So he’s a third baseman who doesn’t wear a cup, he can deliver unmatched death stares to teammates, he’ll freak out if you touch his head, he likes to appeal his own check swings to the first base umpire, and he frequently drops to one knee when crushing a pitch. For these and for many other reasons, Adrian Beltre is just a lot of fun to root for.

On top of it all, he’s been a terrific third baseman in fantasy baseball circles as a player you can rely on for a plus batting average, great power, and tons of RBI. But there’s been an interesting trend in 2012 that might be a short-term quirk, or perhaps a sign of a problem going forward.

Beltre owns a current slash line of .296/.325/.483 with ten home runs, 30 runs scored, and 37 RBI, so he’s performed as most would have expected on the season. But his last couple of weeks haven’t been at all useful to fantasy owners. Since May 28th, Beltre his hitting .233/.292/.283 with no home runs and just three doubles over 65 plate appearances, and he’s struck out 16 times. His BABIP during that period is fully .318, so he’s actually getting lucky bounces right now. This is, of course, a small sample and it’s likely to register on the spectrum of what goes up must come down. Still, there are a couple of other interesting tidbits to be aware of.

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With the trade deadline looming and injuries affecting many contender’s bullpens, non-contending teams will start listening in on offers for closers. Many of these closers will lose value in roto leagues, but in holds leagues such as ottoneu or any other league that accounts for holds, the value of these relievers is still prevalent. Some teams may be looking to ditch these relievers as the deadline nears, but if you are looking to solidify your bullpen for the stretch run of the season, these closer trade candidates could be solid targets.
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Maybe my perception is off, but the fantasy options at third base are stacked right now. Cabrera, Wright, Longoria, Hanley Ramirez, A-Rod, Beltre, Brett Lawrie, and his teammate Jose Bautista are a formidable group. At some point in the next year or two a slew of third base prospects with huge potential will ascend to the major leagues, I’m talking about Nick Castellanos, Mike Olt and Nolan Arenado. Since I was able to see each of these guys this week there wasn’t a better time to write them up for your reading pleasure.

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For most of the second half of the new century’s first decade, there was little question about the two players at the top of the heap when it came to production from second base. Chase Utley in Philadelphia and Brian Roberts in Baltimore, just 100 miles apart via I-95, were the gold standard for power, speed, and defense. Between 2005, Utley’s first full season, and 2009, Roberts’ last, they were not only the two most valuable second basemen in the game, they were two of the top 20 most valuable players, period.

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Compared to Wednesday, yesterday’s baseball news was considerably more dreary. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of useful info to be found in today’s Roto Riteup.

• Yesterday was a big day for Kirk Nieuwenhuis. It marked the first time that he powered multiple home runs in a single game. He led off the game with a shot to put the Mets ahead 1-0 and then he followed that up with another homer in the fourth inning. Although Nieuwenhuis has never topped the 20 homer plateau in any single season in the minors, he does have 17 and 19 home run seasons across different leagues in the same calendar year. With a BABIP at an even .400 so far this year I think he makes for a nice first half story with a big second half drop. He is striking out in over 25% of his plate appearances, 27.1% to be exact and his contact percentage is over six points below average. I’d go ahead and leave him on the waiver wire for now, but I have added him to my Yahoo! Watch List in several leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

• Just as I was about to press the “publish now” button on the Bullpen Report from last evening, John Axford decided to blow his second save of the season. The mustached one entered with a two-run lead, but surrendered a hit and two walks, resulting in two earned while whiffing just one to send the game into extras. Although this was only Axford’s second blown opportunity of the season, the Brewers’ closer has allowed six earned runs in his last four outings with five walks to just three punch outs. Looking further, Axford has actually increased his K/9 since 2011 — 10.51 to 12.93 batters per nine — but has allowed about double the free passes as he did last season (3.05 to 6.08 BB/9). Additionally, Axford has been a bit unlucky on average on balls in play (.361 versus .301 career) and is stranding less runners (62.2 LOB%) than his career (76.3%), which leads me to believe his 4.94 ERA is due for some improvement. Assuming there are no injury concerns, Axford needs to limit walks and reduce line drives if he wants to be the effective closer who recently held a 49-game consecutive save streak that ended May 11th. Should Axford continue to struggle, former closer Francisco Rodriguez is waiting in the first chair for the Brew Crew.

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Denard Span (ESPN: 38 percent owned; Yahoo!: 19 percent owned)

The Twins’ offense finally looks like it’s heading in the right direction. Through Wednesday night’s game, they’ve scored 68 runs, the most in baseball and just 20 runs shy of their total for the entire month of April. While the Twins are trending up, their leadoff man Denard Span is heading in the opposite direction in terms of ownership. As much as I like Span, and I like Span a lot, I understand entirely why owners are willing to jettison him so quickly: He’s a tweener. Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s break from the usual three-player Mining the Minors write-ups to cover more ground (or if you prefer, more bases — this is a baseball site after all). This time, we’ll hit on three pairs, with one of each position — starting pitcher, outfielder and reliever — coming from each league.

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They say that, in life, timing is everything. Yes, success is often something you achieve when you put in the proper amount of work, but for many, it can simply be a matter of being in the right place at the right time.  Sometimes, it can be an amazing occurrence in life, at least when it happens to you, and other times you just sit there and watch in complete disbelief, wondering how some people can catch such a break. It can be as big as randomly meeting someone who, in the end, offers you your dream job, or as small as simply flipping on the TV and catching a ballgame in the fourth inning that ends up being Matt Cain’s perfect game. 

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