Some weeks, it’s just good to trust a buy call by our Fantasy Baseball Lord & Savior, Grey Albright. BTW, do me a favor. Google Grey Albright…do you get Snafu Larry as your second image? That’s just not right…and now that I look at all those images I have to ask myself ‘Is Grey even real’? I mean, we congregate on this site daily looking to him for the mustachioed word from upon high but is this some form of mass hysteria where the disease is fantasy sports addiction and we’ve conjured up this being to serve the purpose of telling us that which we already know in our hearts? What if the internet isn’t even real but simply the manifestation of our collective thoughts as we dream in Matrix-like incubation eggs before we’re harvested? What if none of this is real?!? Woah hey and sorry there…the mushrooms finally wore off…well minus the tracers. Either way, I’m real, you’re real and we’re spectacular and so was Grey’s BUY call on Leonys Martin last week. I can tell you’re not sure of this one. I feel you wavering about this waiver call and it’s understandable. Who wants a guy who hits at the bottom of the batting order? Well I do and you should too for week nine of the 2013 fantasy baseball season but we must read on to find out why.
The first good reason is Rudy tells me so. Not Rudy in person, of course, but Rudy is the Father of the Hitter-Tron and this saucy Robot is telling me – if I’m using it right – that Leonys is valued around $15 over the next 7 days as of Saturday night. I’m gonna go out on a limb – I’m currently standing in a birch tree – and think the weekend matchup in Seattle vs Hernandez on Saturday and Iwakuma for Sunday are not exactly inflating that number. Clearly, something about the coming days of this week bode well for Leonys so let’s dig down and find out just what that would be. Well, there’s a double dip on Monday against the Diamondbacks at Chase Field which is followed up on with a return to Arlington from Wednesday thru the end of the week. Boom! Analysis done. Off to the bars! I keed…sorta…I’m still going to the bar but now I’m just going to type this from a laptop. Pardon me if this write up gets sloppy but it’s Memorial Day weekend and I am much like Andrew W.K.: I party hard. In all seriousness, both Chase Field and Rangers Ballpark in Arlington have played as top 10 stadiums for hitters seemingly forever. Honestly, the only matchup that looks like you’re gonna want to avoid with Leonys this week would be against Wade Miley on Thursday as the Rangers have been inclined to sit him against lefties in favor of Craig Gentry so far this season, despite batting alright against southpaws so far (4/15). Either way, it doesn’t matter. The pitching matchups are reasonable – the worst one comes Sunday against James Shields – and seeing as Martin has a HR and all 5 of his steals this season over his last ten games entering Saturday night, I see nothing that should stop the good times from rolling. Pick Leonys up – 8% and 9% owned in yahoo/ESPN leagues – with the idea of getting a healthy average along with a shot at a HR and a couple of steals to go with plenty of runs, even for a man low on the lineup totem pole.
Honorable Mentions
Travis Snider – I would’ve gone with Snider this week had he not gone 1 for his last 15 heading into Sunday. He’ll sit against lefties but there no lefties currently slated for him to face in week 9. He’s been hitting in the two spot when in the lineup ahead of McCutchen but, well, he hasn’t been hitting so that’s why he’s here and not up there.
Scott Hairston – He gets to face a whopping 5 lefties during week 9, which is typically just fine with Scott who’s a career .491 SLG% against southpaws. Unfortunately, he’s done absolutely nothing this year against anyone, let alone lefties (.105 average vs LHP, .140 average overall) so this is more of a deep league call at best.
Brendan Ryan – I laughed typing it too but he has an SLG% of .815 and a .526 OBP over the last 7 days leading into Saturday’s game. Hey, it’s shortstop and Dee Gordon is barely hitting more than his weight right now so just take what you can get.
Seth Smith – The lispers’ nightmare has been on a tear of late and could be a great Hot Schmotato for the coming week.
