There were many caution signs thrown up by fantasy baseball prognosticators when it came to Josh Hamilton’s expected 2013 output. His penchant for swinging at virtually any reachable pitch being among the primary arguments that he just couldn’t keep up his pace. But when it came to draft day, many managers had a hard time looking past that beastly .285/.354/.577 with 43 home runs and 128 RBI from 2012. As a result, he was coming off the board in second and third rounds and his price sat well into the $30’s in most formats.

Read the rest of this entry »

While Nelson Cruz might be one of the least favorite of available free agents among nerd faces, it’s hard to ignore what he does rather consistently for your fantasy squad — and that’s hit home runs and drive in runs all while hitting for a decent average. The often injured (or suspended as it were) outfielder has posted an ISO below .240 just once in the last five seasons and has yet to hit below .260 as a major league regular. Cruz has hit 135 home runs in the past five years and he’s really only played a full season once.

Read the rest of this entry »

In 2012, there were exactly seven qualified players who posted an ISO over .250 and a slugging percentage over .500. They were Ryan Braun, Miguel Cabrera, Josh Hamilton, Edwin Encarnacion, Josh Willingham, Jay Bruce, and Jason Kubel. Yes, Jason Kubel. Granted, of the group, Kubel had the least amount of value by WAR, but this kind of demonstrates the kind of company Kubel’s resurgence kept.

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems like Michael Saunders has been tantalizing fantasy managers with his annual seven weeks of quality hitting for the better part of this century. Even for a Mariner fan, it’s surprising to look up and realize The Condor really only has two full seasons under his belt, and he is entering his age 27 season, having a birthday just three days ago. When Saunders is going good, he can be a handy fantasy player. The problem is, of course, all of the bad that he mixes in between those stretches.

Read the rest of this entry »

A fluke might not be repeatable, but it is nevertheless something that happened. And something that happened in 2013 was Raul Ibanez was pretty good — which not many people outside of the Ibanez family and maybe Jack Zduriencek thought was likely. It was such an oddity, it generated a post titled, “I’m Old and I’m Swinging For the Fences” which should win some kind of post header award in my opinion.

Read the rest of this entry »

Martin Prado had eligibility all over the field in 2013, but it’s likely that most owners used him at shortstop where he had the most value. In his first year as a Diamondback, Prado’s Steamer projections pegged him at .294/.351/.445 with 13 home runs, 84 runs, 66 RBI, and eight steals. As an outfielder that’s rather underwhelming, but as a shortstop, that represents a classic ‘checking off all the respective boxes’ in standard rotisserie leagues.

Read the rest of this entry »

With two 30-30 seasons in his resume, there was a time when it was quite fashionable to select Ian Kinsler as early as the first round in fantasy drafts. 2012 was a down year by his standards, but the lure of a rebound season still kept his price tag hefty with a $20-plus average auction cost and an average draft position in the 20’s. It suffices to say that he lacked a return on investment in 2013.

Read the rest of this entry »

As a fantasy manager, you look at Michael Cuddyer’s 2013 season statistics and there should be giant flashing red lights around this number: .382. That’s Cuddyer’s BABIP. Granted, he earned a good deal of that given his hit trajectory which was a fairly tidy 20/50/30 LD/GB/FB, producing a .355 expected BABIP. But for a soon to be 35-year old with a career BABIP rate of .312, we should all probably temper our expectations for 2014.

Read the rest of this entry »

You might not be old enough to remember, but Fernando Tatis once put up a monster fantasy baseball performance. In 1998, the Texas Rangers were in a dogfight with the Anaheim Angels, who at that point in history were not affiliated with the city of Los Angeles. The Rangers weren’t particularly thrilled with Kevin Elster at shortstop nor their motley crew of starting pitchers which included the aging arms of John Burkett and Bobby Witt. So they dealt a kid named Fernando Tatis and other moving parts to the St. Louis Cardinals for Royce Clayton and Todd Stottlemyre.

Read the rest of this entry »

Russell Martin will no doubt be a part of an offseason of journalistic rear-view mirror celebration for Pittsburgh sports writers looking for something other than the Steelers to fill their columns. People will cite a career resurgence and his leadership and his defense and how valuable he was to his team. I get all that. But in fantasy circles, we sometimes have to have a colder heart than George Steinbrenner after double header losses and a bad day at the track.

Read the rest of this entry »