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December 1, 2008
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December, 2008
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Wednesday, August 01, 2007Trade aftermath: Betemit to YanksPosted by Derek Carty at 8:02pmThis will be the last deadline trade I'll look at, as it's the last one that has some semi-serious fantasy impact. Most of the smaller trades will be looked at in this week's Waiver Wire. Yankees get: 2B/3B/SS Wilson Betemit Dodgers get: RP Scott Proctor Quick outlook: Betemit gains a little value. Proctor gains value. Indirectly affected: Melky Cabrera loses value. Analysis: It will be interesting to see how the Yankees use Betemit. It certainly won't be at third. I hear they already have a guy over there who's pretty good. His name's Alex something or other. I've also heard he sucks, though... mostly from Yankee fans. I'm not sure what to believe. Digs at the stupidity of certain Yankees fans aside, Betemit probably has only a spot at first. How much he plays, though, is still up in the air. However the Yankees use him, he'll likely get more at-bats than he was getting with the Dodgers recently. When Jason Giambi comes back, the Yankees will be forced to either play Johnny Damon at first or bench Melky Cabrera and play Betemit. They could also use a combination of those options. So who should they play? Melky is the better contact hitter, but Betemit has a 17% walk rate so far and is a much better power hitter. He's hit seven home runs past 399 true feet, according to HitTracker. One went 444 true feet. Melky, on the other hand, has yet to hit one past 400 feet. Betemit also has the higher fly ball rate—41% to 27%. Of course, Betemit was hitting in the NL and Melky the AL, but I think the Yanks would be better off playing Betemit. What they actually do is yet to be seen. As far as Betemit's batting average, I think it is likely to come up given his 17% walk rate (although that is likely to see some regression) and low .268 BABIP. He's only hit 15% line drives this year, but seeing as it was 25% and 21% in 2005 and 2006, there is room for improvement. His 70% contact rate will prevent him from hitting for a high average, but a .270 batting average wouldn't be out of the question. Batting for the Yanks would give him some nice RBI and Run opportunities. If Betemit falls into some regular playing time, he could be owned in 14-team mixed leagues. He should also be considered in 10 and owned in 12 and 14-team AL-only leagues. Proctor moves to a weaker league, although he still shouldn't really be owned. He gets very few ground balls and has shown poor control this year. He doesn't strike out many batters for a reliever, either. Derek Carty is a student in New Jersey who loves Fantasy Baseball. His articles can also be found at FOX Sports, and he was a contributor at Rotoworld this past season. He was the champion of the FOX Sports Experts Fantasy Baseball League this past year. He welcomes questions via e-mail. Trade aftermath: Teixeira to BravesPosted by Derek Carty at 1:11pmThe second big trade for the Braves, and the second big trade for the Rangers. While the deadline mostly consisted of relievers switching teams, this was the lone trade that involved a legitimate star. Braves get: 1B Mark Teixeira, RP Ron Mahay Rangers get: C/1B Jarrod Saltalamacchia, SS Elvis Andrus (A+), SP Matt Harrison (AA), P Beau Jones (A+), P Neftali Feliz (R) Quick outlook: Teixeira gains value. Saltalamacchia gains a little value. Mahay gains a little value. Harrison gains a little value. Jones is unaffected. Feliz is unaffected Indirectly affected: Scott Thorman loses value. Gerald Laird loses value. Brad Wilkerson gains a little value. Edgar Renteria gains a little value. Chipper Jones gains a little value. Jeff Francoeur gains a little value. Andruw Jones gains a little value. Analysis: Teixeira leaves a good park for homers, but he enters an easier league and a much better lineup. He will bat cleanup for the Braves, with Kelly Johnson, Edgar Renteria and Chipper Jones batting ahead of him. Each should be able to score some extra runs. Teixeira will have some combination of Jeff Francoeur, Andruw Jones, and Brian McCann behind him, padding his run total a bit. Those guys should also grab a few extra RBIs. The Braves lineup is definitely one to be feared now. Bad news for Thorman and his owners, as the only position he is able to play is now filled by Teixeira. Best case is that he stays on the bench and pinch hits. Worst case is that he gets designated for assignment. Either way, most of his value is gone. His position isn't set in stone, but no matter where Saltalamacchia plays, he will almost certainly be a full-time player. While he enters a tougher league overall, he will hit in a better park for power. He should have been hitting a few more home runs with the Braves, and looking at his HitTracker data, it appears that a larger than usual power spike might be in order for Salty. I wouldn't be surprised if he hits 10 homers in the next couple of months. The Rangers don't have many better hitters, so Salty could hit closer to the heart of the order than he did with the Braves, giving him some extra at-bats and some extra RBIs and Runs. Salty will likely play most of his games at catcher, which cuts into Gerald Laird's value a lot. It helps Brad Wilkerson, though; he could start most games at first base. Saltalamacchia might also play a little at first, so Wilkerson won't be in the lineup every day. Regardless, he should be a little more valuable than he was before this trade. You must realize that the Rangers lineup isn't very good anymore. Losing Kenny Lofton and Teixeira will hurt the RBI and run totals of the rest of the team, and Hank Blalock might be out another three weeks. Don't expect anyone on that team to put up gaudy numbers in either category. Derek Carty is a student in New Jersey who loves Fantasy Baseball. His articles can also be found at FOX Sports, and he was a contributor at Rotoworld this past season. He was the champion of the FOX Sports Experts Fantasy Baseball League this past year. He welcomes questions via e-mail. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
