Guys,
Haven’t seen a mailbag since the 14th and wanted to get your thoughts on this.

Thanks, Big Oil

Thanks for the question, and since readership has been high for these, we will continue to do them.

My initial response is that I don’t like the deal. If you only keep four, you always want to consolidate your keeper talent. That much is probably not news to you, but Grady Sizemore blend of speed and power is matched by only a handful of players. Owning him puts you ahead of the game because you don’t need to pick a speed-only guy high in the draft – if at all.

Upon a closer review, I can see the enticement. Your current third basemen are not up to snuff in a mixed league, and though you are competing now, you may fall behind without Aramis Ramirez and his considerable production at the hot corner. I don’t fault you for looking for a better option at third base, not at all.

However, I still go with ‘no,’ even after more reflection. I don’t want you to keep a second 1B (Adrian Gonzalez is good, but first base is a deep position), and Jay Bruce and Justin Upton are exciting players that probably won’t steal like Sizemore. Upton is close, as he is on pace for over 15 stolen bases this year and has always shown good speed in the minors.

But speed is not his game like Sizemore’s. Consider that Sizemore stole 96 bases in the minors (in 529 games) while Upton totaled 36 in 231 games. Er, that was a suprising statistic. Guess it makes sense that Upton’s four-component speed score of 6.7 this year would better Sizemore’s since 2006.

Hmmm. On second thought, fly that flag. Go for the win and do the trade. Upton looks like a good consolation prize right now, and at 21 is coming into his own. You can deal your surplus 3B at the end of the year if you want to consolidate keepers.

In a 12 team mixed league, I have a staff of Sabathia, Chamberlain, Greinke, Kershaw, Porcello, Maholm, and Sonnanstine. I am going with 2 closers and am using Joba’s RP status to plug in an extra starter. I also had Kawakami on my bench, but dumped him and someone else scooped him up. I am growing impatient with Sonny and am wondering if I should cut bait and pick up someone else. I am near the top of ERA, WHIP, Wins, but could use more Ks and could go back to 3 true RPs. Any thoughts?

Thanks! K.G.

Andy Sonnanstine shouldn’t be owned in most formats. Seriously, I took a longer look at his stats than I deemed necessary, and I still didn’t see anything I liked.

His mediocre stuff just holds him back. While he’s still not walking too many to be productive (2.92 per nine), he’s still not striking out enough to really matter (5.29 K/9). How is he going to strike people out with an 87 MPH fastball, an 87 MPH cutter, a 77 MPH slider, and a 74 MPH curveball? That’s just too many pitches at the same speed with similar movement.

Look at this chart for his vertical movement. You can see why he’s suddenly using his cutter more, because it’s the only one that moves differently on the vertical plane. Consider that his cutter used to move less, and the possibility of a regression to an already-unattractive mean is not a happy thought.

Sonnanstine is a decent number four or five in real life baseball, just on the basis of his stinginess with the walks. That shouldn’t be too attractive in fantasy baseball. Go find a reliever that might get you some saves. (Oh and trade Paul Maholm high, because he’s got too much in common with Sonnanstine to get comfortable with him.)

Our email address for this feature is rotographs+mailbag@fangraphs.com, so send in your questions! Remember to try to give us all relevant information in the fewest words possible, and you’ll be all set.

Half a game out of first place in the National League East division, the New York Mets club is struggling to field a competitive lineup with its infirmary overflowing. Everyday players Brian Schneider, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, and Ryan Church are all on the disabled list – as is back-up infielder Alex Cora.

One of the beneficiaries of this unfortunate situation is the club’s top offensive prospect Fernando Martinez. Signed out of the Dominican Republic as a 16 year old, Martinez’ big-league arrival has been highly anticipated by many. The expectations have probably been a little unreasonable, which is to be expected when someone plays for a New York sports team. Martinez has received some flak for being inconsistent to this point in his career, but he started playing professional baseball at 17, he reached double-A as a teenager and he’s still just 20 years old. Patience, as they say, is a virtue.

