Easily the greatest sport ever…
The second show is up at the BbP Podcast page and on iTunes. I talked with Will Carroll from BaseballProspectus.com about a bunch of players and how injuries will affect their draft status in 2010.
Can you count on Jose Reyes to put you in top three in SBs?
Is Reyes teammate Carlos Beltran worth gambling on?
How much of the Cy Young form will Brandon Webb regain in 2010?
In what way does Erik Bedard your psycho ex-girlfriend?
Will Daisuke Matsuzaka bounce back?
This and much more with Will…
It wasn’t always bubblegum and lollipops for the American League’s best pitcher. Roy Halladay notched his major league-leading 10th win of the season on Sunday with a complete game shutout of the Kansas City Royals. The complete game was his third of the season and second of the week as he continues to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that he is the junior circuit’s best pitcher. In fact he is right on the heels of Johan Santana for baseball’s best overall. It was an up-&-down path to stardom for Halladay, though.
He came to the majors for a cup of coffee in 1998 getting just two starts totaling 14 innings. He made the club the following season as a 22 year old and went 8-7 in 149 innings with an incredibly lucky 3.92 ERA. He had essentially a 1.0 K:BB rate with 82 strikeouts against 79 walks and allowed better than a hit per inning for a 1.57 WHIP. You can understand why I declared his ERA so fortunate. Things came to a head the following season as he maintained his 1.0 K:BB ratio and was decimated to the tune of a 10.64 ERA and 2.20 WHIP in 68 innings of work. He stayed down for the rest of the year save three relief appearances in September.
Then he had to work his way up from High-A at the beginning of the 2001 season. Toronto’s 1999 #1 prospect according to Baseball America was essentially in remedial classes as a 24-year old working his way back to the bigs from High-A, where he was a reliever. He made seven starts between AA and AAA before coming back up in July. In his first appearance (a 1st inning bailout of Esteban Loaiza, who had given up 5 runs in just 1/3 of an inning), he was destroyed, allowing six runs in 2+ innings of work and it looked like all of his hard work was for naught. But the Blue Jays stuck with him. He had come a long way having displayed the best control of his career during the minor league stints of 2000 and 2001. And though just 71 innings of work, his strikeouts were way up, too.
The rest, as they say, is history. He started 16 times the rest of 2001 and put together a 5-3 record with a 2.71 ERA, 1.10 WHIP, 8.3 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 103 very strong innings. The next season he made the All-Star team and he followed that up with a Cy Young Award winning performance. His only hiccups in the run up to becoming one of baseball’s elite were a bum right shoulder in 2004 that limited him to 133 innings and a freak accident broken leg the year after that again held him under 150 innings (141.7). Since 2002, he has been the gold standard for complete games with his 40 (including Sunday’s) standing as a major league best in that timeframe (Livan Hernandez and CC Sabathia, 28).
Outside of just being fascinating on its own accord, I wanted to write about Halladay on the heels on my piece of patience that I wrote yesterday. I’m not suggesting you should’ve held over Halladay yearly since 1999 if you owned him, but rather that you can’t just write off young players at the first sign of distress. Halladay was a highly thought of prospect, but it took 336 innings spanning parts of four years for him to really break through. Today’s fantasy owner would’ve discarded him after the 2000 meltdown and then been baffled by his emergence two years later. In fact, it’s unfair to limit it to just fantasy owners. The baseball watching public and media would’ve behaved similarly on both fronts. This is speaking generally of course, as there are pockets of people and certain outlets that don’t hastily judge prospects on minuscule samples.
Brandon Phillips is another example. He was a highly touted prospect for several years ranking 9th, 2nd, 1st and 1st in his organization from 2000-2003. He was in the top 20 for all baseball in 2002 (20th) and 2003 (7th). After a 31 AB stint in 2002, he came up for over 100 games in 2003, but struggled mightily in 370 at-bats. In fact, he put up a .206/.246/.310 line in his first 432 at-bats spanning parts of four seasons, but 86% of those at-bats came in one season as a 22 year old. Alas, the Indians gave up on him and let him go in a trade at the beginning of the 2006 season. He finally got a full season’s worth of work at the age of 25 and performed quite well with 17 HR, 25 SB and a .276/.324/.427 line. He got even better in his age 26 season, going 30-30 and garnering a shred of MVP consideration. He had paid dividends on the prospects from the early 2000s and it’s not like he was a late bloomer at 25, just that the Indians were wildly impatient.
The latest iteration could be happening before our eyes in the form of Edwin Jackson. Drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers at age 17 back in 2001, it feels like Jackson has been around forever. The Dodgers afforded him a whopping 75 innings in the big leagues before discarding him at the age of 22 to the Rays for Danyz Baez and Lance Carter. The Rays gave him a sample even larger than Halladay’s 336 innings as they saw him through 381 innings spanning three seasons with varying degrees of success. The only thing is, they didn’t stick around for the payoff. Instead they dealt him to Detroit for Matt Joyce. Jackson is enjoying a career year at age 25 (just like Halladay) thanks in large part to massively improved control (just like Halladay). In fact, Jackson has improved his walk rate four straight seasons going from 6.2 BB/9 in 2006 to 2.1 BB/9 through 83 innings in 2009. I’m not saying Jackson is going to be the next Roy Halladay based on 83 excellent innings of work, but there are some nice similarities.
In fact, when I started this piece, it was for the sole purpose of showing Halladay’s path and how it had bumps in the road to stardom. As many of you may know, I’m a diehard Detroit Tigers fan so I don’t want this coming off as a spin job to say my favorite team’s new shiny toy is headed towards the top 3 starting pitchers in all of baseball in the coming years. Jackson is just one of many examples that shows that major league teams are sometimes hasty in their judgment of youngsters and expect too much of kids that haven’t fully matured. That effect trickles down to the fantasy baseball community and creates these seasons deemed as “out of nowhere” that shock everyone even if the player was highly thought of coming up through the minors and is still very young. They are actually just breakouts due to the maturation of mid-20s players. Not everyone will come up and be Ryan Braun, Tim Lincecum or Evan Longoria.
Ervin Santana went through this last year. His breakout was seen as a “rising from the dead” because he had been solid if unspectacular in his first two seasons and then hit a major road bump in season three with a 5.76 ERA in 2007. That season included a trip back to AAA to try and “fix” him. The thing is, his skills hadn’t just fallen off of a cliff that year. He was actually striking out more than ever (7.6 K/9) leading to his career-best K:BB ratio of 2.2. The walks were up a tick at 3.5 BB/9, but he wasn’t nearly as broken as was perceived. Then last year, his control improved dramatically and he had a breakout season at age 25. So far this year he has stumbled out of the gate after starting the season on the disabled list. Two flameout starts have inflated his numbers, but he took a huge step forward on Friday with 8 and 2/3rds of 1-run ball against the Detroit Tigers. It was the first start I had seen of his all year and he looked so 2008 as he brought the boom, boom pow on the Tigers. (I really won’t blame if you stop reading and never come here again after that…)
Who will be the next player written off at far too young an age only to meet or exceed his prospect promise?
This was the final part of what ended up being a 3-part series that appeared on Owner’s Edge at fanball.com –
Finishing up my series of trade targets leaves me with just the mound men to cover. As a refresher or for anyone that didn’t read either of the first two installments that covered the infield and outfield: this isn’t just a group of buy low targets; there are some buy at-cost and even some buy high, too. This group just brings value in some form or fashion to your team, so let’s get to them.
