Fantasy 40/40 – 2012 Fantasy Baseball Rankings

Fantasy 40/40: Fantasy 40/40: Who’s Hot, Who’s Not

By Tito on June 28th, 2011

Who’s Hot

• Yuniesky Betancourt MIL – He’s only batting .240-something on the season, but has been collecting multi-hit games recently and left the yard twice this past week.
• Tony Gwynn Jr. LA – All kinds of issues for the Dodgers right now, but Mr. Gwynn seems to be playing just fine.  He’s taking advantage of the playing time since no one wants that left field job and is coming off a four-hit, two-stolen base game.
• Matt Kemp LA – Speaking of the Dodgers, this is the only guy with some value over there.  Kemp has also hit two homers in the past seven days and is on pace to finish the season with 44/42.  He’ll be the first to do it since Soriano (‘06), glad I own him in some leagues – very upset I passed on him in one.
• Evan Longoria TB - After a slow start and some injury time, Longoria is starting to heat up.  No batting gloves equals three homers and ten RBIs this week.
• Nick Markakis BAL - He’s got a sixteen-game hitting streak right now.  I don’t know what happened to Markakis, but his numbers are getting progressively worse through the years.  He’s still a young guy and has his future in front of him, but I expected Bobby Abreu a couple years ago.  I now see him closer to Bobby Flay.  A little harsh, but you get my point.
• Brian McCann ATL - I don’t know if there’s a hotter hitter in June than this guy.  McCann is McRaping baseballs right now and has eight homers in June, three in the last week including his shot in Seattle yesterday.
• Brandon Phillips CIN - He’s 14 for his last 28 with a HR, 7 RBI and 7 R in the last week.  He’s actually on pace to have a drop in HRs and SB this year, but an increase in BA while maintaining level of RBI and R.  He’s still an elite option at second base and should be started in all formats.
• Aramis Ramirez CHC – Ramirez started to percolate in the Kansas City series and has carried it over into the Colorado series as he went deep twice at Wrigley yesterday.  Aramis is a notoriously streaky hitter and late bloomer.  Somehow, someway, he’ll end up with 20-25 HRs.
• Ty Wigginton COL - Last seven days: 8 for 24 with 5 HRs, 8 RBI and 5 R.
• Michael Young TEX – Last week’s player of the week, Young batted .481 while leaving the yard four times, driving in eight and scoring five times.  He plays three positions and has been a solid fantasy option all year.

Who’s Not

• Charlie Blackmon COL - It was bound to happen.  He’s slowly coming back to Earth and will have to play through his little mini-slump.  Manager Jim Tracy has confidence in the kid so I’ll buy him for now, just monitor his status since there might be better options for you to start right now, especially in mixed leagues.
• Adam Dunn CHC - I’ve owned you the last four years.  And this is how you repay me.  Whatever.
• Dee Gordon LA – The honeymoon is over and Gordon is struggling to get on, going 3 for 21 last week.  He’s a rookie and just like Blackmon, will have his ups and downs.
• Justin Morneau MIN - Had surgery and will be out for the foreseeable future.  Check back in August so I can tell you he’s going to miss the rest of the season with a sore Britney.
• Anthony Rizzo SD - He’s 3 for his last 18 with 0 HR and a RBI.