The reason for this fantasy baseball bounce back candidate is simple. If he doesn’t pitch well, the real life baseball team is in trouble (barring a trade). Last year, A.J. Burnett pitched like everyday was Monday and Thursday, because that’s when my garbage gets picked up. The days could vary in your local area, check when your significant other yells at you to take yours out. Burnett was awful, and there have been stories abound about family distractions. I believe his wife got a second opinion on some plumbing. His K/9 of 6.99 was at its lowest since 2001, which is crazy forever in fantasy worlds and his first full season in the land of cups of coffee. I don’t think that repeats itself.
Please, blog, may I have some more?2011 Fantasy Baseball Draft
Grey and I were invited back for Yahoo’s most prestigious expert league – the Yahoo! Friends & Family League (the other Yahoo!-sponsored leagues we’re in include acquaintances and hoi polloi). The league has 14 teams consisting of 7 Yahooligans, 3 guys from Rotowire.com, 2 from Hardball Times, and one from Wall Street Journal and Razzball (two sites with a ton of audience overlap).
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These are the leading hitters in the major leagues for April. Do I think every hitter does the same thing every year? No, I don’t. But hitters do tend to follow patterns. If these players were good in April last year, there’s at least a chance they will be good this year. Also, as I went over in this spring training stats post, just because a hitter isn’t hitting in March doesn’t preclude a big April. Anyway, here’s some top fantasy baseball hitters for the month of April:
Adrian Gonzalez – 22 homers pre-ASB in 2008, 24 homers in 2009, 18 homers in 2010. Just wait until A-Gon starts getting crap in September and October for not being “clutch.” Yeah, I put douchey quotes around a word, sue me.
Please, blog, may I have some more?So I participated in a 20 team, 5×5 draft (C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, 3 OFs, UTIL, 2 SPs, 2 RPs, 3 Ps, 4 Bench slots) recently because Grey was watching the Oscars instead (Um, Tivo?). I came away hating the time I had to wait between picks but also that my queue was being raided worse than an adventure with Short Round.
Please, blog, may I have some more?We’re gonna try and turn over a new, positive leaf here at Razzball. No longer are we going to sing the blues when one of our favorites doesn’t make the team. We’re gonna emoticon all over your face for someone else. That other person just happens to be the guy replacing Mike Minor in the rotation. Three ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to introduce to you, Mr.
Please, blog, may I have some more?A Spanish woman, dressed in black, just pedaled past my house, chanting, “Luis Castillo no es Manny Trillo…Luis Castillo no es Manny Trillo…Luis Castillo… Oh shoot, I ripped my stockings!” It was totally sad. Kinda like when your best buddy, let’s call him Chase Utley, gets old man knee and the Phillies replace him with Luis Castillo. Luis Castillo would be good for my pre-All-Star Game contest where him and Juan Pierre have a home run contest and the gopher ball-happy Rodrigo Lopez is pitching. Just think of how few back’s we’d have to hear from Berman. There’s nothing as far as fantasy goes with Castillo. Even if objects appear closer in the side view, you still can’t see Castillo’s best days. To give you an idea of how terrible he is, the Mets released him. Long story short, he’s useless in any league where there are other starting 2Bs available. This Castillo signing does spell further doom for Utley. You really can’t draft him at this point. Also, my giant ostrich head has been in the sand too long with Howard. No Utley hurts him. I’m dropping him eight spots in the 2011 fantasy baseball rankings to right behind A-Rod. I would still draft him, but you can’t expect 115 RBIs or 95 runs at this point. Well, you can, but people might start to worry about you. Anyway, here’s some more news in fantasy baseball:
Johnny Cueto – Will miss 10 days or more with shoulder inflammation. Looks like Jason LaRue’s voodoo doll is finally working. This sounds like Cueto is going to miss at least a few weeks of the season. Obviously, not a great sign, but before we take Cueto to the mattresses for getting injured we should tempurpedic our concern. It’s a long season and he had a 5+ ERA last April and you still drafted him this year. He gets better in the heat, just DL him once the Reds do.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Yahoo! Roto Arcade invited us back to be a part of their 14-team Head-to-Head ‘Pro-Am’ league. They were so anxious to get things started that the draft was scheduled for February 23rd. Something’s wrong when draft day is closer to Groundhog Day than Opening Day.
Please, blog, may I have some more?Kendrys Morales was so busy running to the DMV to change his name that he will not be ready for the start of the season. This will give Mark Trumbo an opportunity to get some April at-bats. You say ho-hum, I say ho-hmm. Did you see what I did there? DID YOU!? Yeah, I’m not sure either. Trumbo hit 36 home runs in 139 Triple-A games last year. Sure, that was in the PCL which is like hitting on the moon with an aluminum bat. Still, 36 homers is nothing to sneeze at unless you’re allergic to power, upside rookies. In most mixed leagues, Trumbo’s not worth stashing. But in deeper leagues, I’d absolutely take a flyer that Kendrys has a few more setbacks. I mean, it’s already taken him way too long to recover. Who knows? Maybe Trumbo will Pipp Kendry and mash his way into a regular job. BTW, with the switch from Kendry to Kendrys, it seems like the “s” that Alexis Rios dropped when he switched to Alex has finally appeared. Be interesting to see where the “i” shows up at. I’m guessing there’s going to be a new San Fran outfielder, Cody Rossi. Anyway, here’s what else is going on in fantasy baseball:
Scott Downs – Broke his toe. Downs goes… Um, Downs.
Please, blog, may I have some more?If you read Razzball, you know that we’re not afraid to criticize the rankings of ESPN and Yahoo!. You should also have realized by now that Grey and I don’t always agree on players.
Grey has his rankings based on watching a ton of games, poring through stats, fantasy acumen, and whimsy while my Point Shares rely on my cooked-up methodology (honed after a couple years) and various inputs that I’ve grown to trust (ZiPS, Marcel, FanGraph projections, Fantistics for playing time projections).
Please, blog, may I have some more?In opposite world, news that Andrew Bailey hurt himself comes as a complete shock. Here’s what I said in the top 20 closers for 2011 fantasy baseball, “Is it me or is this the news once a month for him, “Andrew Bailey has been cleared to start throwing.” Hey, Bailey, throw already!” And that’s me quoting me! Unfortunately, when Bailey is cleared to start throwing he leaves games with tightness in his forearm. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear Bailey will miss the season for more surgery as he’s off to see Dr.
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