This post is not going to get into drafting strategy because Grey has already got that lined up so well and in such alignment with what I’d do, it’s not worth repeating. Plus deep leagues usually don’t have a change to their pitching format so you don’t need pitcher pairings like you need SS pairings. Madison Bumgarner will be the first pitcher I draft this year with how ADP shakes out and I hope to find Anibal Sanchez as well as Jordan Zimmermann on my team along with him. I’m jumping straight to the do’s and don’ts and situations. You don’t like it? Don’t read it (though I secretly want you to).
Please, blog, may I have some more?
Author: Oregon Nut Cups
Razzball Contributor since 2012. Currently the main writer/editor for football.razzball.com as well as contributor for Razzball Fantasy Baseball under the author name 'Sky' cuz I'm one of those frickin' hippies.
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I have a secret to share with you (You: ‘Despite being the producer of Entourage, you still call Mark Wahlberg Marky Mark?’‘ Me: ‘Yes, but that wasn’t the secret I was referring to’). My secret is 2B is chalk full of value plays this year. There were so many overvalued players going into 2011 that busted, we’re left to buy low on multiple candidates this year. A look over at Mock Draft Central tells me that a guy that gave us 21/16 and a bad average last year is worth 7 rounds less than a guy that went 21/17 with a bad average. We’re talking about Kelly Johnson (ADP: 236) vs Danny Espinosa (ADP: 148). That’s crazy glazed with a WTF and garnished with an LOL. I can only guess having a girl’s name is the reason for the price tag difference. In a perfect draft, I have Dan Uggla on my team and am taking either Johnson or Espinosa but would settle for a BA friendly Brandon Phillips over Uggla in that situation as well. Because of the depth, I’m most likely avoiding the top tier 2Bs unless they fell to me.
Please, blog, may I have some more?First off, you can thank Keanu Reeves for the idea of this post. I somehow watched the entirety of Little Buddha a long time ago and one line truly comes back to me from that movie over and over again when I begin ranking players for myself or trying to find value in drafts or in trade targets: The path is in the middle way. The line can be seen at about the 3:00 mark here in all it’s hairy, emaciated Keanu glory. It’s a reminder that baseball, much like life, takes a long time to play out. A player isn’t proven bad or good by a week, a month, or even a year of play. Underlying skill sets can be reached or breached to the over or under but it still does not change the underlying player themselves. Now snatch these pebbles from my hand, young grasshopper and we’ll begin the article…no I said from my hand, grasshopper. Unless of course I’ve somehow stumbled into the doctor’s office and need to turn my head and cough. If so, my insurance better cover this. Cue abrupt and awkward segue!
Please, blog, may I have some more?First off, the story of Chris Capuano is just great. Three years after getting seriously hurt, he was back in the big leagues in 2010, doing his thing. But I’m not giving him the Greydar pub because he is a great story, it’s because he’s so cheap. No, not like splits the tab with you on a first date and makes you pay more fare for the taxi because you live farther away cheap. I’m talking about going behind Miguel Tejada according to Mock Draft Central and being the 97th pitcher off the board according to Fleaflicker cheap.
