When you write a fantasy baseball column that recommends players, your number one priority is accuracy. You can make all the suggestions you want, but if you’re making bad calls, no one is going to listen to your advice. And even if you do happen to get one right eventually, there’s always someone out there to tell you that even a blind squirrel eventually finds a nut. You need to know what you’re talking about.
Theo Epstein’s and Jed Hoyer’s rebuilding of the Chicago Cubs continued Friday when they acquired highly touted first base prospect Anthony Rizzo and minor league pitcher Zack Cates from the San Diego Padres for pitcher Andrew Cashner and minor league outfielder Kyung-Min Na. For those scratching their heads at the deal, our own Paul Swydan (Padres perspective) and Jason Roberts (Cubs angle) break it down for you over in the main FanGraphs area. Over here, we’re looking at the most immediate fantasy impact, and that really involves Rizzo who now finds himself on his third team in three years.
Last season, there was plenty of fanfare when Anthony Rizzo was brought up by the San Diego Padres. He was the prized, power hitting lefty acquired in the Adrian Gonzalez deal and with the Padres removed from playoff contention and looking to save a little face, it was time to see what he could do. Unfortunately for him, the team, and his fantasy owners, the call-up turned into just a quick cup of coffee as Rizzo ultimately flopped. Granted it was just 153 plate appearances, but with a K-rate of 30.1% and a triple-slash line of .141/.281/.242, the 22 year old Rizzo looked over-matched. This year, as we head into spring, the Padres will likely give him every opportunity to win the first base job and while his owners are hoping for him to succeed, Jesus Guzman just might have something to say about it.
At the end of each fantasy season, I always like to do what few fantasy sites/writers ever do for their readers. I like to hold myself accountable. You need to know whether you are getting sound advice and I need to know where I need to step up my game. So with that, I like to go back throughout the year, both spring and in-season, and see just how successful I was in offering up advice. When I saw Mike Podhorzer’s look back at his 20 Bold Predictions, I knew it was time to serve myself up as well.
It’s completely understandable as to why the Padres were so eager to bring up their prized 21 year old, lefty, slugging first baseman. At this time last season they were sitting atop the NL West and making an unexpected and almost improbable run that had most experts scratching their heads. This season, they reside in the basement with little chance to repeat 2010’s success while the rest of baseball is staring at Adrian Gonzalez who leads all of MLB with a .347 average and 62 RBI. So what better way for the franchise to save face than to promote Anthony Rizzo, the biggest chip coming back in the Gonzalez deal and a guy who’s been tearing the cover off the ball down in Triple-A. It all sounds great and it’s probably a positive move for the franchise, but over-eager fantasy owners are probably jumping the gun with their waiver claims. Read the rest of this entry »