Scott Baker, Minnesota Twins – Since about late April, I have been furiously beating the drum to buy low on Baker and his teammate Kevin Slowey. The window has closed on Slowey, as he is 4-0 with a 2.40 ERA and 1.19 WHIP in five starts since May 12th. His season ERA is now below 4.00 at 3.97. But Baker hasn’t quite gotten on track like Mr. Slowey. He appeared to be turning the corner with a May 8th outing that included seven shutout innings but followed that up with nine earned runs allowed in his next two starts spanning 11 innings of work. Then he threw 8.1 strong against Milwaukee, but followed it up by allowing four in 5.2. That has been his “thing” thus far for 2009. Four runs in 5.2 equates to a 6.32 ERA, which is his season ERA. But alas, he finds himself on this list. I’m a sucker for anyone with ridiculous control. Baker walked six in 38 innings during May; Daniel Cabrera walks six during the National Anthem. Baker is also striking out 6.7 batters per nine, which is a very reasonable rate. His numbers are in line, but he is being punished by a ridiculous home run rate that WILL come down. He’s at 2.4 HR/9 so far this season, but his career number through 2008 is 1.1 HR/9.
A.J. Burnett, New York Yankees – The haters and naysayers are out in full force screaming, “I TOLD YOU SO!!!” regarding the Burnett signing. But the Yankees may (and probably will) have the last laugh. Burnett hates the first half of the season for some reason. From 2006-2008, Burnett has a 4.64 ERA before the All-Star Break, yet a 3.28 after. He is coming off of back-to-back nice starts and three strong out of his last four, so his cost probably isn’t as low as it was after his May 22nd start when his ERA reached a sky-high 5.28, but his overall numbers are still unappealing at 4.69 for the ERA and 1.39 for the WHIP. In leagues counting strikeouts, he has at least been delivering some value during his struggles. If you get him now, you’re looking at 130 strikeouts and an ERA around 3.20 with a chance at a boatload of wins in 140 or so innings. One key factor is health, as he has never had back-to-back 200-inning seasons, but health aside, I think he will improve his numbers without question.
John Danks, Chicago White Sox – It would appear as though Danks’ 2008 bubble has burst when you look at his 4.80 ERA/1.47 WHIP combo, but the skills are in line for a strong rebound. His strikeouts are up (8.3), as are the groundballs (0.99 G/F ratio), both of which are great indicators. The walks are up too much at 3.6, but that is inflated by two terrible outings in which he yielded six and four runs, respectively, in separate six-inning outings. Though I’m not a huge fan of this practice, if you take those out, his BB/9 is back at the 2.6 it was at last year. With the outings, it’s at 3.6. Simply put, everything points to a journey back into the 2008 realm for Danks, and soon. Acquire confidently.
Jorge De la Rosa, Colorado Rockies – de la Rosa was one of “my guys” coming into the season. Ya know, the guys that you love that aren’t getting much pub so you can usually get them cheaply; in other words – a sleeper, but a legitimate one unlike a Nelson Cruz that touched every radar out there by the time draft season hit. Through his May 15th start, I was looking like a genius. I hadn’t counted my chickens before they hatched given how early into the season we were, but I was enjoying his success on several of my fantasy teams. Then the wheels came off. De la Rosa has been thrashed in his three starts since May 15th, allowing 18 runs in 12 innings while walking 10 and allowing 18 base hits. He has struck out 12, but even that can’t cover the damage he has done in a short time. His season ERA is now up to 5.43 and the WHIP is at 1.43. He is still striking out better than a batter per inning at 9.5 K/9, which keeps him above the 2.0 threshold aimed for in K:BB ratio despite a 4.3 BB/9 rate. I would probably hold off in mixed leagues without reserve lists, but he is probably dirt cheap in NL-only leagues and makes for a nice addition to the strikeout totals even while he works out the kinks elsewhere in the arsenal.
Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox – This is one of the more higher profile buy low candidates due to name, past success and the team he plays for, but he is still coming at a discount thanks to a 5.65 ERA and 1.55 WHIP. His peripherals suggest neither of those numbers should be anywhere near that high. He is striking out batters at an amazing 10.2 per nine clip while walking just 3.3, good for a 3.1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Home runs have eaten him alive so far, as he is just three away from his 2008 total. His HR/9 (1.5) rate is 2.5x his 2008 mark of 0.6. A correction in that figure combined with these peripherals would yield a sharp drop in his ugly ERA and WHIP totals. Take him at any discount you can get right now, because he is not long for this level of ineptitude. In fact, he has two strong outings sandwiching a dud over his past three, so the wheels of the turnaround may already be in motion. He does have a worthy opponent Saturday in his next start when the Texas Rangers head to Fenway.
Roy Oswalt, Houston Astros – They say that history has a way of repeating itself and Oswalt’s beginning to 2009 when compared to 2008 seems to play that adage out. Oswalt posted a 4.68 ERA and 1.38 WHIP during the first half last year spanning 115 innings. He has been similarly shaky again in 2009 with a 4.28 ERA and 1.34 WHIP through 69-plus innings of work. Yet his indicators are very strong and almost identical to 2008’s first half indicators. He is striking out 7.2 batters per nine (7.3 in ’08) and walking 2.5 (2.1 in ’08). Like several others covered already, the home run ball has been the bane of existence so far in 2009 and it was in 2008, too. Only once had Oswalt posted a HR/9 rate at or above 1.0 and that was an injury-shortened season in 2003 in which he pitched just 127 innings. He posted a 1.4 HR/9 rate in the first half but cut it back down 0.5 during his incredible second half run. With his skills in order, that once again appears to be the sticking point to success for Oswalt and once he gets that in order he will return to the elite class of bankable starting pitchers. His value may never be lower, so now is the time to buy, especially since his price probably jumped a tick after his latest outing in which he threw seven innings of one-run ball with eight strikeouts.
Carl Pavano, Cleveland Indians – How hard is it to erase a one-inning, nine-run shellacking? Pavano threw 45 innings of 3.60 ERA work in the month of May and his ERA is still sitting at 5.29. That opening week abomination is likely still overshadowing the progress Pavano has made into a viable fantasy starter. He has a sparkling 3.9 K:BB ratio thanks to a career-high 7.1 K/9 rate. His ability to hold those strikeout gains will determine how far he goes in 2009 since the control has never been in question. He is in a no-pressure situation in Cleveland and it almost seems as if he relishes sticking it to the Yankees with every passing successful start. He gave up more than three runs just once in May and has walked more than two only once since the ugly debut. Pavano might still be on the wire in many leagues, which, of course, would obviously eliminate the need to trade for him, but it shouldn’t be hard to spin a discount from any owner looking at his gaudy ERA and factoring his injury history and lack of a legitimate track record outside of that magical 2003. Of course, that means there is also an inherent risk involved for you if you acquire him, but his skills support an ERA comeback.
CC Sabathia, New York Yankees – Most of the names included on this list have qualified as buy-low candidates in some form or fashion, which wasn’t always the case on the two hitter lists. Those lists had guys performing well that I still recommended chasing down and CC is probably the first to fit that bill for the pitchers. That said, there is still a legitimate upside in that strikeout rate that you’re buying low on. He is at 6.5 K/9 right now, a figure he hasn’t touched since 2004. The best has yet to come for him in 2009 despite his 3.46 ERA and 1.14 WHIP. He is a top dollar ace that will command a premier hitter or a package of 2-3 quality talents, but he can begin to repair a broken down pitching staff. If he gets on the kind of run he had with Milwaukee last year, he can single-handedly lead you up your league’s standings.
Also Look Into:
— Aaron Harang, Cincinnati Reds – He appears to be all the way back from 2008’s washout, yet the ERA isn’t as pretty as it should be with a 4.1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. I’d pay full price, but you might be able to get a bargain thanks to a 4.19 ERA.
— Rich Harden, Chicago Cubs – Unsurprisingly on the DL right now, Harden has a surprisingly mammoth (for him) ERA of 4.74. Yes, he has walked 4.4 per nine, but that’s tolerable when you’re striking out 11 per nine innings. He’s ALWAYS going to be an injury risk, but the reward can be huge as fantasy owners learned last year in his 25 brilliant starts.
