Weekly Fantasy Touts: June 26 - July 2

By Michael Salfino

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Put 'em in

Jhonny Peralta, SS, Indians: He's been on fire since being benched for three-days to clear his head. Has returned to the No. 3 hole in a good Cleveland lineup.

Jeff Weaver, P, Angels: Fantasy baseball has labeled him "the stinky Weaver" (as opposed to phenom brother Jared). But Jeff gets two starts off an impressive three weeks that have seen a tremendous spike in his K-rate (24 punch-outs in 24 innings).

Bench 'em

Justin Verlander, P, Tigers: He says his declining velocity (which is still over 95 MPH) is due to a decrease in excitability. But it's more likely due to an increased workload, which never exceeded 130 innings before '06.

Jeremy Sowers, P, Indians: He's in line for only one start this week. Don't buy him as a top prospect despite the sparking ERA in AAA because he was striking out less than five per nine innings there. That projects to under four in the majors, which is not nearly enough to survive, let alone thrive.

NATIONAL LEAGUE
Put 'em in

Jose Valentin, 2B, Mets: He's entrenched as starter with an OPS of almost .900. Valentin has raised his average from .214 to .300 since becoming a regular.

Anthony Reyes, P, Cardinals: Reyes was dominant last week against a great White Sox team in his return from AAA, where he was lights out (65 Ks, 8 BBs in 71 innings).

Bench 'em

Chad Billingsley, P, Dodgers: He's laboring as a 21-year-old rookie, which should never surprise. The pitch counts are too high too early and he's not missing enough bats (just four Ks in his first 10 innings).

Moises Alou, OF, Giants: Last week, he complained of not being able to bend over without searing back pain. Expect any returns going forward to be diminishing and make sure he's on your bench until he at least can tie his own shoes.