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Fantasy Baseball Bests, Busts and Waiver Wire: July 24

Athlon Sports takes a look at what took place this past weekend on the fantasy baseball diamond.

By: Braden Gall | 7/24/12, 10:00 AM EDT

Athlon Sports takes a look at what took place this past weekend on the fantasy baseball diamond.

Stay tuned each week to Athlon Sports for a 2012 Fantasy Baseball Weekend Waiver Wire every Monday and a Weekend Rundown every Thursday. We took a week off due to All-Star festivities, but we are back and better than ever.

Top 25 fantasy baseball hitters of last week (7/16-7/24):

  Name Team Pos. R HR RBI SB BA OPS
1. Jason Kubel ARI OF 8 6 11 0 .346 1.508
2. Ryan Zimmerman WAS 3B 8 4 10 0 .406 1.301
3. Mike Trout LAA OF 10 3 5 1 .448 1.397
4. Buster Posey SF C/1B 5 2 13 0 .517 1.378
5. David Wright NYM 3B 5 4 8 1 .379 1.303
6. Melky Cabrera SF OF 11 2 4 0 .448 1.322
7. Brandon Phillips CIN 2B 6 2 8 2 .357 1.010
8. Miguel Cabrera DET 1B/3B 7 3 5 1 .381 1.292
9. Albert Pujols LAA 1B 6 3 7 0 .370 1.211
10. Carlos Gonzalez COL OF 4 3 7 2 .292 1.081
11. Carlos Gomez* MIL OF 4 1 3 5 .286 .944
12. Cody Ross* BOS OF 5 3 9 0 .320 1.106
13. Michael Morse WAS 1B/OF 7 2 7 0 .324 .910
14. Ryan Doumit* MIN C/OF 5 3 7 0 .320 1.066
15. Yoenis Cespedes OAK OF 4 2 3 1 .455 1.293
16. Aaron Hill ARI 2B 7 1 4 1 .345 .923
17. Adrian Gonzalez BOS 1B/OF 4 2 8 0 .357 .928
18. Danny Espinosa* WAS 2B/SS 5 1 5 1 .375 .960
19. Jesus Montero* SEA C 4 1 9 0 .385 1.029
20. Matt Kemp LAD OF 5 2 6 0 .357 1.043
21. Carlos Beltran STL OF 5 2 6 1 .273 .897
22. Brandon Crawford* SF SS 4 2 9 0 .304 .969
23. Lorenzo Cain* KC OF 3 2 9 0 .348 .972
24. Ryan Howard PHI 1B 3 3 7 0 .333 1.357
25. Chris Young ARI OF 4 1 5 2 .333 1.151

* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues

Strange But True

Watching Ichiro take at-bats in a Yankee uniform  — against his old team at that — was one of the more surreal sights I've seen on a baseball diamond in years. While he is a huge intangibles pick-up for the Yankees, one has to believe that he will turn his fantasy season around too now that he is within the Pinstripers line-up. He played right field and batted eighth in his Yankee debut Monday night. He wen 1-for-4 with a stolen base. He will shift to left when Nick Swisher returns. One can only expect his production to go up hitting in front of Russell Martin, Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson. Without the pressure of having to carry an offense, Ichiro is all but certain to boost his career-low .261 batting average with plenty of runs and stolen bases. He might be worth trading for if you are in need of those two categories.

The Waiver Wire

The Reds' Todd Frazier has delivered a tasty .882 OPS all season and is getting playing time for Joey Votto at the moment. He has the versatile 1B/3B/OF eligbility and was my pick-up of the week on a team that needs help at 3B and in the power column. The Nats' Danny Espinosa added SS to his title as he fills in for Ian Desmond. His roto line is always enticing with the big hit always coming in the BA category. Yet, he is on fire over his last eight games getting 14 hits in 31 ABs. He is the top add in most leagues currently. Looking for some more pop? Cody Ross has 16 bombs in 238 at-bats and has eight homers since returning from the DL. The .892 OPS plays in any format. Looking for a sneaky call-up? Danny Hultzen has been solid for Triple-A Tacoma and could be in a Mariner uniform soon, while Travis Snider will get the call for Toronto now that Ben Francisco is in Houston. He is a career .308 minor league hitter with a career .910 OPS. The Angels should be calling-up prized prospect Jean Segura as well after his .294/.346/.404 season in Double-A Arkansas. He will provide speed in place of Erick Aybar.

Top 20 fantasy Starting Pitchers of last two weeks:

  Name Team IP W K ERA WHIP
1. Doug Fister* DET 15.0 2 18 1.20 0.47
2. Jordan Zimmerman WAS 18.0 2 16 0.50 0.72
3. Felix Hernandez SEA 17.0 2 15 0.53 0.71
4. Justin Verlander DET 16.0 2 14 1.13 0.69
5. Hiroki Kuroda NYY 21.1 2 20 2.53 0.80
6. Ben Sheets* ATL 12.0 2 11 0.00 0.92
7. David Price TB 14.1 2 15 1.26 0.98
8. Madison Bumgarner SF 14.0 1 13 1.93 0.50
9. Tim Lincecum SF 15.1 1 17 1.20 0.87
10. Jeff Samardzji* CHC 13.0 1 14 0.69 0.85
11. Paul Maholm* CHC 15.0 2 9 1.20 0.87
12. Lance Lynn STL 13.0 1 15 0.69 1.00
13. Johnny Cueto CIN 13.0 2 12 0.69 1.31
14. Barry Zito* SF 14.0 1 11 1.93 0.71
15. Clayton Kershaw LAD 14.0 1 13 1.29 1.00
16. Carlos Villanueva* TOR 12.1 2 13 2.19 1.14
17. Wade Miley ARI 12.2 2 15 2.84 1.11
18. Matt Garza CHC 10.0 1 10 0.00 1.00
19. Ryan Vogelsong SF 13.0 1 13 1.38 1.00
20. Erik Bedard* PIT 13.2 1 15 1.32 1.17

* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues

Top 5 Spot Starts for the Week (Tues. - Sun.):

1. Ivan Nova, NYY: Seattle (Wed.)
Posted eight quality starts in nine trips to the bump and has 36 K and 13 ER over his last six starts.

2. Michael Fiers, MIL: Washington (Sat.)
Has allowed 3 ER in last five starts with 34 Ks. Shut down the Reds and Cards in last two.

3. Jarrod Parker, OAK: at Baltimore (Fri.)
Just tossed 8.0 with one run against Yankees. Won four of last five starts.

4. Jonathon Niese, NYM: at Arizona (Fri.)
Posted 5 quality starts in last six with three wins and 11:0 K:BB rate over last two.

5. Ben Sheets, ATL: Philadelphia (Fri.)
Has yet to allow a run in two starts with only seven hits and 11 K in 12.0 innings.

Keep a close eye on the Mets-Diamondbacks Thursday affair as top pitching prospect Matt Harvey will make his major league debut. He has posted 268 Ks in 245.2 career minor league innings.

Top 20 fantasy Relief Pitchers of last month:

  Name Team IP W SV K HLD ERA WHIP
1. Huston Street SD 12.1 1 7 18 0 0.00 0.41
2. Aroldis Chapman CIN 11.1 0 9 27 0 1.59 0.62
3. Rafael Soriano NYY 12.2 0 11 17 0 1.42 0.95
4. Craig Kimbrel ATL 11.0 0 7 20 0 1.64 0.36
5. Ryan Cook* OAK 10.2 2 6 11 0 1.69 0.66
6. Kenley Jansen LAD 13.1 0 7 18 0 0.68 0.83
7. Fernando Rodney TB 11.0 0 7 12 0 0.00 0.64
8. Joel Hanrahan PIT 10.1 1 9 8 0 1.74 1.16
9. Jason Motte STL 8.1 1 7 10 0 1.08 0.96
10. Casey Janssen TOR 10.0 0 6 14 0 1.80 0.80
11. Tom Wilhelmsen SEA 12.2 0 5 12 0 0.71 1.03
12. Kyle Kendrick* PHI 19.2 2 0 16 0 2.29 0.97
13. Brad Lincoln* PIT 13.0 0 1 15 3 0.69 0.62
14. JJ Putz ARI 9.0 0 5 8 0 0.00 0.89
15. Dale Thayer* SD 12.1 2 0 10 3 0.73 0.89
16. Sergio Romo* SF 8.2 1 2 7 4 0.00 0.58
17. Sean Doolittle* OAK 12.1 0 1 15 2 0.00 0.73
18. Jerry Blevins* OAK 9.1 2 0 9 4 1.93 0.64
19. Octavio Dotel* DET 11.0 2 0 16 1 2.45 1.00
20. Steve Cishek* MIA 10.2 0 2 11 5 0.00 0.75

* - less than 70% owned in Yahoo! leagues

Keep up to date all season long with Athlon Sports' Fantasy Baseball Closer Grid

- by Braden Gall

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