— Koji Uehara, Baltimore Orioles – Slated to be back in a week, Uehara has displayed pinpoint control (1.9 BB/9) and solid ability to miss bats (6.7 K/9). Though much lesser heralded than Kenshin Kawakami in terms of imports, he has definitely outshone him to date.
— Jordan Zimmermann, Washington Nationals – He won’t be too discounted in keeper leagues despite a 6.07 ERA, but he’s worth targeting either way. He just can’t keep an ERA that high while striking out more than a batter per inning (9.2 K/9) and walking fewer than 3.0 batters per nine (2.7 BB/9).
I realize we’ve reached Memorial Day and that is often a signpost for people to start reacting to numbers, whether by individuals or what your team as a whole has put up. While I am not against using today as a day to start aggressively looking at your team and trying to pinpoint weaknesses, I would caution that it is still early. If you follow me on Twitter, you have probably seen me lament (whine?) about my terrible pitching staff in my 10-team 4×4 AL Only league. We use just six pitching spots with 4 SP and 2 RP. Comprised initially of Scott Baker, Dallas Braden (qualified RP) Felix Hernandez, David Purcey, Andrew Sonnanstine and Joakim Soria, I watched as my ERA started poorly (4.93 after week 1) and just rose meteorically into the stratosphere (5.49 by week 3 and above 5.00 until week 6). I eventually shuffled Purcey out for Kyle Davies, but he was back to being Kyle Davies by the time I got him. Once Soria hit the DL, I scooped Scott Feldman and Josh Outman, but nothing worked.
Every time I got a nice outing, Sonnanstine was there to completely erase it and then some. Feldman gave me two strong starts, but Sonnanstine wasn’t having any of it. Then Outman comes along and starts throwing brilliantly, but Baker was there in a flash to cut out that nonsense. I was starting to get frustrated as my ERA hovered at, around or above 5.00 deep into May. Finally, I made a real move. I traded some of my offensive depth for another arm. I don’t think there’s a single media outlet that I participate in where I haven’t suggested buying low on Baker and his teammated Kevin Slowey. So I practiced what I was preaching and grabbed Slowey for Shin-Soo Choo. But alas, Baker and Hernandez both crapped the bed in their first starts of the week and I figured here we go again. However, that proved NOT to be a precursor of things to come for the Kramerica Industries. The first starts of Baker and Hernandez would stand as the only non-quality starts out of nine for my team. Feldman and Sonnanstine threw very strong games, each notching a win. Newcomer Slowey enjoyed an excellent debut on my team with his third straight gem going 7+ and grabbing a W.
But the All-Star was Outman (great name for a starting pitcher, btw… much better than Balfour). Coming off of a struggle against Toronto, I picked him up in a free agent buy on May 10th for just a $1 (real $, not FAAB). I targeted him mainly because of his nice K-rate (despite not counting Ks in this league), quality home park and upcoming schedule. He had the lowly Royals, the Rays (who can’t seem to beat lefties according to my good friend Jason Collette… more on that in a second) and the D’Backs. I was set to give him a 3-start audition with the last coming on the day of our next buy. He certainly couldn’t be any worse than what I was getting. Just as I drew it up he beat KC handily, STEAMROLLED the Rays and played with fire (5 BB/0 K) & escaped against the D’Backs. The latter two came in week 7 giving him 13+ IP of 0.66 ERA and 0.95 WHIP. Back to the Rays vs. southpaws for a minute. Though I went with Collette on that one as he’s a diehard Rays fan, I was blown away when I saw that the Rays actually have the most runs scored against lefties by a wide margin. That said, Outman got the best of them, lefty Brett Anderson wasn’t terribly sharp by still got his first major-league win and Dallas Braden was strong through seven but the Rays beat up righties Andrew Bailey and Brad Ziegler to salvage a win in the 3-game set.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that Hernandez and Baker redeemed themselves on Sunday going a combined 16+ innings allowing just four runs and 15 base runners good for a 2.21 ERA, 0.92 WHIP and 2 wins. All told, my six starters went 60+ innings of 3.12 ERA and 1.17 WHIP while going 6-2. I lowered my ERA from 4.98 to 4.60 and my WHIP from 1.42 to 1.37 which brings me back to my original point: it is still early enough that a strong week can drastically move the needle on your numbers. This was a very good week for my starters, but it wasn’t some otherworldly performance that can’t be duplicated a couple more times in the next month or so. Yes at-bat and inning totals are piling up as we get ready to flip the calendar to June, but don’t give up on a category and just say, “Oh it’s too late, I’m buried in that… might as well forget about it.” If you’re going to do that, you might as well forget about your season.
Another tip, and this works especially well for offensive categories, is to sort through your league history and see what the winning total was a year ago. See how the top team in your standings is currently pacing. Chances are they are set to blow last year’s winning mark out of the water meaning they are likely to regress. Check your pace as well. We’re about 30% through the season which means there is still a TON of time left and outside of a team just LITTERED with catastrophic injuries, no one should be throwing in the towel yet.
Welcome to the Baseball by Paul podcast notes for Saturday May 23rd, 2009. I won’t be doing audio for Saturday, but I will share the notes. So let’s go Around the Diamond:
FIRST BASE
On May 16th, Cincinnati 1B Joey Votto left the Reds’ game early with dizziness after just two at-bats. He was ruled out that Sunday, but he was nothing more than day-to-day, which made things tricky for fantasy owners setting their weekly lineup the following Monday. He went in for a battery tests before it was finally determined on May 21st that he had an inner ear infection. It was a bust of a week for those unable to do daily transactions and especially crushing for those in head-to-head leagues… that is until Saturday. Votto tried to make up for the lost time by smashing two HRs in consecutive innings off of Cleveland Indians starter David Huff. That said, I would still monitor his status on Sunday and if you have a legitimate replacement, it might be worth putting him in for Votto—especially in H2H leagues.
Jason Giambi hit his 400th HR on Saturday night and it came against former teammate, Danny Haren. He hasn’t quite jumpstarted the Oakland offense as expected, but he can get hot and string five or six homers together in a the span of a week to 10 days. Many, including yours truly, believed that Giambi, Orlando Cabrera and Matt Holliday would join forces with Jack Cust and Kurt Suzuki to boost the Oakland offense. But they have sputtered, to say the least.
SECOND BASE
Orlando Hudson was one of my favorite pickups in the offseason and I sought to acquire him in every league possible. He hasn’t disappointed in the least! If he can stay healthy, he is en route to a career year of 12 HR, 14 SB and a .339 average. I thought he’d be an underrated source of runs scored based on the team that the Dodgers were putting together and that has played out so far as he’s on pace for 120, but the loss of Manny Ramirez until July definitely puts that pace in doubt. In Manny’s absence, Hudson has taken over the 3-hole in the lineup. He has .346 there, but scored just five runs. He has certainly done his part to fill the void as he carries a 13-game hitting streak into play on Sunday and he has hit safely in 22 of 23.
SHORTSTOP
If I told you I had a shortstop available for you that is hitting .329/.356/.503 with 5 HR, 25 RBI and 26 runs scored, would you be interested? Of course you would be, those are some pretty strong numbers. What if I told you that shortstop was Miguel Tejada, would you be as interested? Unfortunately, there are too many fantasy owners whose interest would dip once they learned the name. There is an inherent bias that creeps into our game and often does more harm than good.
Jason Collette of Owner’s Edge at fanball.com & rototimes.com does an excellent weekly piece entitled “Who Am I?” where he presents a player’s stat line and gets you to buy into something for better or worse without the preconceived notions of that player clouding your judgment. At the end of the day, this is a numbers game pure and simple. Trades that would be perfectly viable in a fantasy league would be laughably bad in the “real-life” and vice versa. However, as a community we get too tied to name value instead of focusing on the numbers value of a guy.
