Achievers/Bums - 8/19 - 8/21/08

ACHIEVERS
Grady Sizemore - OF - Cleveland Indians - 4/5, HR, 3b, 7 RBI, SB (Thursday) - Sizemore's power has slowed just a bit in the second half, but he's still got a shot at 40/40, and I think he'll get it. Sizemore is getting better every year, and is an obvious keeper in all formats. Also, he's sexy.

Rich Harden - SP - Chicago Cubs - (Tuesday) Win, 7.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 10 K - I'm always looking for a reason to talk about Rich Harden, and on Tuesday he definitely gave an Achiever-worthy performance, so I get my chance. Since the Cubs acquired Harden in July, he has gone 3-1 with an ERA of 1.50, a WHIP of .95 and a redonkulous 59 K's in 42 IP. In short, he's made Sandy Koufax look like Jose Lima. If you held on to him through the injuries, you are now being rewarded. Piniella and the Cubs are handling him just right by giving him extra days of rest and keeping his pitch-count down.

Raul Ibanez - OF - Seattle Mariners - 7 HR, 27 RBI in the last month - I gave Ibanez love in my first edition of "This Ain't 'Nam" back on July 10th, and you didn't listen. Brandt has been giving Ibanez crazy props for weeks, but you still haven't picked him up. Now it's too late. You're still starting Jay Bruce, and Ibanez is still raking. More Ibanez updates will be forthcoming as he continues to mash. Stay tuned.

A.J. Burnett - SP - Toronto Blue Jays - (Tuesday) Win, 8.0 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 13 K - This is what Burnett can do when healthy. I thought he'd have a good second half, and so far, so good. His stats after the all-star break are: 6-1, 3.22 ERA, 52 K in 42 IP.

BUMS

Ryan Howard - 1B - Philadelphia Phillies - Howard is going to shatter his record of 199 strikeouts in a season this year, as he's on pace for 213. He's also 3 for his last 35 with a whiff-tastic 18 strikeouts in that span. But at least he hits homers, right? Not lately. He's only got 5 since the break. If your league penalizes for K's, then bench him immediately. If not, you can probably keep him in there and hope for a power surge. Look and see if Delgado is still available, as it appears he may be getting ready to go on a hot streak.

Jimmy Rollins - SS - Philadelphia Phillies - So here's what not to do in Philly: (a) Call out the fans, (b) then go 3 for 33 immediately after that. J-Roll is losing fans almost as quickly as he's losing his fantasy value. The fact that he was basically correct in his statements about Philly fans being front-runners is completely irrelevant.

Jake Peavy - SP - San Diego Padres - Loss, 5.0 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 4 BB, 2 K (Wednesday) - Peavy has showed this year why I don't like taking pitchers in the first few rounds of the draft. Peavy was a second-round pick in most leagues this year (Yahoo! ADP 18.2), but he has not lived up to his past greatness. The most concerning thing to me about Peavy is that his strikeouts are down from the last few years. His K/9 is below 9 for the first time since 2003. Not that at a K/9 of 8.7 is bad by any stretch, but with Peavy, you knew wins were going to be hard to come by with the offense he has behind him, so you are counting on the K's. The fact that he barely ranks in the top 25 in that category is a disappointment for those that drafted him so early this year.

Achievers/Bums - 7/27/08

ACHIEVERS

Johan Santana - SP - New York Mets - Win, 9.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K's - Santana has been a disappointment this year because expectations were so high. I was looking at his numbers so far and was surprised to find that they are strikingly similar to Jon Lester's, although Santana has 29 more K's. Lester has obviously had a solid season, but this is not what anyone was expecting from Johan in his debut NL season. He's still a very good pitcher and he turned in a complete-game, six-hitter against the Cards last night, but if I own Santana, I might try to shop him around today and see what I could get. His K/9 is a pedestrian 7.62, which has him looking up at such strikeout kings as Sean Marshall, Wandy Rodriguez and Bronson Arroyo.

Alfonso Soriano - OF - Chicago Cubs - 3/5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R - Soriano provided some sorely-needed offense for the Cubs. Could this be the beginning of a huge second half as predicted by Brandt?

Jake Peavy - SP - San Diego Padres - Win, 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 10 K's - Peavy finished off a great July, where he went 3-1 with an ERA of 2.12, by dominating the Pirates. His strikeouts are back to what you would expect from him, and he looks like he's in perfect health.

David Wright - 3B- New York Mets - 3/5, HR, 3 RBI - David Wright is a fantasy beast. I feel like he's underrated because he plays second fiddle to A-Rod as a NY third baseman, but I think he has clearly delivered as a top-5 fantasy player this year. In a standard roto league, I'd probably only take Hanley, Berkman and A-Rod over him in a draft right now. His status has gone up as Delgado's production has increased too.

BUMS

Ervin Santana - SP - Los Angeles Angels - Loss, 5 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 5 K's - Santana is who we thought he was. Remember, we thought he sucked on the road back in the day. Last night he reminded us why.

Javier Vazquez - SP - Chicago White Sox - Loss, 7 IP, 6 ER, 11 H, 2 BB, 3 K's - I love it when I try over and over again to trade for a player I covet, but the owner keeps giving me the middle finger, and then, on the same night that guy goes out and fails miserably, my guy, fresh of the DL, starts raking.

Achievers/Bums - 06/29/08

ACHIEVERS

Kevin Slowey – SP – Minnesota Twins – Win, 9 IP, 3 H, 0 BB, 9 K’s – Slowey shutout the Brewers and is definitely worth an add if he's still available in your league. Slowey has great control, as evidenced by his career K/BB ratio of 101/20. He won't be this good usually, but he won't burn you either.

John Lackey – SP – Los Angeles Angels – Win, 8.2 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 9 K’s – One out away from the complete-game shutout. Lackey owners have to be thrilled that Lackey hasn't missed a beat since coming back from a strained triceps injury.

Grady Sizemore – OF – Cleveland Indians – 2/5, 1 HR 1 RBI, 2 R, 1 SB – Sizemore is on a hot streak, and I'm going to go ahead and predict a 40/40 season for Grady this year. You heard it here first.

BUMS

Jake Peavy – SP – San Diego Padres – Loss, 6 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 6 K's – The reigning Cy Young Award winner is starting to get frustrated with the lack of run support, and understandably so. Peavy is a gamer and he's going to strike guys out, but fantasy owners have to wonder if he will regain his 2007 form anytime soon.

Erik Bedard – SP – Seattle Mariners – Win, 5.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 3 K's – Speaking of hoping he returns to 2007 form... Yeah, I know he got the win, but Bedard has been a steaming pile of disappointment so far this year by all accounts. Fantasy owners didn't draft him where they did to see 3 K's in 5.2 IP.

Yankees Offense – Really? 3 H, 1 R & 8 K's against Oliver Perez? Really?