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The researching, player projecting, and mock drafts are finally over. It’s time to play balland for most fantasy players it was an extended week 1 with 11 days of action. Here aresome of the headlines of an exciting week.
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The Closer Carousel Is In Full Effect
If you had Fernando Rodney in the first closer to lose his job pool, you are the big winner. It took less than a week for Jordan Walden to take over closing duties in Anaheim. Matt Thornton’s two blown saves has led the White Sox to announce that they will now have a closer by committee. The next in line to possibly lose the closing  job would be Ryan Franklin with three blown saves. Popular sleeper pick Drew Storen did not get the first save chances in Washington, as the honor went to Sean Burnett. Another popular sleeper pick Craig Kimbrel does appear to be the full time closer in Atlanta and not just a part of a committee. All of this and we’re only 11 days into the season. Buckle up boys and girls. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.
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April Hot Starts
Some of those who sprinted out of the gate this year include Nelson Cruz, Howard Kendrick, Miguel Montero, Matt Kemp, Ryan Howard, and Gordon Beckham. Also of note is slow starting Mark Teixeira, who despite a low average (.182) has clubbed four home runs and ten RBI.
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Appendectomies Are In Style
Matt Holliday and Adam Dunn had the procedure within a few days of each other. Luckily both are expected back in a few days and avoid the DL. A couple big names did hit the DL in the first week. Evan Longoria is expected to be out a minimum of three weeks. Ubaldo Jimenez also hit the disabled list. Others missing time in week one include Stephen Drew, Mike Stanton, Hanley Ramirez, Ryan Zimmerman and Jose Bautista (who left the team due to personal reasons, not an injury.)
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Manny Being Manny No More
After having a hot spring, many were seeing Manny Ramirez as a comeback candidate. Once the regular season started he was 1-17. On Friday, it was discovered he testedpositive for P.E.D,’s and promptly retired before being suspended. With Evan Longoriaon on the DL, the Rays offense is looking very weak and in otherwise offensive AL East.

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St. Louis Cardinals slugger Matt Holliday was forced to undergo an appendectomy today. He will be placed on the disabled list and could miss about a month. This is a huge blow to fantasy teams as his production cannot be easily replaced. Depending on the makeup of your team you should look to add an outfielder that can make up either the average or the power because it’s not likely you can find someone that does both.

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By Matt Carpenter
twitter.com/carmatts
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According to Mock Draft Central Matt Kemp is the number 23 player off the board and Matt Holliday is the 24th. So as the draft winds around and you are on the clock, which player should you take?
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Matt Holliday is money in the bank. Draft him and count on a plus .300 average, 25 HRs, and 100 RBI. He’s put up those numbers ever since he entered the major’s in 2004, and there is no reason to believe he won’t do it again. With the exception of 2008, Holliday has never run much and no one expects him to get more than a few steals this year.
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They key word with Kemp is upside, upside, upside. A first round pick last year, the rising Dodger star disappointed owners last year with a .249 average, although he clubbed a career high 28 HRs. Only 26, Kemp is entering his prime and is a possible holy grail for fantasy owners, a combination of tremendous power and speed. New manager Don Mattingly has said Kemp will bat cleanup so RBI opportunities will be plentiful. With stolen base guru Davey Lopes now a Dodger coach, many are predicting a 30/30 campaign for Kemp.
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Comparing the two players, Holliday is expected to have a better average while Kemp will steal more bases. The other categories will depend purely on whether Kemp has a breakthrough season. Deciding which player to take depends on what kind of owner you are. Some like to take reliable studs and save the high risk/reward plays for later in the draft. Others like myself see Kemp as a player entering his prime and a possible value as Kemp has first round upside at a third round price. You can’t go wrong with either pick, but Kemp could disappoint this year and still have similar numbers as Holliday.
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Also check out:

• 2011 Fantasy Baseball Profiles
• 2011 Fantasy First Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy A.L. Only First Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy N.L. Only First Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Second Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy A.L. Only Second Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy N.L. Only Second Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Third Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy A.L. Only Third Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy N.L. Only Third Basemen Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Shortstop Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy A.L. Only Shortstop Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy N.L. Only Shortstop Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Catcher Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy A.L. Only Catcher Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy N.L. Only Catcher Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Outfielder Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy A.L. Only Outfielder Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy N.L. Only Outfielder Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Starting Pitcher Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy A.L. Only Starting Pitcher Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy N.L. Only Starting Pitcher Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy Closer Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy A.L. Only Closer Rankings
• 2011 Fantasy N.L. Only Closer Rankings

St. Louis fans got great news today that slugger Matt Holliday isn’t going anyway (see ESPN article) after agreeing to a megadeal with the Cardinals. The deal is reported to be for seven years and worth approximately $120 million.

