Roto-Rx

If your question was not answered this time, you can go directly to the source @ https://www.roto-rx.com/ where Dr. Roto will answer all your Fantasy Baseball & Football questions.

The Doctor is in...

Question #1: AJ Burnett. Keep him for $13 next year or not? –Virgil, Bronx, NY

Virgil: That's a close one, Virgil. Burnett pitches in the AL East and has mediocre peripheral numbers. The good news is that he should win 15 games and throw a good number of K's. Dr. Roto would try to move him in the off-season. I've got to think there is one Yankee fan in your league that will give you something good for him.

Question #2: After a few cups of coffee without much success Kendry Morales has had a breakout year. 1) Do you think he’s really only 26 years old as reported (I’m hearing not)? 2) Do you think he can sustain his success going forward? – Salvatore, The City of Angels, CA

Salvatore: Dr. Roto has a call into an INS agent that he knows to check on Morales's age. My guess is that we will never find the real birth certificate. As for his sustaining success...you better believe it. Morales is a terrific hitter who can hit for both power and average. He's a Dr. Roto favorite. Buy in a big way.

Question #3: Do you think that Chipper Jones will retire after this year? – Jennifer, Atlanta, GA

Jennifer: Dr. Roto has been annoyed at Chipper this year. He has seen a large drop off in average and power. But I wouldn't count him out just yet. If Chipper thinks the Braves can compete next year, he'll be back. He's too big of a gamer to go out like this.

Question #4: I was expecting a Cy Young season from Yovani Gallardo, he had a lot of hype coming into the year. He was ok but nothing earth shattering. He’s been healthy, was the hype wrongfully placed? - Larry, Bolder, CO

Larry: Before you condemn Gallardo to a career of mediocrity, let's have a little chat. This is really Gallardo's first true season in the majors. Last year he pitched only 110 innings due to his injury. so if we call that an abridged rookie year, this is his first "real" season. This year he's pitched 180 innings or so with an ERA of 3.84, a WHIP of 1.3, 12 wins, and a K/IP of better than 1 K per inning. I would say that he's had a terrific year. Plus, he's young and is only getting better. To get down on Gallardo would be a HUGE mistake.

Question #5: Where do you rank Gordon Beckham at the 2B position going into next year? – Michael, Merrick, NY

Michael: If you remember, Beckham was on my watch list earlier in the season. Now everyone has watched him turn into a fine young IF. Let's put him down for 20-80-80-15 next year which should put him as a starting 2B for a roto team. BTW his numbers will only go up from there. Think Aaron Hill with some speed down the line...

Bonus Question: Elvis Andrus has done quite well for himself as a 20 /21-year old. What do you project his stats to be down the road? – Lawrence, Long Beach Island, NJ

Lawrence: Right now, Andrus is a better real life player than a roto player, but that is going to change soon. He has the potential to steal about 50 bags and hit 10 HR. I'm not sure we are going to see that next year, but it should come in 2 years if he can continue progressing like this.

The Doctor is out...

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And the winner is!..........

With the official half-way point in the MLB season upon us, I wanted to take a look at who's stuck out in the first half of the season by selecting who would win each of baseball's major awards if the season were to end today! So here we go:

AMERICAN LEAGUE AWARDS

AL MVP: Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins: Justin Morneau is on pace for a career year, and that's saying something, seeing as he's already won an AL MVP award (2006). One pace for a 40 home run, 135 RBI year, and he's hitting .312 to boot. His teammate, Joe Mauer, could also get some votes, as should Torri Hunter, Mark Teixeira and Evan Longoria.

AL Cy Young: Zack Grienke, Kansas City Royals: Grienke is having the best season out of any AL starter right now, and despite being snubbed for the AL all-star start, he shouldn't miss out on the Cy Young award if he has a second half that's close to matching his first half magic.

Rookie of the Year: Andrew Bailey, Oakland Athletics: Bailey has kind of come out of nowhere and taken reigns of the A's closer position. His 10 saves, 1.92 era and 60 strikeouts lead all major league rookie relievers. Should be a solid closer in Oakland for years to come.

Manager of the Year: Ron Washington, Texas Rangers: The former A's coach took a couple of seasons to get settled in Texas, but he's finally turning that franchise around, as they sit at 48-39, their best record they've had at an all-star break in many years. They're only 1.5 back of the Angels in what should be a tight division race down to the wire.

