The great thing about playing in a league deeper than 12-team mixed for a change is I can now simply check out the week’s pickups in the 15-team LABR league for inspiration. Both the players highlighted today were won with FAAB this past Monday.
Michael Saunders (ESPN: 6 percent owned; Yahoo!: 7 percent owned)
Jack-of-all-trades might be one of the biggest backhanded compliments anyone can ever receive, but it’s probably the most apt description of Saunders’ performance so far this season. He’s not a hitter with massive power, nor is he challenging anyone for the stolen base crown, but he has been simply adequate in nearly every category so far this season. He already has five home runs and eight stolen bases; ZiPS has him stealing another nine bases and hitting seven more home runs. Neither projection seems far off to me, but I could see him getting closer to 15 home runs than he is to 10. Read the rest of this entry »
Justin Smoak (ESPN: 6 percent owned; Yahoo!: 14 percent owned)
The last few weeks have been good to American League first basemen named Justin, but whereas Messr. Morneau is owned in virtually every ESPN league in which he’s eligible, the Smoak Monster is widely available and is in the midst of an equally impressed stretch of play. After an April that almost bad enough to induce vomiting — .200/.247/.325 with just three home runs — Smoak has been much better in May, hitting .255/.303/.451 with six home runs, and while that’s still not a sparkling line from a first baseman, he’s been even better as the month has come to an end. Over his last four series, Smoak has put up a solid .302/.362/.674 line with five home runs including a pair at home. Read the rest of this entry »
It’s not quite on par with Bryce Harper and Mike Trout being promoted within hours of each other in late April, but this week has seen its share of promising prospects getting the call, including a new shortstop in the A-T-L and a couple of quality arms out in Cali.
If you’re a little light in the speed department, then a couple of situations have opened up that might interest you. If you’re in an NL-only league, then my apologies. Feel free to move along. Nothing left to see here. But if you’re in an AL-only or mixed league, then these guys just might be able to help you out. Read the rest of this entry »
Today’s waiver wire looks at two hitters who are beneficiaries of injuries. Every year, a large percentage of surprise performances happen as a result of increased playing time, rather than any change in skill. These players are typically undervalued because they have never played full-time and therefore don’t have the history of counting stats to attract fantasy owners or instill the confidence that they could maintain their skills over every day at-bats.
Baseball has a history of strange injuries. Sammy Sosa hurt his back while sneezing. John Smoltz was injured while ironing a shirt…that he was wearing. In the past calendar year Giants’ reliever Jeremy Affeldt has been injured while trying to separate frozen hamburger patties with a knife and sprained his knee while hugging his 4’6(!) 4-year-old son. The latest strange injury comes courtesy of Brewers’ catcher Jonathan Lucroy. The third year veteran will miss 4-6 weeks after breaking his hand in an accident involving his wife, a hotel bed, a sock, and a suitcase. Lucroy was having a huge season, hitting .345/.387/.583 in 43 games and ranking fourth among all catchers according to Yahoo!. Luckily for the fantasy owner, i.e. you, there are suitable replacements to fill the void.
George Kottaras (ESPN: 0.3 percent owned; Yahoo!: 2 percent owned)
Catching is a dangerous occupation, that much is certain, but it certainly seems as though the backstops are falling down at an incredible rate. The Cubs have had three catchers go on the disabled list already this year, the Nationals and Mariners have both had a pair go down, and yet neither Joe Mauer nor Ryan Doumit has been placed on the DL yet this season. Unless someone else got hurt overnight, there have been 19 DL stints for catchers in the season’s first two months — spring training and preseason inclusive — which has made life exceptionally difficult for those playing in two catcher leagues. Read the rest of this entry »
Gordon Beckham (ESPN: 7 percent owned; Yahoo!: 8 percent owned)
T.S. Eliot warned us. “April is the cruelest month,” he wrote in The Wasteland, and Gordon Beckham spent the first month of the 2012 season proving him right. Beckham hit .153/.231/.203 with a pair of RBI and without a single home run. A .209 BABIP certainly didn’t help his cause, but bad luck was really only part of his problem. Plus, his start fit so cleanly into the narrative of “Gordon Beckham is irreparably broken” that it became easier to write him off than to figure out if there was any life left in the husk of the White Sox former first round draft pick.
This time, let’s hit on a recently-promoted outfielder, a shortstop with a masterful mitt and a bat that could help the Giants offense.
