Category: Dailies
Spot Check: Call my name, Alejandro
Tales of Giancarlo
Mike Stanton has been hitting the ball very well and far lately. Let’s dig a little deeper.
The 21-year-old outfielder is batting just .235 on the year with six homers, 23 RBIs, a .445 slugging and an 11/55 BB/K ratio. Those are not the kind of numbers that inspire conga lines.
But these might:
.313-21-52 line in just 192 at-bats with Double-A Jacksonville.
And so might these:
Over his last 11 games, Stanton’s batting .297 (11-for-37) with four homers, four doubles, 10 RBIs and a .730 slugging percentage. If that wasn’t enough, and perhaps it isn’t, he’s also shown a more-mature-but-sure,-it’s-not-incredible 5/11 BB/K ratio in that span, and he’s only fanned once in his last five games. Show me progress!
With a free-swinging approach, it only makes sense that it would take some time for Stanton to morph into a Major League hitter. And to take an Ian Kay approach to this little writeup, Stanton is owned in only 25 percent of Yahoo! leagues. Personally, I’d rather take a flier on his power potential than keep the likes of Jose Bautista, Brennan Boesch and maybe even Colby Rasmus.
Weekend tidbits
Things I liked and disliked over the weekend:
Matt Diaz: Raise your hand if you like platoon players. Come on! Diaz went a
combined 5-for-8 with two homers, five RBIs and two doubles between Saturday and
Sunday. He’s batting .400 (14-for-35) with a .829 slugging for July. For those
of you who are actually disciplined enough to go about it, Diaz is the perfect
platoon option to insert in your lineup, as he owns a .278/.316/.574
triple-slash vs. lefties this year, and is a lifetime .341 hitter vs.
southpaws. NOW raise your hand if you like platoon players. Thought so.
Gordon Beckham: Ian
already covered most of GBex here, but feel free to bend Beckham again after
his 4-for-4 Sunday.
Yunel Escobar: Went
3-for-4 with a grand slam – his first homer of ’10 – on Sunday, and is 6-for-13
as a member of the Blue Jays. Yu know yu want to pick up Yunel.
Dexter Fowler: Everyone’s favorite serial killer went
1-for-12 on the weekend which improves his slump to 1-for-25. Time to cut bait.
Few managers are as fickle as Jim Tracy, so expect Fowler to lose at-bats immediately.
Travis Wood: Took
the tough-luck loss vs. the Rockies on Sunday despite limiting Colorado to one
earned run over six innings while striking out six against four walks. With
quality starts in three out of four tries and a 23/9 K/BB ratio, there’s some good
Wood here.
Jeanmar Gomez: Tossed
seven innings of earned-run-free ball and fanned four in his first career start
vs. the Tigers on Sunday. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he posted
a 5.78 ERA and a 67/41 K/BB ratio over 101 innings for Triple-A Columbus this
season. Now the not-so-bad, kinda-good news is that Gomez went 10-4 with a 3.43
ERA and a 109/40 K/BB ratio over 123 1/3 innings last season as a 22-year-old
in Double-A. This portion of good news/bad news/not-so-bad, kind-good news is
brought to you by Advil.
Starlin Castro: Batting
.545 (12-for-22) over his last six games with three doubles, a triple, two RBIs
and two steals. Hitting .367 and slugging .571 on the month and has hit safely
in 17 of his last 19 games. Just press click.
Kevin Kouzmanoff: Went
5-for-13 with a homer, two doubles and seven RBIs over three-game series with
the Royals. And that’s why you pick up guys when facing Royals pitching.
Jose Tabata: The
guy that Pirates got from the Yankees for Xavier Nady and Damaso Marte is
batting .458 (11-for-24) with four doubles, three RBIs and two steals since
July 9. Need steals? No? Well, need a Pirate? Yeah, ya do.
Justin Smoak: Went
0-for-4 with three strikeouts on Sunday. Wait! There’s good news! Went 5-for-7
with two homers and four RBIs between Friday and Saturday. I’m not saying you
should start doodling his name in your binder, but you should at least consider
dumping Chris Davis for him.
Chris Davis: Whoa, sorry there Chris — didn’t see ya standing there. Davis is batting .182 (4-for-22) with zero extra-base hits since his callup
after the Smoak deal. I want to ❤ Davis so much but he gives me no choice
but to start seeing other people.
Miguel Montero: In
the middle of a 3-for-27 slump and is reason No. 219 why you shouldn’t have
drafted a catcher before Round 20 this year.
