Jon Lester threw a no hitter against the Kansas City Royals yesterday (in case you were in a cave and didn’t hear). That goes to show you what getting rid of a locker room cancer can do for a team. Going forward, I see nothing remarkable from Lester. Just one of those things that happens. If you decide he needs to be on your team because you’re a sucker for feel-good stories, you should expect to take a hit on WHIP. It’s not just the walks, he gives up hits by the truckload, as well. Let someone else grab Lester and be the martyr. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday:
Jake Peavy – Jake Peavy is going on the DL with a bad elbow. Padre fans moan, “Why couldn’t it have been ANY of our hitters….well, except A-Gonz.” Don’t panic on Peavy; he’s been on the DL before. You’re not going to get good value for him anyway.
Albert Pujols – Pujols hit 2 HRs in Petco. Impressive. Ryan Ludwick hit a HR and a double. Impressive and a bit more surprising. Cesar Izturis hit a homerun in Petco. Did they build another shorter fence for the game like they did in the Astrodome for the Bad News Bears?
Aramis Ramirez – If you can somehow trade a hot starter (Volquez!) for him, do it. Aram’s the quietest .300/35/100 guy in recent memory.
Geovany Soto – Soto’s done everything else, why wouldn’t he get an inside the park in under 17 seconds? Why? No reason, so he did.
Josh Hamilton – Now Josh Hamilton lets his bat say crack.
Joe Borowski – How anxious are the Indians for Blowrowski to return? The Indians said they want him to only throw one inning in the minors. I’m sure Borowski’s fantasy owners are just anxious.
Adam Dunn – Dunn hit another home run. If he hits in 8 straight, the Reds owner promised he’ll let Dunn bring his pet blue ox, Babe, into the clubhouse.
Frank Thomas – Frank Thomas hit 2 HRs. More amazingly, he made it around the bases twice.
Alex Rodriguez – Looks ready to return on Tuesday. Looks like Eric Karabell’s sister, Stephania Bell’s prediction that Arod will be out until the All-Star break might be a bit wrong.
Brett Myers – In The Bank, Punchy would’ve gave up at least three more runs against the Nats. If Myerly were a word, it would mean struggling.
Shawn Hill – He’s going to be skipped because of elbow soreness. I said he’d be very usable when pitching, I never said he’d stay healthy.
Max Scherzer – If Doug Davis were returning from a suspension because he had drank a quart of Popov and urinated in the Chase Field pool, then I’d say Scherzer might hold his rotation spot, but Davis is returning from cancer. I mean, c’mon, it’s The Big C. That’s some feel-good shizz. BTW, Big week for cancer survivors.
Howie Kendrick – Word on the Streets of Bobby Grichville, Kendrick is going to need at least another week. I’m not a huge fan of him when he’s healthy and it’s beginning to seem like he may never be healthy.
Jay Bruce could be called up from the minors relatively soon. So I figured I should give you a breakdown, but then Baron Von Vulturewins, a regular commenter in the Razzpound and an all-around good guy (actually, he could be writing in from jail, I have no idea), did a great breakdown of Jay Bruce in the comments. So without further ado — the Baron on Jay Bruce (I edited some for breadth), “Pros: Jay Bruce is the consensus top prospect in baseball. He’s most often compared to Larry Walker — i.e. big power potential with speed and high avg., i.e. tasty. He’s currently at .366 AVG, 8 HR, 33 RBIs, 7 SB, .662 SLG in Triple-A. (And he started slow, so he’s been on an absolute tear of late.) Baseball Prospectus’ notoriously gloomy PECOTA projections put him at 29 HR this year (assuming a full season in the bigs, I’m guessing.) …All the indicators are there for Jay Bruce to succeed: bad team with several trade-bait veteran OFs, a local media clamoring to get this kid to the show — he’ll be playing in one of the NL’s premiere bandboxes, i.e. Cincy.
