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.
