I rarely see the owner of the house next door. He inherited the house, renovated it, and is now renting it out. So, it was surprising when I saw him in the front yard one day. I went out and asked him what was going on and the response was that he was looking for a new gardener because the present, or shall we say former, crew was not doing the job they were being paid to do. Skimping on the raking, the cutting, and not coming when they were supposed to. I believe he was hiring them to come every two weeks. Anyways, as a gardener, I guess you could always play off the work that you did by saying, “I raked the leaves. The wind must’ve started blowing more leaves back right away” or “I cut the grass. It must’ve grown much faster this month.” The gardener’s, the dog ate my homework, excuse I guess. Well, Brett Gardner (69.8% owned – decrease of 9.7%) has not been raking lately as well. Is he playing us or is this the case of the baseballs? For full disclosure, I had Gardner as my sleeper coming into the season, so there may or may not be some bias in this evaluation. Before you throw internet tomatoes at my internet head, Gardner went 21/23 last season and was super cheap in drafts. Anyways, currently, he’s batting .198, has hit 1 home run, and stolen 2 bases in 150 plate appearances. Digging into the numbers, Gardner is hitting more ground balls, fewer fly balls, but has an elevated infield fly ball rate. The strikeout rate is up, but so is the walk rate. Other than that, everything else looks the same. In fact, the plate discipline numbers have been better. The swinging strike rate and O-Swing% are lower than the last few years. The BABIP is .256. The only other time it’s been below .300 is way back in 2008. The ISO is at .050. The last time it was under .1 was back in 2012. Now, Gardner is 34 years old, so there’s the chance that Father Time is flexing. With that said, I just don’t think this is the end. I expect some positive regression to the ISO and BABIP numbers. The Yankees are still batting him lead off against both righties and lefites and he’s only sat 3 games so far this season. Will he go 20/20 like last season? Probably not, but 15/15 with a ton of runs scored? I can dig that. You may not think that is sexy, but there were only 25 players in all of baseball to go at least 15/15 last season. TREASURE (This blurb will self-destruct if Gleyber Torres becomes the Yankess leadoff hitter)
Jeff Samardzija (41.9% owned – decrease of 8.9%) has been vomit-inducing gross. 7.63 K/9, 6.62 BB/9, and a 6.04 xFIP. Digging into the numbers won’t be too beneficial here. We have to remember that Samardzija suffered a pectoral strain earlier in the season and is just rounding into form. In essence, it has been Spring Training for him recently. The most encouraging sign has been the return of the velocity on his pitches. At around 88 mph when he first returned, the radar gun was clocking him at 96 mph during his last start. The control is still an issue, though, but that should start to return soon. Samardzija ended as a top 35 pitcher for fantasy last season. If he’s available on the wire, the risk/reward parameters don’t get much better. TREASURE
Matt Adams (63.7% owned – increase of 62.2%) was the most added player in ESPN leagues. .308 average with a .436 ISO!!! Daayyaaamm. Now, that number will obviously come down. Teams will start pitching him differently and there will be an adjustment period. The 10 home runs are very impressive, but what’s really caught my attention are the plate discipline numbers. 14.9% walk rate, 32.3% O-Swing%, and 58.5% F-Strike%. He’s waiting for his pitch and crushing it when it comes, as evidenced by the 40.4% hard contact rate. Batting third or fourth in a potent Nationals lineup definitely helps. Here are some things to consider, though. Adam Eaton will probably return at some point and Adams still does not hit lefties well. In addition, he’s 29 years old and has had hot streaks like this before so….don’t fall for the bananna in the tailpipe again. TRASH