Albert Pujols and Holliday will continue to form one of the best 1-2 punches in baseball. After “struggling” in 93 games with Oakland hitting .286 with 11 HRs and 54 RBIs, he went on to hit .353 with 13 HRs and 55 RBIs in 63 games with St. Louis.

Holliday is familiar with National League pitching and should remain a top tier fantasy OF. Don’t expect him to return anywhere near his 2008 SB total of 28. He should hit in the .320s with 110 Runs, 40 Doubles, 30 HRs, 110 RBIs, and 15 SBs.

Written by Eric Stashin the Rotoprofessor

The Oakland A’s have traded Matt Holliday to the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for a trio of minor leagues in 3B Brett Wallace, OF Shane Peterson & P Clayton Mortensen according to espn.com.

To me, this appears like a coup for the A’s, who for a long while appeared likely to get little in return for Holliday. Considering the way he had been playing, I don’t think it was a guarantee the team would even offer him arbitration in fear of being saddled with a huge commitment to him in 2010. Instead, they get a player who was seen as the future 3B for the Cardinals as well as another one of their Top 10 prospects prior to the season.

Wallace, the team’s first round pick in the 2008 draft, split time between Double & Triple-A this season hitting .289 with 11 HR, 35 RBI and 44 R. At 22-years old (he’ll turn 23 in late August), he easily could immediately join the A’s or certainly will see time at the hot corner this season.

Currently, the team’s depth chart has Adam Kennedy, Bobby Crosby and Nomar Garciaparra listed at the hot corner. Wallace clearly has more upside then any of those, and by dealing Holliday the team is waving a white flag of sorts. He is one of the top prospects in the game and certainly is worth owning in all keeper leagues immediately.
Mortensen was ranked as the number six prospect for the Cardinals prior to the season. He made one appearance for the Cards this season, allowing 2 earned runs over 3 innings. At Triple-A (in the Pacific Coast League), he was 7-6 with a 4.37 ERA. That comes after going 8-10 with a 4.96 ERA between Double & Triple-A last season.

His problems were described by Baseball America prior to the season by saying, “Propelled to Triple-A in June, Mortensen was too fine around the strike zone and pitched himself into mechanical issues. Control and command troubles cost him late in his college career, and they returned at Memphis, where he gave up 42 walks and 12 homers in 80 innings. He needs to improve his changeup to handle lefties, who hit .354 against him last year.”

He’s worth monitoring, but he’s not a fantasy impact player this season.

The third player, Shane Peterson, has split time between Single & Double-A this season, hitting .295 with 7 HR, 46 RBI and 12 SB. He was not ranked among the team’s Top 10 prospects prior to the season and is not going to have any fantasy impact in 2009.

As for Holliday, he leaves Oakland as a player who was starting to heat up, but for the most part fulfilled the concerns that people had of his departure from Coors Field. He hit .286 with 11 HR, 54 RBI, 52 R and 12 SB. Those are still extremely usable numbers, putting him right on pace for a 20/20 season. Are they the numbers of a top outfielder, like he had once been? Of course not, but useful just the same.

I would expect his value to potentially increase slightly with his move back to the NL. He’ll be joining Albert Pujols in the Cardinals line-up. I don’t know that his presence is going to force teams to pitch to Pujols more, but it definitely will allow him to get more opportunity to drive in runs as opposed to his time spent in Oakland. I would not be surprised to see him finish with over 100 RBI at this point, possibly as high as 110. His other numbers should remain status quo.

