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Notes on three closer spots from around the league…

Manny Corpas | Rockies

Huston Street continues to work his way back from a shoulder issue, though now replacement closer Franklin Morales has landed on the disabled list with a shoulder problem of his own. Manager Jim Tracy indicated that the save opportunities will fall into Corpas’ lap for the time being. He’s not going to give you much in terms of strikeouts (6.75 K/9 in 2010, 6.43 career), but he won’t kill you in the ERA and WHIP categories. Corpas did cough up four runs in his latest outing, when he entered the 9th inning of a tied game against the Phillies yesterday.

Saves are saves, and the Rockies have series against the Cubs, Astros, and Royals coming up, so Corpas should see a few opportunities before one of the higher ups returns from the DL. He’s available in all but 13% of Yahoo! leagues.

Bobby Jenks | White Sox

Jenks has gotten shakier and shakier through the years, but it wasn’t until now that Ozzie Guillen went ahead and did something about it. The ChiSox manager told reporters that his closer will now depend on the 9th inning matchups. That means Jenks gets the righties, and Matt Thornton gets the lefties. Thornton is one of those rare setup men that is worth owning in a standard 12 team, 5×5 league anyway, but he becomes even more valuable with some save opps coming his way.

The strikeouts are extraordinarily high (14.67 K/9), the ERA (2.35) and WHIP (0.72) extraordinarily low, so go out and grab him before Ozzie gives the job back to Jenks outright. Thornton is owned in 65% of Yahoo! leagues.

Kerry Wood | Indians

After a month long stint on the DL, Wood made a pair of warm up appearances over the weekend and Manny Acta is ready to stick him back in the 9th inning. Chris Perez is takes a step back into a setup role. We know what Kerry Wood is by now, a double-digit K/9 guy that won’t kill your ERA or WHIP. I’ll put this as nicely as possible … the Indians aren’t going to give Wood too many 9th inning leads to protect, but there should be a few every now and then. There, that works. Their upcoming schedule includes six games with the Royals and Orioles, so there’s some hope for this week.

Wood is owned in 33% of Yahoo! leagues.

Here are three players with low ownership rates who could pay immediate dividends in fantasy leagues:

Mike Aviles, Kansas City Royals (owned in 7% of Yahoo! leagues)

In 592 lifetime PA in the majors, Aviles has a .298-13-61-83-9 fantasy line which is outstanding production for a guy to slot in your MI position. Of course, the problem is that Aviles toils for the Royals, who think he fits in behind both Yuniesky Betancourt and Chris Getz in the pecking order and sent him to the minors early in the year. But Aviles has started five of the past six games (and pinch-hit in the other). Eventually talent wins out so expect Aviles to log more playing time than either of those inferior players for the remainder of the season.

Scott Hairston, San Diego Padres (owned in 3% of Yahoo! leagues)

Despite his great production for half a season for the Padres in 2009, Hairston opened the year as a platoon player and was in the lesser half as the right-handed part of the time share with Tony Gwynn Jr. But he has started 10 games since April 28th and has a .294 AVG with 4 HR in that span. RoS ZiPS gives him 14 HR in 337 ABs. If he can stay healthy, Hairston has a chance to exceed that playing time prediction. He can offer a nice power/speed combo but Hairston will need to cut back on his strikeouts, which currently sits at a 35.8 K%, if he wants to improve on his .254 AVG.

Scott Olsen, Washington Nationals (owned in 5% of Yahoo! leagues)

After getting lit up in his first two outings of the season, Olsen is 2-0 in his last three starts, with a 0.44 ERA. Additionally, he has 5 BB and 20 Ks in 20.1 IP in that stretch. Olsen has a little extra zip on his fastball this year, with his average velocity of 89.2 mph a full 1.2 mph higher than it was a year ago. That, along with throwing his fastball less often, has helped make a very poor pitch in 2009 (-17.8 wFB) one that is almost league average (-1.4 wFB) this year. Olsen has been throwing both his slider and change more often in 2010. His slider is a very good pitch and his change is now a plus offering.

Just a quick reminder to come back and visit on Friday for the live Fantasy Chat. We kicked off our weekly chat last week as I teamed up with FanGraphs’ Dave Cameron to answer questions.

