Daily Joust - Wk 8: Did We Learn Anything?

Monday’s I will be taking a look at the fantasy baseball game by breaking down players who have produced noteworthy performances. This week it’s all about hot starting batters and pitchers – can they keep it up?

To get your daily fantasy baseball fix make sure you head over to DailyJoust.com to set your salary cap club.

GAINERS OF THE WEEK

Felix Doubront (+38, $288K in DailyJoust Salary)He has won three of his last four starts, and over his last three outings he's allowed only five runners to cross home plate (four earned). He continues to pile up the strikeouts, 16 in his last 11.2 innings and 53 in 50 innings on the year, showing his high upside arm. He's still walked a few too many though with a 4.14 per nine mark, and he's actually given up a ton of hard hit balls as well (25 percent line drive rate). It's a big arm that Dubront owns, but I can forsee some inconsistency in his future.

Kevin Millwood (+123, $361K)Where has this come from? I have no idea either. Over his last three starts Millwood has three victories, has allowed only five hits and a mere run while striking out 15 in 22 innings. Millwood hasn't pitched like this since, jeez, probably back in 2005. He's not going to keep this up, his 3.72 ERA and 1.29 WHIP marks are unlikely to hold, but he is locked in right now and may make a nice matchup play, especially when pitching at home.

Jonathon Niese (+44, $219K)Niese has an over four ERA, and that 1.31 WHIP is solid but not great. Still, there are seeds of success here. Niese has a 7.87 K/9 mark, a solid total, but he needs to bring down the 3.58 walk per nine mark (it's 3.06 for his career). If he reigns in the free passes, and keeps that impressive 1.88 GB/FB ratio going, he's bound to drop that ERA into the 3's.

Mark Teixeira (+37, $112K)You can only keep a good man down for so long. Dealing with a nasty respiratory issue Tex's bat has finally awoken. Mark has come alive at the dish with eight hits the last three days including three big flies and eight RBI. He's pushed his average up to a more palatable .254, and don't forget that, for whatever reason, Teixeira always seems to improve each year as the weather warms.

Alex Rios (+24, $99K)Alex Rios is hitting a solid .281 on the year, and he has eight hits in his last five games. Included in those eight hits are three homers and nine RBI as he's also tossed in a steal, his fifth of the year. He still has a long ways to go to live up to my expectations for him, but his current pace certainly looks a lot more impressive thanks to his hot week at the dish.

LOSERS OF THE WEEK

Josh Bell (-34, $55K)I'm sorry folks, but Josh Bell can't hit. There I said it. It's only been 13 at-bats but we're looking at two hits an a .154 average for the D'backs “third baseman.” Per his modus operandi, all Bell has done is strike out (five) and never walk (zero free passes) leaving him with a total of 83 strikeouts in 233 at-bats, an awful total. Add in his six career walks and you have someone with a 0.07 BB/K mark for his career. I didn't even know that was possible.

Lance Lynn (-70, $246K)Lynn has failed to go more than six innings in his last four starts, and he's also allowed 10 runs over his last three outings leading to a 5.00 ERA. Given his overall numbers which include a 2.54 ERA and 1.09 WHIP it's not at all surprising to see Lynn start to fall back to earth a bit. He's been impressive to this point, but there is regression forthcoming.

Alex Rodriguez (-21, $87K)Hitting .297 with a .796 OPS, ARod is underperforming. He's still on pace for about 20 homers, but that's a far cry from the 30 we are used to seeing. His total of 19 RBI also puts him on pace for less than 80, and the last time that happened in a full season was – never (he's never had fewer than 84 RBI in a season of 440 at-bats). At least he's stolen six bases to give him some fantasy value while he tries to figure things out at the dish.

Mike Trout (-23, $88K)Hitting .302 with four homers, 12 RBI, 18 runs and eight steals in just 27 games is an epic start to Trout's career. Epic. There's been some give in his game of late as he's seen his average drop .048 points the past week as the strikeouts have started to pile up (he has eight in six games). What, you thought he was going to flash HOF levels of production in his first full season?

Ben Zobrist (-19, $64K)Zobrist is hitting .206. Awful. What makes it even more odd is the fact that he is barely hitting .200 despite the fact that he has three more walks than strikeouts (35 to 32). As a result of the free passes his .352 OBP is only one point short of the .353 mark he had last year when he batted .269. On pace to pretty much match last years total of 20 homers, though to fall well behind in RBI/runs, Zobrist seems primed for a run of effectiveness, but for right now he is awfully cold at the dish.

DAILY CONTEST

Today you can sign up for the King Arthur's $50 Free Roll on DailyJoust. No entry free is required to get a chance to play the game and earn your free chance to take home part of the $50 prize pool. All games that start at 7:05 PM EDT or later are open to add players to your daily fantasy baseball squad. So get over to DailyJoust, put together your one day lineup, and get ready to win some free $.

By Ray Flowers