Welcome to the first official Deep Impact for this 2013 season. We went over some Overvalued and Undervalued choices to help with your off season tasks. Now that the year has begun, one could ask what our goal will be as this series moves forward. Well, foremost, this series exists to do the chit and do the chat with all things Deep League. That should have been obvious, or my title needs to be changed. But I don’t want to change it, I want to live in a world where Morgan Freeman is the President. And Leelee Sobieski is actually eating. And, well, Frodo is still Frodo, except instead of a ring, he’s keeping his chick safe from the tsunami horde and hopefully any type of sandwich shortage.
Now, there have been a couple iterations of this series. If you tuned in at all last year, I tried a number of different things. (Which you can see here and here and here.) None of which really stood out to me in any specific way. So this year, I’m going to to lay down a big fat kiss (keep it simple, stupid) on your forehead. Please reciprocate! I’m going to pick six to eight to ten names, depending on how I feel, at random, that have deep league implications, and just blabber. And one or two of those names will be of the prospect variety. Now, these names will not be your typical household guys. We’re talking about dynasty leagues, NL-Only, AL-Only, 15-30 team’s, advanced scoring stat’s like TB, QS+W, etc. Basically, I’m here to talk about guys that no one else is talking about. That includes the prospects, who will most likely be outside the top-250. And even if you are in a 10-team redraft that has no need of this knowledge, I promise, at the very least, to tell a story. And that story will involve baseball. So how bad could it be? Keep in mind, naughty is not the same thing as bad, so we’ll have some of that. Rawr.
Since this is a weekend thing, is there anything better than siting down, getting comfortable, and talking baseball with the jaywrong? Well, yes, there are blow jobs. And steaks. And Black Label. And, err, never mind, just read the darn thing.
I am under the assumption that if you are considering adding Alexi Amarista to your roster, you are this close to considering Brendan Ryan. You couldn’t see me there, but I was holding my finger and thumb about an inch apart. That’s what she said! Don’t look now, but seriously, look now so you can continue reading, but there is a Headley shuffle going on in the Gas Lamp. And that means at-bats are being spread out to the likes of Amarista and Cody Ransom. But, as you all know, the MI is a wasteland of yuck and super yuck. And plenty of wtf. While not sexy, I mean, to be honest, none of these Major League players we will be discussing will ever exude fantasy baseball sex appeal, he will get a number of at-bats against righties, and will flash okay contact with good speed. While a better bench piece, you could do worse. After all, Brendan Ryan is over there with puppy dog eyes. I’m not really going to expand on Ransom simply because he’s a career minor league depth piece. He has shown flashes of power, but he’s already eligible for Social Security. As soon as there’s reason to, an option to Triple-A awaits him.
The Seattle Mariners, in the 2011 First Year Player Draft, selected Cavan Cohoes in the 9th Round out of Patch High School in Stuttgart, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany. I dare you to say that three times fast without getting an aneurysm. Not much is known of this shortstop, but I know enough to think he could be a really deep sleeper. And when I say deep sleeper, I mean the fourth level deep, Inception style. Now 20 years old, Cohoes was a two-time All-European Shortstop, and considered a good athlete, but is still very raw and considered a long-term project. His swing mechanics are sound though, and there is some power developing. For ceiling, he projects to be an average regular that can stick at Shortstop, with a chance that he adds a little pop, which would add enormous value. There is some good potential here.
A fifth round selection by the Miami Marlins, Mason Hope is most known for being Archie Bradley‘s teammate at Oklahoma State. While obviously not as advanced, his mix of a plus fastball and plus curve shows promise that he’ll develop into a #3 starter. He doesn’t have a quality third pitch yet, but has been working on a slider and change to use as a ‘show me’ pitch. There’s a chance to be more than a mid-rotation guy if the third pitch becomes plus, but there’s nothing wrong with turning into a stable innings eater at the Major League level.
We are going back to the MI theme here, with AB’s coming from another third baseman’s (Brett Lawrie) injury. But instead of So-cal, we’re heading North of the Border, to the land of Nick, the Podcast Host. God bless that sexy voice. I still can’t tell if it makes me lonely or horny. It’s so confusing. Maicer Izturis is more or less likely to offer you 15+ steals and nothing else. But he’ll be eligible at 2B, SS, and 3B in most leagues, and won’t specifically hurt you at BA. If you don’t have him on your roster, you already missed on 1/3 of his expected homerun output. But there are worse MI stop-gaps out there. Yes, Brendan Ryan is still puppy dog eye-balling me. And like the Padres, at-bats will go to an old fogey as well, Mark DeRosa. But we know what he can do. Which is not much. Hey, funny story. Did you know that in one deep league of mine, because of injuries, I am forced to start Cody Ransom, Brenden Ryan, and Mark DeRosa? I’ll need some vodka and a pistol with four bullet’s before the week is over.
I’m guessing you are in a league where Rafael Soriano, Tyler Clippard, and Drew Storen are owned. So let’s go over the guy who is behind those guys. Told you we were going deep. Did I already use a ‘that’s what she said!’ joke? Darn it. Would have been better here. Ryan Mattheus is a fastball-slider-splitter reliever who showed some promise in limited work last season. While he isn’t that exciting, his walk rate is solid and will be used as an innings eater. In that time, he might vulture some wins or get some 3-inning saves. At the very least, he won’t hurt you if you have a 4th RP spot that needs filling, or maybe just a cheap bullpen hedge on your bench.
Well, believe it or not, but I didn’t actually plan on this, but I guess the theme of this week really is MI guys who will see at bats because of injuries. So of course I was going to include a Yankees player, seeing as how the next rational thing to happen is franchise-wide stigmata. Eduardo Nunez, like all the other middle infielders we’ve gone over, is nothing special. But, because of the team being infected by the disease, as referred to in science, as ‘old n’ rickety’, he’ll get enough at-bats to warrant a look if you need depth. He doesn’t walk much or have enough power to help you in those areas, but makes enough contact and steals enough bases to be thought of as an okay stop measure. I assume he’ll receive more at-bats than last year, which could lead to 15+ steals and a 270/310/390 slash.