Throughout his inconsistent play, Martinez has shown flashes of brilliance. He does a lot of things well and he’s loaded with raw talent. Prior to 2009, Martinez had never hit more than eight home runs in a season and that came at double-A in 2008 in 352 at-bats. This year in triple-A, he hit eight homers in just 165 at-bats and posted an ISO rate of .261. As well, he had a batting average of .291, which is impressive considering he had a slow start to the year and hit .233/.287/.411 in April.

The negatives in Martinez’ offensive game continue to be his lack of patience (6.4 BB% in 2009) and his lack of stolen bases. He’s considered (incorrectly) by some to be a five-tool talent, but he lacks first-step quickness with his average speed, which means he’ll never be a good base stealer. As well, he’s an OK-but-not-great center-fielder and will likely end up at an outfield corner for the majority of his career.

Despite the negatives in his game, there are more than enough positives to get excited about Martinez’ future with the Mets. Because of his age, there will likely be plenty of growing pains along the way, but he should develop into a 15-20 home run hitter with the ability to hit between .270-.300, especially if he develops a more patient approach at the plate with experience. Expect him to struggle against southpaws early in his career (.236/.308/.391 vs LHP in his minor-league career), which could result in a platoon situation.

The positives definitely out-weigh the negatives with Fernando Martinez.

The Los Angeles Dodgers organization has found itself searching to fill the void left by the suspension of outfielder Manny Ramirez. Veteran Juan Pierre is doing his best to fill those big shoes, but let’s be honest with ourselves. Even if he hits .350 for the rest of the season (And that’s pretty laughable), Pierre is a below-average offensive left-fielder.

The club has turned its attention to outfield prospect Jamie Hoffmann (with two ‘Ns’). Like Pittsburgh’s Nyjer Morgan, Hoffmann was a talented junior hockey player. He turned down the opportunity to play U.S. college hockey for a good program at Colorado College (He was also an eighth-round selection by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2003).

So obviously, we know Hoffmann has some athletic skill despite being signed as a non-drafted amateur free agent out of a Minnesota high school. Hoffmann, 24, is a player that does a little bit of everything well. He lacks that one tool that really makes him stand out, though. He can play all three outfield positions well. He can hit for a respectable average, but he’s not going to hit .300 consistently. Hoffmann is also probably good for 10-15 home runs in a full season, as well as 15-20 stolen bases. His early power display (.500 ISO in four games) at the MLB level is not for real.

He began the 2009 season in double-A but was promoted after hitting .307/.457/.495 in 29 games. After just eight games in triple-A, Hoffmann was called up to the Majors for the first time. In a full year at double-A in 2008, Hoffmann hit .278/.350/.395 with 10 homers and 28 stolen bases in 37 attempts. His plate rates were respectable at 10.2 BB% and 15.3 K%.

In essence, the right-handed hitter is a good complementary player, who will not be a star. That said, he has the potential to grit-out a few above-average MLB seasons if given the opportunity. Hoffmann could also be a good platoon partner with Pierre for the remainder of Manny’s suspension. Pierre is currently hitting .536 against southpaws in a small sample size, but that is not going to continue.

Long-term, Xavier Paul (who was already been called up and subsequently got hurt) is a better prospect, but Hoffmann, as mentioned, is a solid ball player in his own right. The club’s top offensive prospect (and outfielder) Andrew Lambo, 20, is hitting .275/.330/.444 in 43 double-A games.

Cleveland Indians center fielder Grady Sizemore entered the 2009 season perched near the top of any fantasy draft list you could get your eyes on. His talents are obvious: the 26 year-old owns a career .369 wOBA, a .275/.366/.485 line and he swiped in excess of 30 bases in each of the past two seasons. Sizemore looked like a very wise investment, and one with upside to boot as he entered what are typically the peak years for hitters.

Instead, Grady’s wOBA sits at a gruesome .299. After compiling 35.2 Batting Runs in 2008, Sizemore checks in at a minuscule -5.5 in 2009. By either measure, he has been the least productive Indian among batters taking at least 50 PA.

So, is it time to barter Sizemore in hopes of recouping some value on that high draft pick? When you dig a little deeper into Grady’s subpar season, the answer becomes apparent: heck no.

In most respects, Sizemore’s core numbers are in line with his stellar work in previous seasons. His walk rate is 11.1 percent, very near his 11.3% career average, and his Outside-Swing Percentage is 19.4% in 2009 (18.6 career average). His strikeout rate is slightly higher this season (24.9%, compared to a 22.6% career average), but not alarmingly so.

