Then one day Jed was hopin’ he could start; and Lugo and Scrappy Doo started fallin’ apart. This is an opening for good ol’ Jed. The kind to keep those taking late MI fliers fed. Said Yawkey is the place you ought to be. So he packed up his Wii to play with Papi. Ortiz, that is. Jed Lowrie is in, Julio Lugo is out and Nomar Garciaparra is so five minutes ago. Yo, whaddup, double play pardner? Not your knee, I assume. And the Jed Lowrie fantasy sleeper post is back on like Donkey Kong. Sure, the Sox are saying Julio Lugo may only be out a month, but he was ‘healthy’ last year and he lost playing time. Do the math! Anyway, here’s some more things I saw in spring training that pertains to fantasy baseball:
Dustin Pedroia – Man, I’m telling you right now (unless you’re reading this sometime in the future. Damn you, Future Boy!) if Dustin Pedroia sheets the bed this year, I’m going to milk that carton at least once a week and twice on Moosday. During the WBC (World Backups Championship?), Pedroia came up lame due to a strained muscle near his rib cage. For those of us playing fantasy baseball that have never seen a “hitter” “hit,” strained muscles near the rib cage can cause pain when a batter swings. If Pedroia is fine fine, he bounces back with no ill effects and still hits his 15 to 18 home runs. Now what if Pedroia is not that fine fine? Say he only hits 12 to 15 home runs. Do you see what a waste of an early pick Pedroia could be? You really want a 2nd round pick that might hit 12 home runs and steals 15? Who are you, Kelly Johnson? That’s giving me The Gas Face just thinking about it.
Chad Cordero – Yes, he’s been out for at least another two months. Yes, he has no real competition to be the Mariners closer. Yes, he looks like a child molester. It’s just matter of him getting healthy. He starts saving games in late-May at the earliest. If I had room on my DL, I’d take this flier towards the end of my draft. Worst comes to worst, one of your other guys gets injured and you drop him. No harm, no foul.
Mike Fontenot – Ooh la la, Fontenot’s French for move him up your draft sheets.
Chris Davis – Hit his first home run of the spring. He has 16 Ks in 40 ABs. With everyone jocking the Davis Cup, let me reiterate how he may not hit .270 this year. That’s not me jumping ship. I talked about his propensity to strikeout back in December in my Chris Davis sleeper post.
Mark Teahen – 3 HRs so far. If he’s playing 2nd, I’m buying late.
Andy LaRoche – With his brother not hitting until July, Andy is stealing some of the LaRoche familial love early. He’s first in average and OBP for all spring trainingers. Might be a very cheap sleeper for 3rd base. If he keeps up his torrid March, I’ll write more on this.
Matt Lindstrom – He hurt something yesterday. If you have him, I’d back him up with Leo Nunez.
Emmanuel Burriss – Is winning the job over Frandsen. Stay on fire, Emmanuel. Papadapolis will save you.
