Fantasy Baseball Advice

The Fantasy Hurler breaks down what he thinks 2nd base is going to look like in ’08. Usually, the Hurler and I are pretty copasetic. This time, not such much. I like Cano. The Hurler makes some pretty valid points that are all wrong. He thinks Cano’s fleet-footed with little power and overrated because he plays in the Brawnx. Maybe they are valid? See his list here; stay for the other draft guides.

Brock For Broglio pointed out a very cool thing to me the other day. You can search Baseball-Reference using your search engine bar on your Firefox browser. Very cool.

Rotonomics broke down tiers for ’08 catchers. If you haven’t seen it, worth a look even if we disagree in places. They have Martin over Victor (Disagree). Either way, check it out and tell us how you think they did. Or tell them; don’t be shy.

Finally, Roger Clemens met his accuser today in front of Congress. (SPOILER ALERT!) Roger Clemens took steroids and is now lying about it.

Big news in New York this week. No, not the Giants. Morgan Ensberg signed with the Yankees. Let me ask you something, if you sign a player in the biggest media market and it makes no noise, are you still signing a player? The Pinstripes Daily blog has a post on this that gets right to the heart of the matter, “Worse version of Giambi.” Effects on fantasy? In deep leagues maybe someone might pick him up off waivers, but let’s hope you’re not that desperate.

Just out of Spring Training there was word that so and so is “losing weight” from his “new exercise regimen” and he’s “finally back from last season’s injury.” Just in time to “work on his new pitch.” You probably recognize these as the tried and true Spring Training clichés. Tim over at RotoAuthority has a whole list. Check it out; it’s funny, cause it’s true.

Is Richie Sexson a Razzball All-Star or a mediocre hitter with a looping swing that will hit .230 or are those the same two things? We’ve gone over before what you should do with Sexson, discard. The hopeful people over at The Seattle Mariners blog have middling hopes for Sexson and by middling, obviously, I mean optimistic. If he hits .250 over 500 at-bats, you still don’t want him on your team. If you don’t know why, check out what our very own Rudy Gamble says.

The handsomely knowing (or is it knowingly handsome?) Bob Taylor over at Fantasy Hurler put together a list of Beasts and Busts for 2008. Can’t say I agree with some of his choices, cause I actually agree with all of his choices. If he read my mind, I’d like to know what I ate for lunch yesterday, because I can’t remember for the life of me. Was it tuna? As stated in earlier posts on this site, Pujols is coming back, Alex Gordon is going to be special, Hanley might lay a turd the size of Lichtenstein, and Ryan Braun is so overhyped he might be coming around to underhyped now.

The Sox and Pinstripes blog, which manages to balance the Yanks and the Sox all under one blog, takes a look at the opening month of ’08 for the Sox. They open in Japan (I wonder if Dice K’s translator gets a paid vacation) against the A’s then take on contender after contender and the Rangers.

People over at the Brew Crew Ball quote Fox Sports’ on Ryan Braun moving to the outfield with the addition of Mike Cameron. The Brewers this offseason said to George Mitchell, “Here’s spit in your eye.” Gagne, Cameron, Mota… Maybe they can coax Canseco out of retirement?

Over in Sun Devil territory, the Arizona Republic reports that Brandon Lyon is the leading candidate for D-backs saves with Tony Pena available for one or more innings. This makes sense, since rarely the best pitcher is the one chosen to close games. Obviously, this is not the final say on this. I think Lyon or Pena could work, and when drafting a Diamondbacks closer, you may have to take both. Lyon could get 25 saves and Pena 15. Or vice versa.

The Cardinals’ Blog, Viva El Birdos, do an excellent job of breaking down Matt Clement projections. I love Matt Clement as much as the next guy, which is to say slightly more than Livan Hernandez and way more than Kip Wells, but the rotator cuff surgery is tough one to return from. In an NL-only league, I would bid on him. Could get you 100Ks and a four and a half ERA in a little over twenty games. In a mixed league, you have to pass.

A Rays fansite (Now, quiet, they have a few fans. (And, sorry to do a parenthesis inside a parenthesis, but I just wanted to point out I was gonna do that super-snarky thing when a blogger crosses out a word, but you can still read it, but I don’t know how to do strike-throughs. Alas…)) talks about how BROKEN LINKTroy Percival will allow Al Reyes to pitch the 8th inning.(Think this blog threw in the towel. Can’t understand why a Rays fan would do that.) Which is completely true (not that someone wrote that, but that it appears Percy will be the closer), but my question is why. As in, why don’t the Rays want to compete? Reyes was perfectly fine last year. Sure, he wore out as the season progressed, but don’t the Rays have a few more, ahem, fish to fry than signing a closer that retired already? First, they trade away Delmon Young, who could be feasting on major league pitching by as soon as this year, for Matt Garza. Yes, good pitching beats good hitting. We see it every All-Star game and every October. Yes, the Rays’ staff needs help, but Delmon looked like the real deal. Garza, I have my questions about. They could have gotten more. Second, they pick a closer off a scrap heap, to replace the other scrap-heaper. Unbelievable. I think the Rays are trying to pull a Chapter 11 deal like the Marlins. What is with Florida teams?

Over at a Sawx site, they discuss what Manny being Manny might be this year. Supposedly, Gammons has word that Manny’s hitting the weights. I say, Manny’s having Big Papi explain to him how Netflix works, but that’s me. I stand by what I wrote last month about Manny in 2008, but take a gander at what someone else thought.

Over at a Mets site, they talk about giving Pelfrey the ball every fifth day. I completely agree. He showed real promise in September. Not to mention, as the Mets rotation is starting to look, he might be the number two man. Santana for Reyes? Nah, but they better get Santana for someone(s).