Geovany Soto: Unless
it was Geovany Soto! Soto’s been hitting .373 with three homers, six doubles, 14
RBIs and seven runs since June 27.
Jay Bruce: Batting
.109 with nary a homer or RBI since July 2. How bad is a .109 average? It’s
5-for-46. Now just look at how small that first number is compared to that
second number.
Chris Perez: With
Kerry Wood on the DL, Perezis the new closer in Cleveland. He saved Saturday’s
first game against the Tigers. It was a double-header. How fun are those?
Rickie Weeks: Went 3-for-5 with two homers on Sunday, is batting
.429 (9-for-21) over a five-game hitting streak and now sports a .272-17-57
line on the year. How much do you hate yourself for vowing not to be fooled by
Weeks again?
Injuries-a-go-go: Justin Morneau
By Dave
Justin Morneau hurt his head and is now officially on the
DL. The move is retroactive to July 8 but Morneau’s injury trail is retroactive
to 2005. And just because you can’t replace a guy who is hitting .345 with 18
homers and 56 RBIs doesn’t mean you can’t try.
Pickup possibilities:
Casey Kotchman – Hitting .400 (12-for-30) with
four homers and seven RBIs in last 10 games. That’s the good news. The not good
news is that Justin Smoak started over him last night and that the chances of
Kotchman replicating those numbers even without Smoak hovering around him are
nein!
Travis Ishikawa – Wiretap favorite, Ishikawa has
hit safely in eight of his last 10 games, batting .375 (12-for-32) with a home run and 11 RBIs
in that span. Remember Crystal Clear Pepsi? That was awesome. Remember Crystal
Clear Gravy? Also awesome. Remember Ishikawa socking nine homers with 49 runs
scored and 39 RBIs in 300 at-bats as a starter last season? Also , also awesome.
Chris Davis – You knew this already. See — here’s proof. Just ignore that whole paragraph on Wieters, k? Good.
Justin Smoak? – Worth monitoring but let’s see a
pulse before we press click, k?
Matt Wieters also landed on the DL yesterday. This is
actually good news since having him in your lineup everyday was likely hurting
you more than just leaving that roster blank. If only now you are tracking down
a replacement and ignored the Carlos Santana, Buster Posey, Miguel Olivo and
anyone-not-named-Matt-Wieters gravy train, then your team has probably been out
of contention and you probably aren’t reading this right now.
Tradespin: The one with Yunel Escobar and Alex Gonzalez
The 2010 NL All-Value Star Team
The 2010 AL All-Value Star Team
(DAVE)
John Buck (.272
AVG, 27 R, 13 HR, 41 RBIs)
Yahoo! ADP: N/A
It would have been much funner to place Carlos Santana here
but Uncle Buck takes the cake with one of the truest where-did-that-come-from
first halves I’ve seen in a while. Chances are he’s still available in your
league, and I’m actually quite fine with that.
Other nominees:
Carlos Santana, Jason Kendall (um, what?) , Matt Wieters
Paul Konerko (.299
AVG, 50 R, 20 HR, 63 RBIs)
Yahoo! ADP: 249.9
Konerko is already just eight homers shy of tying his total
from ’09, is playing for a new contract and is batting in the heart of a
scorching ChiSox order. Will he keep it up? Well, probably not. His 17.5 HR/FB
ratio is likely too high for Pauly K to sustain, and he hasn’t hit north of
.277 since ’06. But, um, yeah – not bad value for the 25th round.
Other nominees:
Miguel Cabrera (yeah, he’s been that good),
Nick Swisher, Justin Morneau (went
in the 3rd-4th rounds in most drafts)
2B
SS
Elvis Andrus (.280
AVG, 57 R, 0 HR, 25 RBIs, 23 SB)
Yahoo! ADP: 115.1
Pretty much buttered all of his bread by stealing 11 bags
with a.340 AVG for June.
Alex Gonzalez (.259
AVG, 47 R, 17 HR, 50 RBIs)
Yahoo! ADP: 195.3
Went undrafted in several leagues and has outperformed and
has one more functional thumb than Chase Utley.