We had some great fantasy-related questions. And I’m happy to say I have some good advice, including recommending Jhoulys Chacin for his start against San Francisco. The rookie right-hander went on to allow one hit in seven innings for his first win of the year. I also recommended Phil Hughes against Chicago, and he won the game with seven strong innings. We also had some good discussions on the likes of Colby Lewis, Bobby Jenks, Prince Fielder, and Mike Stanton.

Austin Kearns | OF | Cleveland (9% owned)
Remember the good ol’ days when Kearns was considered good? Well, he’s not quite ready to give up the ghost. After two very lackluster years in Washington, Kearns has found his stroke in Cleveland. He’s currently hitting .333/.405/.561 in 18 games. The .435 BABIP and 27.3 K% lets us know that he’s not going to keep the average above .300 for the year, but there is still hope in the power category. Kearns currently has a .227 ISO rate and he hasn’t surpassed .200 over a full season since ’06 when he slugged 24 homers.

Juan Pierre | OF | Chicago AL (30%)
It’s not often that you’ll find the Major League steals leader available in 70% of leagues at the end of April. Unfortunately, speed is his only offering right now. Have faith, though. Pierre isn’t a great all-around ball player, but he has a career .299 batting average, so he’s going to improve over the .218 that he’s currently hitting. Proven speedsters like Pierre don’t post a BABIP of .227 forever and his 4% strikeout rate shows that he’s putting a lot of balls into play. Quite a few fantasy managers could use his extra 14 steals right about now; just make sure you can afford the hit in batting average.

Nate Schierholtz | OF | San Francisco (2%)
Schierholtz is finally getting a chance to play in San Francisco. The 26-year-old outfielder is currently hitting .350/.426/.517 in 69 at-bats. He’s owned in just 2% of leagues and he’d be in the Top 10 in batting average if he had enough at-bats to qualify. On the downside, he’s being platooned against left-handers (which is actually quite possibly a blessing) and he has yet to hit a homer this year. Have faith, though, the young player has excellent raw power so the homers are going to come. Grab him before he goes on a power run and gains more attention, especially in NL-only leagues.

Jose Contreras | RP | Philadelphia (6%)
With the recent news that Ryan Madson is going to be gone for a while, Contreras moves up in the pecking order for save opportunities. With Brad Lidge being as volatile as a pit bull in a washing machine, Contreras could see some end-game chances in the near future. In nine games, the veteran Cuban has a 0.33 xFIP, as well as a 16.43 K.9 rate and he has yet to walk a batter. Wow. Small sample size be damned. That’s still impressive.

*Ownership numbers based on Yahoo Fantasy Baseball

People play fantasy baseball for different reasons and that’s great. One thing that amuses me is those who view a message board as essential to the success of a league. To me, a message board falls somewhere along the spectrum between insignificant and a downright nuisance. I am confident that a message board never made any fantasy baseball league I participated in better and some actively contributed to the downfall of a few leagues.

What do people use a message board for, anyway? From my experience, people have used it to communicate with the commissioner, make trade offers, complain about trade offers and trades, complain about injuries and complain about other things. I think people can use email for the first two things, keep the other three things to themselves and eliminate the need for a message board completely.

I recently had an issue in one league where I did not know all of the details surrounding the way the league handled waivers. I could have posted something on a message board. Instead, I emailed the commissioner directly, he emailed me back in a very timely matter and the situation was resolved without the use of a message board. Imagine that!

I also made a trade offer in another league I am in. I emailed the owner whose player I was interested in, made a proposal and we had some nice give-and-take, even if no trade came out of it this time. I got a chance to see how he viewed his players and which ones of mine he found interesting. All in all I thought it was so much more productive than putting out a generic, “Will trade Ks for HR” post on the league message board.

Basically, my issue with message boards is that their main purpose is a vehicle for people to complain. Whatever good uses they serve can be just as easily (and probably more effectively) handled with email. But they do serve as a way to contact everyone with your complaint of the day. I have enough people complaining to me about various things in my life – the last thing I need is an efficient way for people in my fantasy baseball league to complain to me.

But I realize that some people enjoy “the community” aspect that message boards bring. I just wish people would use that “community” to celebrate and be positive, rather than to bitch, moan and complain. Because that is really not part of any community in which I willingly choose to participate.

Here is a message that was on a board in one of my leagues:

“I have received absolutely NO trade proposals, which I find shocking given the top talent on my team. Guess you guys aren’t interested in Pujols, Votto, HRam, Haren etc.?

