Opening Day! (Part 3)
April 01, 2008
Category: April's Daily Notes
And now for the actual opening day of the baseball season. The first full slate of games is almost in the books (minus the rainouts.) What I saw:
Verlander was dealing. He easily could’ve gotten the win, if not for…
Alex Gordon. After ranking him extremely high in my top 100, I’ll be watching closely all year.
When Miguel Cabrera hit his homer, he sprinted down the first base line hoping to get a double, which is what he would have had in South Florida. He’s accustomed to the Dolphin Stadium. He’s in for a huge season. And that’s not a waistline crack.
If Gary Sheffield stays healthy, he’s in for a terrific season batting in that lineup. His hands are still quick and he takes walks.
Tigers Announcers, Rod Allen and Mario Impemba, suck.
Nationals Announcers, Don Sutton and Bob Carpenter, are worse. They inexplicably described Pedro Feliz as one of the most underrated players in the league.
Surprisingly, Don’s kid, Darin Sutton, is one of the best announcers.
Nick Markakis has a stolen base. Here comes 30/20. Outside of The Greek God of Roto, the Orioles will be painful to watch this year and I would stay away from all Orioles starters and relievers. Sherrill won’t even be worth it.
Victor Martinez was pulled from the game with a hamstring injury. Am I worried? No, because I didn’t draft V-Mart in any league. Should you be worried if you did draft him? Yup. Someone you might want to think about…
Chris Snyder was batting fifth. He’s looking like a great pickup if he lasts in that spot.
Torre put Posada Russell Martin in the sixth hole. Guess it’s a force of habit for him to bat a catcher sixth. This could be an issue for Martin’s value.
Mark Reynolds might strikeout 200 times this year.
No reason to think Jim Thome can’t hit 35 home runs if he stays healthy.
My better logic says it’s only one day, my gut is telling me Franklin Gutierrez is in for a great year. I already said this, “…Franklin Gutiérrez is 25 and about to get the right field job on one of the best offensive AL teams. Gutiérrez could go 70/20/80/.270/20 in the ninth hole.” Between Gutierrez and Lastings Milledge, I like Gutierrez better.
Johan Santana… Oh, man.
Eric Gagne… Oh, crap.
Kerry Wood… You knew that was coming. Carlos Marmol will be closing by May and end the season with more saves than Wood.
Carlos Zambrano, I’m not too concerned he was pulled because of the forearm cramp. Big Z could find a way to throw 120 pitches with a broken hand.
On one team, I had Pujols and Wainwright. Not thrilled I lost the home run, but I am thrilled there was a home run to lose. You should be too. Though I’m having a hard time seeing the positive in losing the Wainwright start.
Ian Snell will find a way to lose more games than he wins, but he’ll keep the games close. Always gives up a home run at some point.
I’m hoping Cox moves Matt Diaz up and Mark Kotsay down in the order against righties.
Michael Young hit a home run. That projects to 162 on the season. I’d say he falls short by about 150.
Yunel Escobar looked good. Quick wrists, knocking the ball to the opposite field.
Michael Bourn stole 2 bases. Granted, Ronnie Paulino could steal against Bard, but I told you to avoid drafting steals early and grab Bourn late. He might steal 50 this season.
I hate Tom Gordon.
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Tags: Adam Wainwright, Albert Pujols, Alex Gordon, Carlos Marmol, Carlos Zambrano, Chris Snyder, Franklin Gutiérrez, Gary Sheffield, George Sherrill, Ian Snell, Johan Santana, Justin Verlander, Kerry Wood, Lastings Milledge, Matt Diaz, Michael Young, Miguel Cabrera, Nick Markakis, Pedro Feliz, Tom Gordon, Victor Martinez, Yunel Escobar
April 1st, 2008 at 5:01 am
So which MR in the Brewer pen assumes the closer role by mid May? Out of Turnbow, Mota and Riske I think Riskie is the one guy that won’t kill your ratios on a spec pick.
Herb Urban’s last blog post..Reason to Believe
I just choose between the three in one ten team league and I went with Riske. Seems to be the safest even if he’s not the one called. It’s tough though because Riske is probably the best, Turnbow’s got the longest history there and they’ve seen him close before (though it was scary at times) and Mota’s supposedly the set-up man. We’ll see what cream of the crap rises up. My guess for saves would be Turnbow, Riske then Mota, but I couldn’t afford the Turnbow WHIP hit in the league I picked him up.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:31 am
I know it’s only been one day, BUT…
I picked up Ethier yesterday - should I be dumping him for Gutierrez today? Neither would start for me so it’s not like I need him, but it would stop some other bastard from grabbing him…
Ethier is in a pitcher’s park, in a pitching division with someone behind him who promises to steal (pun!) a lot of playing time. I would drop Ethier for Gutierrez. I would drop Ethier for Milledge too.
April 1st, 2008 at 7:42 pm
The Dodgers looked solid last night, but what about those Nats! Who would have predicted they’d start 2-0 behind Perez and Chico going against the two Aces of division rivals?
I’m also a bit pissed Yahoo didn’t have Nick Johnson available during the drafts this year. I had wanted him for the bench in a number of deep leagues and am pretty dissapointed that he’s on other teams right now, and I have Carlos Quentin.
