Jon Williams of Advanced Fantasy Baseball was the host this past week of Fantasy Roundtable. We like him here because his Blogger profile image has this kind of ‘Aw yeah’ quality that jives with both Grey’s and my avatars.
Anyway, here’s the question:
What is your favorite source or method of uncovering sleepers?
Enjoy…
Which one is Peter Gammons? You make the call… (They are best played simultaneously.)
I already did the catchers, 2nd basemen, shortstops, 3rd basemen, outfielders and starters to target for 2009 fantasy baseball. I skipped the 1st basemen on purpose because I don’t think you should be taking a flier on 1st basemen. You need some anchors for your hitting. Then someone commented yesterday asking for the 1st basemen to target and the course of Razzball history was changed forever, like when Marty got into that DeLorean. I haven’t changed my mind that you shouldn’t be taking a flier on a 1st basemen, but sometimes things are out of your control or you need a corner man or a Utility guy. This is a supplement to the top 20 1st basemen of 2009 fantasy baseball. If you’re feeling especially industrious, click on the players name to read more about them or to see their 2009 projections. Anyway, here’s some 1st basemen to target for 2009 fantasy baseball:
Chris Duncan – Colby Rasmus has moved above him on the depth charts, but I think Duncan still gets 300 ABs and nears 20 HRs. Unless LaRussa doesn’t want anyone coaching his pitching staff. Dave Duncan, “Muahahahahahahaha…” Pause. Duncan, “And you know that!”
Mike Jacobs – He’ll probably hit .250 and batting in the Royals order will do him no favors, but he could hit 30 HRs and have one of those lucky BABIP years and end up hitting .275. Though I wouldn’t team him up with a Dunn, Krispie or Uggla-type.
Casey Kotchman – Kendry Morales minus 3 home runs.
Kendry Morales – Casey Kotchman plus 3 home runs. See how that worked.
James Loney – Is he that different than Conor Jackson? Rhetorical!
Paul Konerko – Konerko hit 9 HRs in the month of September last year. ZIPS has him for 25 HRs, hitting .269 in 502 ABs. That seems doable. He had a very unlucky 2008 with injuries and BABIP. He’s only 33; he just seems like a non-Latin 45.
Nick Swisher – I wouldn’t shy away from Swisher because of projected playing time. I think he takes the job from Nady when Nady’s exploited for not being what he was last year. The bigger issue with Swisher is he might hit .235.
Billy Butler – Bust can refer to Butler’s major league career thus far or his moobs. I haven’t talked that much about Butler thus far in 2009. Potential for 20 HRs and a .300 average. He’s crushing the ball so far in spring training. Exciting, huh? Yeah, he crushed the ball in spring training last year and ended up demoted to the minors on May 29th. He’s still very young so we shouldn’t write him off as a March-only hitter. (George Steinbrenner once referred to Dave Winfield as Mr. May because of his early season exploits. What’s someone called who only hits well in spring training? Mr. Grapefruit. He’s not just hot. He’s not just red hot. He’s ruby red hot!) For this year with Billy Butler, I think Mr. Grapefruit can carry his tart sweetness into the regular season and not turn sour.
Who Knew? Apparently, everyone. I may have been the only one rooting for Aaron Heilman; Lou definitely was not. Well, open that window and throw Heilman out. Sean Marshall has been named the Cubs fifth starter. As I said somewhere in the comments in the last couple of days, I like whoever comes away with the 5th starter job for the Cubs. They’re gonna win games. Know what I mean, Paula Dean? But what can we actually expect from Sean Marshall? Well, let’s put it this way since we’re talking about the Cubbies. I’d prefer to have Sean Marshall on my fantasy team for where he’s going to be drafted compared to Carlos Zambrano, Ted Lilly, Rich Harden or Ryan Dempster. From Marshall, you should expect a low 4 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP and decent Ks. As with any fifth starter, Sean “Puffy” Marshall may get skipped on occasion, but he’ll also face off against lower tier starters potentially helping him with wins. Anyway, here’s what else I saw yesterday in spring training for fantasy baseball:
Chris Getz – We move over to the South Side and stay with the Chi-Town theme. Getz will be the starting 2nd baseman gig for The Pale Hose. He’ll probably bat 9th or 1st depending on the breeze that is circulating through Ozzie’s office. Unlike Marshall, I don’t get Getz. If he gets 500 ABs, maybe he reaches 7 HRs and 10 SBs. If you’re thinking those numbers look a lot like Kelly Johnson, you wouldn’t be too far off. Only Getz could hurt you in average as well as RBIs and Runs if he bats ninth. In AL-Only leagues and deep leagues, I could see you looking, but the league would need to be Cousteau deep. For what it’s worth, ZIPS likes him more giving him about 10/12 and .275 (they only gave him 393 ABs, so I’m projecting their stats up). I think you’ll be miserable if you own him.
Chris Perez – Sticking with the newly-established Chris theme, Perez was shutdown. This seals the deal on him not opening the season as the Cards closer. Jason Motte and Ryan Franklin are still battling it out. I think it goes into the season with those two sharing duties until one guy pulls away. If one guy pulls away. Motte has better stuff, so he’s more attractive. Franklin has seniority, so LaRussa does what he do.
John Lannan – Will be the Nats opening day starter. I sure hope his family can get seats!
Marlon Byrd – Hit his first home run of the spring. I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating. If Byrd and Murphy do a righty/lefty split, they could produce 20/20 numbers in a daily league platoon.
Francisco Cordero – Coco Cordero is looking like Coco B. Ware. Maybe he’s favoring his ankle, maybe he’s just trying to give you agita. He’s still very much the closer. All he needs to do is turn in one solid performance and he’ll be deemed fine. Well, one solid performance not followed by two lousy outings.
John Danks – 17/4 K/BB this spring. As I said in my starters to watch, Danks is one of the few AL pitchers I’d look at late in mixed leagues.
Josh Outman – Recognize, aptronym! Unrecognize, A’s starter. Recognize, there’s five seats on the A’s rotation bus and everyone that can throw a baseball is playing musical chairs. Unrecog– Oh, forget it. Outman’s pitching well in spring training.
Here at Razzball, besides doling out fantasy baseball advice, we also host a contest to field the worst fantasy baseball team. The worst fantasy baseball league signups are just about at capacity, but if you’re finding us late in the preseason, you might still be able to get in, or not. I really have no idea. That’s Rudy’s department. But I’m in one of these leagues, so I thought I’d share with you my fantasy baseball worst top 20 list. When I did my worst fantasy baseball rankings, it took far longer than for my other leagues. You literally have to change every single default ranking (except Howie Kendrick who was about 150 regularly and turned out to be about the same after reranking– there’s always one, I tell ya!). Just a few words about these schmohawks, catchers are all bad, excluding about 5 guys, so there’s no reason to grab a catcher early. But, even with that said, I couldn’t lower Kendall past 10th overall. He’s just too awfully good. Also, there were no pitchers in my top 75. Again, there are so many terribly terrific pitchers, it was hard to move Carlos Silva up. Though, I really wanted to. Finally, just because someone is in my best worst fantasy baseball top 20, it doesn’t mean I absolutely hate them. Steals aren’t counted, so Bourn, Taveras, etc. are invaluably bad. Anyway, here’s my fantasy baseball worst top 20:
