Saturday Pick Me Up

Easy reading post for y'all.  Straight rip from my CBS Sports fantasy news wire.


Lind could turn it on in 2nd half: Toronto OF Adam Lind still showcased the power with 12 homers and 40 RBI but his .214 first-half batting average was the lowest of his career. Luckily for Lind, he's historically been a far superior hitter after the All-Star break with a career batting average of .300. Lind hit .303 after the break last year with 16 homers and 55 RBI and has never hit worse than .273 in the second half.
(Updated 07/14/2010).

Fantasy Analysis

Lind might already be getting hot as he entered the break 10 for 32 (.313) in July thus far with three homers. Lind finished 2009 with 35 homers and 114 RBI and we lauded him as a top 10 Fantasy outfielder to begin the season. He's been anything but a top 10 outfielder this season but certainly has the ability to find his stroke entering the second half. Fantasy owners have started him in mixed Fantasy leagues pretty much all year so there is no reason to stop now when the splits say he's in for a solid second half. (Updated 07/14/2010).

Encarnacion a second-half guy: Toronto 3B Edwin Encarnacion finished the first half of the season with hits in six of his final seven games. He batted .346 over that span with a homer and has gained back his starting job at third. Encarnacion hit .221 overall in the first half, which is actually over 50 percentage points higher than his average heading into the break last year. He came back to hit .251 with 11 homers and 30 RBI in the second half last season.
(Updated 07/14/2010).

Fantasy Analysis

Encarnacion is a better hitter in the second half for his career and that was supremely evidenced last season. He hasn't had fewer than 10 second-half homers in each of his last three seasons and is averaging 10 second-half homers per year over his last five years. Encarnacion should keep the power coming with regular at-bats in the second half and can see Fantasy use in some deeper mixed leagues. (Updated 07/14/2010).

Quickly:
 
Speaking of fantasy baseball, I should mention I literally put my money where my mouth is and picked up Yunel Escobar in my AL only, big money keeper league.  I know I overpaid for him at 21 bucks, that's 21 REAL dollars, and don't know if I will or will not keep him at that price but it simply boils down to this for me:  

I believe in Esco

And Team Balco is in 3rd place and needs the OBP desperately.....