The Blue Workhorse

Not only are the San Diego Padres one of the worst teams in baseball. Not only have they been outscored by 94 runs this season (the second worst margin in baseball behind only the lowly Nationals). But it appears the Padres can’t even pull off a simple “hit” on Manny Ramirez because they can’t read a calendar.

Ramirez is set to make his return from his 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drugs tonight against San Diego in Petco Park. Luckily, for the Dodgers and Mannywood an attempt to maim and possibly kill Manny went awry when someone read the calendar incorrectly.

Instead of Manny being engulfed in a swarm of 1000s of bees on the day of his return to left field for LA, Petco was enamored by the presence of the bees during yesterday’s day game against Houston.

…more…

I’ll just get straight to this — Major League Baseball’s All-Star voting system sucks! The deadline for voting is today and some deserving players are getting screwed.
In a game that is supposed to have implications on the World Series, fans are given the right to select the starters of the All-Star Game, and the fans [...]

What can we say about Mr. Hanley Ramirez, the preseason number 1 overall player? He just finished a week where a clubbed a couple grand slams and drove in 15 runs. His overall campaign now looks like .333 AVG / 47 R / 11 HR / 51 RBI / 11 SB; however all his owners would like the steals to increase from a guy who has stole 50 in the past.

“Bossman” BJ Upton had another nice week and continues to shine in the month of June. Upton went .348 over the past week with a homer and two steals, upping his total to 28 bags. It looks like the window has passed to buy low on Upton as he finally has things going and displaying that 5 category potential.

…more…

One year ago on The Blue Workhorse, we played guess the numbers as DRang illustrated how important quality middle relievers can be for your fantasy baseball team.

Rang Report - The Power of Middle Relief [The Blue Workhorse]

* The Red Sox have finally removed Dice-K from the rotation after another putrid start against the Atlanta Braves where he allowed 6 runs. Matsuzaka has a season ERA of 8.23 and WHIP of 2.20. He has single-handedly destroyed some fantasy pitching staffs, and it looks like the 100 million dollar import will be on the shelf for a while. Examine the starts of John Smoltz, and always remember Clay Bucholtz is always tearing it up in Triple A.

* One thing I love to watch is Andrew McCutchen run the bases. The lighting-quick centerfielder was promoted to the big club after the much dissected Nate McLouth trade. McCutchen has showed up with a bang, hitting .333 and posting a .904 OPS in his first 78 at-bats. Will this type of production last, of course not, but one promising sign is only 14 strikeouts in 82 plate appearances, meaning he putting the bat on the ball.

…more…

Most MLB teams have played roughly 38-40% of their season, and with the season being a little past one-third of the way over, we have enough at bats and innings to decide on which players you can target to help your team win a fantasy title, or which players you might need to sell high, based on a track record of potential second half flop.

We will start the fantasy baseball reports with this installment noting some bigger names that you can possibly get at a discounted rate this summer:
Buy Low
Jimmy Rollins SS PHI

The Philly shortstop and former NL MVP has been off to a terrible start. With a current line of .217 AVG / 5 HR / 25 RBI / 10 SB / .584 OPS, Rollins and his putrid OPS have given fantasy owners fits. However, J-Ro has had two solid second halves each of the past two seasons, and one would think Rollins will bounce back. Even though his overall numbers might be mediocre, an owner might get top 5 production the rest of the way from Rollins.

…more…

We’ve got a bunch of random links lying around that need some love, so today we’re giving you links to 5 Around the Country, 3 Random Old, 2 Hometown, and 1 Megan Fox is Ungodly Hot:

5 Around the Country -

* Another reason Joe Morgan sucks! - Bob’s Blitz

…more…

Our fourth random former player played for 14 seasons for 4 different teams. He played three of the four infield positions, but he is most known for his days playing the most important defensive position in the game.Without further ado:

Remember Me? I’m Mike Bordick

…more…