Alexei Ramirez’s progress was slow in the early part of the season, but things appear to be clicking now as he extended a four-game extra-base hit streak with a homer on Tuesday night. As manager Ozzie Guillen looks for a spark to his struggling lineup, he may also find a way to rid the team of Orlando Cabrera’s attitude or Juan Uribe’s weak stick.

Ramirez made a splash with a hot spring, but stumbled out of the gates to the tune of a .138 batting average in April. But, he has turned things around with a nine-game hot streak, over which he has hit .429 (15-for-35) with 3 doubles, 2 home runs, 7 runs and 5 RBIs. Ramirez has lifted his season average to a respectable .275, to go along with 10 extra-base hits and a .431 slugging percentage. Read more »

It’s free agent time again, and this week’s list features several players that, as varying in age as they may be, have become veterans of our rankings of players available in at least 50 percent of leagues.

Some, like Jerry Hairston, Eric Hinske and Casey Blake, are beginning to heat up after April and May hibernations, while others like Brian Giles and Randy Winn are consistently producing for poor teams. Read more »

New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain’s highly anticipated debut as a starter lasted just 2.1 innings against the Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday night, leaving after having walked four and thrown 32 of his 62 pitches for strikes.

Bronx Liaison breaks down the stuff Chamberlain had and sees light at the end of the tunnel. Here’s one snippet on Chamberlain’s fastball:

Throughout his mediocre outing, Chamberlain often hit the high 90’s with his fastball and touched triple digits on the stadium gun a handful of times as well. According to MLB Gameday, 22 of Chamberlain’s 45 fastballs were between 96-99 mph. Read more »

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