Last week, we got together for a Sunday brunch and enjoyed ourselves some Spam and eggs. What’s it made out of? Who cares! Fried to a crisp with an egg on top, maybe some rice or sourdough bread on the side, yes sir… it’s like a Hawaiian beach inside of your mouth. Which beach do you ask? I have no clue on how to pronounce it, but it has 14 ‘u’s’, 8 apostrophe’s and 1 consonant. So your guess is as good as mine. The actual Span that we talked about, however, appears to have become a dish full of meh. I did see an ample opportunity to capitalize on some stats in multiple categories for the week 20 scoring period. Denard Span, as of this writing, has gone 5 for 19 with a couple of walks and doubles and a small side of 3 runs. While that doesn’t exactly denote failure, it doesn’t really scream success, thus achieving the ultimate status of feeling something along the likes of kissing your sister. Well, not me kissing your sister, that’s actually quite okay, as I run an equal opportunity mouth regional operation. I believe it’s more like you kissing your own sister, which can be considered iffy in states that don’t rhyme with the word ‘pajama’. But hey, at least you’re still kissing something, or in this case, someone, so there’s a positive here that keeps this whole scenario close to neutral feeling. Anyhow, I come to you proclaiming we can do better. So please, allow me to introduce you to the Creeper of the Week, 21st scoring period edition.
While I’ve always been told that I shouldn’t trust people with two first names, I’m not quite sure why. Although, I’m willing to go out on the limb and blame Kevin James, who continually and happily provides for a movie audience that finds exquisite appreciation of punch line farts, numerous groin shots by multiple objects, and falling down in numerous different scenic and social situations. I hear that he’s starring in a new MMA movie. Maybe for the last fight, he’ll have to beat type 2 diabetes to the life affirming beats of P.O.D., maybe to the title reach around song Here Comes the Boom? Fart noise! End scene. However, for this Creeper, I’m happy to go against the grain and try a new strategy of trust. I give you Jon Jay.
With a triple slash of 307/381/402 so far, Jay is turning in a pretty good year for the 2012 season. Known mostly for his positives as a plug n’ play player for the Cardinals, your fantasy team could follow this path as well. While his career BABIP stands at a high .345, along with this season’s .350, there are some encouraging signs that his slash is sustainable. First, Jay has a pretty good strike out rate, standing at 12.7% this year and at 15.1% for his career, which shows an ability to make contact and put balls into play. A decent 21.3% line drive rate and slightly above average speed provides confidence that he can be a continual positive force if you need help in your BA and OBP categories.
Jay, as a left-handed batter, doesn’t really have a notable platoon split. He’s batting 309/382/382 against south paws and 306/381/410 against righties this year. For a larger sample, the splits are 300/364/379 and 300/356/430 for his career. And just in time for this post, in his last 25 AB’s, Jay has 12 hits and 2 SB’s, and I don’t think he’s done yet.
For next week’s scoring period, the Cardinals and Jon Jay will be facing the D’Backs and the Pirates. And what’s a Pirate’s favorite vegetable? Arrrrrrugula! So what if he’s an elitist Pirate? Ian Kennedy is first up on Tuesday, bringing with him an underwhelming follow-up performance to his 2011 campaign of unlikely awesomeness. Now he brings a likely bout of middling bleh. While his FIP of 4.05 is lower than his ERA of 4.34, there’s just not enough here to be scared of. Especially since his last start consisted of 8 HA and 5 ER in just 4 IP. Next up is the lefty, known around these parts as Joe Saunders. For what it’s worth, Saunders has been able to increase his K/9 this year to 6.13 from 4.58 a year ago. While he is still outperforming his FIP of 3.92 with an ERA of 3.52, it’s a far cry from last year’s FIP of 4.78. His last start was pretty good too, going 7.0 innings and allowing only 7 hits with 2 ER’s. All this might be moot since Jay might ride the pine for that match-up. Scheduled to go against Trevor Cahill, Jay might have a chance to cause some damage here. Cahill hasn’t looked too sharp in his last four starts, giving up 12 ER’s and 10 BB’s in 25.2 IP’s. On Thursday, Jay will face-off against Erik Bedard, who once held the same value as Adam Jones and change. That’s at least what Seattle was lead to believe when being handed a tissue after getting Bavasi’d all over their face. Then, out of nowhere, they got Super Sonic’d in the left eye. I tell you, if you are good at something, make sure you don’t ever do it for free. Let’s see, where was I? Oh yeah, Bedardation is inbound. He’s just one start removed from giving up 8 ER’s in 4.1 IP, and has pitched 4.2 innings or less 5 times so far since June. Would you like some Jeff Karstens with that beard? Of course you would. Carrying a respectable 3.32 FIP and 3.54 K/BB in 11 starts, this righty has been decent in his last two starts. But giving up 4 HR’s in his last 16 IP could be a warning sign for some regression. While not officially slated to start yet, Wandy Rodriguez should be rounding out the week 21 scoring period on Sunday. Since coming over from the Astros, Wandy has been Wandy. He’ll strike out 5, walk 3 and give up 3-4 runs… maybe 7-9 hits, all in an underwhelming total of 5-6 innings. Expect that here.
It’s not that Denard Span wasn’t bad, but he didn’t do what a Creeper should do, and that’s give you a lil somethin’ somethin’. While I don’t mind eating crow… actually wait, I do mind eating crow. Literally that is. Figuratively, I’ll eat anything you want. But to the point, I think what Jon Jay might do this week is what Span should have done last week — which is provide your team with a little more oomph in all the same areas. I see Jon Jay as a multiple ratio helper that will throw some runs and maybe a SB here or there in your general area. With Jose Bautista and Logan Morrison still ailing from their injuries, Colby Rasmus banged up along with Michael Cuddyer out until late August, there might be some room for Jon Jay’s hot bat on your roster. Creeper on friend, Creeper on.
