What’s the plural for adonis?
Adoni? Adonai?
Adonisse, in the German, apparently.
Here’s hoping you’ve got a fantasy team full of Adonisse.
Houston RHP Luis Garcia looked excellent in Coors field, settling down after a lead off walk to Raimel Tapia during which the umpire appeared to forget it was his job to call the strikes. Undeterred by the non-existent strike zone Garcia proceeded to mix his pitches across five shutout innings. In the sixth, he got a couple outs, gave up a couple hits, and was relieved by RHP Bryan Abreu, who promptly allowed a base-clearing double. He’s still on the outside looking in at that Astro rotation—Tuesday’s having been a spot start for a queasy Lance McCullers Jr.—but Garcia is easily one of Houston’s five best pitchers and will get plenty of innings in 2021.
The other Garcia in question today, Texas OF Adolis G, was acquired from St. Louis on December 18 of 2019 in exchange for Cash Considerations.
Considerations had just slashed .297/.408/.472 as a 23-year-old in AA, so he seemed like a fair swap for the then-26-year-old Garcia coming off a 32 HR, 14 SB season at AAA. Garcia had struck out 30.1 percent of the time that season, while Considerations K’d about half that much throughout his minor league life.
Sorry, I couldn’t find the actual number. I’m guessing Garcia went for $200,000 or something. Maybe five. Maybe much less than that. Interesting call on the Cardinals’ part.
I’m not saying Garcia is about to hit 30 bombs in the big leagues, or that we’ll soon have another former redbird stud outfielder roaming the grass somewhere other than the midwest, but I do find it interesting to see them bursting onto the fantasy scene for other clubs.
One way I have always disagreed with the Cardinals and Cubs: I lean toward shopping the players other people like most if I have two similar assets. Is Tyler O’Neill better than Adolis Garcia? I mean . . . I guess so?
Could the Cards have gotten more than Cash Considerations if they put O’Neill on the block during that roster crunch in the winter of 2019? Perhaps not, but he had just produced a decent line (.262/.311/.411) in 151 major league plate appearances.
I get it though. They liked one guy more than the other. It’s important to have a good feel for your own guys, and some teams are really good at this. Cough cough Tampa Bay cough cough. I’m pretty good at this with my own fantasy teams, especially in terms of projecting young players’ futures. Not trying to pat my own back. Just have 20+ years of success in this area. Even so, I do not know what is going to happen, and I know that for a fact. It’s really the only fact we’re working with in making fantasy baseball predictions. We cannot know.
And that’s the whole reason for this jog, as far as our game goes. I’m sure it’s different for the real front offices, but I feel like embracing that unknowability as a variable gives me an edge in the marketplace. Prospect pedigree means very little to me, when held up against what’s happening on the field before my eyes.
If there’s more profit to be made selling a player other people like and betting on an undervalued player I like more than the echo chamber, that’s what I’ll do. Even if I could somehow know the future from a certain moment in time, people change. People make decisions that surprise even themselves. People dedicate themselves to their crafts in ways that are unpredictable.
One such player with echo chamber trade value despite offering much the same stats as a lot of readily available players is Cincinnati 2B Jonathan India.
The window to sell might be closing fast, but I just saw him flipped for LHP Will Smith in a 15-team dynasty and thought that was an immense return for a player slashing .283/.352/.348 at the time with zero home runs or stolen bases.
India is a useful example of the echo chamber’s influence over our game. Here’s a prospect scouts have been bashing his whole pro career, but one who a lot of fantasy pundits liked a lot anyway. The second they could feel vindicated in their love for India, they went all out in tweets and podcasts and articles to declare victory and tout this prospect everyone should’ve been loving all along.
“See how right I turned out to be!?”
“Give me some love for being right!”
This constant self back-patting is not only juicing the mute quotient in my Twitter timeline but also has a real impact on player valuation around the fantasy game.
Reality might catch up eventually, but the first lie always carries more weight than the next 100 corrective truths. Sell high might as well be coined sell the first lie.
Arizona RHP JB Bukauskas made his debut during the postponed game Tuesday night and will pick up a W if the DBacks can secure the win when play resumes Wednesday. Go get him if he’s available in your league. Not many contenders in that bullpen, and Bukauskas has the best relief arsenal in that entire organization.
Speaking of dominant pitch mixes, Cleveland called up 6’6” LHP Sam Hentges before Saturday’s game. A starter in the minors who could hold high nineties heat deep into his outings, Hentges could be a wipe out option in a bullpen bursting with them. Might even challenge Clase for velo king of the mountain.
RHP Camilo Doval appears to have entered the late inning picture in San Francisco even faster than I anticipated. Wouldn’t be shocked to see him sharing the big chair at some point this season.
Minnesota OF Alex Kirilloff is coming up any day now, I think, for the third time, largely because everyone in Minnesota is sick or injured.
Will Seattle OF Jarred Kelenic join him? Seattle’s got plenty of options. I suspect he’ll be in the waiting room until June.
Oakland 1B OF Seth Brown is finally getting a little extended run, and he’s doing fine so far. The club released OF Ka’ai Tom partly due to Brown looking like he belongs and Steven Piscotty coming back from paternity leave. When the A’s sold Khris Davis to the Rangers, Brown enjoyed a little stock boost on the strength of roster resources declaring him the starting designated hitter. Then Oakland signed Mitch Moreland off the freebie pile, but as these things typically do, talent should win out here, long term. Brown’s no superstar, but he was 2-for-2 with a walk and the game-winning hit in Tuesday’s nightcap, further proving himself as a competent big league bat making the minimum on a team that needs exactly those types of assets.
Thanks for reading!
I’m @theprospectitch on Twitter.