Sizemore is driving the ball a little less this season with a .181 Isolated Power (Slugging% minus BAVG; his career average is .210), but it isn’t as though he has been punchless. He’s still making plenty of hard contact, too, with a 20.8% line drive rate (21% career average). Sizemore isn’t suddenly chopping the ball into the dirt frequently, either, with a 35.4 groundball percentage and a 43.8 flyball percentage (his career marks are 36.7% and 42.3%, respectively).

So, if the 2009 version of Grady so closely resembles the 2004-2008 models, then why is his lumber in the gutter? While he is getting jammed more often than usual (his infield/flyball percentage is 17.5%, compared to a 7.4% career average), the main culprit is a .240 BABIP that’s nearly 80 points below his career average of .319. That’s one of the 15 lowest marks in the majors, and goes a long way toward explaining why he has more closely resembled Carlos Gomez at the dish, instead of the championship-caliber player we have come to know and love.

Sizemore hasn’t been himself on the base paths to this point (7 SB and 6 caught stealings, with a 3.9 Speed Score that’s way below his 7.1 career mark). However, there’s not much to worry about regarding his hitting. Sizemore should commence lashing pitches into the gaps and getting on base at a healthy clip from here on out. If you have weathered the storm to this point, hold steady: Grady’s not playing nearly as bad as his surface stats would indicate.

Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp looks like a star. A 6-2, 230 pounder with a breath-taking power/speed combo, Kemp made his major league debut back in 2006 after mashing in the upper levels of the minors (including a career .350/.403/.551 showing at AAA). Kemp was understandably raw as a 21 year-old rookie back in ’06, with a .317 wOBA and a .253/.289/.448 line in 166 PA.

In 2007, Los Angeles’ sixth-round pick in the 2003 draft posted a sweet .383 wOBA, compiling a .342/.373/.521 triple-slash in 311 PA. In retrospect, it should have been apparent that Kemp’s output was a little over his head: his BABIP was an obscene .417. Kemp is an athletic sort who has generally posted high BABIP’s in the minors and majors, but a Ted Williams-like showing when the ball is put in play isn’t something that one can depend on.

With some correction on the BABIP front (.363), Kemp’s wOBA fell to .349 (.290/.340/.459) in 657 PA during his first full season’s worth of hacks at the big league level. However, while his 2008 campaign might look mildly disappointing on the surface, Kemp made strides in terms of controlling the strike zone. His walk rate increased from 5.2% in 2007 to 7.1% in 2008, and his Outside Swing Percentage dipped from a Francoeur-like 36.4% to 31.5% (the average was 25.4% in 2008). His Isolated Power remained largely the same (.178 in ’07, .168 in ’08).

The 25 year-old has further refined his approach in 2009. His wOBA is back up to .380 (.295/.365/.496 in 156 PA), and while his BABIP is .381, there’s reason to believe that he can sustain that level of production. Kemp’s walk rate has jumped again, up to a healthy 9.7%. The increased number of free passes relates to a further drop in chasing pitches off the plate or in the dirt: Kemp’s Outside Swing Percentage of 24.6% is right around the 24.4 percent major league average this season. In addition to the patience, Kemp has a career-high .201 ISO.

It’s been fascinating to watch the diverging paths that Matt Kemp and Jeff Francoeur have taken since breaking into the majors. Both were big, tools-laden hitters with ample right-handed pop from well-regarded farm systems. Yet, one stands on the verge of stardom, while the other hacked his way back to Mississippi for a brief period last summer. Kemp is essentially the anti-Francoeur: the toolsy youngster who has added polish to his game, only getting better as time goes on.

It’s time for the inaugural edition of the RotoGraphs Mailbag. Our email address for this feature is rotographs+mailbag@fangraphs.com, so send in your questions! Remember to try to give us all relevant information in the fewest words possible, and you’ll be all set.

In a 10-team mixed league I was offered Lincecum for Bruce, Baker and Joba. I’ve got plenty of depth at SP with Haren, Vazquez, Gallardo, Meche, Slowey and Ubaldo (we start 10 pitchers and have no bench). I’d replace Bruce with Fowler/Morgan. It’s not a keeper league.
Thanks guys, D.S.