Cons: Two years ago, Alex Gordon was the CTPiB (consensus top etc.) and, well, we’ve seen that he hasn’t turned into “Boog Powell minus eighty pounds of custard” quite yet. (Some of us have watched this more closely, and more painfully, than others.) Cincy has a long, inglorious history of carrying one too many OFs, and driving fantasy owners insane with idiotic non-platoon OF switcheroos (see: Freel, Ryan). This is all compounded by the fact that Dusty Baker also has a history of mishandling/not trusting young players, though he seems to have put his faith in Joey Votto this year, which augurs (Word of the Day) well for Bruce.
Bottom line: Bruce could well go the way of Gordon ‘07, or he could just as easily go the way of Braun ‘07. Having missed out on the latter last year through pure Yahoo!-induced phenom fatigue (they hype everyone like they’re a young Babe Ruth, so by mid-May, you’re tuning it out) I don’t plan to miss out on it this year. So my money’s on Bruce. Given what you have to invest — i.e. nothing, save a bench spot for a few weeks.” Well said, Baron. I agree, if you have a bench spot, go for Bruce. I had Ian Stewart for a week on my bench and it didn’t cost me anything. Stewart didn’t get the call, so I dropped him. No harm, no foul. Rudy dropped Betancourt to pick up Bruce in our ten team friends’ league. If you have the spot, it makes sense to take a flier as they say in the biz (which biz that is, I’m not sure). Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday:
Ryan Braun – Now he’s just trying to make me look foolish.
Mike Napoli – The Italian-American put a hit out… of the park. Twice. If you have Pudge on your team, you’re just not trying hard enough. Or you’re Pudge’s cousin, and you promised your aunty.
Jake Peavy – Hopefully he misses just one start. But in reality, you kinda want him to miss as many starts as it’s going to take so he returns in good health. Unless he misses half a season, then you want to bang your head against the wall. Repeatedly. Until you draw blood.
Adam Dunn – The prevailing thought is he’s going to hit .240 and 40 home runs. I think he can get his average up to .270 and hit 40. He currently sits on .221 and 10 home runs. And .221 and 10 home runs asks Dunn to please stop sitting on them, so we’ll see.
Cliff Lee – For those holding onto him, I hope this was a blip. For others, who heeded my advice to trade him, this might be the beginning of the correction. Muahahaha…
Edinson Volquez – Strong outing, but he was wild. His history shows he can be very wild. He could hit a month or two spell where he’s unusable. Cust kayin’.
David Ortiz – There’s no reason to think you have to sell him now that he went deep. He’s going to do what he do.
Carlos Villanueva – You can’t start Chuck NewVillage at this point. Even in deep leagues.
Jeff Clement – Mariners decide the future is Jose Vidro. Mariners fans should decide to shit Bavasi’s house like Ronald Miller did in Can’t Buy Me Love.
Jeremy Guthrie – Was one of the pitchers I suggested you grabbed when Smoltz, Hill and Gallardo decided to wipe their asses on your fantasy team. He pitched well against a poor team. Would’ve been nice to see him strikeout a few more Nats. Actually, wouldn’t been nice to see him strikeout one Nat, but Wily Mo didn’t play, so there was that.
Kevin Slowey – Didn’t look as bad as his final line, but he has to cut back on home runs.
Edwin Jackson – At this point, he needs to be owned in every league.
Chris Perez – Not sure if he’s going to take over as the closer, but he should be owned if you’re utilizing middle men and potential closers.
Jo-Jo Reyes – Another pitcher I pegged as a fill-in for the Smoltz/Hill/Gallardo crapfecta. He looked extremely well and he has upside, but he said he’s pitching with a blister. That makes him iffy going forward.
Manny Acosta – Looks like Bobby Cox doesn’t have Acosta on his fantasy team. He brought Ohman, the lefty specialist, to start the ninth, which nullified the save chance for Acosta.
Justin Duchscherer – Looked usable, but he doesn’t seem like he can go deep enough in games for many wins.