Please, blog, may I have some more?This one goes out to the guy – one of the three TB fans that can actually be seen at a game – who was holding up the sign ‘Free Russ Canzler!’ last year. You didn’t see that sign? Yeah I didn’t either, mainly because it wasn’t there but since I don’t have cable I can’t verify that. Can someone please tell me why a team that has been in the playoffs for 3 of the last 4 years doesn’t get more people at the actual ballpark without offering a Zimbear? But back to what I had to say, Canzler was never going to see the light of day in Tampa Bay (How about I just go eat some hay.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Ok, this one feels like I’m cheating. First off, I tell you I don’t like having to buy him as a backup for my 3Bs and now I’m telling you to pay attention to him. Not to mention he is technically not going outside the top 300 ADP on mockdraftcentral as of right now. Ok now that I’ve listed all the reasons I’m a downright hypocrite, this has to be the cheapest 3B,2B, soon to be SS in ESPN leagues player that should be a lock for .280 10/15 with 450 ABs with room for more power and speed in a very solid lineup. There seems to be this strange belief that Nick Punto is somehow going to eat into his at-bats at SS this year. Really? If the Red Sox were that concerned with their defense, they could bring up their homegrown Rey Ordonez - Jose Iglesias – and move on. Nick was brought around to be a utility player on an older team. He’ll most likely be used when someone gets hurt, as a late defensive replacement or just to be a little Punto (spanish puns! ¡Muy bien!). Mike Aviles is going around 278 ADP so you don’t have to be jumping out of the gates to get him in a standard league. In deep league formats that play more than one at each infield position, Mike Aviles on your bench is a huge asset as he can fill in for days off and injuries to your main lineup. Plus if you draft Zack Cozart and he’s a bust, you have a great consolation prize in Aviles to back him up.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Alright, so mockdraftcentral still has Allen Craig (or as I like to call him, Craig Allen because he has two first names and it’s just confusing) in their 300 ADP, and he’s getting drafted at a 61.5% clip. This wouldn’t seem like someone who’s flying under any radars, Grey or not. However, they also have Jorge Posada drafted in 15.8% of leagues so let’s just realize there are some people who need corks on their forks out there who only draft players because they saw them in the World Series that one time. Unfortunately, one of those Ruprechts out there might be lucking into a very valuable season. I’m veering off the unbeaten path back onto the beaten to feature him because I see someone who is 2B eligible in yahoo leagues that could conceivably hit you 18 to 20 HRs with 450 at-bats. Even discounting his 2011 line, you might stumble into a .280 average with 70 RBIs. If you’re willing to draft Chase Utley or Rickie Weeks in the 7th round, I don’t see how you can’t like the idea of getting similar counting stats from the 20th round on down minus the steals.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Ok, so you’re going to ask yourself ‘has Razzball turned into a Perez Hilton site?’ Why should you care that Jonathan Niese got a nose job because Carlos ‘Ricky’ Beltran made fun of him? At first, I didn’t really care either but then I learned a bit more about the procedure from this article:
Niese said he has always had trouble breathing through his nose, which he felt hindered him during cardiovascular exercise…The doctor conducted a scan that showed Niese’s nasal passageways were obstructed, but that they could be reconstructed to facilitate airflow…The difference in his breathing now, Niese said, is like “night and day.”
Alright, so he can jazzercise a bit longer than he could before and doesn’t have to wear breathe right strips to do it. Good for him. But then I started doing a little investigating into his splits and found some interesting numbers with regards to his first 4 innings of work. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2010, his first inning through the fourth inning has given him a 3.87 ERA to go with a 3.85 K:BB ratio, good for an 8.48 K/9. Meanwhile, his work in the 5th and 6th innings left him at a 4.65 ERA to go with a 1.40 K:BB ratio and a 6.25 K/9. Even if we can reasonably expect a pitcher to wear down by the 6th inning, those K:BB ratios are quite drastic.
Please, blog, may I have some more?I’ll start an article about Wilin Rosario by talking about Ramon Hernandez just to spite you. Here’s the amount of games Ramon has played by season since 2007: 106, 133, 81, 97, 91. Unlike Benjamin Button, Ramon has actually gotten older over those 5 years and will be 36 in May. So we are putting an aging catcher who can’t stay healthy behind the plate in Colorado and slapping an ADP tag of 259 on it? BTW, that’s ahead of catchers like Carlos Ruiz, A.J.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Say ‘Tony Campana in Centerfield’. Now say it again, only this time with an Antonio Banderas accent, a la Puss in Boots. There was no reason for any of that, I just want to see how many people will now get that stuck in their head every time they read his name.
Please, blog, may I have some more?