Weekly Fantasy Dish- 2nd Half Preview

This week's edition is going to take a look at a few players who are either going to have big second halves of the season, or go down faster than Alex Rodriguez's divorce settlement. Yeah, it's a low blow at AROD but who doesn't want to take one at him?

2nd Half Studs

Alexis Rios OF TOR- What a disappointment Rios has been so far this year for fantasy owners. At 27 years-old, Rios was expected to have a season of around .290 BA, 25 HR, and 100 RBI with around 30 SB. While the average and steals are there (21 already), Rios hasn't seemed to have found his power stroke this season. Lately, Rios has been heating up with 5 multi-hit games in his last 12 contests, while also stealing 6 bases in that span. In the past, Rios has performed well before the all-star break and faltered afterwards. This season, however, Rios won't let that happen again because his how he has underperformed this year and he is primed to make all the critics bite their tongues. The only way he'll do that is if it hits some balls over the fences in the Rogers Centre (Not Center).

Troy Tulowitzki SS COL- I have been making fun of Tully all season long because of how poorly he has been playing since opening day. However, i am pulling for him to make a big turn around after the break, and finish the season like he did last year. Last year, he hit nearly .300, while hitting 15 HR and driving in 61 runs after the break. While it is clear Tully isn't the same as he was last season, he isn't as bad as his paltry numbers have shown this year. It did help that last year all of the Colorado Rockies took some sort of magical pixie dust to help them get to the World Series but something tells me there's some dust left somewhere for them to find with a wide open NL West. Tully is like an unattractive Derek Jeter in the sense that if you go to a bar and you see Jeter, the girls you are with are leaving you and you are taking a taxi alone tonight. If you were at that same bar and Tulowitzki walked in, those same girls would say who is that guy, as you and your buddy would freak out and try and get his autograph. However, if you acted too much like a 5 year-old, you would still be going home alone that night, but the girls wouldn't be going home with T squared. (And yes I do love giving Tully nicknames)

Takashi Saito RP LAD- His numbers are a bit high for him, except for saves, but Saito is one of the best fantasy closers out there in the last 2 calendar years. This season he has only committed 16 saves and has a higher ERA than usual. However, with the Dodgers making a push for the NL West title, there will be more close games for Saito to close down and even last season after the all-star break, he was able to get his ERA down from 1.47??!?!?! How do you get your ERA to go down at 1.47??? Saito also strikes out a good number of batters and should expect to see more innings as the year goes along. If he falters, which he shouldn't, expect to see "Serial Killer" Jonathan Broxton mopping up games for the Dodgers.

2nd Half Duds

Kevin Youkilis 1B BOS- The starting 1st baseman in this year's all-star game has earned his right to be there. However, in his past 2 season, Youkilis hasn't played close to the same level he does from March to July. Last season, Youk hit .90 points lower that his average in the first half, and also around .40 pts lower the year before. While he hasn't shown signs of slowing down now, it appears his intensity level is too high to maintain all season long and he tends to rest himself until September, when the games mean the most. Youk is also one of the toughest guys to strike out in baseball, but last season he struck out 25 more times in the 2nd half than he did in the 1st half. I don't expect a huge dropoff in production from Youkilis, but there should be a drop in his numbers all around.

Cliff Lee SP CLE- With the C.C. Sabathia trade in the news, it appears that the Cleveland Indians have officially made CLEE their staff ace. Lee has never been one to handle pressure and now the team expects to build around him and Fausto Carmona, which can be the best spanish soap opera name possible, and you know some spanish actor trying to make it big got mad when he saw that Fausto Carmona was taken. I digress, the point is that in 2007, Lee completely fell apart after the all-star break, being sent down to the minors with an ERA of around 10. The same probably won't happen this year because of how well he has been throwing but i don't see Lee hanging out to the Cy Young Award for the rest of the year and i can see his numbers slowly rise, start by start.

Dan Uggla 2B FLA- Uggla wasn't expected to have the type of season he is having this year and for good reason. The power numbers aren't too ridiculous from Uggla (23 HR, 58 RBI) but it's that plus .280 BA that throws me off. Last year, Uggla didn't hit over .250 and it was deemed his 2006 season was a fluke. Even in that season Uggla's numbers dropped off and did so again in 2007. Uggla isn't going to hit 40 HR and drive in 115 runs, and he probably will finish the year hitting around .260. It would be too much to expect the same type of production from Uggla in the 2nd half of the season and it would be wise to watch him carefully as the year reaches the "halfway" point.