If not for his 13 home runs, it would appear that Adrian Beltre is having a substandard season. He is batting just .244 and is on pace to put up lower run and RBI totals than last season. This is especially disappointing because his performance had been steadily improving since his dismal 2005 campaign, and at 29, his owners could rightly expect at least another season of above-league average offensive production. Fortunately for Beltre's owners, there is hope that Adrian's rocky season is about to improve. To date, he is the owner of a 24 percent H/BIP rate, which is six percentage points below his rate from the last two seasons. Meanwhile his walk rate and Isolated Power are better than last year's and he is on pace to match his steal total (14) from 2007. Note to the 13 percent of Beltre owners who have him on reserves: watch his numbers closely and be ready to activate him as his batting average starts to head north.

Beltre is only available in three percent of all CBSSports.com leagues, so if you are looking for a waiver option to boost your offense, try Cliff Floyd. He appears to be healthy again, is getting regular at-bats and is currently owned in only seven percent of CBSSports.com leagues. Floyd's 0.899 OPS is not the product of smoke and mirrors or a time machine, but skill statistics that are roughly in line with those from his glory years. He hasn't posted an Isolated Power average this high (.266) since, well, ever, so we can expect his slugging percentage to come down, but his numbers in general should still be good enough to warrant mixed league consideration.

Roy Oswalt's owners must be thinking his 5.45 ERA and 1.45 WHIP are an illusion. Why else would he still be owned in 96 percent of all leagues and starting in 59 percent? Sorry, folks, but his 16 homers yielded in 76 innings make that ERA all too real and his near-normal 31 percent H/BIP suggests that his WHIP probably won’t shrink anytime soon. Unless, he can dramatically cut back on the long balls, there is no reason to roster Oswalt, even on reserves.

How long B.J. Ryan can manage to remain a Fantasy favorite will depend on one of two things: whether he can throw strikes more consistently or maintain his lucky 26 percent H/BIP rate. Going into Sunday's game against the Angels, Ryan's sparkling 0.53 ERA and 1.12 WHIP made him look anything but vulnerable. Those numbers are hard to maintain, though, when you are weighed down by a 4.2 BB/9 rate. Control issues caught up with Ryan on Sunday, as he threw 10 of his 20 pitches for balls, and he blew his first save of the season. If Ryan gives his owners more of the same, it's best to shelve him, particularly in mixed leagues, where reliable options like Jon Rauch and Matt Capps are widely available.

'Lucky' Hitters H/BIP RC/27 'Lucky' Pitchers H/BIP ERC
Jesus Flores, C, Washington 47% 9.1 Renyel Pinto, RP, Florida 19% 2.55
Jerry Hairston, OF, Cincinnati 40% 8.0 Vinnie Chulk, RP, San Francisco 22% 3.29
Matt Kemp, OF, L.A. Dodgers 40% 5.4 Manny Acosta, RP, Atlanta 24% 3.51
Ramon Vazquez, 3B, Texas 40% 7.4 Daniel Cabrera, SP, Baltimore 25% 3.81
Aaron Rowand, OF, San Francisco 40% 7.8 John Lackey, SP, L.A. Angels 26% 3.10
Dioner Navarro, C, Tampa Bay 39% 5.8 B.J. Ryan, RP, Toronto 26% 2.24
B.J. Upton, OF, Tampa Bay 39% 6.8 Oliver Perez, SP, N.Y. Mets 26% 5.11
Brandon Boggs, OF, Texas 39% 5.0 Paul Byrd, SP, Cleveland 26% 4.33
Mark DeRosa, 2B, Chicago Cubs 37% 6.9 Shawn Chacon, RP, Houston 27% 4.39
Aaron Miles, 2B, St. Louis 35% 4.3 Jon Lester, SP, Boston 27% 3.84
Unlucky' Hitters H/BIP RC/27 'Unlucky' Pitchers H/BIP ERC
Cody Ross, OF, Florida 16% 5.2 Jesus Colome, RP, Washington 38% 4.78
J.R. Towles, C, Houston 16% 2.6 Andrew Miller, SP, Florida 38% 5.40
Mike Napoli, C, L.A. Angels 21% 5.3 Jonathan Broxton, RP, L.A. Dodgers 36% 3.71
Robinson Cano, 2B, N.Y. Yankees 23% 2.7 Justin Miller, RP, Florida 35% 4.41
Damion Easley, 2B, N.Y. Mets 23% 1.8 Ubaldo Jimenez, SP, Colorado 35% 5.25
Maicer Izturis, 2B, L.A. Angels 23% 2.9 Damaso Marte, RP, Pittsburgh 34% 3.06
Adrian Beltre, 3B, Seattle 24% 5.1 C.C. Sabathia, SP, Cleveland 34% 4.48
Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B, Cleveland 24% 2.2 A.J. Burnett, SP, Toronto 34% 4.11
Eric Hinske, 1B, Tampa Bay 24% 5.2 Nate Robertson, SP, Detroit 33% 5.36
Ryan Howard, 1B, Philadelphia 24% 5.3 Derek Lowe, SP, L.A. Dodgers 33% 4.10
Good stats, good skills - hitters H/BIP RC/27 Good stats, good skills - pitchers H/BIP ERC
Pat Burrell, OF, Philadelphia 30% 9.3 Edinson Volquez, SP, Cincinnati 29% 2.76
Jason Bay, OF, Pittsburgh 31% 9.1 Rich Harden, SP, Oakland 31% 2.94
Jacoby Ellsbury, OF, Boston 30% 7.2 John Danks, SP, Chicago White Sox 29% 3.02
Cliff Floyd, DH, Tampa Bay 29% 6.6 James Shields, SP, Tampa Bay 29% 3.16
Cristian Guzman, SS, Washington 31% 5.5 Chad Billingsley, SP, L.A. Dodgers 30% 3.23
Poor stats, poor skills - hitters H/BIP RC/27 Poor stats, poor skills - pitchers H/BIP ERC
Freddie Bynum, SS, Baltimore 30% 2.4 Roy Oswalt, SP, Houston 31% 5.43
Jason Bartlett, SS, Tampa Bay 30% 2.8 Brian Moehler, RP, Houston 31% 5.02
Felipe Lopez, SS, Washington 30% 3.3 Ted Lilly, SP, Chicago Cubs 31% 4.84
Adam Jones, OF, Baltimore 31% 3.6 Luke Hochevar, SP, Kansas City 30% 4.84
James Loney, 1B, L.A. Dodgers 31% 4.0 Gil Meche, SP, Kansas City 31% 4.58
Glossary
Runs Created per 27 Outs (RC/27) -- An estimate of how many runs a lineup would produce per 27 outs if a particular player occupied each spot in the order; ex. the RC/27 for Miguel Cabrera would predict the productivity of a lineup where Cabrera (or his statistical equal) batted in all nine spots; created by Bill James
Component ERA (ERC) -- An estimate of a what a pitcher's ERA would be if it were based solely on actual pitching performance; created by Bill James
Base Hits per Balls in Play (H/BIP) -- The percentage of balls in play (at bats minus strikeouts and home runs) that are base hits; research by Voros McCracken and others has established that this rate is largely random and has a norm of approximately 30%
Isolated Power -- The difference between slugging percentage and batting average; created by Branch Rickey and Allan Roth
Walk Rate -- Walks / (at bats + walks)
Whiff Rate -- Strikeouts / at bats

Al Melchior was recently a Fantasy columnist and data analyst for Baseball HQ and will be providing advice columns for CBSSports.com. Click here to send him a question. Please put "Melchior" in the subject field.