Roto Roundup: Manny Machado, Chase Headley, Clay Buchholz and Others

Phillies starter Roy Halladay had some of the worst outings I have ever seen from him earlier this year, but he appears to be back to his old, dominant ways recently. He held the Cardinals to just one run on two hits, no walks and 8 strikeouts last night. He is now 6-6 with a 3.80 ERA, 1.05 WHIP and a 85-17 strikeout to walk ratio in 104.1 innings pitched. In his last 3 starts, he has given up 4 earned runs on 11 hits, 2 walks and 20 strikeouts in 21 innings.

Cardinals outfiellder Carlos Beltran has quietly been one of the more productive fantasy outfielders in 2012. I think we, all fantasy writers and owners, can stop questioning how much he will play due to his injury history going forward. He has played in 107 of the team's 113 games this season, and after his 2-4 night at the plate ( one was a home run), he is hitting .286-.357-.552 with 28 HRs, 67 runs and 81 RBI, and has tossed in 10 stolen bases as well. He leads the National League in RBI and is second in home runs. So much for the bad knees.

Reds infielder Todd Frazier has filled in at third base for Scott Rolen and first base for Joey Votto this season, and has been pretty productive for fantasy owners who grabbed him off the waiver wire. He went 3-4 with a walk, a run and 4 RBI, raising his triple slash line to .273-.331-.527 with 14 HRs, 33 runs, 47 RBI and a 73-24 strikeout to walk ratio in 275 at bats this season. He just needs 2 more games at first base to be eligible at first and third base in 2013.

More Roundup after the jump, including a monster game from Manny Machado:

Maybe I was wrong about Manny Machado. Maybe he IS ready for the big leagues. He made a statement last night, as he went 2-4 with 2 HRs and 4 RBI in his second major league game. As another fantasy owner mentioned to me yesterday, it looks like he will only have third base eligibility next season. Luckily for me, all he needs is one game played at shortstop before our draft in 2013 (assuming our draft takes place a few days after the season starts) to be eligible there. Three of his four hits thus far have gone for extra bases.

Red Sox starter Clay Buchholz has certainly turned around his season in 2012. Red Sox fans wish his success will rub off on Jon Lester and Josh Beckett. Buchholz threw a complete game 2 hitters, giving up 2 runs, 1 of which was earned, walking none and striking out 6. He is now 10-3 with a 4.24 ERA, 1.28 WHIP and a 86-42 strikeout to walk ratio in 131.2 innings pitched. Over his last 10 starts, he has given up 2 runs or less in 8 of the 10 starts, and has given up 1 run or less in 6 of the 10 starts. Over those 10 starts, he has given up just 17 earned runs on 51 hits in 75 innings of work, and has lowered his ERA from 6.58 to 4.24. I guess the back injury is a thing of the past.

I continue to thinkg that Padres third baseman Chase Headley could be a top 6-8 fantasy third baseman if he ever gets traded out of Petco Park. He proved he likes hitting on the road last night, as he went 2-4 with 2 HRs and 5 RBI to lead a big Padres comeback to beat the Pirates 9-8. He is now hitting .278-.372-.458 with 17 HRs, 60 runs, 67 RBI and 12 stolen bases. Coming into Friday night's game, Headley was hitting .287-.396-.495 with 12 of his 17 HRs and 38 of his RBI on the road.

Rays outfielder Desmond Jennings recently moved back to the leadoff spot and has started to hit again. He went 3-4 with 2 doubles, 3 runs and an RBI last night, in the Rays 12-6 win over the Twins. He is now hitting .243-.309-.380 with 8 HRs, 51 runs, 32 RBI and 19 stolen bases. His 2012 season has been a bit of a disappointment, as his BA is a lot lower than I expected, and I also expected more stolen bases from him. Is Joe Maddon getting more conservative on the base paths this season?

Red Sox rookie third baseman Will Middlebrooks was hit by a pitch in the 9th inning and was later diagnosed with a broken wrist, so Middlebrooks will end his rookie season hitting .288-.325-.509 with 15 HRs, 34 runs, 54 RBI and a 70-13 strikeout to walk ratio in 267 at bats. Could be be a 25 HR-85 RBI hitter in 2013?