Kuzul

Baseball season’s fourth week came and went with several surprises and some solid performances. Here are the fantasy studs, the players who have me concerned, and the potential pickups from the week of April 26th – May 2nd.

Fantasy Studs

Paul Konerko: .389/4/8/.538.  Konerko quietly leads the majors in home runs. Konerko, usually forgotten on draft day, is good for 20 plus home runs every year.

Robinson Cano: .417/4/5/.462. Cano has been a machine this year. If his head is on straight all season, he will be an MVP candidate.

Kosuke Fukudome: .476/3/8/.633. It seems every April, Fukudome starts out on fire and then fades as the season moves on. Take advantage of him now.

Carlos Gonzalez: .417/2/10 with three stolen bases. This year’s fantasy man crush is off to a great start, proving he is no Chris Davis.

David Freese: .440/2/10 with one stolen base. If Freese continues to hit like he did last week, Felipe Lopez won’t see the light of day at third for the Cardinals.

Francisco Liriano: 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 19 K’s in 15 IP. Liriano has been a joy to watch this season. He is throwing strikes consistently and looks like a serious Cy Young candidate.

Josh Johnson: 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA and 20 K’s in 15 IP. I have always been a fan of Johnson’s and if Roy Halladay wasn’t traded to the National League, Johnson would have been my NL Cy Young pick.

Yovani Gallardo: 2-0 with a 0.69 ERA and 15 K’s in 13 IP. Walks are Gallardo’s lone weakness. Once he tames his control — watch out.

Chris Carpenter: 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and 12 K’s in 13 IP. After giving up five home runs in his first two starts, Carpenter hasn’t allowed a long ball in his last four outings.

Heath Bell: Three saves with a 0.00 ERA and nine K’s in four IP. Bell is averaging 14.40 K’s/9 this year. He has established himself as a premier closer.

Reasons for Concern

Alex Gordon: Gordon was hitting .194 with one home run in 31 AB’s before being sent down to Triple A yesterday. I have lost all faith in Gordon as a franchise type player for the Royals.

I see him being a mediocre player for Kansas City.  The Royals will cut ties with him, then he will go to a team like the Red Sox and hit .320.

Joe Mauer: Mauer is week-to-week with a bruised heel. His injury is not overly concerning but anytime the best catcher in the game goes down, it’s worth noting.

Nate McLouth: Since coming over to the Atlanta Braves from the Pittsburgh Pirates, McLouth really has done little.  He is hitting .172 with a .299 OBP.

His job is safe, but he is no longer an impact fantasy player and should not be in your regular lineup.

Cameron Maybin: Perhaps Maybin will never be the player everyone thought he would become. He is hitting .247 with a .311 OBP and has 32 K’s in 97 AB’s.

I have Maybin on my fantasy team and I have watched him quite a bit this year. He has zero approach at the plate and apparently goes up there without a game plan.

You have to wonder how much longer the Marlins are going to stick with him.

Potential Pickups

Wilson Ramos: If Mauer is out for an extended period of time, Ramos will get the majority of starts behind the plate for the Minnesota Twins. Ramos went 4-for-5 in his major league debut yesterday against the Cleveland Indians.

Mike Stanton: Stanton is hitting .346 with 11 home runs and a .495 OBP in 22 games in Double A this year for the Marlins. The Marlins won’t be able to hold him down in the minors for too much longer, so pick him up before someone else does in your league.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Since the first series of the season against the Boston Red Sox, things really haven’t gone well for Curtis Granderson in his first month as a New York Yankee.

He hit two home runs in the series against Boston (one of which being a game winner against Jonathan Papelbon), but really hasn’t done anything since. He is off to a .225/.311./.375 start and those two home runs he hit against Boston are still the only ones he has all season.

Granderson still hasn’t figured out how to hit left-handed pitching either. “The Grandy Man” as that buffoon John Sterling calls him, is hitting just .161 against lefties this season and has 11 strike outs in 31 AB’s.

