I’ve been telling anyone that will listen not to be concerned about Paul’s slow start. In fact around the end of week 8, he might have been the best buy low candidate in years. Seriously. Coming into the season many were stricken with fear over the installation of a humidor in Arizona which was followed up by a pitiful start. I can’t tell you how many questions I’ve gotten in the last couple of weeks about trades people were considering in which they traded him away. Paul Goldschmidt is a stud. I could have just written that today and been done with the Paul Goldschmidt blurb, but that wouldn’t have satisfied my need to give the man a big ole bear hug. As I said two weeks ago, and repeated last week, “Excluding an injury shorted 2014 in which he was on pace for over 500 points he hasn’t scored less than 500 since 2013“. Last week Goldschmidt led all batters with 58 points. He went 16 for 25 with five singles, six doubles, a triple, four home runs and eleven RBIs.
Let see who else had a strong week eleven.
Jose Martinez – It seems I might owe some of you an apology. During the preseason I said that Jose Martinez wasn’t going to see enough playing time to be fantasy relevant. When I’m wrong I will say I was wrong. I was wrong. In fact I was dead wrong. Currently Martinez has more fantasy points (180) than any other batter on the Cardinals, and it’s not even close (Tommy Pham 135 points). Last week Jose put up 43 points on the back of twelve hits in twenty at bats. Those that drafted him this year look very smart-inez.
Brandon Crawford – Trea Turner has only two more points than Brandon Crawford. How do you think that makes Turner owners feel? Unless you are a Turner owner I’m sure you don’t care. However, if you are a Crawford owner, you’ve to be feeling pretty good with your top ten shortstop that you either grabbed off the wire or drafted in the later rounds. In week eleven Brandon scored 37 fantasy points. Six doubles and a pair of homers will certainly help you have a strong week. It’s over achieving players like Crawford that you find on a lot of championship teams.
Cody Bellinger – It was just a week ago that I was bashing Bellinger for his pathetic season. Coming into last week he had only 113 points. Last week he had 33. That’s a thirty percent increase in one week. Nothing like hitting a home in four straight games. Don Mattingly just rolled his eyes. Yes, Donnie Baseball reads my posts. He told me when I had my 1984 Donruss rookie card signed at baseball card show at the Saddle Brook Marriott in New Jersey. The eight strikeouts weren’t very user friendly, but Aaron Judge accomplished that in a single day. Personally I’d be looking to trade Bellinger if I owned him, but that’s just me.
Miguel Andujar – Let’s play a quick and easy game. Which player has more points so far this season? Giancarlo Stanton, Gary Sanchez or Miguel Andujar. Obviously that was a rhetorical question. Andujar has two more points than Stanton in 55 fewer plate appearances. Chew on that for a bit. In fact, the only Yankees hitters with more points than Miguel are Aaron Judge (183), Didi Gregorius (176) and Brett Gardner (143). Andujar has 142 points. Last week he scored 33 points. Despite my best efforts to prove otherwise, there is no relation to Joaquín.
Eduardo Escobar – Like Andujar and Bellinger, Escobar scored 33 points last week. Like Crawford, Escobar also hit six doubles and two home runs. Considering Eduardo is on pace for at least 30 home runs and 100 runs batted in, I’d say he’s having a strong season. In fact (can you count the number of times I’ve used those two words together so far?), he has more points than Kris Bryant, Nicholas Castellanos and Miguel Andujar.
Freddie Freeman – Only Mike Trout (271), Jose Ramirez (246) and Mookie Betts (243) have more points on the season than Freeman (233). Last week however Freeman scored more than all of them with 31 points. Here’s the best part. While it was one of Freddie’s higher weekly point totals, it was very close to a normal week for him as he’s been averaging close to 25 points a week.
Max Muncy – You mean Max Muncy isn’t a household name? If he continues on his current trajectory he will be soon enough. Let’s look at his point totals since week five: 4, 10, 11, 15, 15, 23 and 30 points. If we were graphing these values the best fit line would have an encouraging positive slope. His 0.77 points per plate appearance is best amongst all Dodgers hitters. And that includes a rejuvenated Matt Kemp (0.69)
Ian Kinsler – Now here’s a name you don’t hear much these days. He might not be having a great season as he’s currently outside the top 12 second basemen in points, but he did have a solid week last week. Combine last week’s 30 points with the 36 points he scored the week before and we’ve accounted for 66 of his 129 total points. That’s more than half in the last fourteen days. I believe Grey calls this a hot schmotato or something like that. I say he’s one more good week away from being able to be thrown into a trade to a team with a weak 2B. I wonder if Ian Ziering thinks Kinsler pronounces his first name wrong.
Here are a few other guys that had solid weeks despite not having a full week’s worth of plate appearances.
Joc Pederson: 29 points in 15 plate appearances.
Ryan Braun: 25 points in 16 plate appearances.
Derek Dietrich: 25 points in 17 plate appearances.
Lastly how about a few players that likely wish week eleven never happened. The real question here is which one is the worst. I guess it has to be Baez and his negative four point week because having him in your lineup would cost your team four points. While Castellanos somehow pathetically only managed 2 points in 36 plate appearances at least he gave you something. It’s more than nothing and certainly more then negative four, but I wouldn’t be too proud Mr. Castellanos.
Javier Baez: Negative 4 points in 17 plate appearances.
Gary Sanchez: Negative 2 points in 27 plate appearances.
Odubel Herrera: Negative 1 point in 28 plate appearances.
Dee Gordon: 1 point in 22 plate appearances.
Evan Longoria: 1 point in 23 plate appearnces.
Nicholas Castellanos: 2 points in 36 plate appearances.
Follow malamoney on Twitter at @malamoney
