Before the season began and we were doing our Depth Chart Discussion series, I drew the Phillies infield as one of my assignments and had a chance to take a closer look at second baseman Chase Utley. I’ll admit that, in preparation, there was, and probably still is, a bit of fanboy inside me with regard to him as I was a proud owner in my primary keeper league from 2005 through 2009. However, for the sake of trying to be a reliable source of fantasy information, I had to face the harsh reality that those days were long gone and the man playing second base for the Phitin’ Phils right now may wear the same jersey and have the same slicked back hair, but he was not the same player he was during that five-year stretch. My concerns were high and my expectations were low, but after three straight years of decline and injury, Utley surprised us all with a season reminiscent of the good ol’ days. He hit for power, he hit for average and he stayed relatively healthy. Now the questions is, is he still capable of doing it again or did we just witness Utley’s last stand? Read the rest of this entry »

Rickie Weeks continues to be one of fantasy baseball’s most frustrating players. While he was one of the best offensive second baseman in 2010 and 2011, injuries and ineffectiveness have marred his numbers every other season. Weeks did little to silence his critics in 2013, putting up a career-worst .299 wOBA. His struggles couldn’t have come at a worse time, as Scooter Gennett proved to be an intriguing player despite some luck-aided numbers. Weeks will enter his age-31 season at the nadir of his value. Does that make him a buy-low?

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I think it’s fair to see that no one saw what Brian Dozier did this year coming. And it’s not to say that Dozier was anything special, but preseason projections figured he would be pretty useless offensively. The 2013 ZiPS projections went with a .281 wOBA, while the four fans aggregate projections yielded barely more optimism with a .288 wOBA. Instead, Dozier posted a .319 mark and actually recorded the eighth best WAR among all Major League second basemen. But of course, we’re supposed to be talking fantasy here, and Dozier finished 14th in fantasy value at the position, solidly above replacement level and a surprise to nearly everyone.

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Episode 77
Today’s episode of The Sleeper and the Bust stars yours truly and features RotoGraphs editor Eno Sarris. We discuss the prospects for another potential Japanese import and begin chatting about the second base crop.

Don’t hesitate to direct pod-related correspondence to @mikepodhorzer or @enosarris on Twitter and tweet us any fantasy questions you have that we may answer on our next episode.

You can subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or via the feed.

Intro by DJ Sinton (no, contrary to popular belief, I do not moonlight as a rap star)

Approximately 44 min of joyous analysis.

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There is no denying that Dustin Pedoria is one of, if not arguably the best second baseman in baseball. (Really, he’s probably second.)

Manning the keystone for the Boston Red Sox, Pedroia’s 2013 finished an excellent three-year stretch where he was among the position’s statistical leaders across the board. Prior to that, Pedroia was excellent in an injury-shortened 2010 and had been among the position’s best from 2007 to 2009.

In fact, if we use Pedroia’s shortened 2010 as a dividing line, The Laser Show’s performance is a nice way to illustrate the changes to the second base position league-wide.
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Well there was one rumor that Brandon Phillips would get traded to the Braves, but then the Braves insisted that Dan Uggla be a part of the deal and we haven’t heard that trade rumor again in a while. So no, the title isn’t about flocking south for the Winter or a trade rumor, the title is about the fact that Brandon Phillips is post-peak. Decidedly so.

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After the 2012 season, Dan Uggla ranked just 17th among second basemen. We thought that was bad and he had hit rock bottom. But the downward spiral actually continued. His encore was not one to celebrate, as he slid even further to just 27th within the position. Heading into his age 34 season, is the power hitting, some time acceptable batting average contributing middle infielder officially done as a fantasy delight?

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In his fourth full big league season, Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy finally fulfilled his fantasy promised and delivered great value to his owners. Likely drafted in the last two rounds or simply left as waiver wire fodder, Murphy ended the year as the league’s fourth best fantasy player at the pivot.

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About a week ago during one of the RotoGraphs podcast, Eno Sarris and Mike Podhorzer were discussing Adrian Gonzalez’s walk rate falling off the cliff. It was basically cut in a third going from 18% in 2009 to 6% in 2012. Over the time frame, Adrian’s eye didn’t change, instead he just was not intentionally walked (IBB) as much. Today I am going to look at the effects of intentional walks on walk rates and some player whose walk rate have recently been bloated because of them.

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Ignore one category, and you might wonder why Matt Carpenter was ranked second among all second basemen in fantasy value in 2013. He hit 11 homers, stole three bases, and drove in 78 runs. Even Ichiro Suzuki, when he was someone you could count on for batting average — like you *might* be able to do with Carpenter — hit about as many homers and stole ten times as many bases when he was going well.

But there is that batting average. And there are those runs scored. And if he regresses in those two categories, will the 27-year-old build in other areas to combat that regression?

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