While I’m always a proponent of consolidating talent in shallow leagues, this really tests the assumption that you should always take the best player in a trade. Tim Lincecum is by far and away the best player in this trade, that much is for sure. Amazingly, he’s upped his otherworldly strikeout rate and dropped his walk rate this year. In fact, with at .368 BABIP against, he’s been unlucky, if you can believe that. Other than the fact that he led all pitchers under 25 in Baseball Prospectus’ Pitcher Abuse Points last year, there’s little to worry about.

But you don’t have the luxury of moving pitchers in and out. You need to field six or seven good starting pitchers, not just one or two and a bunch of spot starters. Dropping from Joba Chamberlain and Scott Baker to Lincecum alone will hurt your depth and cause you to go to the waiver wire for pitching. And starting pitching on the waiver wire is pretty barren these days. I say you hold on to your buy-low trio and reap the benefits of their return to grace.

As David pointed out, Jay Bruce is only on the way up from here. Chamberlain still has an elite strikeout rate himself (8.83 K/9), despite a step back. It is upsetting that his HR/9 almost doubled and his BB/9 is up a full walk, and also that his fastball is down almost three miles per hour over last year. People are reaching a lot less, too (20.5% this year, 26.3% career). (Wait, why was I recommending you keep him?) Baker, though, should rebound for sure. After giving up 9.5% HR/FB over his career (MLB average hovers around 10%), Baker is serving up home runs on 18.6% of his fly balls. Nothing else is out of order, so he should return to his customary value as that number falls.

Sure, none of these guys are Lincecum. But if you’re already playing Ubaldo Jimenez, it might get ugly quickly if you start looking for another pitcher on the wire. Perhaps more knowledge about the pitching on the wire would shift this trade into the ‘do’ category.

I am in a 12-team mixed head-to-head league and am considering trading Adam Lind for Shin-Soo Choo for a couple reasons: 1) I like the more balanced stats Choo brings to my team (more R and SB), and 2), I think Lind may be overvalued right now considering his hot start (BABIP of .384), and vice-versa for Choo. Based on Choo’s great second half last year, and improving BB% and K% this year, I think he has a decent chance of outperforming Lind even in HR and 2B and RBI. Would you make this trade?
Thanks, M. R.

Wow, you did a lot of the analysis for us here. But the question is still interesting, for another reason. These players are actually very similar: they are high-line drive hitters that should hit for solid averages. They both may have mediocre home run totals by the end of the year, as well.

The under-rated Shin-Soo Choo’s career fly-ball percentage is low for a power hitter, at 32%, but he’s settled in around 36% the last two years. His line drive rate has been nothing short of elite – it’s at 26.4% this year (8th in the majors), and 23.8% for his career. Line drive rate is positively correlated with batting average, and with the improving walk and strike-out rates, Choo is indeed a very safe producer in batting average. A 68% success rate on steals should mean he’ll comfortably continue to pilfer bags, too.

Adam Lind has the same low fly-ball percentage (33.5% career), and also sports a great line drive rate this year (25.4%). However, his career line drive rate is nowhere near Choo’s elite status at 19.8%, a figure that has largely been skewed by this year’s excellence. Because Lind has always sported a double-digit HR/FB rate, while Choo hasn’t, ZiPS likes Lind to hit another 14 homers while it likes Choo to total 14 for the year. However, with Lind’s low fly ball percentage this year (29.5%), he’ll have to start getting those infield flies (25.8%) out of the park for the power projections to be correct. He certainly is busting out, as Dave Cameron outlined here.

I think you’re right in taking the safer choice of the two. Choo’s added steals should make up for the five or six home runs he may lack compared to Lind. But I can’t help wondering: Can you upgrade somewhere else since Lind’s name is so hot right now? Add a second pair of players into the deal in order to cash in on Lind’s rising star and better current numbers.

Hi, my name is Drew Silva. And I’m a baseball addict.

