Member that first game J.P. Arencibia had in the big leagues? He went 4-for-5 with 2 homers. It was like the second coming of Johnny Bench. Then he was Johnny Benched for multiple games because the Kays were trying to help Buck inflate his free agent value — or he had nudie pics of Gaston — and Arencibia went 1-for-30 the rest of the season. With Buck taking his hustle somewhere else for 2011, it should be Arencibia’s job to lose. Or loose, if lose and loose confuse you. If Arencibia could hit for more average, he could challenge Wieters, Posey and Carlos Santana for value. My thought is, he won’t. So what can we expect for J.P. Arencibia in 2011 fantasy baseball?
In the minors, Arencibia’s OBP was wonky at times. I don’t think he’s going to come out of the gate unwonky. With each new level he was promoted to, his K-rate jumped. 2011 will be an adjustment year. At least for the better part of it. You know who Arenicbia reminds me of? Of course you don’t. I haven’t said it yet. He reminds me of Napoli. Arencibia will have strikeouts, a low average and a ton of homers (for a catcher). Sounds like a “Yes, please and thank you,” to me. He could be my last round of a draft catcher du jour in March. What’s the worst that happens? He goes 0-for-70 in March and you walk into a Kinko’s, photocopy your face and throw darts at yourself. No! You pick up someone else. The best is, he gets 5 homers in April, you Ron Popeil him and end up with 20 homers on the year with an unattractive average. I gave him the projections of 40/15/55/.240 in the top 20 catchers for 2011 fantasy baseball. But that could easily turn into 50/20/65/.255. That’s the kind of line that looks awfully ‘just okay’ right now, but at catcher you’ll take it out to dinner and hope it kisses you goodnight.