There is really no point for manager Joe Girardi to bat Granderson against any left-handed pitcher—at this point, he is an automatic out.

Not only has Granderson struggled with the bat, but now he is hurt. The former Detroit Tiger will be placed on the 15-day DL with a Grade two strain of the left groin. He hurt the groin rounding second base after a Brett Gardner single.

In Granderson’s place, the Yankees will move Gardner back to center and Marcus Thames and Randy Winn will platoon in left. My guess is despite his 1-for-13 start at the plate, Winn will receive the majority of the playing time in left.

For the record, Thames is off to a ridiculously hot start for the Yankees. In 20 AB’s, Thames is hitting .550 with a home run and three doubles.

To replace Granderson on the roster, the Yankees will call up RHP Mark Melancon. Melancon had a 1.76 ERA and 15 K’s in 15.1 IP for Triple A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre this year.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It’s that time again kids. It’s that time to look at the “top 10 things we learned about baseball” series. For those of you not familiar with this series, this is where I piece together the month that was in Major League Baseball.

Without any further ado, here at the top 10 things we learned about baseball in April.

10. The Baltimore Orioles Had a Bad Month

I really liked what the Orioles did this offseason, but the moves they made this winter clearly have not translated into success in 2010. The Orioles finished the month of April with the worst record in baseball.

Closer Mike Gonzalez and 1B/3B Garrett Atkins have been terrible and this team desperately misses Brian Roberts at the top of the lineup.

While the Orioles had the worst record in baseball in April…

9. The Tampa Bay Rays Came out Swinging

Due to the fact that Carl Crawford and Carlos Pena are free agents at the end of the season, many felt that 2010 was the Rays’ last stand. If that is indeed the case, the Rays aren’t going to go down without a fight.

The Rays ended April with a 17-6 record and the best record in baseball. What is the most impressive about the Rays hot start is that they finished April with a 9-1 road record. The Rays finished 17 games under .500 on the road in 2009.

Speaking of first place teams…

8. The New York Mets Are on Top Of the NL East

That’s right, the Mets—not the Philadelphia Phillies—were on top of the NL East when the first month of the season ended.

It seems like the call up of first baseman Ike Davis has inspired the boys from Flushing, N.Y. The Mets ended the month of April on an eight-game winning streak and believe if they can stay healthy, they will be in the thick of the NL East race all year.

Staying in the NL East…

7. Ryan Howard Got Paid

Phillies’ GM Ruben Amaro Jr. gave Howard a five-year, $125 million extension. That’s a lot of boxes of ziti to pay a guy who is going to be in his mid-30s when his contract kicks in.

On the subject on extensions…

6. April Was Extension Month in Major League Baseball

Yovani Gallardo, Josh Beckett, Brett Anderson, and Ben Zobrist signed extensions in the month of April.

Out of these extensions, Gallardo’s made the most sense in my opinion. The Milwaukee Brewers signed Gallardo to a five-year, $30.1 million deal and at 24, the Brewers will have Gallardo signed through his prime years.

One guy who might be up for an extension soon if he continues to pitch like he did in April is Minnesota Twins’ closer Jon Rauch…

5. Who Needs Joe Nathan?

When Joe Nathan went down because of an elbow injury prior to the start of the 2010 season, the Twins were scrambling for a closer. Rumors swirled that they may acquire Heath Bell of the San Diego Padres or Jason Frasor of the Toronto Blue Jays.

The Twins acquired nobody and went with an internal option. That internal option was Jon Rauch and Rauch has been nothing short of spectacular for the Twins so far. Rauch finished April with a 1.80 ERA and seven saves.

Rauch used to pitch for the Arizona Diamondbacks where a certain second baseman had a monster month…

4. Kelly Johnson Is Back on Track

Johnson spent most of 2009 in Atlanta Braves’ manager Bobby Cox’s doghouse. In 2010, Johnson might be spending some time in Anaheim for the All Star Game.

Johnson finished the month of April second in the majors in home runs with nine and hit .313 with a 1.154 OPS. I predicted Johnson would have a bounce back year, but in no way did I expect this.