Adrian Gonzalez – Seriously, the Padres would’ve lost some close games in the dead ball era. Gonzo is like the Padres “Home Run” Baker. (That’s the old-timey player who led the league with 12 home runs. Imagine playing fantasy baseball back in the 1910s. There would’ve been a ten way tie for home runs with one. Someone would’ve got three runs and two RBIs in a week and would’ve walked to victory in H2H. The top pitcher taken would’ve been Babe Ruth and when you heard he wasn’t going to pitch anymore, he would’ve been a steal in the late rounds. 1500 max innings pitched would’ve been reach by June. And you would have named your fantasy teams like My Team’s Fat Like Taft, Cy Young Is The Best Pitcher And Needs An Award, and A Hit Like Franz Ferdinand (and you wouldn’t have been talking about the band).
Ichiro Suzuki – Up to 20 steals. Wow, never a huge fan of Ichiro, but 20 steals already. Last year, he had 23 steals before the All-Star break. I think you should start exploring trade options if someone thinks he’s going to get to 60 steals. I mean, he might, but you already have a third of his steals if he does, so you’ve had your fill. Now stop being greedy.
J.J. Hardy – Hit his second home run of the season. Looks like he’s coming out of his season long slump.
On each Sunday we’re going to try and answer your 2008 fantasy baseball questions. Is this every fantasy baseball question we receive? No, but it’s a few of the better ones that were emailed directly to us at info[at]razzball.com. So if you want some fantasy baseball advice that can’t get answered in the comments section, then there you go. Please ask the minor questions i.e. Should I drop Eric Hinske for Johnny Cueto? (yes, you should) in the comment section. It’ll be a quicker answer there from Grey or I (or even a regular commenter). Thanks, we really do appreciate your support and feedback. (But if you try to hug me, it might get weird.)
QUESTION:
Love the site, and wanted to ask you another trade question if possible. 12 team, daily transaction, mixed keeper (five) league. There is a 1500 innings limit, hence my large number of setup guys. Currently, I am rolling, big time, but looking down the road I was offered a trade today that I am considering, but would like some feedback. Here’s my current lineup:
Webb, Brandon (P)
Jenks, Bobby (P)
Lincecum, Tim (P)
Guardado, Eddie (P)-Yeah, I know he’s gotta go soon…..
Franklin, Ryan (P)
Saunders, Joe (P)
Scherzer, Max (P)
Maine, John (P)
Cain, Matt (P)
Buchholz, Taylor (P)
McGowan, Dustin (P)
Currently, I am in the top four in everything ‘cept saves. I originally offered dude Matt Cain for Brian Wilson. He comes back with Cain and Berkman for ARod, Brian Wilson, Delmon Young, and Brian Bannister. I’m thinking that I can swap out Bannister for Billingsley. Here’s dude’s roster:
P Bannister, Brian (KC)
P Wilson, Brian (SF)
P Chamberlain, Joba (NYA)
P Weaver, Jered (LAA)
P Billingsley, Chad (LAD)
P Myers, Brett (PHI)
P Saito, Takashi (LAD)
P Rivera, Mariano (NYA)
P Rodriguez, Francisco (LAA)
C Martin, Russell (LAD)
C Towles, J.R. (HOU)
1B Garko, Ryan (CLE)
2B Phillips, Brandon (CIN)
3B Mora, Melvin (BAL)
SS Young, Michael (TEX)
CI Hinske, Eric (TB)
MI Iwamura, Akinori (TB)
OF Bowker, John (SF)
OF Young, Delmon (MIN)
OF Patterson, Corey (CIN)
OF Upton, Justin (ARI)
OF Ethier, Andre (LAD)
Util Giambi, Jason (NYA)
Bn Headley, Chase (SD)
Bn Gonzalez, Gio (OAK)
Bn Bruce, Jay (CIN)
Bn Gomes, Jonny (TB)
DL Rodriguez, Alex DL (NYA)
Whaddya think? Berkman certainly can’t keep up this pace, but damn is he good this year…..Thanks in advance and keep up the good work. Your blog has been a must read for me
ANSWER:
Thanks for reading the blog and writing into us!
