Hehe, I’m crazy for Rockies players. You know why, so don’t play coy, though your baby blues are kinda cute when you’re playing coy. Okay, play coy, walk to the end of the bar and look back and wink. What the hell are you doing?! I was being facetious! Ugh, now I have to imagine you give me the looksies! By the way, speaking of someone giving you the looksies, but not for good, but rather for evil. I was at my local coffee place the other day, and, it was early, and I needed my coffee to function, and I was likely in the wrong, but that’s neither here nor there. So, you know how the fancy coffee places have the lids by the garbage rather than putting them on? I get my coffee and I head over for a lid. A girl that was at the lid station backs up right as I get there and I narrowly avoid her and slide in to the garbage ledge by the lids. Pretty slick maneuver, if I do say so. However, it turns out by doing that I cut in front of a little person who had a steaming hot cup of coffee and also wanted to get a lid. So, he stares at me like he wants to kill me and I say, “What?” Well, that sets him off from zero to hundred and he starts screaming, “WHAT?! WHAT?!” Repeatedly. And all I see is his cup of coffee potentially being thrown in my face, so I say, “Sorry, I didn’t see you there.” And I think he took this to mean he was so short I couldn’t have saw him, so he starts cursing at the top of his lungs and staring me down until an employee of the coffee place steps between us. Yes, I nearly got into an altercation with an angry little person at 7:30 AM on a Saturday. Offseason! So, like I was saying, Rockies players, rawr! Today’s special installment is about Raimel Tapia. He was called up this past year in September, which is obviously a less angry cup of coffee. He saw 38 ABs, hit .263 and stole three bases. This is not the last we’ve seen of him! Actually, it was the first. Anyway, what can we expect from Raimel Tapia in 2017 fantasy baseball?
Quickly, I think the playing time will be there because Blackmon, CarGonzalez or Parra will be gone. If they’re not, Tapia’s going to be in the minors until at least June and rather useless in redrafts to start the year. The Rockies appear to me to be moving towards the future. Dahl, who exhausted his rookie eligibility last year will be in left, and Tapia, or as I call him in El Torito ‘Tapatio,’ should start in center with one of the aforementioned vets moving on. Tapia’s power is that of Denard Span — not Denard as in Revere, but Denard as in Denard, which isn’t bad as in good nor bad as in bad, but bad as in meh. Tapia is only 22 so he could move up to Gerardo Parra-type levels of power, i.e., 15-homer potential vs. 7-homer power. The real allure for me on Tapia is his speed. He looks like a 35-steal guy easily, maybe 45 steals during good seasons. He can also slap-and-dash to a .300 average, but the big drawback is he needs to hit to get on. He walks about as much as Alcides Escobar. Hey, wait a minute, was it is a coincidence I mentioned the guy that Raimel most reminds me of? It can’t be! Alcides’s years of 5 HRs, 35 SBs, .293 may not be far off for Tapia. Tapia could hit for more power, maybe more speed, maybe more average, but maybe less too, and he doesn’t walk at all. Of course, Coors. For fantasy baseball, instead of ‘of course,’ we should just say, “Of Coors.” So, I’m going to say Tapia will break camp with the Rockies and go 72/5/51/.291/33 in 465 ABs, but if the Rockies don’t make room for him, I’m going to dock him 250 ABs later in the offseason.
