Atlanta Braves

Infielders:  I have to say that I’m slightly concerned with Yunel Escobar’s bruised right finger (his throwing hand).  A lot of people targeted him as a sleeper with a full time job, and may not be using him as a backup (unlike many other speculative SSs people may have picked up).  If he’s out any longer, there are going to be a lot of people turning to the likes of Bobby Crosby, Yuniesky Betancourt or (Matt pauses as he checks the NL lower tier shortstops…)   Brian Bixler?  Oh dear…  At least Kelly Johnson has been somewhat consistent this year.
 
Outfielders: I’m going to start buying on Jeff Francoeur.  I’ve spoken kindly of him since the off-season when he said he was making an effort to see more balls, but his ratios currently are very similar to those of years’ past.  His K/BB is improving, so I think we’ll see the rest of his numbers follow suit.

Rotation: As I’m sure you are aware, things do not look good for this rotation right now, as John Smoltz was the last to go down with an injury.  With the way these have been adding up for Smoltz, I don’t think a DL stint would be out of the question.  There’s no telling how quickly he could come back, or if this is the first sign of a quick departure.  If he makes a start in the next week, I’d put him up for trade for just about anything close to value at the moment. 

Bullpen:  Raphael Soriano will have a short setback in his return, giving Manny Acosta a few more save opportunities (if this incredibly green pitching staff has any to give him).
 
Players to Target:  Tim Hudson, Kelly Johnson, Jeff Francoeur

Other Notes:  Two extremely hot rotations in the Reds and the Padres coming up.  Now’s not the time to experiment with this crew.

Florida Marlins

Infielders:  Looks like my little watch on Jorge Cantu isn’t going as planned (actually – it is, since it was designed to stave off any reactionary pickups out there in fantasy land).  Continue to let him ride pine.  His only value would be in mashing a bunch of homers, and he doesn’t look like he’s going to be doing that any time soon.  And it is right about now when I start wondering how an extremely low on-base percentage will affect power numbers like Mike Jacobs is seeing.  At some point the few hits he’s getting are going to stop being HRs with such frequency, and his value is going to slip through our fingers.
 
Outfielders: Josh Willingham is currently having the season that Adam Dunn could only dream of (minus the ridiculous power).  His BABIP is only just slightly higher than league average, so any decrease we see isn’t going to be by much.  This could very well be for real – well, a .320/35/100 season at least.

Rotation: I know what you’re saying.  You’re saying, “Hey, you were wrong last week.  Mark Hendrickson didn’t have that bad of a 2-start week at all.  1-0, 13 H, 5 ER, 8 K, 2 BB over 14 IP.  That’s pretty good for a couple free starts!”  I’ll tell you where your logic fails you – it fails the next time you see that mark next to his name when you’re scouring for a quick start, you pick him up, and he gives up 7 runs in 3 innings.  Thank me now.  In the meantime, help me figure out why Scott Olsen is owned in only 36% of ESPN leagues.  Are people he actually knows in the other 64% and they’re not picking him up out of sheer spite?
 
Bullpen:  Kevin Gregg continues to provide value for his owners who got him extremely cheap on draft day because they refused to fork over a 4th round pick for Papelbon.

Players to Target:  Scott Olsen

Other Notes:  Dodgers, San Diego and Milwaukee – maybe a quick start against the Brewers, but watch to see who the matchup is against.

New York Mets

Infielders:  Don’t get sucked in with Carlos Delgado’s 2 HRs the other night.  Just don’t.  He’s bench material, and until he puts 2 solid weeks together, you shouldn’t even consider it.  There are better risks to take out there, like making a very tempting offer for Willingham.  Brian Schneider should be back in the lineup pretty soon, we’ll see how effective he is when he gets back.
 
Outfielders:  Looks like Moises Alou will spend another few weeks on my DL spot, eagerly awaiting his chance to perk up my AVG or OBP, provide RBIs for free and a few more HRs than your average waiver wire OFer.  This boosts Ryan Church’s value in my opinion, as he’s been on a great tear lately.  Feel free to keep him in your lineup in deep leagues or NL-only ones.
 