THIRD BASE
Speaking of eliminating biases, Andy LaRoche has done nothing but leave a sour taste in mouths of fantasy owners since arrival to the big leagues, but discounting him after 223 major league at-bats is nothing short of stupid. He added 63 more ABs to his total in April but still wasn’t doing much to impress. Fast forward through May 23rd and he’s up to .288 with a .360 on-base. He still has too few ABs to make any wholesale judgments but it is very nice to see him hitting like he had in the minors (.295 in 1800 ABs). Fun factoid – he attended the same school as John Lackey: Grayson County College in Denison, TX. No idea why I remembered Lackey went there.
CATCHER
Chris Iannetta was really getting into a nice groove, so why wouldn’t he go on the disabled list with a strained right hamstring. After hitting just .174 in a tough April, Iannetta was at .276 in May while continuing to display his usual sharp discipline. He was still at .333 OBP in April despite the average and he remained rather disciplined in May with 8 BB in 58 AB resulting in a .364 OBP. Now, Yorvit Torrealba becomes the full time catcher in Colorado. Your waiver wire almost assuredly holds a better option.
OUTFIELD
I mentioned my good friend Jason Collette earlier and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention him again as I bring up the player that almost single-handedly took from super-sleeper status to mid-round talent by championing him so fervently this offseason. The player in question is Nelson Cruz and he hit his 10th and 11th home runs of the season and he’s not hitting a healthy .285 to go with the massive power. Perhaps more impressive are the six stolen bases. After 44 HRs between the minors and majors last year and 20+ the two years previous, his power was not in question. But you didn’t hear much about his speed despite the fact that he had 27 SBs last year. At 28, he is a late bloomer, but he definitely looks legit and he will only get better as the weather warms up in Arlington.
On May 23rd in baseball history – Shawn Green rips four home runs in 16-3 rout of Milwaukee. He went an absurd 6-for-6 with the four home runs, a double and a single. He scored six times and drove in seven. He had 19 total bases! He ended up with 42 HR that season and 114 RBIs to go with them. I thought it was odd that he only had 114 RBIs with that many HRs, but according to Baseball-Reference.com, it’s not uncommon at all. There have been exactly 50 instances of 42+ HR and 114< RBIs.
PITCHER
Since I’m not going to do the audio for Saturday, I’m going to cut the pitching section short since I didn’t find there to be too much remarkable news. I’ll just leave you with this:
Why is Brian Moehler allowed to pitch…. ever? Just go look at his numbers; I won’t waste any more time on this clown.
Also congratulations to the St. Louis Cardinals staff allowing just two runs in the past five games. I don’t care if it came against a struggling Chicago Cubs offense and a pitiful Kansas City Royals one, that is a damn impressive feat regardless.
Over at Owner’s Edge by Fanball.com, I wrote a piece about strikeout-to-walk ratios and how they relate to a pitcher’s ERA. I looked at the past two seasons to see how strong a correlation there was between K/BB ratio and ERA. If a strong enough relation existed, I wanted to use that information to see which pitchers stood out as buy-low or sell-high targets based on their K/BB and ERA thus far.
I was happy with the results in terms of the players identified, but some of my statistical conclusions left me a little uneasy, so I went back to the drawing board a bit. This time around, I went five years back and grabbed every qualifying ERA. This data set presented 393 samples with ERAs ranging from 2.27 to 6.47 and K/BB ratios from 8.3 to 1.1. I was comfortable with the depth of this set. In the original piece I used a 2.0 K/BB threshold, but given that 2.0 is the baseline that we generally look for in the fantasy baseball world, I thought it was a bit low for the purposes of what I’m looking to get out of the data.
I bumped it up to 2.5. At 2.0, it’s essentially a coinflip which isn’t surprising considering that it is hardly an elite mark. In fact there were 248 data points of 2.0 or better and it was a 60%/40% split of ERAs +/- 4.00. The worst ERA in the entire study, Eric Milton‘s disgusting 6.47 offering from 2005, actually topped the 2.0 threshold thanks to his sparkling 2.5 BB/9 rate. Moving to 2.5 cuts out the bottom 31 ERAs in the study and 46 of the bottom 50.
Here are the results with the deeper data pool and higher K/BB threshold:
The above charts show that a 2.5+ K/BB ratio is three times more likely to yield a sub-4.00 ERA than not. Within a given season, there will be a group of pitchers whose skills should have netted them a better ERA, but poor defense or simply bad luck plagued them and left their skills unrewarded. The average was eight such starters per season. Given that recent trends have between 80 and 90 ERA qualifiers, it is about 9-10% of starting pitchers that get the short of the stick regardless of skills.
Here are some of the best buy-low opportunities who are also at risk of being part of this year’s batch of unlucky pitchers:
I don’t think you can really buy low on Justin Verlander given how unbelievably hot he has been lately striking out 9, 11, 11 and 13 in his past four starts. However all four of his AL Central counterparts on the list should come at legitimate discounts. I’d target Minnesota’s Kevin Slowey above all. His 0.9 BB/9 is amazing and while it might not hold 100%, he maintained a 1.3 in 160 IP last year so it’s unlikely to jump up too much. Rich Harden, Jon Lester and Jake Peavy won’t be bargain bin pick ups because of their gaudy strikeout totals (and because Harden and Peavy don’t have outrageous ERAs), but if you can get them at any discount, I’d recommend doing so immediately.
The at-risk group has it’s fair share of star power on it, too:
Three-fifths of the New York Yankees rotation is overachieving so far while the remaining two are getting obliterated (A.J. Burnett-5.36, Phil Hughes-7.56). And that over achievement has earned a record just one game above .500. Any regression could be very damaging and quickly push the Yankees to fourth in their division. But I actually expect Sabathia and Chamberlain to get better as we close out May and head into June. Sabathia will up his K-rate while Chamberlain will trim his BB-rate and continue to strikeout a batter per innings.
Jair Jurrjens and Brian Bannister are major red flags. We know what the bottom looks like for Bannister (1.9 K/BB in 183 IP last year led to 5.76 ERA), but Jurrjens flirted with the 2.0 threshold last year and ended up having a pretty successful year. Of course he did go for a sub-3.00 ERA in the first half and then regress heavily with a 4.49 in the second half. At least in 2008 he was straddling the limit with a 1.9 first half and 2.1 second half. I’d sell him instantly. And I’d have never bought Bannister so if you do have him, cash in that lottery ticket as soon as you can because it has an expiration date.
The names on this list that I’m least worried about are: Chad Billingsley, Max Scherzer and Matt Garza because of their strong K-rates of 9.3, 8.4 and 7.9, respectively. Yes Mitchell Boggs is toting an 8.1 K/9, but the last time he reached a mark that high was his final year at the University of Georgia in 2005 so I’m not buying it in the least with just 22 innings of work. As I mentioned earlier, I do think Chamberlain will turn it around, but there is still some risk because he has a nearly 10.0 H/9 rate to go with the gaudy BB-rate. There are concerns that he is trying to save himself to go six or seven innings and it’s causing him to be very hittable in the rare instances that he is actually in zone.
Teams across the league are stealing bases as a rapid pace (pun completely intended) as compared to last year. On average, teams have swiped 20 bags apiece paced by Tampa Bay’s 53, who are of course paced by Carl Crawford and his 22 steals. Teams are on pace for a 101 average after 93 in 2008.
Meanwhile, Crawford’s stolen base total is better than 20 other teams!!! Crawford really caught everyone’s eye when he abused Jason Varitek to the tune of six stolen bases. This was after rookie Rockie Dexter Fowler burst onto the scene with five against the notoriously slow delivery of Chris Young. And now tonight, Jayson Werth grabbed four off of the Dodgers.
