Gavin Cecchini started the 2013 season where he ended it, in the Class-A (short season) New York Penn League, with the Brooklyn Cyclones. But the Penn League was not a proving ground in 2012, as he only played in five games, starting just one, and pinch running in the other four.

The shortstop, 20, has begun the season productive, consistent, and was noticeably bulkier than last year; he approximated he put on about between 10-12 pounds, in a conversation in early June. Regularly hitting second or third in the lineup, he’s had a hit in six of the eight games the Cyclones have played. He put together a five-game hitting streak, collecting three multi-hit games in that stretch.

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With the news that Jose Reyes is being activated from the disabled list here on Wednesday, there’s a fairly good chance that whoever owns him in your league might have a shortstop  to send back to the player pool. Of course, if your Reyes owner is like me and landed Jean Segura early on, then chances are, you won’t be seeing the extra help on your waiver wire. If that’s the case, then perhaps there’s someone else out there whom you haven’t investigated just yet, so here are a couple of suggestions. Read the rest of this entry »

Andrelton Simmons may be one of my favorite players in the league, but I do not find any reason for him to be owned in nearly half of Yahoo! leagues at this point in time. I was down on Simmons from a fantasy perspective entering the year, he just does not have the base stealing acumen or power to be as useful as other options in fantasy formats.
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If a show can find a way to shoe-horn Mark Paul-Gosselaar, Beau Bridges, Heather Locklear and Malcom McDowell into the same office, I can find a way to relate Nick Franklin to Yasiel Puig. Hey, they’re both hot young things that deserve a thorough brief directed at those in redraft or shallow keeper leagues. Done!

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Aw come on. I thought that was one of the better and more appropriate puns/play on words we could have used for Jurickson Profar, the latest rookie sensation to make a splash in the big leagues this season. Would you have preferred “Profar, So Good”? How about “Profar Away”? “A Bridge Profar”? Well how about “I Went To The Jurickson Store And They Were All Out of You”? I could probably continue this for a few more paragraphs, but all I’m really trying to do is distract you to the point where your enthusiasm for Profar’s arrival is tempered. Why? Because this isn’t going to last, people. Rein it in. As excited as you are to have Profar finally arrive, you need to relax because he is more than likely to be gone as quickly as he came. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s deep league waiver wire day, which is obviously the best day of the week. Apologies to my NL-Only league friends, only American Leaguers today.

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Should you short stop or just stop short? This year the position feels like it’s an injury magnet, even if the evidence doesn’t necessarily point to shortstops being injured more often.

But there you have Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes and Derek Jeter dropping because of injury. That’s allowed players that are not even performing well — Asdrubal Cabrera, I’m looking at you — to move up just because they didn’t go down with an ailment. Health is a thing. Troy Tulowitzki always had number one talent, and his health makes him number one now.

That isn’t to say that there aren’t any superlative performances that have pushed the needle. Ian Desmond is proving last year was no fluke, Josh Rutledge has shown enough power and speed for most of us to believe, and Jean Segura — though not a 25 homer hitting shortstop — has exceeded even our semi-lofty expectations. Maybe Andrelton Simmons will be next.

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Let’s take another dive into the free agent pool,
With the hopes of finding a hitter with more than one tool,
So you don’t end up looking like a fool.

You may find more of Pod’s Poems on the forthcoming PoemGraphs, where we calculate RARP (rhymes above replacement poet) and discuss the ridiculousness of haikus (really, a poem that doesn’t rhyme? that’s NOT a poem).

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While a trendy sleeper pick in 2013, Jean Segura still slipped well into the double-digit rounds on draft day. Suddenly the top fantasy shortstop through six weeks, owners who passed are annoyed and owners who took the plunge in dynasty formats are already readying the 15-year franchise tender. Apparently the Brewers want to keep him around for a while, too, as they have reportedly offered the young shortstop a multi-year deal even though he isn’t arbitration eligible until 2016. What does this start mean for you, though?

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Everth Cabrera is off to a relatively hot start to the season and has seemed to make strides in certain areas that were causes for concern entering the season. He has already matched his home run total of last season and his strikeout rate has dropped six percent while keeping his walk rate at a similar level as last season. This has resulted in his wRC+ jumping from 87 to 114 with a BABIP that is equal to his career norm. Now, will he continue to produce and be a shortstop who should be starting in 12 team formats? At this point, I have confidence in Cabrera continuing to add value and I am looking to acquire him in any leagues where I am struggling at second or shortstop.
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