Whatever it is they do in St. Louis, it works: The Cardinals are 33-18, the best record in the majors, and if the past decade is any gauge, we might as well go ahead and put them down for another postseason berth in 2015. With such success, let’s see if two little-owned position players on the team, both of whom have recently come into playing time, can provide help to deep-leaguers.

As usual, the players discussed in this space are better suited for mono leagues, and the ownership percentages are by way of CBS.
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It might feel like it was forever ago, but Cameron Maybin was once one of the most coveted prospects baseball. The type of prospect who co-headlines a package for a young Miguel Cabrera and not-yet-awful Dontrelle Willis. From 2007-2009 he ranked in the top-10 prospects in all of baseball by Baseball America. His power and speed projections lent themselves to thoughts of a possible 30/30 outfielder who would be drafted near the top of fantasy drafts. Now, he’s 600 games into his big league career and has hit 37 homers and stolen 99 bases. He does have a 40 stolen base season on his resume, but the power never truly showed up in his game and his .247/.312/.369 slash line leaves a lot to be desired. Very little was made of his inclusion in a blockbuster deal for Craig Kimbrel on opening night of the season. It appears, though, the 28-year-old outfielder is breaking out. Colleague Alex Chamberlain took an in-depth look at Maybin yesterday, and his piece is a great read. I’d like to further enhance the case for rostering the center fielder.  Read the rest of this entry »

It is fashionable to ridicule a fantasy owner for panicking in April. It’s early, they say. Something about small sample size, they say.

Yet here I am in late May — which is pretty much June to the common antiestablishmentarian — watching y’all sit stoically with your coveted, probably somewhat expensive shares of Matt Kemp (96% owned in Yahoo! leagues) and Carlos Gonzalez (94%) as they flounder in the batter’s box. That was condescending, yes, but I know I benefit from the luxury of not facing such painful decisions (nor enduring the mighty struggles of once-established sluggers).

I recently discussed CarGo and Kemp here and here, respectively. Unless you can get a decent return on name value from someone who thinks he’s buying low, it may be time to cut bait. I’m here to remind you: it’s OK to let go, to start anew. It’s just hard sometimes, I know. I’m here to help you transition.

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Craving some serious deep league action? Look no further as I have another one of those popular 0% ownership names!

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It’s the unofficial start of summer, and as the fantasy season heads into June, here are two bats who have been hot lately. As a reminder, the players discussed in this column are typically more suited for mono leagues, and I use CBS for the ownership percentages.
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Jake Marisnick was a third-round pick for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 2009 Draft. After honing a do-everything centerfield profile for two seasons in the low minors, he began popping up on industry Top 100 Prospect lists reaching as high as 28 in 2012 with a low of 79 prior to 2014. In mid-November of 2012, he was a key piece in the mega-deal between Toronto and Miami after a two-level season that saw him rip through High-A before the rich talent of Double-A stymied him en route to a .622 OPS in 55 games.

He repeated Double-A in 2013 with his new club and enjoyed much better results (.860 OPS in 67 games). Results which were enough to earn him a call to the bigs in late-July, but he couldn’t get it going with the Marlins. His strikeout and walk skills were identical to Double-A, but he languished with a .478 OPS in 118 PA thanks in part to a .232 BABIP. Marisnick would find himself being dealt again in 2014, this time in a smaller, but still substantial deal. The Astros acquired him with some minor leagues (including #6 overall pick from ’13 Colin Moran) for Jarred Cosart, Enrique Hernandez, and a minor leaguer.

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There’s something beautiful about an empty canvas because of its potential. The painter can turn it into literally anything — anything from a masterpiece to utter crap. The painter can make mistakes. She can paint a miserably bad portrait, yet still have time to amend it, perhaps creating an entirely different work — a different and better portrait, the ugly original buried deep beneath several layers of paint. The final product is a marvel, though the journey there was not smooth nor seamless.

Or right from the start she can paint the perfect landscape. And that’s great, except she continues to paint until it is no longer the masterpiece it once was but a mess of dimensionless color, unrecognizable and void of merit.

Such are the stories of the seasons of MLB hitters. A player can suffer a miserable April — the ugly portrait — yet slowly build up to a respectable end-of-season stat line. Conversely, a player can have a monstrous April — the perfect landscape — yet watch it slowly fall apart over the course of the next five months.

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After looking at base stealing options last week, today we’ll shift focus to the home run department. Both players on today’s list are mostly available, though they come with flaws attached to their home run potential. Without further ado, let’s take a look at Colby Rasmus and Chris Young. Read the rest of this entry »

Often times I get my player ideas for this column from the bids in AL Tout Wars. Unfortunately, that means my recommendations typically learn toward American Leaguers, rendering National League owners $hit out of luck. My apologies. But you’re in luck! This week actually features a player from each league.

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It’s tricky to write about batted ball mix changes, for the most part. If you’re talking push and pull, adding the ability to go the other way can increase your batting average, sure. But it can also decrease your power output. Ground balls and fly balls act the same way — there’s really an ideal mix for each hitter, and we’re trying to figure out just as much as they are which is the best way forward.

There’s one batted ball type that just plain sucks, though. The pop-up. The infield fly.

98.5% of the time, that’s an out. It’s a bad idea, plain and simple.

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