue to do so for now. But don't be surprised if you receive some pretty bad news in the upcoming days.

Erik "DL" Bedard is going back to Dr. Yocum who performed his shoulder surgery last year to look at the latest fraying found in that shoulder. He is supposed to see this doctor on Wednesday, but I am here to tell you now that he is done for the season. I wouldn't drop him on my speculation, but I would be willing to put a nice (imaginary) wager on this one. I made a prediction last season around the All-Star Break that he wouldn't pitch five more times......He never came back. He is a free agent at the end of the year so he may want to return to earn another contract, but I wouldn't count on it.

Brian Roberts (who I just traded for) fouled a ball off his shin and left the game early on Saturday. He stayed in the game for two innings, but then left to take some precautionary x-rays which (thankfully) came back negative. I wouldn't be shocked to see him out of the lineup tomorrow, but if he stayed in for two innings and there were no breaks, I wouldn't expect him to miss much time. If I see an update I will pass it along.

Brett Cecil left the game early with a sore left knee that he suffered trying to field a bunt single. From what I have read, it didn't seem like it was it was a bad injury, but apparently the knee has been bothering him for a while. It doesn't seem like a DL scenario, but the next couple of days should clear up the extent of the injury.

Jed Lowrie landed on the 15 day-DL with an irritated forearm, and while Terry Francona didn't think it was anything serious, Lowrie will get it checked out further while he is not in the lineup. It sounds like this will be a two week thing, and he should be back.

The Rest of the Action

Chris Tillman made his best start since being called to the majors on Saturday. One of the Orioles top prospects lasted 6.2 innings, gave up two runs, walked three and struck out four. He has gone deeper into the game with each passing start, and hopefully he will continue to improve for the rest of the season. He is supposed to have an incredibly bright future and should be someone that you are targeting in keeper leagues.

Outside of the walks, Clay Buchholz had a fairly effective start against the Yankees. He lasted two runs over six innings, unfortunately he walked five and struck out only three. Buchholz is an incredibly talented pitching prospect on one of the better teams in baseball. However, so far he has struggled since being inserted into the rotation.

Frank Francisco has been declared the closer again for the Texas Rangers, as he will take his job back from C.J. Wilson. It has been a tough season of injuries and sickness for Francisco, but hopefully this will be the last time that I need to write about him for any reason except for closing games.

In more closer news, even though Matt Lindstrom has been activated from the DL, Leo Nunez continues to get the saves. On Saturday, Lindstrom pitched the eighth, while Nunez collected the save. Is Lindstrom going to get his job back? I still feel like he will eventually, but I am having some doubts.

Billy Butler is really starting to make some noise for the Royals. He had three more hits on Saturday, giving him five straight multi-hit games and he has driven in ten runs in the last five games. He still isn't quite hitting for the power that he was projected to, but he has been making strides each season. He hit 11 bombs last year, but is already at 13 this season. Butler will likely get to 80 RBIs or more, as he drove in his 57th run of the year today. He should be very good for the rest of the year, and I think next season will be Butler's coming out party.

Justin Masterson made his first start for the Indians, and while it didn't last long it was very productive. I warned you that it likely wouldn't be a deep outing because he had been used out of the bullpen for the Red Sox for the past couple months. He allowed just one run over four innings and struck out four. As he makes more starts, he should be able to go longer into games. He is a guy worth keeping an eye on for the rest of the season.

Brian Fuentes actually had a fairly boring save today. He came in with one out in the ninth and finished the game allowing just one hit. Fuentes had allowed one or more runs in three straight appearances, so it was good for his owners to see him get through one without giving up any scores.

Carl Pavano made his first start for the Minnesota Twins, and boy was it a gem. Pavano threw seven shutout innings, didn't walk anyone and struck out five. Now, while I think his performances might improve with the move, I urge you not to get sucked in by this latest start. Pavano has fooled us before with some great outings, only to be punched in the gut his next time out. This gives you another sense of hope. Is it the real deal, or another one that is soon to be followed by a kick in the pants......which side is up to you.

Wladimir Balentien is making the most of his second chance in the majors when he was traded to the Reds at the deadline. He has six hits in the last four days, and he has driven in four runs. Balentien was once supposed to be one of the better outfield prospects for the Mariners, but just never got it going in Seattle. He didn't show much power and struck out constantly. He showed great power in all levels of the minors, so there is some chance that he could turn into a pretty productive hitter in the National League, especially in the Reds park. I need to see more than a few good days before I am ready to make a move on him though.

Don’t forget to send me an email about the football email list. Much like in baseball if I find breaking news I will shoot out a quick email to you so you can hopefully make a move before your competition. Put football mailing list in the subject line to fightingchancefantasy@gmail.com.

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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.