The Red Sox signed Jonny Gomes, and — completely ignoring his lack of an ‘h’ and inability to hit right-handed pitchers — declared him the starter in left field for 2013. Sort of. There’s a left-handed young man in left field that might have something to say about that. His name is Ryan Kalish.
**Merry Christmas to those who celebrate the light-filled holiday! I am a Jew, and as a result, will be fitting the stereotype to a T, going to a movie followed by a delicious Chinese dinner.
A couple of weeks ago, free agent slugger Mark Reynolds signed a one-year deal with the Cleveland Indians to man first base on a full-time basis. He’s coming off a disappointing season that saw a drop in power that came along with the usual horrid batting average. Oriole Park at Camden Yards had always had a bandbox perception, while Progressive Field in Cleveland has typically been thought of a pitcher’s park, but never mentioned in the same breath as other extreme pitcher’s parks. Based strictly on perception, the ballpark switch is going to hurt Reyndolds’ chances of a rebound. Let’s see what the data says.
Joel Hanrahan is headed out of town, and since it’s Boston as the destination, he’s likely to remain the closer. Andrew Bailey’s loss must be someone’s gain, however — there’s a vacuum behind The Hammer in Pittsburgh. Who will fill it?
On Saturday, Cody Ross signed with the Diamondbacks, creating a crowded outfield situation in Arizona. Given that they are paying him nearly $9 million per year, it suggests that a Jason Kubel or Justin Upton trade is imminent. Sending Adam Eaton down to the minors is another option, but that seems unlikely. Assuming that Ross has a full-time job in the outfield, this is how the the switch in ball parks should affect his performance.
The Chris Capuano rejuvenation tour made its second trip around the NL in 2012, and with it came similar results. Capuano appeared in the same number of games (33), but made two more starts than he had in 2011, leading to 12.1 more innings pitched, a 0.5 increase in WAR, and pretty much everything fell into place as it had in 2011. Read the rest of this entry »
Though fantasy owners may have hoped for better, Adam Wainwright’s return from Tommy John surgery has to be deemed a success. He threw nearly 200 innings, struck out 184 batters and contributed positively in WHIP, though his 3.94 ERA was a bit higher than we’re used to getting from the Cardinals ace. However, his skills suggest that his results should probably have been better than they actually were.
You probably had to own Hisashi Iwakuma to really appreciate how helpful he was down the fantasy baseball stretch in 2012. Iwakuma flew under the radar perhaps because he was pitching for a team that was taking a wet noodle approach to their youngsters by mid-July, already trying to figure out who might stick in 2013. Iwakuma, in real baseball, was largely ignorable. But in looking ahead at 2013, he might warrant your attention in fantasy baseball.
Iwakuma pitched in in 30 games and posted a 3.16 ERA (4.35 FIP) with a real affinity for giving up home runs, a ho-hum 8.3% walk rate and an equally thrilling 19.5% strikeout rate. If that were the story right there, you could move on to, I don’t know, Ervin Santana in hopes of solving your starting pitching problems on the cheap.
This week the Mets exchanged Cy Young award winner R.A. Dickey for Blue Jays catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud (pronounced dar-no). The deal is logical for two teams moving in opposite directions. While the merit of the Blue Jays’ off-season moves are not above reproach, the Mets are in no position to compete in 2013 as evidenced by their attempt to field a team without a single outfielder. But, that’s of little consequence to us here at RotoGraphs. Here, we want to know who Travis d’Arnaud is and how this trade affects the prospect Comrade Newman called the best catcher prospect he has ever seen. Read the rest of this entry »
Before there was Stephen Strasburg, there was Jordan Zimmermann. After missing part of 2009 and nearly all of 2010 with Tommy John surgery, Zimmermann was placed under a strict innings limit for his age-25 season in 2011. Despite performing well, he was still shut down after he crossed the 160 inning threshold, and was not seen again after August 28.
For Nationals fans hoping that GM Mike Rizzo made the right call in shelving Strasburg at a similar point in his recovery this year – it was of course less of a lightning rod for Zimmermann, since he’s not Strasburg and the 2011 Nationals weren’t nearly as competitive as the 2012 version – the tremendous success of Zimmermann in his first year with the reins off has to be seen as a cause for great optimism. Read the rest of this entry »
Stop me if you’ve heard about “enigmas wrapped in riddles surrounded by mysteries” before. Well, that was essentially Clay Buchholz’s 2012. Many fantasy owners hoped to buy low on Buchholz going into the year; fondly remembering his 2010 season while hoping the back injury that shelved him for more than half of 2011 was a distant memory. In ESPN leagues, he went 53rd among starting pitches (193rd overall) meaning he fell into the 14th-16th rounds in standard 12-team leagues. What managers couldn’t imagine was drafting a pitcher who could do more harm to their roto categories than if they had just started an empty roster slot. But that’s exactly what Buchholz was in April and May, putting up an ugly 7.19 ERA and dragging his owners down into the abyss. However, eventually the calendar flipped to June, and “good Buchholz” emerged from some sort of baseball cocoon, beginning a run that saw his 7+ ERA metamorphose into a 3.45 over the final four months of the season. Throw these two versions of the Boston righty into a cauldron and you end up with a guy 73rd in Zach Sanders’ 2012 rankings (below replacement value), but one who went from being completely and utterly unrosterable for more than eight weeks to a hurler who stabilized many rotations during the longest days of the summer.