Join us this week on Bottom of the Barrel Scrapers as we look at a stopgap infielder with multi-position eligibility and a former playoff hero who just might have found his stroke in 2011. They may not be the tastiest treats on the fantasy dessert buffet, but hey…they’ve each got a World Series ring. That’s something, right? Read the rest of this entry »
If you drafted Aramis Ramirez in the 8th or 9th round as many did, you probably expected to get the kind of production we all saw in the second half of 2010: .276/.321/.526 with 15 HR and 51 RBI in 62 games. His slow start to 2010 is of course well documented, highlighted by an April that was legendary in its ineptitude: .152/.216/.283.
But given his solid track record, the dearth of available talent at third base, and the strong finish, a lot of people targeted him as their regular at the hot corner. And now you can hear the collective foot tapping as people are waiting for Aramis to show up to the party.
While Ramirez has thus far managed to avoid an April and May quite as bad as 2010, there have been several people across the Al-Gore-fantasy-baseball-dream-catcher that have suggested he’s off to the same slow start, he’s washed up, or both. His current .273/.336/.364 is about two-thirds Ramirez, but clearly isn’t the kind of power production that owners had in mind. So let’s investigate.
Third base has just been a minefield of excrement recently. Yes, I said excrement.
Jose Bautista has a bum neck, Ryan Zimmerman is out for another 6 weeks, Alex Rodriguez is on again off again with a variety of ailments, Pablo Sandoval is gone for breaking the bone all baseball players should have surgically removed, and even David Freese got in on the act with a broken hand of his own. Howard did a nice job of griping about third base on Thursday so I won’t try to continue that particular rant. What I’d like to do is look at a couple of players that some of us have had to turn to as we wait for something better to come along.
Blame it on the injuries. Blame it on the fact that the once lush and dense forest of talent to be found at third base is thinning out faster than a middle aged guy’s hairline. Blame it on Rio or the bellboy, I don’t really care. The fact of the matter is, the position is like a fantasy nightmare that picks right back up where you left off no matter how many times you wake yourself up and try to calmly fall back asleep. And it just keeps getting scarier each time. Read the rest of this entry »
Like vultures picking every last piece of meat off a carcass in the hot desert sun, it’s time for us to take another look at the waiver wire and see what remaining pieces of fantasy value lie in the pool of unwanted free agents… Read the rest of this entry »
I still have the Aramis Ramirez experience fresh in my mind where I dumped him in frustration mid-June 2010 as he was struggling to hit even Congressional approval ratings. And then you know what he did in the second half — he turned into, well, Aramis Ramirez — hitting .276/.321/526. Ergo, I’ve become particularly attentive to the don’t-overreact approach.
While not having the major league success nor pedigree that Aramis Ramirez boasts, Pedro Alvarez and his start to the 2011 season reminds me a lot of this situation. Being your third base guy for the season, I wanted to take a deeper look at his struggles (sample size be damned) and see whether or not he’s planning on pulling an Aramis Ramirez on you going forward. For good measure, we’ll also peek at Chone Figgins and his continued struggles.
Today’s emphasis: versatility. There’s nothing better than a quality player eligible at multiple positions…
It’s hard to believe we’re coming up on the first month of the season, and even a little harder to believe some of the surprises in the performances of the boys at the hot corner. In general, this whole group has been pretty disappointing, but much of that has to do with injury and rotten luck. Some have been great, some have been train-wreck-awful, and we have several new names to add via eligibility updates. And where a rising tide may float all boats, a collapsing building can produce new views – and thus, the tiers have been shaken up quite a bit from the original ranking.
There are so many changes to the original rankings, including the size and number of tiers, that I’m not going to note an up or down for every player that has moved. Rather, I’ll indicate any notable ascent or descent and give a little rationale thereafter.
Tier 1
Evan Longoria
David Wright
Ryan Zimmerman
Alex Rodriguez
I don’t have to tell this audience about the what goes up must come down principle, but we’ve had some, ahem, “performances” that haven’t been quite up to snuff at third base and I thought it was high time to give their shortcomings a little virtual ink. This isn’t a comprehensive list by any means as there have been several candidates at the hot corner who haven’t lived up to expectations (Casey McGehee, Ian Stewart, Pedro Alvarez, I’m giving you the evil eye) but between Kevin Youkilis and Chone Figgins we’ve got good poster boys for small sample size analysis.
Time to take a look and see who might be available in your leagues and could be worth adding to your squad. It’s still real early, but there might be a few choice names out there that can help, whether it’s short term or long term. Here’s a few to think about… Read the rest of this entry »