There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason as to what players are added to Y! and I’m pretty annoyed. Give me Cueto already!
re: Nats, They’ll might be under .500 by Sunday.
April 1st, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Bourn or Carlos Gomez more likely to steal 50?
Great question, they’re both speed demons, with a chance to succeed even if they’re both terrifically crappy at taking a walk. If I were a betting man (which I am), I’d say Bourn simply because he might have a slightly better idea of how to read the pitchers.
Re: Yahoo!, they’re driving me nuts. They are now adding guys after their first game (so expect Cueto after his first start).
The most annoying one was Alexei Ramirez who played 2B and OF in Spring Training. Since he played OF his first game, that’s what they give him for eligibility. Will take 5 starts or 10 games at 2B to earn eligibility now. ESPN has him at 2B/OF.
As for Bourn/Gomez, I agree that Bourn is the better bet. Gomez is more likely to get in a big slump and be sent down….
April 1st, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Thanks for the input, guys. Believe or not, they were BOTH available in one of my Yahoo leagues (winners only), so I grabbed Bourn.
Makes you wonder what the winners won.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Let’s add McLouth and Billy Butler (OF eligible in Yahoo leagues) to the Ethier, Gutierrez, and Milledge mix. How about a “rank ‘em” from either or both of you guys. I’m talking mixed 12 team 5 X 5 this year only Yahoo leagues.
Thanks.
April 1st, 2008 at 10:02 pm
i’d rank ‘em:
Butler
McLouth
Ethier
Milledge
Gutierrez
Ok, I’ll throw in another pet player of mine (Melky Cabrera) too.
Here’s my rank for 12 team 5×5 mixed league:
Butler - Best average and RBI of the bunch. Got valuable experience last year. And 1B potential. Only downside vs. the rest is no speed.
McLouth - Best SB and Run potential of the bunch. Enough pop for 15 HR. Enough speed for 30 SB. AVG won’t be great.
Milledge - Most upside of the group but I’m just not sold on any part of his game. Not a good base stealer. No minor league history of plus power.
Cabrera - By no means a great player but he’s young, has 2 years experience, playing for a running manager in a great lineup, and w/ more job security than the guys below him on this list. I think he ends up 75/15/75/15 with a respectably .280 average.
Gutierrez - No plus power or speed in his minor league history. I think he may fall short of Melky in all 5 categories. Might have playing time cut into.
Ethier - His stats for the past two years are just bleh. 15 HR power and no speed. Probably second to Butler on projected AVG. And there’s no doubt Pierre reclaims his job if Ethier slumps.
Final count of these players on my 3 teams:
Melky - 2
McLouth - 2
Butler - 1
Ethier/Gutierrez/Milledge - 0
April 1st, 2008 at 10:55 pm
i picked up gutierrez in a league where he was available. i wonder if there’s any chance he has a power breakout too. iirc when he was with the dodgers he was projected as a possible 40+ hr guy.
about bourn, i agree he has a better shot at 50 because (hopefully for me) his obp will be higher. i’m a mets fan so i got to see a lot of gomez last year, and unless he’s made some serious strides, i see him as like reyes ‘05 lite, the OF version. so like .270, .300 maybe .310 obp. reyes had 60 that year, and gomez had 1 per 10 ab last year with a .288 obp, so it’s obviously possible but man stealing 50 bases with a .300 obp is tough. if bourn manages a .330 obp (and it seems like there’s upside there), that’s an extra 20 times on base throughout the season. if he gets a sb in 1/4 of those that’s a 5 sb handicap right there. not to mention 7 or 8 more runs scored
Yeah — Gomez is raw, plain and simple.
Here’s hoping Pedro pitches well tonight, I have him in far too many leagues.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:31 pm
ugh good start. have him in a few myself (and sweet john maine)
Not a good start thus far. Sumabitch!
April 2nd, 2008 at 12:36 am
wow that couldn’t have gone worse
Talk about it. Actually, I will, in my daily notes that I’ll post later tonight. FCUK!
April 2nd, 2008 at 2:15 am
ah great, pedro said he heard a pop. i don’t know what a pop in the hamstring means, but i’m hoping this is 4 weeks at this point. what’s your best guess right now?
Start looking for alternatives. Hey, Kip Wells looked good tonight. Honestly, I have to wait to hear what the Mets say. 6 weeks to the All-Star Break wouldn’t surprise me at this point. FCUK!
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:57 am
[...] in the lineup. Fortunately, he will not put up those numbers. He will be a lot better. There was some comment chatter on this post about who will be better between Butler, McLouth, Ethier, Milledge and Gutierrez. Rudy added Melky [...]
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:27 am
[...] 1 and Thing 2 from Flavor of Love would say, he has been exposed. As I said in the comments on this post, “I just choose between the three (Mota, Riske, Turnbow) in one ten team league and I went [...]
April 4th, 2008 at 6:11 am
[...] Franklin Gutierrez, Billy Butler, Andre Ethier, Melky Cabrera, Nate McLouth, Lastings Milledge - There’s been a lot of discussion on this site about these six fifth outfielders. So with Rudy Gamble’s permission, I’m just going to reprint what he had to say in the comments of this post. [...]