One of the vagaries of the game is that catchers take the full brunt of the blame when players run wild even though the pitcher is at least as culpable if not more so in many instances. That said, any pitcher is only starting every five days so any catcher that finds himself atop the stolen bases allowed list isn’t blameless. So who are the stolen base sieves behind the dish? It’s no surprise that the two guys victimized by Crawford and Fowler are the top two in SBA:
But it’s actually another guy who has the worst caught stealing percentage:
A.J. Pierzynski is allowing a stolen base per game! Meanwhile, Jarrod Saltalamacchia is ensuring he stays out of a full timeshare with Taylor Teagarden by adding value behind the dish. Of course Teagarden is only hitting .219 right now, so it hasn’t been hard for Salty to set himself apart. Get your basestealers in against Chicago (A), San Diego, Boston and Baltimore. But if you have a stolen base guy on your bench that you rotate in, you might want to choose the other option, whether it’s an AVG or HR-RBI option ahead of the SB guy when playing Texas, Colorado, St. Louis, Los Angeles (N), Washington, Houston and Detroit. And I’m talking more of the marginal basestealers like a Shin-Soo Choo, Kaz Matsui or Ryan Spilborghs, not Crawford, Jacoby Ellsbury, Willy Taveras, etc…
Here is the completion of my top 24 first basemen for 2009.
12. Carlos Pena, 31, Tampa Bay Rays – There was a group of people that believed Pena would be a flop after his huge 2007 season. After his first half, they were looking spot on, but he became a catalyst for the Rays’ second half run en route to a 20 home run performance. Pena is your regular WYSIWYG kind of guy and you can just about bet on .250/30/100 for the foreseeable future. OBP leaguers give Pena a boost with his stellar walk rate increasing his value markedly. Pena is the kind of guy that is skipped over round after round because there isn’t much perceived upside with him, but 2007 proved that he can get on a roll and have a top tier season.
11. Derrek Lee, 33, Chicago Cubs – EVERY capsule about Lee this season immediately references 2005 and I’m afraid I can’t break the trend. That season is now clearly an outlier that will never be reached again. He might still have another 30-home run outburst in his bat, but realistically he’s a mid-20s home run hitter with big average and big runs & RBIs totals. He used to be a perennial double-digit basestealer, but his past two full seasons have yielded just six and eight, respectively. Still, you like the added steals from an unexpected source. Lee’s name usually combines with memories of 2005 to take him off the board well before he should so make sure you avoid that pitfall and don’t pass up better production with lesser names.
10. Joey Votto, 25, Cincinnati Reds – He had a Derrek Lee-lite season last year with depressed totals in runs scored & driven in thanks to his spot in the lineup and a lesser lineup than Lee’s Cubs. He actually bounced all around the lineup, but the 7-hole was his home most often. He will assuredly move up this season which will allow him to be the full version of Lee, but likely cheaper since he isn’t as well known… yet. What makes him better than Lee is that he is on the upswing while Lee has plateaued. With a great home stadium, he should still manage the mid-20s power despite such a high groundball rate (44%). The upside is a .300-90-30-100-10 season so don’t be afraid to go the extra dollar to get him.
9. Adrian Gonzalez, 27, San Diego Padres – Can you imagine if he was still in Texas? Instead he’s stuck in the anti-Coors which severely caps his ceiling. After hitting 21 home runs through June, he managed just 10 across July and August as the Padres played 32 of their 55 games at home. That said he is still a bankable 30-100 hitter with a nice batting average. He has dropped yearly against lefties which keeps him from a perennial .300, but his .280 is still quite useful. It appears as though the fences will be moved in at Petco which can only help Gonzalez in his quest to tame the stadium, but pay for 30-100 and if you get the 2008 bonus again, enjoy it.
8. Kevin Youkilis, 30, Boston Red Sox – Here is why I don’t think the 13 home run increase from Youk was a fluke: his walk rate fell by 3% and I believe a lot of that was him going for solid pitches that he ended up being able to do a lot with earlier in the count. Known as the Greek God of Walks, I think in past seasons he was waiting for the perfect pitch or just taking a walk. To wit, he had 15 home runs after a 1-0 count against just seven in 2007. I feel like another 25+ home run season rests on Youk’s shoulders as he decides whether or not he wants to take that approach again this season. As part of that lineup, his counting stats will be excellent as well. He’s one to chase.
7. Justin Morneau, 28, Minnesota Twins – The home runs per flyball rate dropped well off of his career norms so it cut into the home run totals, but the 97 runs, 129 RBIs and .300 batting average helped alleviate the sting. This is a guy that is getting better and becoming an elite producer at first base as seemingly no one notices. With three straight seasons of 590+ at-bats owners can have confidence that he will always be out there for them. With a correction in the hr/f rate, he could repeat the 2008 season with six or seven extra home runs.
6. Prince Fielder, 25, Milwaukee Brewers – The 50 home runs from 2007 was supported by an unsustainable hr/f rate (24%). The 46% clip at which he hit flyballs was unprecedented before and unmatched after which also aided the drop in home run output. Even still, Fielder is a legitimate power source nearly guaranteed for a mid-30s home run output with a real shot in any given year to get back to 50. To have full seasons of 28, 50 and 34 home runs entering your age 25 season is truly remarkable. It is not unrealistic to imagine sustainable growth, but set your expectations for 35-110 to prevent yourself from overpaying.
5. Lance Berkman, 33, Houston Astros – Don’t bring up Berkman’s name around head-to-head fantasy players. He had a disgusting .365-72-22-68-12 first half of the season followed by a dismal .252-45-7-38-6 second half. That enormous drop-off prevented Berkman from reversing a declining home run trend that started back in 2006. Don’t buy the 2008 speed for 2009, but this is still an excellent skillset capable of .300-30-100. He will offer 6-8 stolen bases and should score at least 100 runs with Carlos Lee and Hunter Pence behind him. The second half might have left a sour enough taste in your league to depress Berkman’s value relative to other studs, bid accordingly if you’re in such a league.
4. Mark Teixeira, 29, New York Yankees – He has plateaued at 30-100 since the monster 43-home run season back in 2005, but combined with a reliable .300 average and a ton runs makes him an elite commodity. Heading to New York should bode well for both the runs scored and runs driven in totals, while the new Yankee Stadium remains an unknown in terms of its affect on home runs. His new residence is likely to drive the price up, but don’t get caught up in the hysteria and treat like anything but the 4th-best first baseman in the league. It doesn’t get much more reliable than Teixeira so there is nothing wrong with making a part of your team’s foundation.
3. Ryan Howard, 29, Philadelphia Phillies – Howard is as elite as it gets when it comes to power production. The batting average has left something to be desired since the MVP campaign, but when you are getting those home run and RBI totals, it is hard to complain. A sharp drop in walk rate didn’t help much when he was in prolonged slumps, but that should return in 2009. He is quite streaky so H2H-leaguers beware when bidding. The fact of the matter is he has 58, 47 and 48 home runs in his past three seasons with a ton of RBIs and about 100 runs scored per as well. All of that without being a complete liability in batting average helps make Howard one of the best of the game.
2. Miguel Cabrera, 26, Detroit Tigers – If I put Cabrera ahead of Albert Pujols, it would look like little more than homersim, so I avoided the temptation. Well that and I’m not entirely sold that he belongs there so I wasn’t going to do it just for the sake of doing it. He absolutely dominated the league in the second half of 2008 and it clear that he is fully acclimated to the American League now. What is the ceiling for this guy? He has increased his home run and RBI totals yearly since 2006 and he could be headed for another jump after last year’s 37/127 effort. Make no mistake; he is a late first round talent for 2009.
