The Braves finally pulled the plug on Dan Uggla for good, it seems. Tommy La Stella was promoted to help a bottom-three situation, and now fantasy owners want to know how much he can help their teams. Only fair.
In the preseason I hypothesized that Brett Lawrie was not going to be a post-hype sleeper. This past week one of my best Twitter friends, Moe Koltun (@moeproblems), asked if my thoughts on Lawrie had changed from the preseason. Seeing that I needed something to write about for my regular Wednesday post, I thought I’d answer Moe’s question with 1,000 words or so. Read the rest of this entry »
The MLB transactions list is usually a good place to start when a fantasy owner is looking for a surprise addition. Suppositions about those transactions can work even better, but I’m too late.
I’m a bit out of the loop on things, but I don’t think I’m off base here. I figured that both of these players were kind of obvious as recommendations when I saw their names, but their needles haven’t moved much since the announcements of their impending returns to 25-man rosters, each in a different circumstance.
If an owner has any reservations, then I’d say to them that I wouldn’t hesitate. I’d be aggressive, if there were any wonder about how one of the two would play in my league – in other words, if it’s because of league depth or something similar.
It’s been a tale of two months thus far for Nationals infielder Anthony Rendon. Things started off well for the 23-year-old. In April, he hit .316, with four home runs. After the strong start, the league may have adjusted. Rendon is hitting just .190, with one home run, in May. Despite the recent struggles, Rendon has shown some signs of improvement at the plate during his sophomore season.
To start, I am a big fan of Tommy La Stella and as a Braves follower, I am one of the biggest advocates of the Braves giving him the starting second base job. They could use another left-handed bat and specifically can use one that will get on base. Only three of their current regulars have an on base percentage above .300 and while it is still triple-A, La Stella’s mark of .370 in Gwinnett should translate over to a respectable on base percentage with the big club. I have heard from a source that the Braves are waiting until the super 2 deadline to bring La Stella up. Whether that is a good idea or not is unimportant to me, but it does seem to be what is going on. Sooner or later, La Stella will be up with Braves.
With that said, there is not much appeal to La Stella in standard fantasy scoring formats. Much like Matt Carpenter, his value will almost totally be derived from a high average and solid on base percentage. While coming from a middle infielder that has value, the amount of value is uninspiring considering much of fantasy baseball is focused on homers and steals. Unfortunately, neither of those attributes are strong points for La Stella.
Following an abysmal 2013 campaign that saw him slash .209/.306/.357, Rickie Weeks entered the 2014 season as Scooter Gennett’s very expensive backup. Last season didn’t exactly come out of nowhere either, as it marked the third consecutive campaign in which Weeks’ weighted on-base average declined.
Weeks has started just 11 games this year, but five of those starts have come in the last nine days. Before anyone goes taking that as evidence that Weeks may be working his way back into the regular starting lineup, I’ll note that four of those five games were against left-handed starters. Still, it’s the largest chunk of playing time he’s gotten all year, and he is absolutely crushing the ball.
On Tuesday, the White Sox promoted second baseman Micah Johnson from Double-A to Triple-A. In 2013, Johnson split the season between A and High-A, with a brief taste of Double-A, compiling a .312/.373/.451 slash in 601 plate appearances with an eye-popping 84 stolen bases. Our own Nathaniel Stoltz wrote a comprehensive scouting report on Johnson last June, and two of Nathaniel’s statements in that article help place Johnson’s 2014 success into the context of his long-term prospects:
Fortunately for Johnson, and the White Sox, he has responded in a big way, succeeding beyond expectations in the specific areas pointed out by Nathaniel last June. As a result, the perception of Johnson as a prospect needs to be reevaluated and likely elevated.
Last week, I unveiled the May Tiered Rankings for the second base position, and readers quickly zeroed in on my rankings of Dee Gordon and Aaron Hill. They believed I had placed both of them too low. One intrepid reader even took the time to pound at the keyboard and ask exasperatingly, “WHAT DOES DEE HAVE TO DO!”
While I appreciate the lack of question mark at the end of the sentence — as it would’ve resulted in an uncouth double punctuation — it’s clearly a question about which this individual feels passionately and desires a sincere answer. After all, Dee Gordon is hitting .331/.364/.441 with 24 steals. He’s the number-one ranked second baseman in ESPN leagues and the number-three overall player, behind only the Colorado duo of Charlie Blackmon and Troy Tulowitzki.
How the [insert choice expletive here] could I possibly rank Dee Gordon as a fourth-tier second baseman?
Are you desperate for a second baseman or middle infielder in your deep league? Then you’ve come to the right place! I’ve got a pair of possible free agents ripe for the picking just for you.
Marcus Semien and Jonathan Schoop have similar strikeout rates. They did *not* get there the same way. Which is good, because otherwise I would have had to link these two just by saying that they sometimes play second base and are young, which is not a great intro. Not saying this intro is A+, but a little bit better than that intro at least. I hope.
Navel gazing aside, it’s sort of fascinating how different players can find their way to a strikeout. The patient one that doesn’t swing much can find his way into bad counts while still making good contact. The free-swinger can hack his way into a strikeout. The slugger that never chokes up can whiff at pitches that scrappier guys would take the other way.