Other nominees: Erick
Aybar, Cliff Pennington
3B
OF
DH
David Price
(12-4, 2.42 ERA,1.20 WHIP, 100 K, 115 1/3 IP)
Yahoo! ADP: N/A
Jered Weaver (8-5,
3.20 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 137 K, 121 IP)
Yahoo! ADP: 114.3
Andy Pettitte (11-2,
2.70 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 87 K, 113 1/3 IP)
Yahoo! ADP: N/A
Phil Hughes (11-2,
3.65 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 91 K, 101 IP)
Yahoo! ADP: N/A
Clay Buchholz (10-4,
2.45 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 64 K, 92 IP)
Yahoo! ADP: N/A
So I guess Price finally “figured it out”, Weaver leads the
AL in strikeouts, Pettitte is old but good, Buccholz was dealing prior to hitting the DL and Hughes was one trade away from going to the bullpen. But he’s still really good.
Other nominees: Jeff
Niemann, Carl Pavano, Carl Pavano’s mustache, Colby Lewis, Trevor Cahill. You
can make a case for any of these guys.
Rafael Soriano (2-0,
23 SV, 1.60 ERA, 0.80 WHIP, 29 K, 33 2/3 IP)
Yahoo! ADP: 136.7
So this is what his stat-line looks like when his arm isn’t
falling off.
Other nominees: Carlos
Marmol, Jose Valverde, Neftali Feliz, Jon Rauch
Cheap Thrills: Roger That
It’s one of fantasy land’s most mythical beasts: the
power-speed threat who won’t kill your team’s average.
Rarely seen in the wild — or on the waiver wire — most
owners are forced to pay upwards of $30 at pre-season auctions or surrender
vast riches in the trade market just to catch a glimpse of this oh-so-valuable
commodity.
But peer through the trees, owners, and you’ll see Roger
Bernadina — a potential roto unicorn quietly roaming the outfield of Nationals
Stadium.
Bernadina appeared poised for a breakout rookie year last
season after hitting .335/.400/.490 with nine homers and 40 steals over 120
games split between Double-A and Triple-A in ’08. Unfortunately, a nasty broken
ankle limited his ’09 season just 10 games.
The injury doesn’t appear to have any residual effects,
however, as the 26-year-old bounced back to hit .282/.345/.436 with five home
runs and seven steals in the first half, including a stellar .329/.409/.476
line in June.
Though the .335 average in ’08 is something of an outlier
compared to Bernadina’s Minor League track record, his peripheral stats
indicate that something in .275 range isn’t too much of a stretch. The speed is
certainly for real (he averaged 40 steals per 162 games in the Minors), and power should continue to develop as he becomes more comfortable at the big
league level.
Slotted into the No. 2 spot in Washington’s lineup,
Bernadina should be in line for plenty of runs with Ryan Zimmerman, Adam Dunn
and Josh Willingham backing him up. Stellar defense in right field should will Mike Morse from stealing too much playing time, and the three-day
All-Star break should provide ample time to fully recover from the back stiffness
that hampered him last week.
Put it together Bernadina’s skill set and opportunity, and
you’re looking at a floor of Willy Taveras or Corey Patterson type production
and a ceiling of Brian Roberts or Shane Victorino (circa ’07-’09).
In the short term, I’m projecting him at .277 AVG, 40 R, 7
HR, 32 RBI and 17 SB for the remainder of 2010. He should be owned in all
NL-only formats and has enough upside to play in 12-team or deeper mixed
leagues.
Just 2 percent owned in Yahoo! Leagues right now, I think he
outperforms the more-popular David DeJesus (50 percent), Austin Jackson (45
percent) and Franklin Gurtierrez (36 percent) after the break.
Talking with myself: July 12
Q: Vicente Padilla (look at that face, so adorable) struck out six over eight shutout innings vs. the Cubs. On a scale of 1-10 how
much should I care?
A: Probably. He’ll likely go back to being the Rockets point
guard once Aaron Harang returns from the DL later this month.
Q: Hey, look (Part I)
– Johan Santana tossed seven scoreless innings in a win vs. the Braves, has a
0.39 ERA in three July starts and is
back pitching like it’s 1999 again. And by that I really mean 2004. Will he
keep it up?
A: How dare you ask for the 1-10 scale twice in one Q&A!
Who knows with Beckham. One day he’s good, 12 days he’s not good, five days he’s
not playing because of something called Brent Lillibridge. I like his .255
BABIP going forward, I don’t like his 20/53 BB/K rate. Put him on your squad if
you have the space and/or need the middle-infield help.
Q: Madison Bumgarner
is so good you titled the Rundown after him. Was that just because his name is
fun to say with a British accent or is he really good and someone who should be
owned in most leagues?
A: PETCO (3.02 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 57/24 K/BB), meet not-PETCO
(3.71 ERA, 1.49 WHIP, 33/21 K/BB ratio). Now you two play nice.
The Fantasy Goodness 