Let’s stay in the NL West…

3. Barry Zito Is Pitching Like the 2002 Version of Barry Zito

I always felt the San Francisco Giants’ pitching staff was overrated as a whole because all they had was Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, and nothing else. Well, if Zito pitches like he did in April for the rest of 2010, then they will prove me wrong.

Zito was the man in April going 4-0 with a 1.53 ERA and a Lincecum-esque 0.88 WHIP. If you combine Zito’s second half of 2009 with his first five starts of 2010, he is 9-4 with a 2.18 ERA.

Not bad at all.

Speaking of pitchers who started the season on fire…

2. Ubaldo Jimenez Was This April’s Zack Greinke

Greinke was the talk of baseball last April when he went 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA. Jimenez might have one upped Greinke this April.

Not only did Jimenez go 5-0 with a 0.79 ERA, but he managed to also throw a no-hitter as well. Jimenez’s no-hitter came against the Braves and he was just awesome as you could imagine.

In the last inning, Jimenez was throwing 97-98 mph. He is turning into a bonafide ace.

And the No. 1 thing we learned in April…

1. Baseball Is Back, Baby

Sure the NFL has their Opening Night and Weekend, but nothing beats Opening Day in Major League Baseball. Opening Day in baseball represents hope and represents the excuse to take a really long lunch break that day.

So far this season we have seen a no-hitter, a slew of walk-off hits, and a lot of good baseball being played. The 2010 baseball season is shaping up to be a great one.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Philadelphia Phillies bullpen will get a much added lift as Brad Lidge will be activated from the disabled list before tonight’s game against the red hot New York Mets. Then again, the way Lidge pitched last year I am not sure if this is a good thing.

Lidge made his final rehab start Tuesday at Double A Reading going two innings while allowing no hits and striking out four. Perhaps the most impressive part of Lidge’s outing was that he threw first-pitch strikes to 23 out of the 35 batters he faced.

The up and down Phillies bullpen could use Lidge—not the bad Lidge, but the good Lidge from two years ago. The Phillies’ bullpen has already blown four saves in nine chances and are 13th in the NL in OPS against with a .801 clip.

I don’t think Charlie Manuel is going to throw Lidge back into the fire right away. He will most likely let Lidge ease himself in, let him prove himself and then let him regain his closer role.

From a fantasy perspective, if you have room on your roster, take a flier on Lidge. The reward is much greater than the risk.

To make room for Lidge, the Phillies will send down Antonio Bastardo. Bastardo had a 1.69 ERA and struck out five in 5.1 innings for the Phillies this season.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The 81st Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Anaheim will have some new wrinkles.

On Wednesday, the league announced modifications to its All-Star Game effective this year. The changes made were suggestions from Bud Selig’s Special Committee for On-Field Matters.

Listed below are those modifications, along with my thoughts on each.

Rosters will be expanded from 33 players to 34 players.

I am not a fan of expanding the rosters. Is the idea to get everyone in the game or win the game? Now that the game decides home-field advantage in the World Series, I believe the idea is to win the game.

If the idea is to win the game, then the 34th-best player in the league shouldn’t replace Albert Pujols or Chase Utley. I would rather have the roster go back down to 30 players and have the best players play.

The contest always will include a designated hitter no matter where it’s played.

Smart move here. Nobody wants to see the pitchers hit in an All-Star Game.

However, there is one caveat to this decision. Having the pitcher in an All-Star Game is an easy way to get hitters into the game. With the rosters expanding and no pitchers hitting, managers now will have even a tougher time getting everyone in the game.

No pitcher who competes for his team on the previous Sunday will be allowed to pitch in the game.

Again, smart move. The pitcher should be honored at the game for making the team but in no way should be allowed to pitch.

Ruining someone’s season just to pitch an inning in an All-Star Game never made any sense to me.

A rule will allow one position player re-entry into the game if necessitated by injury.

This move was already in place for catchers but shouldn’t be in place for the other position players. This isn’t Little League.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com