Fake Teams Hits the Fantasy Links

Today is June 17.  On this day 70 years ago, Joe DiMaggio hit an "easy grounder" in the 7th inning which bounced and hit shortstop Luke Appling in the shoulder.  He was credited with a hit - his only one of the day - which increased his soon-to-be record hitting streak to 30.  Today is also the 17th anniversary of the OJ Simpson White Bronco Chase.  Here are your fantasy baseball links for today:

There’s No FIPing Way They’re This Bad | Razzball
Unlucky starters based on ERA-xFIP

Keeper Building Blocks: Catcher | Baseball By Paul
Keeper worthy catchers for rebuilding owners. I disagree on Montero, but then again, it's a thin position.

Evaluating Speedy Outfielders | Fantasy Baseball Cafe
Outfielders with >10 steals and <5 home runs.

Follow the jump for more of the latest fantasy baseball news and analysis from around the web.

Fantasy Baseball Insider Trading: Adam Dunn, Ichiro Suzuki, more | KFFL.com

McGehee ripped a two-run double Wednesday night and has at least one hit in six of eight games since breaking a long 0-fer. His walk, strikeout and contact rates are right around his career numbers, and he's hitting the ball with more authority of late. If he can be had on the cheap, there's little reason not to take a chance on the young third baseman.

Jose Bautista's June Swoon | Baseball Analytics

In 24 at bats against righties this month, Bautista only has four singles and no extra-base hits. For the season, Bautista is 53-for-163 against righties for a .325 avaerage and 16 homers.

Under The Fantasy Microscope: Alex Avila | Roto Hardball

Avila's .360 BABIP isn't completely undeserved. His 20% line drive rate suggests he's been scorching the ball, but that doesn't necessarily mean balls will continue to drop for Avila. He topped that rate last year, producing 21% line drives, and only managed a .229 overall average and a poor .278 BABIP.

Freddie Freeman: Who We Thought He Was | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

Freeman’s just a few doubles short of that triple-slash line and a good week away from the homer projection, so he’s doing almost exactly what we thought he was. The problem is that it’s easy to find that level of production at first.

Doing the Unthinkable | Sons of Roto

Finally, Chone is starting to show signs of heating up. He's hit safely in 7 of his past 10 games. If Figgins' BABIP were more in line with his career average, he'd be hitting .287 right now. Because he's likely lost a step with age, I would expect him to hit .275 going forward. A .275 AVG with 0 HR and 20-25 SB is nothing special, but it is nice to plug in those steals at 2B or MI and use your other positions for power hitters.

How Low Can Josh Beckett Go? | Roto Hardball

I'm not sure there are too many of you that would argue Josh Beckett will have a sub-2.00 ERA for the remainder of the season. But what keeps me up at night is wondering if he'll have a sub 4.00 ERA the rest of the season. And in fact, if you ask ZiPS, the answer is no (predicting 4.04). The incredibly high strand rate, the terribly low HR/FB rate, and the curious case of the hit trajectory all add up to Josh Beckett being a good sell high candidate for me, but the return would obviously have to be pretty enticing.

Zack Greinke's Bizarre Season | Baseball Nation

So if you combine those two -- a strikeout-to-walk ratio over 7.0, and a K/9 over 11 -- how many seasons are there? Two. Pedro Martinez in 1999 and 2000. Zack Grienke, when it comes to striking hitters out without walking them, has been just a little less effective in this young season than Pedro Martinez was in two of the greatest pitching seasons of all-time. The strikeout rate will probably drop as the season progresses, for sure, but this shows what level Greinke has been pitching at over his nine starts. Zack Greinke has a 5.23 ERA this season. Baseball is weird.

Bullish on Ryan Dempster | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

His ERA sits perilously close to 5.50. But Dempster’s xFIP, which measures a pitcher’s performance based on strikeouts, walks and a normalized home run per fly ball rate and has been shown to be a more accurate predictor of future performance than ERA, is just 3.31. That’s actually in the top twenty among MLB starters.

Bearish on Ryan Dempster | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

Dempster’s K/9 ranks 19th among pitchers with a minimum of 50 innings pitched, while his K/PA ranks a less impressive 29th. Though he may look forward to better luck ahead, that could very well be offset by a drop in strikeout rate.

Injury Report: June 17: Tommy Hanson, Joe Mauer & More | Rotoprofessor

Prospect of the Day: Dustin Ackley, 2B, Seattle Mariners | Minor League Ball

In the majors, Ackley projects as a high-batting-average hitter with moderate power. His excellent strike zone judgment should keep his on-base percentage quite strong. Scouts expect that he'll contend for batting titles, although his history of slow starts, as well as the difficult nature of Safeco Field, could be a hindrance, at least until he gets his feet wet. As with any rookie there may be some ups-and-downs, but overall Ackley will be a solid regular at worst and has a good chance to become much more than that.

A Fresh Look at Florida's Bryan Petersen | Beyond the Box Score

Before the season, if you sat back and made a checklist of what Petersen could do to improve his stock as a baseball player, at this point you could probably check off nearly every one of those things so far this season. This spring, most people viewed Petersen as a fringe prospect with fourth outfielder potential given his defensive versatility and previously solid performance. Now, I think you have to consider the possibility that he hits enough to be a solid everyday player- he may be below-average defensive in center, but he's not likely to be much worse than Coghlan already is, and in the corners he should be able to play above-average defense.

Prospect Tracker: Jesus Montero & Zack Cozart | Rotoprofessor

There are Yankees fans clamoring for [Montero] to be recalled, but he just hasn’t shown enough at the plate to justify it. In fact, since we last checked in on him on May 18 he has gone just 19-77 (.247) with 3 HR and 13 RBI. The strikeouts are up as well, with 50 K on the season. When we first looked at him he had a 20.45% strikeout rate. Now, he’s at 23.92%.

Fantasy Baseball Player Prospecting: Dustin Ackley, more | KFFL.com
The Seattle Mariners have finally recalled their top prospect. Are these other talented youngsters close?

Mike Moustakas: Mining the Minors | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

Minor League Notes, June 16th, 2011 | Minor League Ball
Mike Trout, Jake Skole, Kyle Parker, Cory Vaughn

Daily Dish: David Holmberg Extends Scoreless Streak | Baseball America

Future Shock Blog: Minor League Update: Games of June 15 | Baseball Prospectus

Ken Jeong AHA Hands-Only CPR video | Youtube
Okay, so it's not related to baseball at all, but this may be the greatest PSA ever.