Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.It was only a matter of time. As much as people want to talk about the New York pressure and how you can't continue to look at his career's worth of slow-starting seasons, all we had to do was be patient and wait for the inevitable stat correction when it came to Mark Teixeira. Now, we're right in the middle of it. In his last six games, Teixeira is hitting .458 with 3 home runs, 11 RBI and a 1.458 OPS. Low and behold, he's on pace for 42 bombs and 119 RBI.
This isn't so much a statement on strategy. If you have Teixeira, we'll hope you were smart enough to have weathered the storm, knowing his history of starting slow. If you don't own him, you sure aren't gonna be able to pry him from another owner now. No, this is more a statement on what we preach in fantasyland. While it's certainly possible for someone to have a down year, Mark Teixeira is too great a hitter to be flirting with a .200 average for long. I always have to laugh when people go panicking about players in the middle of their primes who are going through a bad stretch. This isn't Big Papi. Numbers fix themselves over the course of a long season more often than not with super studs. Patience is a virtue.
Is it due to the return of Alex Rodriguez? Probably. Who cares, though? A-Rod's healthy and Teixeira is hitting. It doesn't matter why.
Oh, while we're here -- the Orioles' starting pitchers the Yankees face in the next few games? Brad Bergesen, Jeremy Guthrie and Adam Eaton. Anyone think Teixeira's gonna slow down?
Bits From the Box Scores
• John Lackey wasn't great by any stretch, but he got the victory in his first non-ejection-in-the-first-inning start of the season. He wasn't near as sharp as he'll be after a few outings, but there were flashes of his good stuff and he didn't walk anyone. He'll be an ace by June.
• Being removed from the closer's role doesn't appear to have helped Brandon Morrow. The Angels took him for 4 hits and 2 earned runs in 2 innings of relief work. In his last four outings, Morrow has an absolutely sickening 19.64 ERA. Opponents have a 1.577 OPS in the same stretch. He's allowed 11 hits, 4 walks and 3 home runs in only 3 2/3 innings. It's safe to say he's not sniffing that closer role again any time soon.
• Randy Wolf is startable in all formats right now. In his past five outings, he's sporting a 1.45 ERA in 31 innings of work. His WHIP is just a hair over 1.00 and he's struck out 23 during the stretch. His last two haven't exactly come against pushover offenses (Phillies and Mets).
• David Wright is helping everywhere but in home runs. He's attempted 17 stolen bases already, and he only attempted 20 all season in 2008. He's hitting a career-high .359 as well. We've mentioned this before, but he had an early power outage in 2007. In fact, he only had 4 home runs through May 18 that season (he has 3 through the same date this year). The rest of the way, he hit 26. If you can still pry him from a frustrated-with-his-lack-of-power owner, do so immediately.
• Good rebound outing for Scott Richmond after consecutive losses. He shut the White Sox down completely for seven innings. He also had 7 strikeouts, but I like him as a sell-high again after that outing. His BABIP still has some normalizing to do, and his track record shows he can't consistently throw like this for an entire season.
• Chris Getz is hitting only .132 since May 2 with nary a home run or RBI. As the White Sox scuffle, you wonder how long they'll wait before promoting a certain someone (we'll check him out Thursday in Kids Are Alright after doing more research).
• Jason Bartlett has already tied his career high in home runs. He's a career .285 hitter who has eclipsed .300 only once (hit .309 in 2006). I feel more strongly about this than anything else I've written this season. Trade him immediately if you can. There is no possible freaking way he even remotely keeps this up. His BABIP is an absurd .425, so he's hardly going to continue to just find the holes when putting the ball in play. The only category that is real thus far are his 11 steals. Still, when he quits getting on base at a .423 clip (and he will) his chances will go down.
• Chris Iannetta is hitting .357 with a .971 OPS in the past 8 games. Keep riding him, there's more where that came from.
• Mat Gamel hit his first home run of many major league shots to come. Hopefully the Brewers allow him time to hit at the major league level with the loss of Rickie Weeks. He could be this year's version of Ryan Braun or Evan Longoria.
The Afflicted: Casey Blake has missed two games with hamstring issues. Those can linger, so you might look around for other options (Gamel!?!).
Lineup Lock Time: Nothing until 7:05 PM ET. Enjoy your work day.
Wednesday's Ace in the Hole: If Jason Marquis can shut down the Braves, why can't Jorge De La Rosa? De La Rosa is having a very solid season despite getting terrible run support en route to a 0-3 record. A win here might be tough to come by against Javier Vazquez, but if you need rate-stat help and/or strikeouts, he'll help.