Rotation:  John Maine is back up to about 7.5 K/9, right where we want him (okay, something closer to 8 would be great, but improvement is good).  The wins are starting to come as well, so stop your worrying for now.  Mike Pelfrey clearly hasn’t figured it all out yet – if there were better options in the minors, they’d be called up by now.  If there were more depth in the bullpen, it might be interesting to start converting Aaron Heilman to a starter.  Doubt we’ll see it this season. 
 
Bullpen: Billy Wagner is one of the best, and best of all – is one of the more tradeable closers to try to acquire.  If you’ve stockpiled offensive talent, he’s a good solid target. 

Players to Target:  Moises Alou, Ryan Church

Philadelphia Phillies 

Infielders:  Ryan Howard has to revisit his approach against lefties.  He’s getting killed by them again, and it’s seemingly affecting his effectiveness against righties.  We’re in for a frustrating season until something changes here.  5 HRs is going to have to tide us over in the meantime.  Catcher Carlos Ruiz is losing playing time to Chris Coste – Coste never had much value as a backup, and this reduces Ruiz’s value to pretty borderline stuff.  Look elsewhere for now.
 
Outfielders:  Jayson Werth has provided fantastic value off the bench as Shane Victorino sits on the DL.  Keep him in your lineup until he returns – his production could force Charlie Manuel into giving him much more playing time than expected.  He’s only owned in about half of the ESPN leagues.  Pat Burrell has a hit in 12 of the last 13 games – I don’t have any idea when it’s going to stop.  It won’t keep up, but you will enjoy high performance all season long.
 
Rotation:  Brett Myers has been struggling with his velocity – mostly likely the culprit when you see the 10 HRs he’s given up.  Usually it’s a good thing when a pitcher gives up fewer BBs than HRs!  I’m going to suggest holding steady – it could be an arm strength or conditioning problem.  Either way, you’re not going to get full value for him.  Just bench him for the next few starts to see if anything major comes up. 
 
Bullpen:  Brad Lidge is right on track to being an elite closer once again.    

Players to Target:  Jayson Werth

Other Notes:  San Diego, San Francisco, then at Arizona.  Eaton v. Wolf and Kendrick v. Zito.  Take advantage of Kendrick’s only spot start for the year.

Washington Nationals

Infielders:  Extra base hits aren’t exactly Christian Guzman’s “thing”.  But getting on base seems to be his new hobby this year – beats the hell out of stamp collecting.  If you’re struggling to replace an injured SS (Yunel Escobar?  Jimmy Rollins?), he’s going to bolster your ratios while they’re gone.  And remember when everyone was so excited the first week of the season about Ryan Zimmerman, and how clutch and homerriffic and fantastic he is?  Yeah…those 2 HRs are the only he’s hit all season.  Don’t let defensive hype spill over into your fantasy perception of a player, because he’s the poster child of that.
 
Outfielders:  There really was a lot of hype for Lastings Milledge this offseason, wasn’t there?  Yup – just about as much as there was last year when the Mets promoted him.  Guess what – the production has been just about the same as well.  Yes, he’s young (only 23), and should improve.  I don’t recommend investing  lot in him, but if you think you need to take a few risks, you can probably get him for value once you point out to his owner that his numbers haven’t really improved all that much over the last year

Rotation: The Nationals offense has scored the 3rd least amount of runs in the NL.  Their pitching has given up more runs than 13 other teams.  That doesn’t lead to very many wins, let alone the peripherals that make up good options for a starting fantasy pitcher.  Tim Redding remains the only starter with spot starting potential for a fantasy squad, and even then with extreme caution.
 
Bullpen:  Jon Rauch is still covering for Chad Cordero until he gets up to speed in the bullpen.

Players to Target:  Jon Rauch, Lastings Milledge

Other Notes:  There’s a homestand against Pittsburgh – a team that has allowed an amazing 154 runs (the Nats have given up 129 this season).  See if Redding is available and who he’s up against.