Podcasting pleasure

Bradenton Herald colleague and podcasting fool Jason Dill and I are back with another Fantasy Focus baseball podcast for the month of June over at my day job.

Click on the link to hear our take on some impact rookies (Michael Stanton, Stephen Strasburg, Jason Heyward); what to do with struggling/injured stars (Carlos Pena, Wandy Rodriguez, Josh Beckett, Grady Sizemore) Kendry Morales; and fantasy's best pitcher so far in 2010 (surprise, it's not Tim Lincecum).

Also, listen closely for the souped-up intro by the mighty Metallica ...

Feeling LOST

So I've been feeling a little lost lately ... and it's not just because I just finished watching the LOST series finale (sooooo were they dead the whole time or what? In purgatory? My head hurts) ...

No, I'm feeling lost because it seems like every move I've made with my fantasy team the past few days has horribly backfired.

Case in point: I'm in desperate need of some power, so I traded for Carlos Pena last week, figuring he's due to snap out of it and smash some round-trippers sooner or later. But I figure I'll keep him on my bench for a while since he hadn't even been hitting .100 this month.

Of course he goes and hits not one but two homers Thursday against the Yankees that are of absolutely no use to me.

Oh, I had him in my lineup Friday, Saturday and Sunday after that - when he went a combined 1-for-11 with no homers.

Similar story with Jason Bay, who had gone deep just once all year and was killing my HR total. Finally benched him Saturday against the Yanks and he goes 4-for-4 ... kept him on the bench Sunday figuring he wouldn't do much damage against CC Sabathia (1-for-9 lifetime) and he jacks not one but two homers. Foiled again.

Rough time with my pitching, too, where I'm in just as desperate need of wins. Figured I'd do the grab-and-start thing with Joel Pineiro - picked him up off the waiver wire as he was coming off a complete-game, four-hit shutout and was pitching at St. Louis (where he put up some great numbers both with the Cardinals and as an opposing pitcher - up until Friday, that is). Of course he lasts just three innings, coughing up nine earned runs on nine hits, including a grand slam to Brad Penny of all people.

Thanks for playing, Joel.

Maybe I'm the one who's stuck in purgatory, and my team isn't going anywhere until I make the right choice.

I just hope there's some kind of bright light for my team at the end of all this.

Pena's power outage

Carlos Pena's .183 batting average got you down?

We all knew going into the season the Tampa Bay Rays slugger wasn't going to win a batting title - after all, he hit .227 last year and carries a .245 lifetime average. But you still had to figure Pena would at least hit his weight (He's listed at 225 pounds, for the record). It's gotten so bad (he was in a 1-for-37 slump entering Friday night's game) that he was benched earlier this week, in part to get a mental break.

Of course, every player goes through slumps, especially one as hot-and-cold as Pena. But the thing that really bothers you is this season's power outage. Pena's got five homers this year, or one per every 23 at-bats. In the past three seasons (his coming-of-age years with the Rays), he's gone deep every 12, 15 and 10 at-bats, respectively.

It's a bit puzzling, considering Pena, a notorious strikeout artist, is still whiffing at just about the same rate he always has. However, he's hitting many more ground balls compared to fly balls than usual, and only 12% of the fly balls he does hit have gone for home runs, compared to 21% last year.

Is Pena pressing, as this week's benching suggests? Is the free-agent-to-be worried about his contract status for next year, as chronicled by Sports Illustrated? Could be. But ultimately, I'm not going to worry about it too much. Pena's one of the league's elite home run hitters and is still in his prime. I believe this is just an unfortunately timed and prolonged slump, and he's still capable of approaching 40 homers this season, which is exactly what you expected out of him. I just pulled off a straight-up trade for him in my main league for Francisco Cordero, and I feel pretty good about it. Pena's power will come.


Photo by The Associated Press

Spring Preview: Tampa Bay Rays

SARASOTA, Fla. - In just a few short years the Tampa Bay Rays have gone from major league afterthoughts to serious contenders. They've catapulted themselves past established AL East powers like the Blue Jays and Orioles - who I watched the Rays beat 8-3 on Tuesday at Ed Smith Stadium - to give the Red Sox and Yankees a run for their money.

A big part of that success has been the talent - specifically the young, homegrown variety - the fanchise has amassed. And all that talent makes Tampa Bay's roster extremely appealing to fantasy owners. Let's have a closer look, shall we?

BREAKOUT PLAYER: Starter Matt Garza is penciled in as the Rays' No. 2 starter behind James Shields, but he may have the best pure stuff on the staff. Though his W-L record (8-12) and ERA (3.92) were disappointments after a stellar 2008 season, keep in mind it was really only his second full season in the big leagues, and he struck out 189 batters in 203 innings. With a little luck and a little more maturity on the mound, the 26-year-old could be in line for a fine season.

BUYER BEWARE: Jason Bartlett had an outstanding 2009, but you have to be a tad skeptical about a player who added nearly 200 points to his OPS from the previous season, raised his batting average 30 points and almost tripled his previous career high in homers (from 5 to 14). I'm not suggesting there's anything fishy going on; I'm just saying we might have seen a once-in-a-career season out of the 29-year-old SS, who's going to cost you a lot more this draft day than he ever has.

