Archive for Mark Teixeira

There are two baseball games already underway and another 10 on tap for tonight. Let’s hit some fantasy links as the season rolls on…

Getting amped for September call-up season? So are we, and so are others. Charlie Saponara of FantasyBaseball365.com thinks Cameron Maybin’s defense could earn him some playing time in Florida’s crowded outfield down the stretch. Maybin has been a disappointment on the major league level thus far, but, as Saponara notes, there’s reason to think he could steal a few bases in September.

Knox Bardeen of AOL Fanhouse thinks the Diamondbacks may roll with a closer-by-committee in the wake of Chad Qualls‘ knee injury, with Juan Gutierrez getting most of the chances and a combination of Clay Zavada and Esmerling Vasquez filling in the gaps. “You may want to avoid the Diamondbacks closer situation all together,” Bardeen writes, “and grab either Mike MacDougal or Leo Nunez from the waiver wire.” Andy Behrens of Yahoo! Sports calls Gutierrez “the add,” noting that he averages a closer-like 94.9 MPH average velocity on his fastball.

Bardeen also takes a quick look at the fantastic (and vastly underrated) season that Angels first baseman Kendry Morales is piecing together. The Halos deserve a pat on the back for pulling out of the Mark Teixeira sweepstakes last winter and going with the 26-year-old Morales. A .283/.331/.509 career hitter, he is batting .311/.355/.593 this season.

Rotoworld’s Aaron Gleeman believes Zack Greinke is headed for his first Cy Young Award. As Gleeman notes, “He leads the AL with a 2.32 ERA, six complete games, three shutouts, and a 1.08 WHIP while ranking behind only Justin Verlander with 202 strikeouts and second to only CC Sabathia with 190.1 innings.” Even with his lack of win potential, Greinke remains a top fantasy arm down the stretch.

Grey over at Razzball ranks MLB’s closers in tier format. His top dogs for the home stretch? The Twins’ Joe Nathan, the Yankees’ Mariano Rivera, Boston’s Jonathan Papelbon, the Mets’ Francisco Rodriguez and the Dodgers’ Jonathan Broxton. The Cardinals’ Ryan Franklin heads his second group of ninth-inning stoppers.

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Over the last four seasons, Mark Teixeira has averaged a .298-35-120-100 fantasy line. Last year he nearly perfectly matched those numbers. Teixeira is one of a dozen or so players to consider for a late-first, early-second round pick and is the textbook definition of consistency that one should look for from an early pick.

When making a choice from many evenly-matched players, a fantasy owner should consider numerous factors, among them how he wants to build his team. Obviously, if you pick Teixeira you are putting yourself in a hole for SB. In his six-year career, he has just 13 steals or five less than fellow first baseman and late-first/early-second pick Lance Berkman had last year alone.

Another thing to consider is what significant changes are in store for the player. And for Teixeira the big news is his move to the Yankees, where he will be under the microscope like never before. However, Teixeira has handled big expectations in the past, as he was dealt twice in the past two years to teams that had great hopes he would be the final piece.

While it remains to be seen how Texieira will hit in the new Yankee Stadium, he has done well as a visitor in New York. He had a .305/.354/.524 line in 113 PA in Yankee Stadium and a .405/.425/.676 one in 40 PA at Shea.

All four of the projection systems see Teixeira likely to repeat his numbers from the past four seasons. Marcel has him coming up short in the counting categories, but that is mainly because it projects him with just 513 at-bats due to his injury-shortened 2007 season, when he missed 27 games with a strained quadriceps injury. Teixeira played 157 games last year.

Currently, Teixeira has an ADP of 13. He has gone as high as the fifth overall pick and as low as 20th in the last 708 qualifying drafts over at Mock Draft Central. While his lack of steals is a concern, the excellent production in the other four categories makes Teixeira a fine pick anytime after the ninth slot.