It’s my first post here on this wonderful website and I’m absolutely ecstatic. I’ll spare you too many details about my arrival, but I just want to let the Fan Graphs and Roto Graphs community know how grateful I am to be a part of this movement toward better understanding the game of baseball and, in particular, player performance. Hopefully I can add something to the fray. Just as my man Albert Pujols never squanders an at-bat, I’ll never put forth minimal effort on a post. 110 percent, and all that jazz.

My role on here is two-fold. I’ll provide semi-daily “meta analyses” of individual players, pulling information and opinions from a variety of resources to further understand the characteristics and potential of these chosen athletes. I’ll also be providing links to quality fantasy articles from other websites. If you ever come across, or personally produce, something you feel should be shared, feel free to hit me up.

I may tweak the format from time to time as I get settled in, so bear with me. I’m like the 2008 version of Ryan Howard — I’ll get around to mashing eventually.

The Dodgers’ Andre Ethier is gaining increased attention these days with Manny Ramirez in the penalty box. His club is in first place in the NL West, with a major league-leading .667 winning percentage, and the 27-year-old outfielder is off to a fine start. Ethier is out-pacing his ZiPS projections in nearly every category with seven doubles, six home runs, 27 RBI and 23 runs scored through 123 at-bats. Let’s get further acquainted.

Ethier hosts his own blog on MLB.com, where he can be found reviewing restaurants and likening playoff losses to being “kicked in the stomach.” In a post dated October 16, 2008, he took partial blame for the Dodgers’ early exit against the eventual champion Philadelphia Phillies:

“We just had a lack of execution,” he wrote. “I’m guilty. I was not getting on base in front of Manny so he could drive me in. He hit something crazy like .538 but we didn’t score enough runs. I have to get the job done a little better. I have to come back next year with the knowledge I’ve gained from this and be a better baseball player.”

The Dodgers decided to move Ethier behind Manny in the lineup this offseason and all was well until a few days ago, when Ramirez’s PED-tainted urine knocked everything out of whack. Ethier was doing an excellent job of getting on base, with a .419 OBP through the month of April, but things have obviously changed in Chavez Ravine. He is now being shifted around the lineup on a nightly basis and is being challenged more often than ever by opposing pitchers. He hit third on Saturday, then cleanup on Sunday. In both games, however, manager Joe Torre slotted him behind Orlando Hudson. Torre’s logic is fairly obvious; he wants speed in front of power. But how will it affect Ethier’s offensive totals?

Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times wrote a piece on Ethier just days before news of Manny’s suspension broke. Today’s subject had been drawing walks, including intentional passes, at an unusually high rate. “He walked 14 times in the Dodgers’ first 19 games, putting him on pace for 119,” Hernandez noted. “He drew 59 free passes last season.” Hitting behind Manny during the first several weeks of the ’09 season, he was being awarded first base whenever the dread-locked slugger failed to reach. He’ll no longer get that treatment, and it’s sure to affect his on-base percentage, among other things. Will it also derail his already impressive RBI and run totals?

No player in the Dodgers’ lineup will get on base as frequently as Manny did. Hudson has a career OBP of .349. Not terrible, but also not too sexy when compared to Manny’s career .412 mark. It’s simple math – there won’t be as many ducks on the pond when Ethier digs in. Expect a step back, unless Ethier can truly step it up.

On to some links…

KFFL asks the age-old fantasy question, “When is it time to punt a category?”

Mark St. Amant of Rotoworld has this week’s Fantasy Man-Crush Index. That third baseman from Tampa Bay, and his .480 wOBA, predictably tops the list. “Our current mesosphere, stratosphere and troposphere just aren’t high enough to contain the skyrocketing value of one Evan Longoria,” writes St. Amant.

Ballpark Bob of Fantasy Baseball Dugout believes WHIP should somehow incorporate HBPs as well. “There have been exactly 10% as many hit by pitches as walks” this season, reports Bentz . Hard to ignore.

Hans Horn over at Crooked Pitch analyzes the fall of David Ortiz. Big Papi has suddenly become “Big Pop-Up.”

For all of the club’s touted young hitting talent, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ offense has flat lined in 2009. “Boasting” the third-worst wOBA in the major leagues (the A’s and Giants are one and two, the M’s fourth- it’s a west coast thing), the D-Backs are off the sluggish 12-17 start, with a run differential of negative twenty-two.

