Time is Running Out For Unproductive Players – Hot & Cold Fantasy Players

Things we know about Reynolds: He’s big, swings from his heels and either hits big or misses big. With seven homers already, he’s proving to be a huge pickup for the Indians, as he’s on pace to break his personal high mark of 44 homers in a season. If he strikes out fewer than 150 times this season, he could end up being one of five or so 40-homer hitters in the majors.

Over the past week in head-to-head leagues, only Robinson Cano has more points over the past week among second basemen. Kendrick (14) has more RBI than all but five other second basemen this season, and he’s one of the hottest Angels in the lineup. He has always been a decent fantasy player, but his play to start the season has him climbing the ranks of a thin position. He’s on pace to have 33 more RBI than any other season in his career.

It’s difficult to recommend a 30-year-old outfielder that has 166 career major-league games to his name, but Nava is playing well enough to gain some fantasy starts. He has just five games in which he didn’t get a hit so far, and even more impressive is that he has reached base in all but two of 18 games this season. The Red Sox are warming up with the return of David Ortiz, and Nava could benefit even more.

Buchholz has been on fire to start this season, putting a rough 2012 behind him. He leads the majors with a 5-0 record, and he has given up just five earned runs on the year. Part of the key to his success is keeping the ball in the park, as he hasn’t given up a home run in his past four games. The other part of his success – his schedule. He has faced the Yankees, Rays, Orioles, Astros and Royals. Only the Yankees rank among the top 10 in the majors in scoring.

With Red Sox closer Joel Hanrahan on the 15-day disabled list, Bailey has come in and pitched really well. Over the past week, he has three saves, and he’s keeping runners off the base paths. Once Hanrahan is healthy, however, you might see Bailey move back an inning or two to middle relief. That’s when you make your move for him, since Hanrahan’s leash will be shorter than ever.

One of my favorite players for the coming season, Frazier is just having a tough time this past week, with a single, a double and a homer in his past 22 at-bats (.136 batting average). He faced the Marlins, Cubs and Nationals over the past week, so it’s not like he was looking at Hall-of-Fame pitching. Hopefully, this is a speed bump on a big year for the corner man.

While everyone was ranting and raving about how Giancarlo Stanton had no other bats in his lineup, we conveniently ignored the fact that the Padres played 14 games without Chase Headley and 13 without Carlos Quentin," said Nando Di Fino of CBSSports.com. "This left the Padres with Gyorko and Yonder Alonso to carry the power hitting burden. Give Gyorko a few weeks to enjoy having two 25-homer bats in the lineup with him and I think you'll see him start to hit for average and power. He hit 55 home runs and was well over .300 the last two full seasons in the minors. Gyorko will turn it around, and makes for a nice buy low candidate right now."

It’s tough to say Bossman Jr. has been cold this week, considering he has a pair of homers in his past seven games, but over the past seven days, he has just three hits, one homer and one RBI. He’s not taking to his new jersey as well as his younger brother is, and there could be a little dissension between the two right now. The older Upton is batting just .150 on the season, and he’s really testing your patience!

It might be a little unfair to pick on Morrow here, since the Blue Jays in general have been a pretty big disappointment. Only three other American League teams have fewer wins (nine), and their pitching staff ranks 12th in the AL in team ERA (4.41). While his control is there, he’s just not dominating over the plate, as evidenced by the 133 strikeouts he’s on pace for.

The bright spot on Anderson’s docket thus far was a scoreless outing against the Astros in early April. Since then, however, he has been serving up batting practice, with 17 earned runs allowed in 10 2/3 innings (5.65 ERA). Things won’t get any better, as the A’s will face the Orioles, Angels and Yankees in their next three series.