Are you guys even alive? Other than myself, XXXX, and XXXX, I have not seen any comments on the message board or anything.

Maybe I’ll do something rash and trade Pujols for peanuts just to shake things up in this league because it is full of a bunch of lifeless corpses….”

Now, this was just this individual’s third message board post. His first post was a FAAB question and the second one was a generic offer to make trades. So, he really has done nothing to make the message board anything special and then turns around and, yes you got it – complains about something.

Here’s an idea – if you want to participate in a league with a thriving message board – why not try to put something of substance out there instead of just complaining? Don’t look to other people to provide you entertainment (or whatever void the message board fills for you) when you provide none yourself. And finally, if you want to convince others to participate in something you find enjoyable, perhaps a different approach besides insults and threats would be more productive.

Would your fantasy baseball experience be negatively impacted if your league did not have a message board?

As a lefty who can spin curves that put Beyonce to shame (okay, not really), Gio Gonzalez garners attention. Gio whiffed 10.3 batters per nine innings on the farm and rated among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects prior to the 2006-2009 seasons. Yet, Gonzalez’s errant control has aggravated decision-makers enough that the 24 year-old has been traded three times-twice by the White Sox.

Last season, Gonzalez was pummeled for a 5.75 ERA in 98.2 frames for the A’s. Or was he? While Gio’s control remained poor (5.11 BB/9), he struck out 9.94 batters per nine innings and posted an above-average 46.1 percent ground ball rate, leading to a 4.02 expected FIP (xFIP). Gonzalez’s decent work was obscured by a .369 BABIP and a near-14 percent home run per fly ball rate. Prior to 2010, I wondered if Gonzalez could trade some of those K’s for fewer free passes:

It’s difficult to say what kind of pitcher Gonzalez will become as he gains more experience in the big leagues. We can dream of a day when he’ll still be whiffing bunches of batters, without the walks flowing as freely as Gatorade in the dugouts.

Granted, pitchers almost never make gains in one area without sacrificing in another. For that walk rate to go down, Gonzalez is going to have to toss more pitches around the plate. That means more contact and fewer K’s. But the trade-off would certainly be beneficial. Easier said than done, though.

So far, Gonzalez has done just that. Last year, he located 44.6 percent of his pitches within the strike zone, with a 53 first pitch strike percentage (the MLB averages are 48-51% and 57-58%, respectively). In 2010, Gio has put 47.6 percent of his offerings over the plate, while getting strike one 56.2 percent of the time.

In ’09, Gonzalez threw his four-seam fastball for a strike at a league average 64 percent rate, while his upper-70’s breaking ball was thrown for strikes just 53.7 percent of the time (58% MLB average). In 2010, his four-seamer is getting strikes 66.8 percent and the curve is up to 57.4 percent. Those gains have lead to a decrease in his walk rate. No one will mistake Gonzalez for a marksman on the mound, but his 4.4 BB/9 figure is promising.

The extra strikes have led to an increase in contact rate (from 74.4% in ’09 to 78.2%), but that’s still below the 80-81% MLB average. Gonzalez’s swinging strike rate is down from 10.3% to 8.9%. Again, though, that’s better than the big league average, which is slightly above eight percent. Gio is still getting a good number of whiffs, with 8.48 K/9.

With better luck, a few more grounders (48.7 GB%) and improved control, Gonzalez has posted a 3.82 xFIP. And odds are, he’s still there for the taking: Gio is owned in just 12 percent of Yahoo leagues. He’s a volatile talent, but Gonzalez appears to be making the necessary strides to establish himself as a quality major league starter.

Here are three players with low ownership rates who could pay immediate dividends in fantasy leagues:

Jhoulys Chacin, Colorado Rockies (owned in 3% of Yahoo! leagues)

If you were going to create a fantasy pitcher out of scratch, you would give him a great fastball, great command and the ability to get lots of ground ball outs. Chacin may not rank as great, but he is pretty good in all three of these areas. His fastball is in the low-90s, he averaged 2.68 BB/9 in the minors and in 427 IP in his minor league career, Chacin has a 59.4 GB%. In a brief trial in the majors last year, he struggled, mostly due to command issues. But in his first start this year for Colorado, Chacin allowed 3 BB in 8 IP. He should have an extended shot in the rotation, as the Rockies have two SP (Jorge de la Rosa and Jason Hammel) on the DL. If his command holds up, Chacin could be a nice addition to any fantasy roster.