This also may spell the end of Rick Ankiel’s days as an every day OFer, at least for this season. Ryan Ludwick is heating up and should be in there everyday and Colby Rasmus has simply outperformed Ankiel. He’ll get some AB, but I wouldn’t be using him at this point.

As for who won the deal, I think the A’s did much better then anyone could have reasonably expected. The Cardinals, however, are a better team today then they were yesterday. There’s no question about that, and considering that they are in first place in the NL Central, 1.5 games up on the Cubs and Astros, that’s what they care about most.

What does everyone else think? Who won this trade? How will Holliday perform in St. Louis?

Saturday, August 2nd
Kevin Youkilis hit a pair of HRs and drove in 4 Runs.  Prince Fielder and Matt Holliday each hit a pair of HRs and had 3 RBI.  Ryan Doumit, Reed Johnson, Mike Aviles, Esteban German (3 RBI), Billy Butler, Miguel Olivo, Ross Gload, Jose Molina (3 Runs), Miguel Cabrera, Jason Bartlett, Evan Longoria (3 RBI), David Dellucci, Austin Kearns, Alberto Gonzalez, and Adam Jones each had 3 Hits.  Jason Bay, Joey Votto, John Baker, and Jed Lowrie each had 3 RBI.  Lastings Milledge scored 3 Runs.

Barry Zito tossed 8 scoreless 3-Hit Innings with 5 Ks to improve to 6-13.  Jeremy Guthrie threw a Complete Game allowing 1 Run on 4 Hits to improve to 8-8 with a 3.35 ERA,  C.C. Sabathia gave up 2 Runs on 6 Hits in 8-1/3 Innings with 9 Ks to improve to 5-0 with a 1.87 ERA with Milwaukee.  Charlie Morton gave up 2 Runs on 4 Hits in 7 Innings, but took the loss.  Ted Lilly gave up 1 Run in 6-1/3 Innings with 5 Ks to improve to 11-6.  Mike Mussina gave up 1 Earned Run on 2 Hits in 7 Innings with 5 Ks to improve to 14-7 with a 3.44 ERA.  Andy Sonnanstine gave up 2 Runs in 6 Innings with 6 Ks to improve to 11-6.  Jon Lester gave up 2 Runs in 7 Innings with 5 Ks to improve to 10-3 with a 3.14 ERA.  Paul “Free as a” Byrd gave up 1 Run in 7 Innings to improve to 6-10.  Ricky Nolasco gave up 3 Runs in 8 Innings with 13 Ks to improve to 11-6 with a 3.691 ERA.  Joe Blanton gave up 1 Run on 4 Hits in 7 Innings to win his first game with the Phillies (6-12 overall).  Braden Looper gave up 2 Runs on 3 Hits, but took the Loss.  Jake Peavy gave up 1 Run on 5 hits with 7 Ks in 7 Innings, but took the Loss.  Johan Santana gave up 1 Run on 3 Hits in 6-1/3 Innings, but got a no-decision.  Hiroki Kuroda gave up 1 Run on 4 Hits in 7-1/3 Innings with 6 Ks to improve to 6-8.

2008 MLB All-Star Game
J.D. Drew took home MVP honors going 2 for 4 with a Run, a HR, 2 RBI, a Walk, and a SB.  Home Run Derby Champ Justin Morneau went 2 for 4 with 2 Runs (including the game-winner), a Double, and a Walk.  The NL got solid offensive contributions from their Shortstops as Hanley Ramirez and Miguel Tejada each went 2 for 3 with a Run.  Tejada added a Walk and a SB.  Albert Pujols also collected two Hits.  Matt Holliday clubbed a HR for the game’s first Run.  It was the NL’s only Extra-base Hit.

Obviously pitchers don’t last long in All-Star Games, but a few performances stood out.  Starters Cliff Lee and Ben Sheets each allowed 1 Hit in 2 scoreless Innings with 3 Ks.  Aaron Cook had the longest outing throwin 3 scoreless Innings.  Ryan Dempster struck out the side.  Carlos Zambrano, Dan Haren, and George Sherrill all pitched at least 2 scoreless Innings.  Scott Kazmir pitched a scoreless 15th Inning for the Win.