1. Albert Pujols, 29, St. Louis Cardinals – Who can you say about Pujols that hasn’t been said? He is just so amazing year after year. He hasn’t put up especially gaudy home run and RBI titles the past two seasons, but the insane batting average he posts yearly separates him from the pack. He hasn’t hit below .330 since 2002 including last year’s .357. I love Hanley Ramirez as much as anyone else, but I have no qualms with making Pujols the #1 overall pick in a scratch draft. It is frightening to think that he could actually improve on last year and get back to 2006 levels. Letting him go any deeper than fourth overall is a crime and at fourth, that owner is getting a steal.
A four part series covering the two most vast positions in fantasy baseball will begin today with part 1 of the outfielders. There will be an accompanying piece finishing up the outfielders over the weekend and then a two-part series on starting pitchers later in the month. Both iterations will have updates in the rankings throughout the rest of the off-season done in a “rankings-only” format, that is just the pasting of an excel shot like Top 10 & Honorable Mention lists had that I did back in October. I strongly encourage feedback on the rankings and look forward to hearing what you think about them, so please utilize the comments section below. And now, the bottom half of the top 100 outfielders:
100. Rajai Davis, 28 years old, Oakland A’s – He managed 30 stolen bases in 218 at-bats despite just a .248 average and awful .278 on-base percentage. Imagine what 20-25 points of on-base percentage could do for that speed!? Betting on over 300 at-bats is risky, but the fragility of Oakland outfielders (Travis Buck & Ryan Sweeney specifically) add to that potential and you have to love him as a single-digit option or reserve round material for your ballclub.
99. Brandon Moss, 25, Pittsburgh Pirates – It seems like Moss will be the everyday guy in right field for the Pirates and with a full season’s worth of at-bats, he could be one of those unsung guys that gives you a decent line when you check back in October. It’s doubtful he will excel at any one thing, but he could deliver upwards of 15 home runs with handfuls of runs scored, driven in and stolen bases.
98. Carlos Gonzalez, 23, Colorado Rockies – Obviously Coors Field is significantly more beneficial to hitting than McAfee Coliseum, but there is a lot to work on for Gonzalez. After the Matt Holliday trade, there were rumblings that Gonzalez might be flipped again soon but those rumors have tempered and now it looks like he will vie for a spot with the Rockies. There is talent for a 12 and 12 type of season, but any investment in Gonzalez is likely one for the future.
97. Travis Buck, 25, Oakland A’s – As mentioned earlier, Buck has had trouble staying on the field. He doesn’t have an overwhelming skillset even when fully healthy, but he is another guy that doesn’t hurt you anywhere. The Oakland offense stands to improve with the addition of Matt Holliday and health elsewhere so Buck’s runs scored & driven in could see a boost, too. The downside is another year riddled with nagging injuries that prevent him from taking a step forward.
96. Nate Schierholtz, 25, San Francisco Giants – I can’t think of any reason for the Giants to not play Schierholtz for 350-400 at-bats, but by the same token I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if he ends the season on the wrong side of 300. He should join Fred Lewis and Aaron Rowand in the San Francisco outfield, but it’s likely that he will have to battle Randy Winn and Dave Roberts for his chances. He is a free swinger with a solid power-speed combo, but uncertainty around opportunity should limit how high you go on draft day.
95. Josh Anderson, 26, Atlanta Braves – The outfield is wide open in Atlanta giving Anderson a great shot at locking up 400+ at-bats. It remains to be seen how much else is there with Anderson, but a bankable category like speed will earn a roster spot in just about any format that finds him in the player pool. His price will be determined by certainty around playing time. Earlier drafts/auctions will see Anderson go at a bargain price.
94. Steven Pearce, 26, Pittsburgh Pirates – Again, the Pirates outfield appears wide open meaning guys like Pearce and Moss should be given ample opportunity to establish themselves as viable major leaguers. With a full season of at-bats, Pearce is someone that could easily find himself notching double digits in home runs and stolen bases. Pay for 300 at-bats because the Pirates are the type of team that would needlessly sign Garret Anderson and run him out there for 400+ at-bats.
93. Rocco Baldelli, 27, Free Agent – How can you not root for this guy? After everything he has been through, he continues to come back time and time again. Now just 27, he’s available on the free market with the Pirates, Rays and Red Sox all in the mix at press time. He will not be able to go everyday with his medical condition, but he can be a cheap source of power with regular playing time. For now, wait and see where he goes and what kind of role he will have for 2009… even then, he might be best left as someone else’s headache.
92. Chase Headley, 24, San Diego Padres – I think we all expected a full season of at-bats last year, but Scott Hairston and Jody Gerut emerged as viable options which left Headley with only 331 at-bats by season’s end. Headley is penciled in as the left fielder with 31-year old Gerut as the odd man out right now, but don’t be surprised if the three split two spots regularly. Headley projects as a bona fide run producer suited for the middle of the order, but Petco saps power like no other and could relegate him to the teens in home runs.
91. Ryan Spilborghs, 29, Colorado Rockies – He was great in 233 at-bats last year delivering across the board production, but I was surprised to see that he was 29 years old. With Matt Holliday and Willy Taveras both gone, only Brad Hawpe holds a secure spot in the outfield coming into the season meaning Spilborghs has a shot at 500 at-bats. A double-double (10+ home runs and steals) is a pretty safe bet with that kind of playing time.
90. Mark Teahen, 27, Kansas City Royals – Traded the 2007 speed and average for power, a trade that would be vetoed in most leagues. His walk rate has slid year-over-year since 2006 and in turn sunk his on-base percentage all the way to .311 last year. At his age, he’s not toast, but temper your expectations for this classic “what you see is what you get” guy.
89. Marcus Thames, 32, Detroit Tigers – He simply doesn’t play enough to warrant a higher ranking, but he is a reliable power source that is good for 20-25 home runs even if he doesn’t top 350 at-bats. Another negative tied to the lack of playing time is low totals in runs scored and runs driven in. Mix in a weak batting average and you have 4th/5th outfielder fodder.
88. Michael Cuddyer, 30, Minnesota Twins – Injuries stole 2008, but it opened the door for the likes of Denard Span who showed he’s worthy of several hundred at-bats even if at the expense of Cuddyer. The 2006 season is the clear outlier now and a return seems highly unlikely. If he’s not squeezed out by the youthful trio of Span, Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young, then he will offer a 2007 redux.
87. Aaron Rowand, 31, San Francisco Giants – More valuable in “real” baseball terms than he is for fantasy because of how well he handles the glove. Anybody that expected 2007 numbers last year was only fooling themselves and status quo in 2009 would be a good outcome here. He has lowered his stolen base totals yearly since 2004 making that category a non-factor at this point. A sprinkle of everything here, but nothing more.
86. Marlon Byrd, 31, Texas Rangers – Many were skeptical of a 30-year old breakout from 2007 and Byrd’s first half of 2008 justified those skeptics, but he rebounded with a blistering second half that included a .327 average and seven home runs in 280 at-bats. Invest in 450 at-bats approaching a double-double with plenty of runs scored & driven in thanks to a stout Texas lineup.
85. Ben Francisco, 27, Cleveland Indians – Teams that picked him up off of the scrap heap had to be happy with the returns from Francisco as he emerged into a full-time player. He’s been a double-digit thief throughout his minor league career, but went just 4-for-7 last year. Like the others in this tier, he’s got strong double-double potential with decent offerings in runs scored & driven in without killing your batting average. Don’t assume the speed in your bid, but power approaching 20 home runs should make up for it.
84. Jody Gerut, 31, San Diego Padres – Wow, where’d that come from? Don’t discount Gerut’s rebirth. After two years off, he’s a young 31 and still has plenty left in the tank for a fourth outfielder-type. He does most of his power damage away from home, but he still managed a healthy .295 average with 17 extra-base hits in the cave that is Petco Park. As it stands right now, Gerut is the odd man out in San Diego, but he will get a fair number of at-bats to work with this season.
