What can we expect from C.C. Sabathia now that he has decided to take his game to New York to head the Yankees rotation? Well, some people will say that he will win the Cy Young award, post 20+ wins and completely dominate like he did in his short stint with the Milwaukee Brewers. Others will look at his innings pitched over the past few years and and predict an Aaron Harang type of drop off. Obviously, there is no way to tell what will happen so that leaves us with speculation.

Personally, I feel that Sabathia will be closer to his Cleveland Indians numbers than his Brewers numbers. The AL East is way too packed with talented hitting for Sabathia to dominate the way he did after the All-Star break last year. I do believe that his wins will go up but be prepared for a hike in his ERA. Read the rest of this entry »

Zach Randolph (LAC) – knee
Randolph says that he will travel with the Clippers on their upcoming road trip and could play as early as Mon. This is big news for the Clippers seeing how they just got Marcus Camby and Baron Davis back.

Carmelo Anthony (DEN) – Broken Hand
Carmelo is set to return Friday Jan. 30. He has been cleared by doctors in Denver. That means that Linas Klieza and J.R. Smith will lose value.

Al Horford (ATL) – Bruised Knee
Horford is eying a return on Feb. 4 in Minnesota. He also says that he plans on participating in the All-Star Rookie Challenge. This is a good sign that he is on pace for his return date. Read the rest of this entry »

If you haven’t already done it, you need to go see if Ramon Sessions is still available in your league. Grab him now if he is because that will not be the case for a very long time. In case you haven’t already heard, Michael Redd is out for the season with a torn ACL and MCL in his knee. This is going to open up a chance for Sessions to show everyone what he is really capable of.

Last year as a starter in 7 games, Sessions managed to average 13.1 pts, 5.6 reb, 13.1 asst and 1.7 stl. And, this year during a stint with Redd injured he averaged 15.7 pts, 3.8 reb, 5.8 asst and 1.2 stl. Guess what? Sessions got the start at SG in the first game since Redd went down. This could be huge for those of you that drafted and stashed him from the get go or for those who were quick enough to pick him up off waivers. Expect big numbers, maybe not 13 asst per game but big enough numbers to warrant adding him now. Charlie Bell poses the only real threat to him but Bell is out with a tender ankle right now so Sessions shouldn’t have a problem winning the starting SG spot if he can string together a few good games.

Here is a list of some of the more prominent NBA players that are either returning from injury or have recently been lost to injury. Hopefully this can help you out in planning the fantasy week ahead, while taking into account who should be added and who should be dropped. Let me know if I missed anyone or if you just have any questions, feel free to email me at craver@rotoassist.com.

Carmelo Anthony- broken hand- He and the Nuggets are still targeting Friday, Jan. 30 for his return.

Yao Ming – knee- He is listed as day-to-day but he is hopeful that he can play Monday.

Al Horford – knee- He is looking at a Feb. 4 return so bench him until further notice. Read the rest of this entry »

Golden State Warriors doctors snubbed Monta Ellis on Wednesday in his attempt to return to the court for his first game of the season after off-season ankle surgery. He is listed as day to day as of right now but is just dying to get out on the court as you can see in this video clip of Ellis and a few other Warriors at practice. Friday night could be the night however. The Warriors will surely have a packed house at Oracle Arena when they take on LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

This is the perfect game to bring Ellis back. He is jumping out of his skin not being able to play and wants to show Warrior fans that he is ready to take over this team. The Warriors along with their fans, need Ellis back as soon as possible to compliment the roster moves they made in acquiring Corey Maggette and Jamaal Crawford. We may have a chance to finally see what this team can do together or at least it will let Warriors execs know what they need to do for next year to make this team competitive. Everyone knows that Warriors fans deserve it. Read the rest of this entry »

Here are some things you should do and things you shouldn’t do if you want to stay relevant in your fantasy league. Most of them should be implemented before your league draft but you would be surprised how many people realize this stuff half way through the season. In some cases you can still use them to fix your team if it is not already too late.

I’m going to start with lineup changes first because I forgot to set my lineups last night for two out of four leagues that I am in. How I set them for the other two but not the first two, I’ll never know. In my first league I lost out on stats for Stephen Jackson and Andris Biedrins. That was 33 pts, 21 reb, 8 asst, 1 st and 1 blk. Those are stats that I can’t afford to lose. In my other league I missed out on T.J. Ford, Corey Maggette and Rudy Gay for 39 pts, 14 reb, 9 asst, 3 st and 1 blk. Now this is just plain stupidity here. Make sure you set your lineups. Read the rest of this entry »

Elton Brand was scheduled to return to the court on Monday, Jan. 19 but the 76ers felt it would be better to wait one more game. Waiting would give Brand almost another week of rest because the 76ers don’t play again until Saturday. Expect Brand to play Saturday but don’t expect a lot of minutes or production out of him They will be sure to ease him back into the lineup.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas could possibly resume basketball activities as early as next week. Ilgauskas has been out since Jan. 2 with a chipped bone in left foot along with a severely sprained ankle. He and Cavs team doctor Richard Parker visited Dr. Mark Myerson Friday at The Institute for Foot and Ankle Reconstruction at Mercy Medical Center located in Baltimore, Maryland. Myerson is the doctor that performed surgery on his left foot a few years back. Read the rest of this entry »

Paul Millsap owners can take a sigh of relief now that they know that the MRI taken on his injured left knee showed no structural damage, just a bruise. However, Zach Randolph is out with a bruised knee and he has missed 10 games and probably won’t be back for another week or two. There is no telling how long Millsap will be out but one thing you can count on is the production of Andrei Kirilenko going up.

Millsap has been one of the best, if not the best waiver wire pickups of the year while filling ion for the injured Carlos Boozer. He probably has made up the minds of the Utah Jazz brass as far as whether to bring back Boozer or let him go to free agency. With Millsap playing the way hes has been, the Jazz can afford to let Boozer go and save a lot of money.

Kirilenko owners should be real happy but once Millsap returns, Kirilenko will go back to the bench. This is not that big of a deal though seeing how Kirilenko has thrived this year as the sixth man.

Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy said he doesn’t expect Zach Randolph to return for at least another 7-10 days. Apparently his recovery from a bruised knee has been slowed by some sort of virus. Dunleavy will probably try to blame that on Randolph’s agent too. For now, sit tight and hope that this doesn’t go on much longer.

In the meantime, Marcus Camby, Eric Gordon and Al Thornton are all great plays while Randolph, Baron Davis and Chris Kaman are on the shelf. Still no word on when Kaman will return either but it looks like Davis will be able to return in a few games.

AL MVP- Alex Rodriguez. With Mark Teixeira in the lineup, you can expect A-Rod to have a career year.

NL MVP- Hanley Ramirez. This guy gets better by the minute. Expect him to post a .320+ BA, 30+ HR, and 35+ SB with all of that coming from the SS position! Unless of course Albert Pujols wins the Triple Crown.

AL Cy Young- C.C. Sabathia. 20+ wins should be a cinch for Sabathia in the Big Apple.

NL Cy Young- Tim Lincecum. He won it last year and he is only getting better. Now he has Randy Johnson to mentor him.

AL Rookie of the Year- David Price. Showed great stuff in a short call up and TB knows how to win now.

NL Rookie of the Year- Colby Rasmus. If he is starting right out of spring training you can expect big numbers from this rookie. Read the rest of this entry »