Roto Roundup: Dylan Bundy, Nick Castellanos, Roy Halladay and Others

A short one this morning, but wanted to talk about a few things here.

I went out for lunch yesterday and was listening to the SiriusXM fantasy station. Jeff Erickson from Rotowire was interviewing Bernie Pleskoff, a former major league scout, who writes for Rotowire. They were talking about the MLB Futures' game, specifically Dylan Bundy's performance. Pleskoff said that Bundy was not the pitching prospect he thought he was after seeing Bundy pitch a scoreless inning giving up 3 hits while doing so. Pleskoff went on to say that he felt Bundy may be ready for the big leagues in 2013, but thinks he will struggle initially, as his stuff is not ace level. What Pleskoff failed to mention is that Bundy has been told not to throw his best pitch-the cutter-this season, to work on his fastball command and his offspeed pitches. I imagine we will see Bundy use his cutter in 2013, before he eventually gets called up to the big leagues.

After winning the MVP of the MLB Futures game, Tigers third base prospect Nick Castellanos returned to AA Erie to find out he would be playing right field last night. Apparently, the Tigers are fed up with the performance of their right fielders this season, namely Brennan Boesch, and could give Castellanos a call up at some point this season. Castellanos tore up the Florida State League before his promotion to Erie in the Eastern League.

The Red Sox will activate outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury today and should activate Carl Crawford by Monday, so we could see the Red Sox lineup catch fire in the second half with the addition of these two former all stars.

Phillies ace Roy Halladay looked like the old Roy Halladay last night in his rehab start in Clearwater. He gave up one run on 3 hits, no walks and 4 strikeouts last night, and could be back in the Phillies rotation early next week when the Phillies travel to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers. Make sure you activate him this weekend for those of you in weekly leagues.

Reds beat reporter John Fay from the Cincinnati Enquirer speculated last evening that the team may look for a center fielder in the trade market, mentioning Juan Pierre and Denard Span as possible targets. Apparently the Reds are not happy with the strikeout prone Drew Stubbs and may look for an upgrade in center field who can also lead off. I was down on Stubbs before the season, and also speculated that he could lose playing time this season due to his high K rate.