Arizona’s center fielder and right fielder offer quite the contrast in terms of making good on that former top prospect status. While Justin Upton has been downright venomous to opposing pitchers, Chris B. Young continues to raise concerns about his control of the zone.

Upton, of course, is a hitting prodigy. The 6-2, 205 pounder dominated minor league hurlers several years older than him, including a 2007 tour-de-force that saw hit bat a combined .319/.410/.551 between High-A Visalia and AA Mobile.

After an understandable bumpy start in the bigs as a teenager (.277 wOBA in 152 PA during the 2007 season), Upton more than held his own in 2008. In 417 PA, he batted .250/.353/.463, walking at an impressive clip (13.2%) while posting a .347 wOBA. His K rate was sky-high (34%), but that’s nitpicking when one considers that most 20 year-old players are toiling in A-Ball or are sophomores in college.

In 2009, Upton is one of the few Arizona hitters not embarrassing himself at the dish. The 21 year-old’s .405 wOBA paces the club by nearly 40 points (Mark Reynolds is second, at .367). Upton has creamed the ball, with a .271 ISO that runs circles around last year’s already-outstanding .213 mark. While he has continued to draw free passes at a decent rate (10.5%), his Kingman-esque strikeout totals haven’t been as much of a problem. He’s whiffed 25.9% of the time, still a high number, but the progress in that department is encouraging. Overall, Upton has compiled 5.1 Batting Runs, which already tops last year’s mark of 4.1.

While Upton has been busy claiming his spot as one of the most valuable properties in the game, Young has been hard at work trying to solve the energy crisis. The solution? Swing and miss enough, and we’ll have all the wind power necessary to end dependence on foreign oil. The former Pale Hose prospect (the principal swag in the Javier Vazquez trade several years back) had a spectacular minor league career, with a .266/.355/.500 line that actually understates his performance, if anything (he slugged .545 in AA and .532 in AAA). However, his performance to this point has left some wondering, “is that all there is?”

Young is in the midst of his third full season in the majors, but his results have cratered. After posting wOBA’s of .331 in 2007 and .329 in 2008, the 25 year-old has managed a feeble .248 this year. Young has always swung and missed with frequency, but his stellar secondary skills (walks and power) were expected to make the contact concerns moot. That just hasn’t been the case to this point:

2006: 7.9 BB%, 17.1 K%
2007: 7.0 BB%, 24.8 K%
2008: 9.0 BB%, 26.4 K%
2009: 5.9 BB%, 32.3 K%

What’s strange is that while Young’s control of the zone would appear to be eroding, he has actually increased his pitches/PA in each full season (2007 to now): 3.8 in ’07, 4.0 in ’08 and 4.2 in ’09. His overall contact rate hasn’t changed significantly, either, hovering between 75-77%.

In 2009, however, it seems as though Young is making worse contact: his Outside-Contact% has jumped from 53.7% in ’08 to 65.3% this season (62.1% MLB average). Conversely, his Z-Contact% (percentage of contact within the strike zone) has tumbled from 85.3% to 79.2% (87.7% MLB average). He’s putting the bat on the ball more often on offerings off the dish, while coming up empty with regularity on the pitches that do cross the plate. Young is also getting jammed more often than any other major league hitter: his IF/FB% is 41.7%, nearly five points higher than second-place Rick Ankiel.

Young’s .238 BABIP surely isn’t helping matters, and given a decent line drive percentage (18.5%), you’d expect that number to climb. Still, Young is going to have to do better than a 0.19 BB/K ratio if he’s going to lean more toward Upton’s brilliance in right, as opposed to Conor Jackson’s similar brand of disappointment in left.

While visiting the Los Angeles Times to read the story about Manny Ramirez failing a drug test, I came across another article in the sports section about Gary Matthews Jr. Columnist Mike DiGiovanna wrote on Matthews being a productive bat in the lineup once given a chance to play with Vladimir Guerrero on the disabled list.

DiGiovanna wrote: “Matthews has started 15 of the team’s 26 games and entered Wednesday batting .288 with 12 runs batted in. He has as many RBIs in 59 at-bats as Bobby Abreu has in 96 at-bats.”

