EFB DRAFT RANKINGS

Tuesday April 29th, 2008

The Stock Exchange: Big Unit Healthy and Heating Up

by Cory Channell

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Overall Top 25 Drafts

Top 10 rankings by Scoring Category

League by League Breakdown

The Stock Exchange identifies those players whose stock is rising, falling or on the rebound in the world of fantasy baseball. Each week, I'll pick nine players whose value looks to be changing in the near future. Feedback is welcome and encouraged as your comments may be used in later articles.

RISING

Johnny Damon, OF, New York Yankees - After a slow start to the season, Johnny Damon is picking up speed. If the Yankees' vaunted offense can catch fire, Damon should see a big boost in his stats. In the past six games, he is batting .425 (11-for-26) and has raised his batting average from .215 to

.275. Damon failed to score 100 runs last season for the first time in a decade. Damon did hit .296 after the All-Star break last season along with seven of his 12 home runs, so the latest production is a good sign that talk of his demise were premature.

Randy Johnson, SP, Arizona Diamondbacks - The Big Unit had a precautionary MRI on his back last week and it came back clean, showing no signs of worsening. That's good news for Johnson owners as he is striking out more than a batter per inning, but has just one win in his three starts.

Arizona's offense is doing its part, so Johnson should start seeing some W's to go along with his K's. He faces Shawn Chacon and the Astros on Wednesday and stands a good shot of his second victory.

Carlos Quentin, OF, Chicago White Sox - Quentin has a modest seven-game hitting streak and connected for his sixth home run and 20th RBI of the season in the ChiSox's suspended game against the Orioles Monday night. Quentin has 30-100-100 potential in Chicago's unappreciated offense. It looks like he may be on his way to a breakout season at age 25.

ON THE REBOUND

C.C. Sabathia, SP, Cleveland Indians - So much for those alarms that were going off after the portly pitcher's first four starts of the season. After posting double-digit ERA efforts against Oakland and Detroit, he has followed it up by posting a couple of gems against the Royals and Yankees.

Sabathia was the tough-luck loser in a 1-0 contest against the Yankees on Sunday, but he has struck out 19 with a total of three walks and eight hits in 14 innings. It may take another month or two for his ERA to come down from the stratosphere, but it looks as if he has righted the ship and its smooth sailing ahead.

Curtis Granderson, OF, Detroit Tigers - Since coming off the DL on April 23, Granderson has done nothing but hit. The Tigers have scored 38 runs in the five games in which Granderson has played this season. He hasn't stolen a base, but he has scored eight times in five games with two homers. It appears the chemistry is starting to come together in Mo-Town and Granderson is a big part of that. He most likely won't duplicate his quadruple-double (20-plus doubles, triples, home runs and steals) from last season, but anything close will be satisfactory to fantasy owners.

Brandon Phillips, 2B, Cincinnati Reds - Phillips went 18 games without hitting a home run, but now has four in his last six, including two against the Giants on Sunday. He has just four stolen bases, but his on-base percentage is in line with last year (.333 vs. .331) so the thefts should come in bunches soon. His trip to San Francisco last week jump-started the turnaround as he batted .500 with four runs, three home runs and seven RBI in the three-game series.

FALLING

Barry Zito, SP, San Francisco Giants - The Giants stuck a gigantic fork in their Baked Ziti on Monday, demoting him and his $126 million left arm to the bullpen. That would feed a lot of homeless people in the Bay Area, but even the transients can't stomach the way Zito has pitched this year. Being

relegated to the bullpen may have been the only way Zito could avoid becoming the first 20-game loser since Brian Kingman in 1980. Giants closer Brian Wilson may not see another save opportunity this year in the games that Zito gets the call from the bullpen.

Travis Hafner, 1B, Cleveland Indians - The Pronkster might need to change his nickname to The Prankster if he doesn't start living up to expectations soon. The problem is, fantasy owners aren't laughing. Many thought this would be Hafner's rebound year. A .219 average and a measly three home runs says otherwise. Hafner's four-year run of 100-plus RBI could be in jeopardy. Hafner is nursing a sore shoulder, so that could be partly to blame for his slow start. But put two and two together and it adds up to another disappointing year for Hafner.

Corey Hart, OF, Milwaukee Brewers - The Brewers have scored four runs or less in 13 of their 25 games this season. Hart's slow start (11 runs, 1 home run, 11 RBI) looks to be a contributing factor, but Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder and Rickie Weeks aren't doing much to help the situation get better

either. After hitting 24 home runs and stealing 23 bases in 140 games last year, many thought Hart had a shot at 30-plus home runs and stolen bases and 100-plus runs and RBI. It looks as if those lofty expectations may need to be adjusted a bit. If he winds up close to last season's numbers, be happy with your investment.

MAILBAG

Do you have a comment about the players included or excluded in The Stock Exchange? Send an e-mail with The Stock Exchange in the subject line to bumpercrumpler@yahoo.com. Include comments along with your name, hometown, Elite team name and division. Comments may be used in future articles.

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