83. Juan Rivera, 30, Los Angeles Angels – There was so much promise after he made good on a full complement of at-bats in 2006, but 2007 was lost to injury and 2008 was just bad. He re-signed with the Angels and Garret Anderson is now out of the picture so Rivera can log 450-500 at-bats of cheap power in the middle of the lineup.
82. Brian Giles, 38, San Diego Padres – A pending legal case hangs over the head of Giles and it could feasibly alter his status with the Padres depending upon how it plays out, but for now I’ll operate under the assumption that he will be available to and in the lineup for the Padres come April. Two down years in batting average seem linked to his performance against left-handers as he went from .217 and .241 in 2006 and 2007 to .301 last year boosting him 35 points in overall average from ‘07. OBP leaguers love the guy, but otherwise he doesn’t do a ton. He has shaved a home run a year since 2005 when he had 15 and has just 51 and 63 runs batted in the past two seasons.
81. Ryan Sweeney, 24, Oakland A’s – A prototypical Athletic with a very appealing skillset that can’t seem to stay on the field all season. He struggles mightily against lefties, but at worst he would be the good side of a platoon so if he’s healthy, he’ll play. His nine stolen bases last year were his highest yet and being part of Oakland doesn’t lend itself to many opportunities so temper your expectations there. A full season of at-bats could yield a .300-70-15-70-8 line.
80. Scott Hairston, 28, San Diego Padres – He came up as one of Arizona’s brightest prospects, but was shipped to intra-division rival San Diego for a song and he has shown flashes of what made him such a hot commodity years ago. He spent most of his time leading off which helps explain the low RBI totals despite 17 home runs (12 solo shots). In fact, he posted a .958 OPS and .294 AVG with 12 HR as a leadoff hitter; he hit just .199 otherwise.
79. Franklin Gutierrez, 26, Seattle Mariners – I got this one wrong big time last year. I scooped up Gutierrez wherever I could last year in hopes of a season approaching 20-20. Upon further review, I was overly optimistic in the first place. I won’t be making the same mistake again despite a clear opportunity for playing time in Seattle. At 26, hope isn’t completely lost but it’s hard to see development in Gutierrez right now. I’ll pay for a low end double-double with a middling batting average and accept anything more as bonus.
78. Josh Willingham, 30, Washington Nationals – A back injury derailed the beginnings of a career season for Willingham and he never really got going again. He was hitting .345 with five home runs in 108 at-bats when he was shelved for all of May and most of June. I think the Nationals’ lineup is starting to come together a bit which should allow Willingham to add some substance to his bankable power in the form of RBIs and runs scored. At worst, you’ve got 25 home runs.
77. David Murphy, 27, Texas Rangers – One of a bumper crop of rookies who was well on his way towards a 20 homer-100 RBI season until a knee ended his season prematurely. He wasn’t a grade A prospect, but the results weren’t overly surprising given his home environs. He joins Byrd, Brandon Boggs, Nelson Cruz and Josh Hamilton for the three outfield spots, but there is nothing to suggest that his rookie season was smoke & mirrors meaning he’ll get a fair shot at repeating.
76. Jose Guillen, 32, Kansas City Royals – It’s hard to find takers for sub-.300 on base percentages these days, just ask Dayton Moore. The Royals have dangled Guillen on the market but nobody appears interested and it’s tough to blame them. His 20 HR/97 RBI season looks usable on the surface, but the lack of any patience whatsoever and a horrible second half creates a dim outlook. If the second half carries over into the spring and/or early part of 2009, he could be pushed to the bench by Mark Teahen. Proceed with caution.
75. Adam Lind, 25, Toronto Blue Jays – Had virtually the same amount of playing time in both 2007 and 2008 and the skills displayed didn’t vary much: 11 in 290 AB for 2007, 9 in 326 last year, a 4.1 K:BB ratio in 2007, 3.6 last year and 36% XBH (extra base hit) rate in 2007 against 32% last year. With some more selectivity, he can be a .280-20-80 player in 2009, but pay for .270-15-80 and accept anything better as a bonus.
74. Nelson Cruz, 28, Texas Rangers – He finally translated his minor league success into the majors albeit in just 115 at-bats. However, he is now in a group of five vying for three spots… one of which is guaranteed to Josh Hamilton without question. Then it’s he, Byrd, Murphy and Brandon Boggs for the other two spots. The power stroke is legit and it is of course enhanced by playing in Texas. Meanwhile, he has stolen double digit bags in three of the past four seasons meaning a full-time gig would likely yield a robust power-speed combo in the neighborhood of 25-15. Playing time is the key here and I’m not certain he has it locked in.
73. Michael Bourn, 26, Houston Astros – The second player in our bottom quartile that managed a ton of stolen bases (41) despite an outright disgusting on-base percentage (.286). In his 594 major-league at-bats, Bourn is hitting .182 against lefties. If only the problems stopped there. Teammate Kaz Matsui scored one more run than Bourn in 92 fewer at-bats; Bourn needs an on-base percentage at or above .320 or he may start losing playing time. His lack of contributions elsewhere makes him a cheap speed option and right now there isn’t anything to suggest he will be anything but…
72. Jack Cust, 30, Oakland Athletics – Another category specialist, but Cust combines his massive power with an excellent eye that adds to his run scoring opportunities despite a .233 batting average. A friendlier home park could see him hit 40 home runs and become the American League’s Adam Dunn (though Dunn could move to the AL and be the AL’s Dunn himself!). For now, he’s a bargain bin home run hitter and he’s unlikely to veer from that distinction. His value skyrockets in OBP leagues, but standard leaguers are paying for 80-30-80 and you should be able to absorb the batting average hit as long as you don’t add Dunn, Jason Giambi or Mark Reynolds to your roster, too.
71. Cody Ross, 28, Florida Marlins – It was an up & down year for Ross. He posted a .415 OPS in April while failing to hit a home run and drove in just two. Then he blasted 10 home runs with 18 RBIs en route to a 1.259 OPS in May. He had another down month in June before evening out for the rest of the summer. The sum of it is that Ross is a legitimate double-digit home run hitter, but struggles mightily against righties (.249 in 317 AB) and could be robbed of playing time because of it. Playing as a 28-year old on a team in a perpetual youth movement doesn’t help either. Buying into a season with more than 400 at-bats is risky.
70. Jeremy Hermida, 25, Florida Marlins – After a disappointing season for a once-promising prospect, Hermida isn’t yet behind the eight ball because he is still just 25. That said, paying for 2007’s numbers is a mistake at this point even though it can be achieved. Until further notice, he is a dime-a-dozen outfielder that gives you mid-teens power and underwhelming numbers the rest of the way.
69. Ryan Church, 30, New York Mets – This one hurt on a personal level. I’ve always been a fan of Church and I pegged him for a big season last year. Things started off swimmingly, but then collapsed under the weight of two severe concussions. Completely healthy and ready to go, Church should be a 20 home run hitter with nice returns in runs scored and driven in thanks to that star-laden lineup for the Mets.
68. Eric Byrnes, 33, Arizona Diamondbacks – An amazing 2007 had Byrnes’ stock at its peak, an injury-riddled disaster last year has now bottomed out that same stock. Even 100% health on those hamstrings won’t facilitate a return to the 50-stolen base mark, but a double-double in the high teens with 75 runs scored and driven in is a fair expectation. The signing of Felipe Lopez hasn’t squelched all rumors of Byrnes being dealt to Boston. A move there would dent his value significantly as he’d move from starter to 4th outfielder.
67. Randy Winn, 34, San Francisco Giants – How is his speed improving at this advanced age?! Don’t bet on another 20+ stolen base season, but a double-double season with .285+ average is what you are buying here. He’s logged 600 plate appearances since 2002 so you know you can count on him. This team has made some great moves this off-season and they could hang around in the west deep into the summer with Winn playing the role of veteran leader with Randy Johnson for an otherwise very youthful team.