Since Matthews is owned in only 1.5 percent of ESPN leagues, is he a good candidate to pick up? Especially with Abreu rostered in 100 percent of ESPN leagues? Since they have such unequal playing time, let’s look at their rate stats (rather than fantasy stats) to discover their fantasy prospects. Here are the respective AVG/OBP/SLG marks for Matthews and Abreu in 2009:

M – .270/.314/.349
A – .343/.405/.394

Clearly, Abreu has been the better hitter so why is he doing so poor in RBI chances compared to Matthews? It is not by home runs, since neither player has hit one out so far. Here are their numbers when they come to the plate with men on base:

M – 30 PA 12 RBIs .346/.367/.500 (0.40 RBIs per plate appearance)
A – 50 PA 12 RBIs .375/.480/.450 (0.24 RBIs per plate appearance)

And here are their lifetime marks with men on base.

M -1758 PA 386 RBIs .259/.339/.416 (0.22 RBIs per plate appearance)
A – 3704 PA 976 RBIs .324/.433/.532 (0.26 RBIs per plate appearance)

So it’s not that Abreu is doing bad, it’s that Matthews has done a great job of converting his chances in 2009. But seven of his 12 RBIs came in two games. On May 1st, he had four RBIs, thanks mostly to a bases-loaded triple. On May 5th he had three RBIs, thanks to a two-run double and an infield single.

As you might guess, Matthews has an excellent clutch score this season. He is second on the Angels with a 0.63 mark. That would be the 11th-best mark in the majors if he had enough at-bats to qualify. Abreu is sixth on the team with a 0.06 mark. Both players have clutch scores all over the map throughout their careers.

What seems curious is manager Mike Sciscioa’s decision to move Matthews to second in the lineup. A player with a below-average on-base percentage combined with an above-average slugging with men on base seems like a better fit lower in the order.

With Garrett Anderson gone, someone has to take the role on the Angels of driving in runs while hurting those who come up behind him by not getting on base. That snark aside, the RBIs by Matthews are real and they help both the Angels and your fantasy team.

However, do not rush to add him to your lineup. Matthews has had a couple of timely hits with men on base. But history has proven that Abreu is more likely to contribute in these situations and to give those behind him a chance to drive in runs, too. And while Matthews has been a plus in RBIs this season, he has been average or worse in AVG, SB and HRs. And his .270 average comes despite a .347 BABIP, 46 points above his career mark.

Judging by his past performance, Matthews is much more likely to hurt you in those three categories going forward than he is to help you in RBIs.

The Cleveland Indians organization finally made the move we all knew was coming the moment 1B/DH Travis Hafner hit the disabled list with another shoulder injury. The club promoted LF/1B/DH Matt LaPorta from Triple-A. LaPorta has crushed minor league pitching almost constantly since being the seventh overall selection in the 2007 draft. The right-handed batter was traded from Milwaukee to Cleveland in last year’s C.C. Sabathia deal.

He has massive power and could make an immediate impact in the Indians lineup, given appropriate playing time from manager Eric Wedge. LaPorta was hitting .333/.414/.640 with five homers in 75 at-bats for Triple-A Columbus. His walk rate has been constantly improving, which is encouraging, but you can expect him to strikeout 20-25 percent of the time.

LaPorta struggles against off-speed pitches so he’s going to see a lot of them early on in his MLB career. His career minor-league average is .292 but don’t expect him to hit for a high average right away. The power, though, should be there right from the get-go. He may get platooned early on, but he’s never really hit southpaws all that well with a career .237/.327/.452 line against them (compared to righties at .311/.407/.626).

The club also recalled infielder Luis Valbuena. He was picked up from the Seattle organization in the J.J. Putz trade this past off-season, which also saw outfielder Franklin Gutierrez head to Seattle. Valbuena has a little bit more pop in his bat than current Indians infielder Asdrubal Cabrera – who was also obtained from Seattle in an earlier trade back in 2006 – which can actually be a bad thing as he tries to muscle up from time-to-time. Valbuena has the chance to offer some stolen bases and a little pop, while also providing a respectable average. In other words, he’ll given a little bit of everything but he’s not going to be a star.

*For an extra bit of info… Here is an interview I did with Matt LaPorta shortly before the Brewers selected him with the seventh overall pick in 2007.