It’s good you’re looking down the road as it’s easy to stand pat after a big start. I like your team but, obviously, some of your team’s success is from fast (and probably unsustainable) stars by Webb, Lincecum, Maine, Berkman, and your Soto/Napoli catcher tandem.
I’m going to go with the assumption that he won’t swap Bannister for Billingsley (who is on par with Cain – so what’s the point?). I’d say Bannister and D. Young (at this point) are barely above the value of free agents so I don’t factor them in. You’re looking at Cain/Berkman for B-Wilson/A-Rod.
I’d go for it. A-Rod is a big upgrade over Cantu or Figgins and should be back soon. If you’re in a Yahoo! league, you can move Figgins to 2B or MI when he gets back. Cain/Wilson is close to a wash given how much you can gain from more Saves. And, who knows, maybe Delmon Young comes around…he does have 20/20 potential. Adding Billingsley makes it that much bettter of a trade…
Hurts to give up Berkman but I feel like you’re selling high.
We’re at the 1/4 mark for the first season of Fantasy Razzball – a fantasy baseball game where you try to manage the worst team possible – and we’re on our way to probably the worst collective stat totals ever seen in a Yahoo! public league. With team batting averages as low as .238 and ERAs and ERAs as high as 5.36, it’s no wonder that Alan Trammell keeps bugging us for a chance to manage one of these teams (See 2003 Tigers team totals).
The top 4 are closely bunched but the leader at this point is….me. That’s right. My team sucks more than the rest. Look at me, ma. I’m king of the third world!
No doubt my 48 point offense (out of 60) has prospered at the expense of the real-life lineups that employ my top two picks (Willy Taveras, Michael Bourn). The two of them have combined for 277 ABs and managed 40 Runs, 3 HR (all Bourn), 12 RBI, 60 Ks, and a .206 AVG. Multiply that by two and you’ve got one AWFUL season. Message to Cecil Cooper and Clint Hurdle: Keep those guys at the top of your lineups. Don’t ruin a good thing…for me!
In 2nd place is our amateur entry from Josh the Non-Blogger – Team DFA (Designated For Assignment? Destined For Awfulness?). He’s overcome surprising starts by Scott Olsen, Edwin Jackson, and Ryan Ludwick with draftees like Franklin Morales (6.39 ERA over 25 IP yet only 2 HR?), Jose Castillo, and Brendan Harris (.248/33 Ks/2 HR/9 RBI) and smart pickups like the one-time apple of my eye Eugenio Velez and Tom “I’m Punto’s Backup” Tolbert.
In 3rd place is April league leader Cards In The Attic. Coincidence that his drop from 88 to 78 points started around the time that Pittsburgh dropped the anchor of his staff (and an anchor on their staff) Matt Morris? I blog to differ.
The 4th team of the top quartet is Roto Professor – who is so dedicated that he scouts Razztastic performances in the minor leagues. He’s smartly banking on the Giant offense (Ortmeier, Durham, Winn) but needs to find more AB machines like Kurt Suzuki and Jason Bartlett to avoid the minimum AB penalties (He’s currently about 320 AB off the pace of 5200 AB – the pro-rated stats definitely have an impact…e.g., goes from 20 to 25 HRs after applying 80 ABs of pro-rated 35 HRs.)
Other notes:
5th place Mop Up Duty’s team is looking good (bad?) relying on high AB/low performance middle infielders like Julio Lugo, Felipe Lopez, and David Eckstein. Also liked their recent preview on interleague play.
Biggest gainer in the last 20 days or so has to be the Fantasy Baseball Generals moving from 10th to 6th. Their ridiculous 3.17 ERA / 1.17 WHIP finally regressed (progressed?) to the mean with a move to 3.78 / 1.27. Keep up the bad pitching.
Blogmate Grey has fallen to 8th place. Ha ha…you don’t suck!
