Theriot & Casilla: Waiver Wire
Zach Sanders looked at a pair of deep league second baseman earlier today, but let’s look at a pair of middle infielders that don’t require such a deep format…
Archive for Shortstops
Shortstops: An Update On Futility
Earlier this season I wrote about the crop of shortstops that came off the board after Hanley Ramirez and Troy Tulowitzki in every draft and how bereft of talent it was. With over a third of the season completed, have things changed very much? Let’s take a look.
To begin the season only the catcher position had fewer players ranked in the Yahoo! top 100 than our lovable shortstops. Here are those players with their preseason and up to date rankings
| Pre | Current | |
|---|---|---|
| Hanley Ramirez | 2 | 300 |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 3 | 44 |
| Jose Reyes | 24 | 10 |
| Jimmy Rollins | 37 | 132 |
| Derek Jeter | 40 | 201 |
| Alexei Ramirez | 62 | 71 |
| Stephen Drew | 92 | 81 |
| Elvis Andrus | 98 | 50 |
The most notable drop off is Hanley. Dave excellently detailed his struggles in a piece last month, and the problem hasn’t changed; Hanley is still hitting far too many ground balls which is killing is power. I’m never going to turn my back on Hanley,and if he has a huge second half those of you who do will regret it. But, up to this point he’s been nearly unplayable.
The drop off for Derek Jeter and Jimmy Rollins could, and probably should, have been expected. Both are aging and coming off sub-par seasons. Jeter had a great 2009 season, but that seems to have been a mirage, while Rollins hasn’t had a good season since 2008. Yes he hit 21 homers and scored 100 runs in 2009 but he also had an OBP of .296. Rollins will still steal you 30+ bases but the 20 home run power is out the window. The most pleasant surprise is the resurgence of Jose Reyes. Coming off two ineffective and injury pleagued seasons, he seems to be back to his old ways. He’s hitting .342, albeit with a .365 BABIP, and is on pace to steal 50+ bases for the fourth time in his career. There’s almost no way he keeps this up, but he’s also on pace for over 20 triples. We talk about players having 20-20 potential, but never in that regard.
The rest of the players on that list have produced about as well as you would have expected, though I don’t think anyone pegged Andrus for three homers thus far. Tulowitzki is suffering from some awful luck – his BABIP is .252. His plate discipline and batted ball data aren’t drastically out of line from last season so I’d expect his batting average (.270) to rebound.
Here is the current Yahoo! list of top 100 shortstops:
| Current | ||
|---|---|---|
| Jose Reyes | 10 | |
| Asdrubal Cabrera | 16 | |
| Troy Tulowitzki | 44 | |
| Elvis Andrus | 50 | |
| Alexei Ramirez | 71 | |
| Stephen Drew | 81 |
The group went from 8 players to 6, with the only new name being Asdrubal Cabrera. I extolled his virtues two weeks ago so we won’t go into them again. Suffice it to say he’s been excellent.
Twenty three shortstops began the season ranked in the top 300. That number currently sits at ninteen. What we expected to be a weak class of shortstops has only gotten weaker.
Hardy & Willingham: Waiver Wire
Let’s kick off the week by looking at personal favorites you’ll be able to find sitting in your free agent pool or on the waiver wire…
Biggest Surprises: 2B, SS, OF (ottoneu lwts)
Continuing last week’s theme of looking at the biggest surprises thus far in ottoneu lwts leagues (and, really, fantasy as a whole), we look today at second basemen, shortstops, and outfielders.
Second Base
| Howard Kendrick, LAA Avg. Cost: $5.14 Performed As: $31 Value: +$26 |
Allen Craig, STL Avg. Cost: $1.44 Performed As: $25 Value: +$24 |
Ryan Roberts, ARI Avg. Cost: $1.59 Performed As: $25 Value: +$24 |
My pick: Howard Kendrick
Injuries Clear Way For Dee Gordon, Jemile Weeks
With Rafael Furcal (oblique) back on the DL for the Dodgers and Oakland’s Mark Ellis leaving Monday night’s game with a right hamstring injury, a pair of top middle infield prospects are primed to get plenty of big league playing time over the next few weeks, and possibly much longer.
Shortstop Dee Gordon made his debut for L.A. last night as a pinch-runner. Manager Don Mattingly intends to start him most nights as the increasingly fragile Furcal heals, according to a Tweet by Dylan Hernandez of the Los Angeles Times. Second baseman Jemile Weeks hasn’t officially gotten the call to the majors yet, but the move is expected with Ellis possibly landing on the DL. Here’s a quick look at what to expect from Weeks and Gordon.
Asdrubal Cabrera: I Believe In You
I’m ready.
It took me ~230 plate appearances, but I’m ready. Like most of you I was skeptical in the beginning. That’s evident in the lack of articles written about Cabrera’s amazing start. There’s only been one and it was written 12 days into the season, and it wasn’t on RotoGraphs. That’s my fault. I cover shortstops for this site, but up until now I wasn’t sure how to properly address the situation.
Pick Six Value Picks: Middle Infield and Outfield
Today we’ll continue our look at Pick Six values by looking at middle infield and outfield. You can see our discussion of catcher and corner infield values here. As a reminder, the production numbers you see below (FP/PA = Fangraphs Points per Plate Appearance) are weighted averages of THT’s Oliver and BPro’s PECOTA. I didn’t include ZiPS, but feel free to click the players and look up those numbers as well.
Middle Infield
Elite Three (they cost a fortune, but they’re worth it):
Troy Tulowitzki, 1.57 FP/PA, $56.75
Hanley Ramirez, 1.53 FP/PA, $51.50
Robinson Cano, 1.40 FP/PA, $46.75
Hanley’s Power Outage
At 24-17, the Florida Marlins are in the thick of the NL East race. The Fish sit just a game and a half back of the division-leading Phillies, thanks to middle-of-the-pack pitching and hitting and superb defense. Florida’s staff collectively ranks sixth in the NL in xFIP, its offense is sixth in runs scored, and Marlins fielders pace the Senior Circuit in runs saved, according to Ultimate Zone Rating.
The Marlins’ offense would no doubt rank toward the top of the league if Hanley Ramirez weren’t mired in a season-long batting slump during which his power production has been downright Ecksteinian. The perennial first-round pick, projected by ZiPS to hit .309/.388/.512 in 2011, has instead slogged his way to a .211/.294/.309 triple-slash through 170 plate appearances.
Some unlucky bounces have played a part in Ramirez’s anemic start — his batting average on balls in play is .242, compared to a .329 expected BABIP and a career .341 BABIP. But there’s no doubt that Hanley hasn’t been his usual, powerful self at the plate. Projected for a .203 Isolated Power by ZiPS, Ramirez has a .099 ISO in 2011 that trails the mark posted by slap-hitting teammate Emilio Bonifacio. What in the name of ottoneu is going on here?
Kicking Rocks: Premature Draftulation
There’s really no need to be embarrassed. It’s a very common problem. In fact, I hear that it happens to a lot of fantasy owners. I, myself, have been known to experience it from time to time. No, no…I’m not just saying it to make you feel better. It happens to everyone. Believe it or not, even to girls. Read the rest of this entry »