I was hoping you guys could give a little fanasy insight into the past month. I just got home from a month offshore where I\'ve had very little internet access so I\'m a bit out of the loop.

What\'s the deal with Liriano? I found him sitting as a FA in one of my leagues and jumped on it. The numbers from his past few starts look promising....has he turned a corner or is a return to form a pipe dream?

Is this season becoming a writeoff for Furcal? I stashed him on my bench over a month ago but he\'s starting to emmit a foul odour....cut bait? (FA\'s include Pierre, J Lopez, Cody Ross, Konerko) To add to this, does Pierre have any value once Manny returns?

Any hope that Escobar ends up closing or should I send him packing?

I\'ve got Weiters riding the pine so is now the time to move Inge and slot him in or should I hold off?

Well I\'ll cut myself off there. Any other tidbits you guys feel like throwing my way would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Welcome back man...

Liriano\'s last few have me with a little bit of hope, I still think this season will be a waste but next year will look good.

Don\'t think Pierre will have much value when Manny comes back so if you can package him and deal him then do it.

Get what you can for Inge, he is hot and C eligible. Weiters isn\'t hitting too well right now but won\'t stay down for long. Maybe ride Inge till the allstar break then deal him and put Weiters in.

I think Fuentes is doing enough to keep his job. His ERA is inflated due to the 3 Blown Saves he has had 8 earned runs in. other than that and he has only allowed 3 earned runs all year.

I\'ve held Furcal also but I\'m starting to have my doubts. I always saw him as a guy that wouldn\'t kill you but wouldn\'t carry you, now he is killing some teams. He is still too good to drop though and usually heats up in the 2nd half.

Hope this helps somewhat, feel free to post any other questions.

The walks still look like a problem for Liriano, but a matchup at home against PIT is pretty favorable.

Assuming you\'ve got a solid option at SS, go ahead and cut Furcal.

Jose Lopez is heating up, Ross has been raking lately and Pierre\'s got 3 weeks left before Manny returns; they\'re all solid options, just depends on what you need (MI, OF power or OF speed). Torre has said that Pierre will only get one or two starts a week once Manny\'s back.

If you\'re only speculating for saves, Escobar can be dropped. If you\'re in a league with Holds, keep him. With Shields out for the year and Arredondo in the minors, Escobar could quickly become the main setup guy in LA. Fuentes is 4-4 in save opps this month with 0 ER.

You would think that it wouldnt take Wieters too long to start hitting, but I would hold on to Inge until the super-prospect starts hitting.

actually, Inge isn\'t hitting right now either...2 for his last 21. Deal him if you can and ride Wieters. any day now, any day now...

Part of Liriano\'s problem was he was throwing a lot more fastballs which allowed hitters to sit on a pitch they liked (allowing 1.3 HR/9 this year). I took a look at the pitches he threw when he got bombed for 7 runs on Apr 22 & May 20 and compared to his last start which was a dominant start and noticed a couple things.

Again, not sure if I\'m reading this entirely correctly, however:

1 - He was throwing more fastballs in the disaster starts.
2 - No command of his offspeed pitches and a lot more wild in general in the disaster starts.

This could mean that he wasn\'t feeling particularly strong about his slider, or perhaps, hiding a potential injury, or still feeling the after effects of TJ surgery.

When he was proclaimed as the next Johan a couple years ago, he was throwing the nasty slider of his a lot more frequently. He needs to throw more offspeed pitches and use that nice fastball of his to complement those pitchers to remain successful. Hopefully he\'s turned the corner. There is hope as he was awful in last year\'s first half and was able to post a dominant second half.

If you\'re in a deep league, I\'d hang on to Furcal, who usually posts better 2nd half numbers.

Escobar is DL\'d, so if you have a roster spot DL him, otherwise cut bait (unless you\'re in a deep league)

Move Inge, hold on to Weiters.

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Keeper League:

F) N.Backstrom, E.Malkin, V.Lecavalier, P.Mueller, A.Mcdonald, B.Boyes, A.Hemsky, S.Horcoff, K.Turris, D.Jeffrey, M.Perreault, C.O'Reilly, S.Upshall, M.Erat, S.Gagne, D.Legwand D) S.Souray, M.Streit, A.Babchuk, T.Gilbert, I.Cole, J.Hillen, M.Methot G) B.Elliott, S.Varlamov, C.Ward, J.Reimer P) N.Kadri, E.Kuznetsov, S.Shirokov, V.Tarasenko, J.Blum, OEL, J.Moore, O.Pavelec

Thanks for the great posts guys! +1 all around

What do you guys think of Baker vs Floyd going forward?

Don\'t look now but the Sheff seems to be cooking with fire again.....time to snatch him up?

Interesting observation on Alexi Ramirez: his BA is down 40 points from his 08 season but he\'s one BB away from matching his total from last year. I\'d have thought this looked very promising for a turnaround however his K total is even higher than last year....not sure what to make of this. I like the guy and think he\'s a great \'buy low\' candidate but it seems that although he has developed a better eye there are still some holes in his swing.

Speaking of guys who have matured at the plate, check out the numbers on Hunter Pence....I\'m looking for big things from this guy!

Baker\'s main issues are his HR/FB % which is pretty high right now, which is also caused by an increase in flyballs allowed. Other than that, his K/9 is currently at a career high, his walks are at a career low, and command rate a career high. If he can cut down on the HR/FB rate, he will be an elite pitcher (as I said earlier in the season :P)

Floyd is also trending in the right direction, and remember that he\'s a former top MLB prospect. His K/9 rate is almost at 8 K/9 and showing good command of his pitches. He\'s shown really good growth on his HR/9. He\'s known for his occasional blowup games, so he needs to control his walks and meatballs to stay successful.

Ramirez always starts off slow, but he\'s already heated up. Will probably be much more difficult to obtain him now.

__________________
Keeper League:

F) N.Backstrom, E.Malkin, V.Lecavalier, P.Mueller, A.Mcdonald, B.Boyes, A.Hemsky, S.Horcoff, K.Turris, D.Jeffrey, M.Perreault, C.O'Reilly, S.Upshall, M.Erat, S.Gagne, D.Legwand D) S.Souray, M.Streit, A.Babchuk, T.Gilbert, I.Cole, J.Hillen, M.Methot G) B.Elliott, S.Varlamov, C.Ward, J.Reimer P) N.Kadri, E.Kuznetsov, S.Shirokov, V.Tarasenko, J.Blum, OEL, J.Moore, O.Pavelec