The team fielded by the blog formally known as GOTOS – now FantasyPhenoms – is suffering from a roster full of benchwarmers. Stop spending so much time on your fancy new blog and pick up some every day players. Their team’s 14 HR boosts to 31 HR because of the minimum-AB penalties. (BTW, here’s an interesting rank of pitchers they did – a little stat wonky but good.)
And in last place, our occasional contributor Lou and his Defunct Baseball Lab. Defunct indeed. I think you have to spend less time writing about great fantasy baseball players and start reading my Razzball Spotlights!
It’s been a while since I went through all the major league closers and their setup men and where they should be ranked. So I figured I’d break it down for you because knowing all the closers and all of their setup man could be helpful for all of you. A million dollars and a naked Christina Ricci chained to your furnace could also be helpful, but I don’t have a furnace. Anyway, all the major league closers and their setup men seems like something all fantasy baseball players could use, so here it is. BTW, do you see how giving I am? I’m like Jolie-giving. Seriously, I should be wearing a habit and carrying a Malaysian orphan in a baby sling while talking on my solar-powered cellphone.
NO-BRAINERS
This tier is filled with a bunch of no-brainers (Papelbon — a no-brainer! Get it? Oofa!). These closers could get you the most in any trade. I would not hesitate to trade away any of these guys for the right price. In the end, closers are here to get you saves. You could end up with more saves from Rauch than Joe Nathan. When stacked with closers, unstack and trade.
1. Jonathan Papelbon, BOS (Hideki Okajima) 2. Joe Nathan, MIN (Matt Guerrier, Dennys Reyes) 3. Francisco Rodriguez, LAA (Justin Speier, Scot Shields) 4. Mariano Rivera, NYY (Joba Chamberlain) 5. Billy Wagner, NYM (Aaron Heilman) 6. Brad Lidge, PHI (Tom Gordon) 7. Takashi Saito, LAD (Jonathan Broxton)
BRAINERS
These closers seem like they have a lot more risk than they actually do. It takes a real brainer to see how potentially valuable some of these brainers are. If you trade a no-brainer for a brainer and another player, you’re likely coming out on top.
8. Joakim Soria, KAN (Ramon Ramirez, Leo Nunez) 9. Francisco Cordero, CIN (David Weathers) 10. Jon Rauch, WAS (Luis Ayala) 11. Bobby Jenks, CHW (Scott Linebrink, Octavio Dotel) 12. Brandon Lyon, ARI (Tony Pena, Chad Qualls) 13. Trevor Hoffman, SDG (Heath Bell, Cla Meredith) 14. Jose Valverde, HOU (Doug Brocail) 15. Brian Fuentes, COL (Manny Corpas, Taylor Buchholz) 16. J.J. Putz, SEA (Brandon Marrow, Sean Green) 17. Matt Capps, PIT (Damaso Marte) 18. Brian Wilson, SAN (Tyler Walker) 19. Kevin Gregg, FLA (Renyel Pinto) 20. Kerry Wood, CHC (Bob Howry, Carlos Marmol) 21. George Sherrill, BAL (Bunch of Schmohawks)
BRAIN FREEZE
At some point soon, you’re going to squeeze your temples and grimace like you just ate a pint of Dreyer’s. All of these guys should be traded after they go on a string of few saved games, assuming they go on a string of a few saved games.
22. Huston Street, OAK (Keith Foulke, Joey Devine) 23. Troy Percival, TAM (Dan Wheeler, Al Reyes) 24. B.J. Ryan, TOR (Scott Downs) 25. Manny Acosta, Rafael Soriano, Blaine Boyer, et al, ATL (John Smoltz) 26. Rafael Betancourt/Masa Kobayashi, CLE (Joe Borowski) 27. Todd Jones, DET (Clay Rapada, Aquilino Lopez, Fernando Rodney) 28. Eric Gagne, MIL (Salomon Torres, G. Mota) 29. C.J. Wilson, TEX (Eddie Guardado, Joaquin Benoit) 30. Ryan Franklin/Russ Springer, STL (Jason Isringhausen)
