Back in September, I said, “There’s so much to love about Fred Lewis. Let’s see… Power — check! Speed — check! A name that sounds like an 80′s sitcom character — check! I’ll take Fred Lewis in the center square for the win. Alas, Fred Lewis is about to undergo season-ending surgery on a foot bunion. (The operating podiatrist hopes his patented Toe, Hairy and Curly procedure will one day be as recognized as Tommy John surgery.) I still like Lewis for next year, but this is this year, fool!” And that’s me quoting me! Let’s see why I still like Fred Lewis as a 2009 fantasy sleeper.
Similarly to a wah-wah storyline from a bad sitcom, Fred Lewis was bothered by bunions for most of last year. It’s impossible to know how many bases Fred Lewis would’ve stole if not for the bunions, but I’m gonna guess more than the 21 he did steal. He also missed quite a few games with this chronic foot-to-path disease. It’s hard to say how many home runs he would’ve hit if he didn’t miss all of those games, but, like a foot, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say more than the 9 he did hit. Now that your expectations are soaring, I’m gonna knock them down a bit. With extra at-bats and less luck, Lewis probably won’t hit the .282 he hit last year. Cuz, see, his BABIP was a bit too high, even for a chop and run hitter. Also, he’s already 28 years old, last year (with extra games) is about as much as we can expect from him. I’d put Lewis’s 2009 fantasy projections at about 95/12/50/.270/25. Those are a bit optimistic, but they’re not fall off from some outfielders going much higher in 2009 drafts. Fred Lewis should be good, as long as he’s got these bunions beat — “Get your feet checked. You big dummy!”
Add Fred Lewis to sleeper list – check!
Check Fred Lewis’ feet…uh…check.
What freeks me out about Lewis is his name is a cross between Fred Rogers and Shari Lewis, so I can’t shake the image of him in a cardigan sweater with a sock puupet named “Lamb Chop” as he rounds the bases…I digress…
@Christopher: Ha!
I hear Fred Lewis and I picture Rerun from What’s Happening. I’m sure Dee would get a good one-liner in about his bunions – you might have bunions but your breath smells like Funyans!
I was waiting for the “Funyuns” reference! “bunions” sounds freakishly close to “funyuns”…
@Grey: I read somewhere that Lewis is penciled to hit 5th in the Giants lineup. Won’t that take a bite out of his SB total? I’ll pass.
Word out of SF’s camp is that Bochy wants to bat Lewis fifth (after Sandoval and Molina) to take advantage of his 20/20 potential, and that he has even considered slotting him fourth.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi f=/n/a/2009/02/21/sports/s180226S11.DTL
Change your thoughts at all with the likely damage to his R/SBs? I doubt he’ll hit lower than the projected .270. Before this move to the middle of the order, I thought he could be a Johnny Damon Lite that will probably be available on waivers in most leagues…
@Pops: @sean: Why would his SBs be cut?
Well, I think there’s no doubt that his runs would be down given SF’s anemic offense. I don’t have much confidence in Rowand, Ishikawa, Schierholtz, Burriss, or Velez to be knocking him in even if he does get on base.
Re: steals, he’ll have fewer ABs, fewer times on base, and weaker hitters with weaker bat skills in the box when he’s trying to steal. On top of that, his steal rate wasn’t all that great last year (21SB:7CS).
@sean: He said that he was battling bunions all last summer and he still stole 21. I’m not at all concerned about the steals. Runs would take a hit, but then he’d just get a few more RBIs. Due to the anemic offense on the Giants, he actually has much more potential. If he can stay healthy, there’s no reason why he can’t see 140+ games.
Fred Lewis was one of those wrestlers who you knew would lose cuz he had no costume or gimmick when he entered the ring to fight guys like Koko B Ware
@Doug Ault: You mean like Steve Lombardi? They’re called jobbers. It would be Lombardi and two other guys and they would take on Andre.
@Grey: That’s it, I’m kinda old school when it comes to wrestling,Johnny Powers was the one and only.
@Doug Ault: I enjoyed the stylings of the Baron von Raschke, but no one beat Superfly Jimmy Snuka.
@Grey: George “the Animal” Steele would eat Snuka’s turnbuckle.
“Hooogaaannn!!!!!!!!!!!”
@BigFatHippo: George “The Animal” Steele has a Master’s Degree and is available for public speaking engagements:
(http://www.georgetheanimalsteele.com/motivational-speaking.php)
@Grey & BigFatHippo: This reminds me of Frank Thomas’s press conf when he joined the Jays
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75z63Qk0FRY
@Doug Ault: Often imitated, never duplicated.
@Grey: Nothing says Wellness and Wealth like a zebra skin hanging on your wall.
I was an avid consumer of Pro Wrestling magazines in the late 70s BTW.
@Steve: I imagine you were a “purist” liking Backlund.
@Grey: Ha! I think I did prefer the good guys over the bad guys. Or the “scientific wrestlers” over the “rule-breakers”, which, if memory serves, how they were divided back in the day.
It’s possible I may have been taking it all a little too seriously. But c’mon – I was 11.
killer kowalski was no fish-eyed fool .
@Grey: Then of course, there was Apartment Wrestling…
@Steve: The “scientific wrestlers” were borrring. I liked the bleeders.
@big o: How dare you!
@Grey:
Heh, “battling bunyons.” Sounds like a good fantasy baseball team name.
It all started here Boyyyzzz, with Sam Muchnick.
http://wrestlingclassics.com/Merchant/agent.mv?AG=twiw&SC=CTGY&S=wc&C=STL
How’d we get on this anyway? I hate wrestling, unless it involves Jello or mud.
http://i40.tinypic.com/332xjwm.jpg
@GasTheObese: Grady’s my hero!!
@Fman99: I betcha the Fantasy Baseball Team Name Generator would come up with that one eventually.
@GasTheObese: I love you, GTO.
@GasTheObese: @Grey: I concur. That’s hilarious.
Grey, do you guys accept guest articles? Is there a way to send you a draft without posting it directly in a comment response?
Whats the odds manny goes to SF? Or do you think he’s going to LA?
@Fred Barker: Sure, we’ll consider it. Before writing it, pitch it to me at grey [at] razzball.com.
@Tony: If I were to bet on it, he’s going to LA.
Do you want me to pitch it via this comment option or ???
@Fred Barker: No, sorry, I meant email me at grey @ razzball.com — no spaces obviously.
My favorite jobbers:
- S.D. ‘Special Delivery’ Jones
- Salvatore Bellomo – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvatore_Bellomo
- The Fraley Brothers
- Iron Mike Sharpe
- Leaping Lanny Poffo
- Barry Horowitz
@Rudy Gamble: The Poet Laureate of the WWE was not a jobber!
I hate to be a hater (or change the subject when there are WWE references everywhere), but I picked up Coco a lot later in my draft than Lewis and I wasn’t horribly dissapointed. I’m not expecting those 15 homers to come back, but am I wrong to think they might put up similar #s?
@Tom: Hater! Joking. On average Coco Crisp is being drafted before Lewis, so if you can get him after it’s not bad. They will be similar.