66. Jeff Francoeur, 25, Atlanta Braves – When it was all said & done, Francoeur was probably my biggest mistake of the 2008 season. I loved him for a big season. Everything went wrong for him. It started with him falling apart against lefties. They had never proven difficult for him since his arrival into the majors and then all of a sudden he hit .210 against southpaws in 2008. At the break, it was clear that 2008 was a washout, but I thought Francoeur might make some adjustments and have a reasonable second half to build upon for 2009. He didn’t. At 25, there is hope, but the leash could be short given the stable of young outfielders in the Braves’ system. An 80-20-80 would be a success as he re-figures it out.
65. David DeJesus, 29, Kansas City Royals – He doesn’t wow you with his fantasy contributions, but the sum of a .290-85-10-85-10 line is quite nice. It’s not going to overwhelm opposing pitchers, but that Kansas City lineup will be improved from 2008 and DeJesus will be the leader there even if he relinquishes the leadoff spot to newly acquired Coco Crisp in favor of the 2-hole. If you play in a league that uses individual outfield slots, enjoy DeJesus’ triple eligibility.
64. Hideki Matsui, 34, New York Yankees – The Yankees might not be done making moves this winter and Matsui could be on his way out if they can find a taker. A move could be really good or really bad for Matsui. Right now, he’s penciled in as the designated hitter, but that leaves Nick Swisher on the bench. Thus, if he stays in New York he might not garner a full season’s worth of at-bats and a move out to a team that would play him daily would be welcomed.
63. Juan Pierre, 31, Los Angeles Dodgers – He could be on the outside looking in for playing time right now, but I can’t envision the Dodgers going with Andruw Jones for any regular amount of time given how bad he has been over his past 781 at-bats. That doesn’t mean that they won’t look into the trade or free agent market for a better option, though. Pierre has always been reliable for runs, speed and batting average, but last year with just 375 at-bats he was unable to reach the usual 90+ runs scored. With regular playing time, look for a return near previously established norms: 80 runs, 50 steals and a .290 average. Otherwise, a 2008 redux.
62. Cameron Maybin, 22, Florida Marlins – Nice sip of coffee for the youngster with 16 hits in 32 at-bats over the course of eight games, but it’s insignificant in determining his 2009 value. He had an .831 OPS in 108 games in AA with 21 stolen bases and 13 home runs. He’s a five-category threat without a doubt, but at such a young age there will likely be several peaks and valleys throughout the season. The lack of options in the outfield for Florida suggests that Maybin will be the guy in center all year long. A year similar to Delmon Young’s 2008 with more stolen bases and less batting average is what I’m expecting.
61. Carlos Guillen, 33, Detroit Tigers – To see Guillen walk, let alone run, you’d never believe that he’d be a stolen base threat. Hobbled by nagging injuries nearly all year in 2008, he still managed nine after seasons of 20 and 13. Double-digit SB days are behind him, but the power and run production abilities remain. He will still qualify at 3B for 2009 where holds more value, but if you take care of your corner infield and need a solid 3rd/4th outfield option good for 15-18 home runs with a boatload of runs scored & driven in, then Guillen’s a good choice.
60. Luke Scott, 30, Baltimore Orioles – A tale of two halves for Scott, but the power was prevalent throughout. There is 30-home run power in that bat. Combining that with a budding lineup should yield a solid 85-30-85 season or thereabouts. Likely older than most realize at 30, but his primary skill, power, ages well so hitting the pivotal age isn’t worrisome.
59. Carlos Gomez, 23, Minnesota Twins – Given his age, it’s hard to pile on despite how he was in 2008. He was a key return for Johan Santana so the expectations to perform well and quickly were astronomical and thus he may’ve been rushed into duty. He has a long way to go before being anything more than a stolen base specialist with a bad average and little else residing in your 3rd or 4th outfielder slot.
58. Fred Lewis, 28, San Francisco Giants – This relatively unknown speedster burst onto the scene with a very impressive first full season. Whiffed way more than you want a leadoff hitter to do (91 times hitting 1st), but still managed a .350 on-base percentage from the top spot. Horrible supporting cast suppressed RBI total, even for a leadoff hitter. Lineup should improve with Lewis as the table-setter, but temper your expectations of growth. A repeat could be the ceiling here.
57. Kosuke Fukudome, 32, Chicago Cubs – Though he didn’t live up to the hype (who can these days?), Fukudome wasn’t all bad in his major league debut. He had a bit of power and speed with a great eye that made him a gem in OBP leagues. The biggest concern is that his batting average and OPS virtually dropped month-over-month all season (the OPS raised slightly from August to September but was still at .577). With such a sharp eye and really good raw skills, I foresee legitimate improvements for 2009. A line in the neighborhood of 85-15-70-15 is more befitting of someone with his skills.
56. Nick Swisher, 28, New York Yankees – The raw power remained, but not nearly to the degree expected with his move out of McAfee Coliseum into U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago. He has been a batting average anchor for years, but last year’s .219 was just downright awful. After back-to-back seasons of .291 average against left-handers, he hit just .197 off of them last year. A correction will bring his average back into the .250s where he normally resides. He moves over to New York where he should fall into 90 runs and 80 RBIs as long as they play him. My favorite thing about Swisher in 2009 is that he will no doubt be very cheap to roster.
55. Willy Taveras, 27, Cincinnati Reds – Those justifying his signing with the Reds are saying, “At least he’s better than Corey Patterson.” Sure, but is there a player about whom you can’t say that exact phrase? Anytime someone swipes 68 bases, they are going to be a fantasy baseball asset even if it’s paired with NOTHING else of legitimate value as was the case in Taveras’ 2008 season. The only time he has topped a .321 on-base percentage was when he hit everything in sight and went off with a .320 AVG/.356 OBP. It’s pay-n-pray with Taveras, pay for 35 stolen bases and pray for 80 runs and a batting average above .280.
54. Jason Kubel, 26, Minnesota Twins – His march towards fulfilling his promise continues in the right direction with his best season yet. At 26, there is more to come from this slugger though lefties continue to be a problem for him. This could be the season that sees him hit 30 home runs, but 2010 is more likely for that. With four options in the Minnesota outfield, he could be relegated to DH for majority of the season, but that won’t impact his 2009 eligibility.
53. Adam Jones, 23, Baltimore Orioles – A further along version of Cameron Maybin, Jones is the kind of guy that will have a month that makes your entire league start requesting him in a trade followed by a month that will make you regret not pulling the trigger on one of those trades. By season’s end you should be happy with the net results of this budding star. He should bring a double-double with high 70s in runs scored and runs driven in.
52. Coco Crisp, 29, Kansas City Royals – His 2007 and 2008 totals were virtually the same despite the fact that he had 165 fewer at-bats last year. A trade to the Royals gives him a full-time role again, but simply extrapolating last year’s numbers into 550-600 at-bats would be dangerous. I’d be more willing to bet on 30+ stolen bases than 10+ home runs. For now, a 2007 repeat feels right.
51. Mike Cameron, 36, Milwaukee Brewers – He enjoyed a power spike despite missing a month due to suspension. Three years of declining stolen base and RBI totals may scare some, but the suspension played a large role in continuing that trend for 2008. This skill set is one of the more reliable ones in the league so you can expect an 85-25-75-15 line with a poor batting average. Trade rumors have put him in center for the Yankees which would only help his value, but for now he is part of a solid lineup in a neutral park.
There it is. I’ll have the second part ready this weekend and then a visual breakdown of the list including an echelon-divided list, a by team list and a by age list. Again, feedback is strongly encouraged.
Baseball By Paul 