Comeback P.O.Y.: Aaron Hill, Toronto Blue Jays: After struggling through an injury plagued 2008 season in which he hit just .263 with 2 hr's and 20 RBI in 240 at-bats, he's bounced back and is having a career year. Amongst the AL leaders in home runs (20) and RBI (60) and has had his average right around .300 or better all year.

Rolaids Relief Man: Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins: Joe Nate just continues to dominate year in and year out. He's aging terrifically, as he's 34 years of age, but quite possibly putting together his best statistical season of his career. I still can't get over the trade that sent him, Liriano and Bonser to the Twins for that POS catcher.

NATIONAL LEAGUE AWARDS

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals: Forget just the mid-season award, I think it's pretty safe to say, unless he gets injured of course, that Pujoles will real in his third career NL MVP Award. The dude has put up numbers (.332 avg, 32 HR, 87 RBI, 73 R, 10 SB) that most stars, not just average players, but most all-stars would take over course of a full season. The best-right handed hitter I've seen on my 25 years on the planet.

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants: Dan Haren is equally deserving, but Tim Lincecum has led his team atop the NL Wild Card standings and has earned himself the start for the National League in Tuesday's all-star game. Putting up even better numbers than the ones he won his first Cy Young award with last season. Again though, if Dan Haren's era and WHIP continue to drop, it would be hard to argue against him as well.

Rookie of the Year: Randy Wells, Chicago Cubs: Tommy Hanson and Andrew McCuthen have had nice first-halfs, but Wells has been a solid cog in the Cubbies pitching staff all season long and is sporting an impressive 2.72 era and 1.12 WHIP. He's only been credited with 4 wins do to lack of run support, and he's only had one bad start in 12 outings.

Manager of the Year: Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants: Boch has the Giants, a team everyone thought would struggle to make it to .500, atop the NL wild card standings and has led them to the second best record in the league at the break. He's been pushing all the right buttons in order to win ballgames and squeeze runs out of an average-at-best starting lineup.

Comeback P.O.Y.: Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals: After missing most of the last two seasons due to a broken down elbow, Carpenter has returned back to his ace-like ways (7-3, 2.47 era, 0.87 WHIP with a 64:13 strikeout/walk ratio in his 83 innings pitched this year. In fact, there are some that feel he's throwing the ball better now than he did during his last healthy season in 2006.

Rolaids Relief Man: Ryan Franklin, St. Louis Cardinals: There's a reason why the Cards are atop a very deep division in the NL Central. Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter are doing what they do best, but the Cards have developed themselves an elite closer in Ryan Franklin aka "The Beard", and I think his steadiness has really made a difference in the standings. His 0.79 era and WHIP are by far the best in the league and he's tied for third in the NL in Saves. Heath Bell and K-Rod should also get some recognition.- David Fry

David Fry is an independent sports photographer currently covering Major League Baseball. David will be reporting on observations as he sees them in MLB stadiums throughout the year.

The Stars are NOT aligned

The 2009 MLB All Star rosters were announced yesterday, expanding to 33 players apiece so as to avoid tie games and depleted pitching staffs. Many of the starters this year are deserved, but others are not, and this brings up a major issue: fan voting. It is simply ludicrous that the fans have 100% control over who starts the All Star game.

Of course, fans from larger markets are going to stuff ballots and vote, vote, vote for their hometown players. Stadiums put computers in areas where visitors can vote for the club’s players—the system is flawed. Online, you can vote 25 times with a specific e-mail address. A loophole: you can make up e-mail addresses, as there is no confirmation of any sort, and thus essentially vote an infinite amount.

There are two glaring mistakes with this year’s starting rosters.

Josh Hamilton (TEX) OF: He has only played 35 games! His appearance on the starting list, let alone the entire roster, is a joke and a slap in the face to the All Star game.

Hamilton’s numbers: .240 AVG, 6 HR, 24 RBI, 5 2B in 35 games

Dustin Pedroia (BOS) 2B: His appearance on the starting roster is not a crime, but Aaron Hill (TOR) 2B deserves the spot. He's hitting .297 with 20HR, 59RBI, 49 RS,

As I said, Pedroia’s presence is not a crime in the same way that Hamilton’s is, but Hill deserves the spot.

Look at the stats, see for yourself. - Paul Leume

Paul Leume is a MLB columnist from Montreal, Canada. Paul, a one-time beat writer covering the Montreal Expos for the Montreal Gazette is a proud grandfather of 3 girls and now spends his time offering his thoughts and prospective on Major League Baseball on a variety of blogs and websites throughout Al Gore’s internet.