Mark Reynolds was traded to the Orioles for two bullpen arms. This hurts simply because I like to watch the Diamondbacks and don’t particularly enjoy watching the O’s. Sorry, Jim Palmer can’t hold a candle to Mark Grace. Reynolds and I had a bit of a love/hate thing the last two years. Loved him prior to 2009, told everyone to avoid him prior to 2010. So if I were a straight Saberhagenmetrician, I’d say we’re check raising to the bettor again for 2011, but I’m worried about how many bales of brays I want to heap on Mini Donkey (say that fast 117 times!). Will he reach the highs of 2009 again or will he blunder his way to another 2010? Like Monie and Malcolm, 2011 will probably be somewhere in the middle. He’s not a sub-.200 hitter even whirling his bat at everything. He was unlucky last year. He’s not really a .260 hitter either, as he was in 2009. He’s somewhere in the .230-.240 range. His HR/FB last year wasn’t that far off his career average. He’s a 35-homer guy, give or take some luck. In some crazy small sample sizes like you’d find at a midget second hand store, he hasn’t been good in AL East ballparks, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that. In a large sample size, he wasn’t good in Petco or Dodger Stadium either. He’ll lose Coors and gain a slightly worse offense. Though I think the O’s can be slightly better with a Wieters, Sparkakis and Jones bounce back. At least 2 out of the 3 wouldn’t be bad, Meatloaf. The AL East is a tough division, but it’s not like the pitchers in the NL West are a walk in the park. All in all, it feels like a push on value with the league change, but a slight bounce back from 2010 should be expected. Anyway, here’s some more moves and what they mean for fantasy baseball:
J.J. Putz – Signed with the Diamondbacks. What, Juan Gutierrez wasn’t good enough? Geez, homers allowed for pitchers is so underrated, huh? Putz should become the closer in the desert. David Hernandez and Kam “I Need TP For My” Mickolio should work setup. No reason why Putz won’t be a reliable closer and donkeycorn for fantasy.
Melvin Mora – Kevin Towers made more moves yesterday than Jim Bowden on a Segway. I miss you, Jim, and the unintentional comic relief you provided. Mora and Geoff Blum will take over for Reynolds at 3rd base. That’s the kinda blahtoon that would make Ed Wade’s toupee get excited. Too bad Dana Carvey gave up comedy (Did he? I have no idea.), I imagine he could’ve done a good Ed Wade impersonation since Wade looks like The Church Lady. Wait, why am I talking about Ed Wade? Oh, I know. Cause there’s really nothing to say about Melvin Mora. Mora hasn’t broken into double digit homers since 2008 and he’s going to be 39 for the start of the 2011 season. I’m out on a pretty sturdy limb when I say you don’t want to own Mora in fantasy.
