These guys are ON FIRE…will they stay hot?
Asdrubal Cabrera – Cabrera’s been having a tremendous season. His 11 HR’s on the year are nearly double his previous career high of 6 HR, and his .306 batting average is almost 20 points higher than his .287 career line.
Please, blog, may I have some more?B.J. Upton (162-game pace: 88 runs, 24 HRs, 95 RBIs, 25 SBs)
In 2003, Bossman Junior was the 21st ranked prospect in all the land. Before the 2004 season, he rose up to the number two position (behind Joe Mauer). By the end of that season, Upton had played 69 games at AAA, posting a .311/.411/.519 line.
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These guys are ON FIRE…will they stay hot?
Carlos Beltran – Coming into the season, not much was expected of Carlos Beltran. He had spent the majority of the 2009 and 2010 seasons on the DL, and as an aging center fielder, the outlook wasn’t good.
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The other day I looked at the pitchers that were getting lucky for fantasy baseball. Today, we hold that up to the mirror and see how the other half lives. You know, the losers that should be winners. The Jon Cryer’s of the world. Or is he just a loser? How about these guys are the Ronald Miller’s? They’re going to go from total geek to total chic. These pitchers are either not leaving men on base at a normal rate and/or they’re giving up hits like there’s 7 Pat Burrells fielding behind them. They couldn’t get lucky with a bottle of Rumplemintz and Lindsay Lohan. But that could all change. Anyway, here’s a list of pitchers with the biggest difference between their xFIP and their ERA.
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In 2006, at 22, Alex Gordon played 130 AA games in the Texas League. He went .325/.427/.588 with 29 HRs, 39 doubles and 22 steals. He also struck out 113 times in 130 games.
The Royals were impressed; the following year they invited Gordon up for an extended cup of coffee that would last three years.
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In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I won’t mention it again because I don’t know what it means other than most bars have deals on tequila shots. What I will talk about is the pitchers that are getting lucky thus far according to their xFIP. If you don’t know what the xFIP I’m talking about. Read the following: xFIP — stands for Expected Fielding Independent Pitching. It’s basically ERA without those pesky fielders helping or hurting you. It’s a pure ERA. It’s like when you go to the Supercuts and then you don’t want to shower for like 2 weeks because you’ll never get your hair styled again like Jeffrey does it. It’s your hair right after Jeffrey styles it and before you wash it. That’s xFIP. Okay, so let’s take a Exhibit A pitcher, who has an ERA of 2.75, but his xFIP is a 6.75. A -4.00 difference. That means he’s been very lucky and there’s a good chance his ERA is going to go way up. So here’s a list of pitchers with the biggest difference between their actual ERAs and their xFIPs for the first month or so of the fantasy baseball season.
Please, blog, may I have some more?
These guys are ON FIRE…will they stay hot?
Ben Zobrist – He has been a sort of “super-sub” who’s managed to get a full season’s worth of at-bats over the past couple of seasons. His usefulness has been derived mostly from his flexibility, as he currently qualifies at 1B, 2B, and OF.
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BABIP is Batting Average on Balls In Play. And they sometimes lie, even if Shakira sang, BABIPs Don’t Lie. BABIP is a quick way to know how much luck a hitter is having. There’s more to it, but for the purposes of this, a high BABIP for a hitter and it means the hitter could hit a bloop single just over the pitcher’s head with the infield drawn in. Below .200 and the hitter could hit a line drive into the Grand Canyon and it would get caught by Alice on the back of a mule. Then there’s HR/FB%, which is a quick way to know if a hitter is hitting more home runs than what makes sense for that player’s amount of fly balls. Then there’s LD%, which is the percentage of hits that are line drives. Line drives are usually a sign of solid contact aka a player is hitting the ball hard. Finally, K% or the percentage a hitter Ks. So why all the fancy acronyms? Is it just gas for your inevitable brain fart? Nah, we’re going to see if there’s any hitters out there that are being sucky because they’re unlucky or unsucky because they’re lucky. Anyway, here’s some hitters that have been lucky or unlucky so far for fantasy baseball:
Jorge Posada – His line drive rate is off the charts terrible-slash-everything he hits is a fly ball. So the BABIP of .081 is egregiously low, it might only get up to .220. Meaning Posada’s average will come up but it’s not going above .240.
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Just to clear my head the other day, I threw on some bicycle shorts, jumped in my El Dorado and went for a spin. Cause that’s how guys with a ‘stache roll. If you didn’t know, know you do. Consider yourself informed. As I was rocking out to some Don Henley, I was thinking back on some guys that helped me win leagues last year. John Axford – Thanks, Ax-Man! CarGo, you DaMan! All She Wants To Do Is Dance DANCE!
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ADD is Attention Deficit Drops and you have no idea how this sentence will end because you’re already reading the comments. You drafted Jay Bruce and traded him for Shaun Marcum. You’re glad Ryan Raburn has 2nd base eligibility so you can trade away Kinsler. If Greinke doesn’t return within a week, you’re dropping him for Freddy Garcia. You’re trigger finger is itching and only Willie Bloomquist can scratch it. You’re also potentially losing your league in April.
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