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Wednesday, April 28, 2010Hellooo HaniganUnless you have a top-tier catcher, staying loyal to a struggling catcher is generally futile in fantasy baseball. There just is not enough of an upside to these type of catchers to make it worth your while to keep them over one with a hot bat. Right now, Reds catcher Ryan Hanigan is a streaking catcher on who's bandwagon it might be smart to hitch a ride. In 34 plate appearances so far in 2010, Hanigan is hitting a silly .483 with an even sillier .520 BABIP. Still, he has tremendous plate disicpline—walking more than he strikes out—and figures to maintain about a .280 average going forward. He is not the primary catcher but with Ramon Hernandez playing unremarkably, I would imagine the Reds will begin to give the majority of the starts behind the plate to Hanigan. Hanigan does not quite have the minor league track record nor power approach to become what Miguel Montero was last year, but he can be a serviceable backstop in most leagues and is much more fun to own at the moment than any catcher who is struggling. Posted by Paul Singman at 2:25pm Tuesday, April 27, 2010Second trade in Yahoo F&F LeagueYesterday I completed my second one-for-one swap in the Yahoo! F&F League, this time sending Placido Polanco packing (with no hard feelings) to acquire Brett Gardner. Currently I am in third in the league even though I am last in the steals category with 15, and a handful of teams are only a few steals ahead of me. While Polanco is a good average, run and RBI contributor, I was going to have to acquire a steals guy at some point in the season. And in my opinion, I acquired one of the elite basestealers in the majors for a relatively expendable player. My middle infield is definitely thin as a result of the trade—Adam Rosales will have to hold down the position until something can be done—but with Gardner in my lineup, I feel confident my team will gain quite a few points in the steals category in the immediate future. There is nothing more satisfying than having a player with a visible impact. Posted by Paul Singman at 6:54pm Thursday, April 22, 2010I see GreenNo, not the color green. Grant Green, a shortstop currently at Single-A in the A's minor league system. Drafted 13th overall in the 2009 draft out of USC, this 22 year old shortstop could make a nice leap up prospect charts with a solid minor league season after which he could find himself already in Triple-A. With a relatively clear path to the majors blocked only by the average-ness of Cliff Pennington, Green can land himself a starting major league job as soon as 2011 if he picks up where he left off in college. Promising is the research by Jeff Sackmann, showing that Green hit well even against the better pitchers he faced in college. And if you are into even less statistically significant pieces of information, you should know that Green got a hit off now-Yankees starter Phil Hughes in high school. Obviously most of you do not care about a player with no chance of making the majors in 2010, but if you name is Jonathan Sher or you play in a ridiculous dynasty league, Grant Green is a name to which I would start paying more attention. Posted by Paul Singman at 6:55pm Wednesday, April 21, 2010Rosales unleashedA player of Adam Rosales caliber usually is not described as "unleashed" when given more playing time, something Rosales will see more of over the next two weeks. With Mark Ellis hobbling off to the DL hampered by slowest healing hamstrings in the world, Rosales will man the A's, and possibly your fantasy team's, second base position. Rosales is without any particularly standout asset at the plate, featuring mild power with mild speed and the ability to hit in the .270s to the low .280s. I like to think of him as Martin Prado before Martin Prado learned to hit above .400, minus a few points of average and plus a few steals. Also similar to Prado is Rosales' position flexibility being eligible at first, second, and third base. If there is a less defensible reason to like Rosales, it is that the A's were willing to spend $3.5 million to acquire his services from the Reds. There are certain front offices I do not respect—*cough* the Mets and Royals *cough*—and with under the radar players they target I'll more likely remain skeptical of those players. However if the A's front office—one I respect—goes aggressively after a player like Rosales, me-begins-tothinks that perhaps they know something more about this guy that I do not. Believe or refute my theory as you wish, but Rosales deserves to be added in most AL-Only leagues, if only on the basis of playing time. And in a deep mixed league if your MI is weak, Rosales is worth a flier to see if anything more permanent can develop from this opportunity. Posted by Paul Singman at 10:19pm Monday, March 29, 2010Heath Bell trade speculationAndy Behrens said something interesting over at Yahoo! this morning that I thought was worth relaying. The Twins are thought to be active in the trade market, so this unwillingness to name a closer makes perfect sense. If they were to acquire, say, Heath Bell(notes), then it could be viewed as a vote of no-confidence in whichever pitcher had been initially awarded closing duties. Obviously just speculation, but it does make sense. If Bell is traded, that'll destroy all mixed league value for Jon Rauch, Matt Guerrier, and crew. It would also lead to a new NL closer in Mike Adams or Luke Gregerson. I own Adams in Tout Wars, so I'm certainly hoping he's the guy. LABR commish Steve Gardner seems to disagree with me, calling Gregerson the best closer-in-waiting in the National League. Leverage Index also gives Gregerson the advantage, as he checked in at a 1.46 gmLI in 2009 compared to Adams's 1.30 gmLI. Still, it's been said that Adams will handle the 8th inning this year, plus he has the seniority and MLB experience. Watch this situation closely, but I've got my money on Adams for now. Posted by Derek Carty at 10:50pm Saturday, March 27, 2010Follow me in the Tout Wars Mixed League draftTomorrow morning I'll be participating in the Tout Wars Mixed League. For those interested in following along, a live blog will be held here. I'll post thoughts on my roster early next week. Posted by Derek Carty at 10:49pm Thursday, March 11, 2010Some notes from my home draftA couple of days ago I completed the snake draft for my shallow, small stakes home league. Its more of a friendly league than a super-competitive one but nevertheless I have a few friends who are not only good at fantasy sports but also highly motivated to take down their expert friend so its not easy by any measure. Instead of boring you with analyzing my roster I thought I'd share a few quick thoughts that I had during or after the draft;
That's all for now. Next week is the draft for the Yahoo Friends & Family league (finished 4th last year) after which I'll share my roster and thoughts on the draft. Posted by Paul Singman at 9:56pm Tuesday, March 09, 2010Amazin’ Avenue AnnualFor those who haven't seen it yet, the guys over at Amazin' Avenue (a New York Mets blog) put out their free Amazin' Avenue Annual on Friday. I have an article in it (completely non-fantasy related), as do fellow THTers Dave Studeman, Harry Pavlidis, and Brian Borawski. I had a great time reading it and was happy to participate, so check it out if you're interested. Even if you're not a Mets fan, there are a few articles that make for a good read universally (like Eric Simon's On Baseball, Numbers, and Randomness). |
Trade RumorsFrom MLB Trade RumorsMets Links: Davis, Wheeler, Bargain Signings Dodgers Notes: Ethier, Mattingly, Puig, Pederson Red Sox Sign Rafael Perez Orioles Designate Alex Burnett For Assignment White Sox Place Angel Sanchez On Waivers Jocketty Discusses Choo Most Recent Comments on "BoTR" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
