Alright, so mockdraftcentral still has Allen Craig (or as I like to call him, Craig Allen because he has two first names and it’s just confusing) in their 300 ADP, and he’s getting drafted at a 61.5% clip. This wouldn’t seem like someone who’s flying under any radars, Grey or not. However, they also have Jorge Posada drafted in 15.8% of leagues so let’s just realize there are some people who need corks on their forks out there who only draft players because they saw them in the World Series that one time. Unfortunately, one of those Ruprechts out there might be lucking into a very valuable season. I’m veering off the unbeaten path back onto the beaten to feature him because I see someone who is 2B eligible in yahoo leagues that could conceivably hit you 18 to 20 HRs with 450 at-bats. Even discounting his 2011 line, you might stumble into a .280 average with 70 RBIs. If you’re willing to draft Chase Utley or Rickie Weeks in the 7th round, I don’t see how you can’t like the idea of getting similar counting stats from the 20th round on down minus the steals.
Now for the Negative Nelly’isms. Let me fill them in for you so you don’t have to waste finger strength. But where does he play, ONC? Ah, good hypothetical question, hypothetical reader. Truth be told, I don’t know, all I know is there are plenty of question marks in the current projected starting lineup. First let’s talk about injury bugs, a bug in the same genus as the ‘flu bug’ and the ‘acting bug’ if my knowledge of arthropods is correct (and I can assure you it’s not). David Freese has been known to ride the pine with scrapes and bruises, Rafael Furcal has never seen a DL stint he didn’t like and Carlos Beltran is playing on borrowed knees; he may sprain one when he gets Niese’s nose job bill. The great thing about Craig is that he can play a lot of different positions as he did last year when he had at least two games at each of the following: 1B, 2B, 3B, LF, CF, RF. Injuries move players all over the place and open chances to get him at-bats. Let’s not forget that lineup has more holes than Mormon underwear (get it? Holy underwear? Hole-ier? Yeah, it was a stretch. Come pun with me and you’ll be more flexible than a Hatha Yoga instructor). Jon Jay has proven nothing in CF and they currently have Daniel Descalso slated to start at 2B. That’s a lot of meh up the middle which creates room for him in the likely event of nuclear suckage.
Looking back, I count 5 bolded names in that last paragraph that could allow Craig to sneak into the lineup. I’m not mentioning Holliday or Berkman as they’ve stayed relatively healthy, though they are both getting a bit older. So I guess I’m kinda mentioning them. More of an FYI about possible DLs for a couple of ODB’s. Wanna know what other ODB kept Allen Craig from fully playing last year? La Russa. You know, the guy who retired from managing so he can complain at the retirement center about the ladies trying to steal his Apple ID (inside joke from frequent commenter AdmiralTrey). Without the lineup madness, Craig should have a great shot to build on his 2011 post-season.
You’d think with Decalsco slated to start at 2B they’d just give the job to Craig full time…Im a fan of his, and might end up drafting him in my deep 16 teamer next week.
@TheNewGuy, long term, he makes a good choice in a deep setting. He’ll most likely be fairly cheap and you can hide him on the DL to start the year. The great part is that allows for things to play out (i.e. team injuries and poor performance) so that he can step in when the time comes.
Also if Berkman is injured or they just are not winning, Matt Adams will be playing. He should play anyway. He is the sexiest man in that franchise.
Nice post! I was thinking, “This guy sounds aweseme!” for the length of the post. Another example of a quality MI.
@Bourne, haha, yes indeed about Matt Adams. Hopefully they give him a shot but the NL central is too weak for their team to not be in contention this year. Sorry, you’ll have to hold off on sexy most likely.
Thanks! If he is 2B eligible, he’s extremely useful. As an OF, he’s still intriguing, just not as much.
you mentioned everyone’s injuries except his own .
@chata, Yeah, it wasn’t intentional. I did put him up there with the Rickie Weeks/Chase Utley reference for that reason. My thoughts are so many people are willing to draft those two so high knowing they might only get 120 or 130 games, I didn’t see a reason to ignore Craig in the late rounds. Especially with Utley who also still has not played a game and yet is getting drafted around 7th.
@Oregon Nut Cups,
on a related note ,
it’s nice to see the major teams struggle as they have to
deal with jettisoning their aging stars :
boston : manny (clowny) , varitek , ortiz
philly : rollins , utley , howard
angels : abreu , wells , hunter
yanks : posada , a-rod , mariano , jeter
maybe some of the new salary restrictions for the younger players
will bring about a new world order .
probably not .
money talks .
probably not .
@chata, I’d like to believe but the big thing is, most of the big money clubs don’t spend much on youth. They trade it away for veterans and spend gobs in the free agent market on those homegrown talents when their small club doesn’t pony up the cash they want. Trust me, I’d love to believe :)
Sabean was dumb as hell for giving up Wheeler for a Beltran rental.
@SmokeTNT, yeah, Sabean was stuck in an awkward spot. Not out of it enough to give up, but his team wasn’t offensively built to withstand injury and ineptitude from everyone not named Panda (and even he was hurt for a time). Beltran wasn’t enough to turn the corner on that offense, despite being one of the few available bats at the time that had the chance for the most impact. Hard to fault him, but I understand the sentiment.