Ryan Hanigan, Cincinnati Reds (owned in 3% of Yahoo! leagues)

Right now Hanigan is living large thanks to a .433 BABIP. But if we look at his major league career, he has 446 PA with a .303 BABIP and a .277/.376/.361 slash line. He has little power and less speed, but he can deliver a solid AVG for a catcher. Also, he has started three of the last four games for the Reds. Hanigan should be owned in all NL-only leagues and should merit serious consideration from all leagues that start two catchers.

Eric Young Jr., Colorado Rockies (owned in 6% of Yahoo! leagues)

When the Rockies placed Brad Hawpe on the DL, they called up top prospect Young, despite him scuffling in Triple-A with a .600 OPS. Young is interesting because of his speed and chance to post huge SB numbers if he gets playing time, as he swiped 58 bags last year in Triple-A. And Colorado is not getting much production out of 2B Clint Barmes, who is batting just .197 while showing little of the power he displayed in 2009. Meanwhile, Young is batting .333 with 5 R and 4 SB in 7 games. Young can play both 2B and the OF and should see a lot of action in the next couple of weeks to determine if he can hit major league pitching enough to make his speed worthwhile.

Going to change it up a little bit today and give you one two rolls of the dice and one no-brainer…

John Jaso | C | Rays (1% owned)

Unless you were able to go out an nab a Joe Mauer or a Victor Martinez, I’m a big believer in getting whatever production you can out of the catcher’s spot even if it means picking up a new guy every few days and just riding the hot hand while it lasts. Jaso was recalled after Kelly Shoppach hit the disabled list, and he’s started five of the team’s last six games (with a hat tip to Dioner Navarro’s two game suspension). During that time, he’s hit .412/.522/.647 with eight frickin’ runs batted in, zooming him past guys like Martinez, Matt Wieters, Geovany Soto, and Russell Martin on the leaderboard. It’s obviously an unsustainable pace and the RBI’s are just a function of opportunity, but if you’ve got a two catcher setup, or are in an AL-only or deep mixed league and weren’t able to land one of the big three, you could do a lot worse than grabbing Jaso and enjoying his hot streak, even if it only lasts into the weekend. Every little bit helps.

Jonathon Niese | SP | Mets (4%)

Okay, I’m going to admit that this one is nothing more than an ever so slightly educated hunch, but I like Niese’s next matchup against the Phillies. First of all, the opposing starter in Kyle Kendrick, who is certifiably awful and increases the chances of a Mets win. Secondly, even though Chase Utley has no platoon split (seriously, dude’s got a .386 wOBA vs. LHP and a .387 wOBA vs. RHP in his career), Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez sure do, and both are susceptible to breaking balls just like Niese’s big ol’ Uncle Charlie. That’s half the meat in the middle of Philadelphia’s lineup right there (though Ibanez sitting in favor of Ben Francisco is a possibility), and don’t discount the magic winning powers of Ike Davis (kidding … or am I?). Like I said, it’s just a hunch, but who doesn’t enjoy disregarding common sense every once in a while? You have just enough time to grab Niese for tomorrow night’s start, if you’re willing to roll the dice of course.

Colby Rasmus | OF | Cardinals (76%)

How in the world is this guy still available in one out of every four leagues? Rasmus leads the National League in OBP (.459) and is second in ISO (.424), giving him the second highest wOBA in baseball (.493). His six homeruns are good for the second most among all outfielders, and his RBI total should start to climb once Matt Holliday decides it’s probably best for the team if he gets on base more than 32.6% of the time. I suspect that if you’re reading this site, you’re well aware of Rasmus’ exploits and he’s either on your team or is already owned in your league, but damn, one out of four? Really?

Ownership rates are based on Yahoo! leagues.

I’m pleased to announce that starting this Friday, April 30, live fantasy chats will become a regular occurrence at RotoGraphs. The chats will run for at least an hour each Friday at noon eastern. The RotoGraph writers (and maybe even a few lurkers from FanGraphs) will be around to answer any fantasy baseball related questions that might be weighing heavily on your minds. What a way to end the work week!

A Friendly Reminder: If you’re asking a trade-related question, please mention what type of league you’re playing in.