The trade deadline passed in standard leagues. It’s just over. I feel like I’ve had an awesome couple of months talking to and hanging out with a girl, only to hang out with her, have an amazing night, and then find one unbelievably annoying thing about her and call everything off. It had to happen, but it still hurts. “Just try this. No, it’s not gross… it’s good. Of course the chef cooked it fine. No, it’s not going to kill you. Well how the hell do you know you don’t like if you’ve never tried it? People eat it all the time and they’re fine. Just go away. No, you’re stupid. Yes, you are stupid. No I’m not stupid, you are stupid.” Then you curse at her, she indignantly bails, and you’re left sitting there with what seems to be your pinky up your anus, a full check to pay, and some food that does actually look pretty bad. Hopefully you made your moves when you had your chance — that is, hopefully you listened to sha boi and are reaping the dividends. If not, there’s still hope, although I hate you a little. Not all keepers are acquired at the trade deadline or during a draft, but that’s obvious. At this point, we need to look at some small/disappointing/untrusted names that could pop from now until game-162, and who could see their stock skyrocket before the end of the season — we need to look at the guys we should pick up now so we can have them next year at value. Get it? Yes, you do. Know that old adage, “you’re only as good as your last game?” Well, it’s really stupid, but applies here. The ends of seasons have huge impacts on perceived value.
Quick note: so I appeal to more people, and so you’re not looking at me (my writing) and saying “HAY, I KAYNT HAFF HEEM. HE’S AWLRADDY TAYKEN,” I’ll limit it to guys who are owned in less than 50% of ESPN leagues.
Don’t you love when writers choose arbitrary end-points and cite a guy’s stats since that end-point to prove their point? The end. Well, since June 18, Mike Moustakas is hitting a flat .300, has six homers in 151 PAs (that’s about 24 homers in a full year, fellers), and has an .844 OPS. That is, he’s kind of showing the power and decent-average capability that we — or at least I — expected in the beginning of the year. Remember this? Am I setting myself up for more disappointment? I say no!
Even including his slumps, he only has 52 strikeouts on the year, so the skill’s there. His BAbip since that June 18 deadline is in the low 300s, but for the year it’s still at .245 — it was brutal for a while. And after popping up like a psychopath to begin the year, he’s now lowered that percentage to the lowest of his three-year career — 20% IF/FB.
That’ll be you if you pick him up guys! Hitting homers!
Grab him, he’s free.
I had just picked him up on Monday and told myself that if he homers I’ll call that girl back and apologize about the food incident. He did, and I did, but she didn’t pick up, so I watched the rest of the Angels game with Jill instead.
Calhoun’s got decent speed, decent pop, and a really good approach. He has good K/BB ratios in the Minors for his career and, albeit in a weak system, started this year as the #5 prospect in the Angels’ system.
The only question is whether or not he’ll get the playing time once/if/ever Peter Bourjos returns. With Bourjos, Mike Trout, and Josh Hamilton in the outfield and Mark Trumbo at first, Calhoun should see everyday at-bats for the rest of 2013, especially with the Angels’ goal to go young ROS.
He’s hot already, so I’d ride him while we’re figuring out who he really is.
Don’t scoff, at least not yet. Please stop.
Crawford, at age 26—ya know, the year before “peak” — has improved his BAbip via a higher line-drive rate, has increased his contact rate, has decreased how often he swings at pitches outside the zone, has increased his HR/FB% to an average rate, and has decreased his strikeout rate.
It’d be really tough to keep him in a league where keepers are scarce, but if you’re in one of those leagues that keeps entire rosters, I’d keep my eye on him — he’s even batting second tonight — to see if he can regain that early-2013 magic.
Please stop laughing.
LOL, kidding. Oh, you stopped laughing?
Have you ever realized that guys like Gordon can’t hit? Can’t steal first base, brah.
He’s expected to be kind of awesome — he was everyone’s “sleeper” pick (makes no sense) before his UCL problems. If he’s the first player of all time to beat UCL problems without TJ, Eaton’s still got awesome on-base skills and speed — the guy had 44 steals with a .456 OBP in a mix of double- and triple-A last year.
He’s struggling huge coming off his injury, and he’s in a packed outfield, but he was slated to be the Opening Day center fielder for Arizona coming into 2013, and that’s what he’ll be in the beginning of 2014. Kubel’s only signed through 2013, so the OF won’t be as crowded.
Even struggling as much as he is, he’s still got an OBP 96 points higher than his batting average — he’ll spark Arizona at some point this year, will get those SBs climbing (Parra sucks, too, and is 7/16 in stolen-base attempts) and will find his stock climbing once again going into next year.
Grab him, and hope that UCL isn’t a problem.
Follow sha boi on Twitter @TerseRazzball so he can feel important. Let him know names you’d like him to write about, and let him know funny jokes so he can laugh. Peace and loff.