ETC: Carl Crawford (top) is a top-10 talent, even if there's a decent chance he gets traded elsewhere by season's end. If that happens, minor league speedster Desmond Jennings instantly becomes a must-own. ... A lot people are down on B.J. Upton, whose stats fell for a second straight year last season after a stellar 2007. But I believe there's still hope for the 25-year-old, who was still recovering from shoulder surgery last year, to be an across-the-board contributor. ... keep an eye on IF/OF Sean Rodriguez, who's tearing it up so far this spring after being acquired in the Scott Kazmir deal and pushing for playing time. ... Evan Longoria is the second-best fantasy 3B in the game behind Alex Rodriguez, plain and simple. ... Carlos Pena is another Ray who could end up getting dealt by year's end, but don't let that scare you away. Can you say contract year? ... The versatile Ben Zobrist demands your attention after an awesome 2009 that came out of nowhere. He's a lot more comfortable this year, as the Bradenton Herald's John Lembo reports, knowing the Rays will find ways to get him in their lineup, whether it's at second base or in right field. But I do have hesitation when it comes to a player who hit 27 homers in one season at age 28 after a total of 23 in more than 1,300 career minor league at bats. ... I've already spelled out how much I like new closer Rafael Soriano this year ... Want strikeouts? Get No. 3 starter David Price. Want an even cheaper source of strikeouts? Get No. 4 Jeff Niemann (above). Want a late-round sleeper with a ton of upside? Get Wade Davis.

The glass is half full for these guys

I've always been a glass-half-full kind of guy. I try to focus on the positive and find something good in a lousy situation. It's gotten me through more than one rough patch in my life, and it's also made my fantasy seasons a lot more bearable.

Trust me, I know a 162-game calendar sometimes seems to drag on for an eternity, especially when your team is languishing on the outer fringes of contention. You've probably got an All-Star or two on your roster who, whether because of injuries or bad luck or plain old incompetence, hasn't lived up to your expectations and has you seriously considering sending them some hate mail. But instead of obsessing over the 80 or so games in which that player's already failed to perform, try focusing on the untapped potential that rests in the 80 still to come.

Here are some first-half underachievers who should have brighter days and half-full glasses ahead:

• I am shocked - no, downright flabbergasted - by Miguel Cabrera's mediocre numbers to this point. I had him pegged as a top-three fantasy producer this year, and boy, has my face been red since the Detroit Tigers' tailspin began on Day One. Cabrera's stats aren't terrible - .276, 11 homers, 45 RBIs - but they aren't what anyone had in mind when they drafted him in the first round. Simply put, Cabrera's better than this, and though an MVP season is now out of the question, Cabrera still has the tools to raise that average 30 points and tack on at least 55-60 more RBIs, making me look just a little smarter in the process.

• Gary Sheffield is another huge disappointment and a key factor in the Tigers' suckiness. Sheff has served up a paltry 16 RBIs and a .230 average to date, hardly the hearty meal we expected from the slugger. But a recent stint on the disabled list with an oblique strain might have done the trick, as Sheffield has already hit two home runs since returning to Detroit's lineup. Although he's more than a decade older than fellow Tiger Cabrera, Sheffield too is a professional hitter who still has some life in his bat and should contribute in the power department from here on out.

• Robinson Cano was supposed to rival Chase Utley for second base supremacy, but instead he's more closely resembled Chevy Chase at the plate (.241, .279 on-base percentage).
Now, the good news: Cano hit.343 after the All-Star break last year with 13 homers and 57 RBIs. No reason he can't do that again, which would vault him to the upper tier of fantasy second basemen.

• Carlos Pena was hitting just .227 before his recent finger injury, but his 11 home runs placed him among the American League leaders at the time he went down. Hurt hands are always a concern when it comes to players who swing for the fences, but the Tampa Bay Rays have held their own without Pena and given him ample time to heal. He's now back in the middle of a dangerous lineup, and I suspect the homers will flow freely once again.

• Aaron Harang's 3-10 record is tough to swallow, especially for a guy who won 16 games each of the past two seasons. But I won't fault him too much for that - the Cincinnati Reds are scoring fewer than three runs a game when he pitches, and there were quite a few games this year he deserved to win but didn't. However, I do fault Harang for striking out almost one fewer batter per nine innings than he did last season and giving up many more fly balls - 17 of which have turned into home runs (he allowed 28 homers in each of the past two years). I have to believe Harang will return to his old formula for success in the coming months, and his luck in the wins and losses department will turn.

• Nothing's gone right for the Seattle Mariners this year, especially the signing of big-ticket free-agent Erik Bedard (4-4, 3.97 ERA). A balky back and hip have been issues this year, but so has the M's punchless offense. If he can get himself healthy and Seattle opts to trade Bedard to a contender, he could turn his season around in a hurry and revert to ace form.