In contrast to what we did last season, this year we’re doing monthly updates for our positional rankings as laid out by Eno Sarris and his minions. In addition to that, we’re doing our monthly positional tier updates as well which should aid you in your waiver pick-ups and trade negotiations when you’re comparing values. The rankings can be found over here and below is how I see them by tier… Read the rest of this entry »
If you’re looking for help at the catcher position, now is the perfect time to start looking at buying low on certain guys. Regular backstops such as Russell Martin, Geovany Soto and even Brian McCann are struggling out of the gate and it’s probably time to start putting in a few offers and see what it would take. But what about Alex Avila? After struggling as a rookie, Avila turned things around last year and put up a tremendous stat line that vaulted him into this year’s preseason top ten and turned him into a highly coveted commodity on draft day. Now here in his third full season, he’s posting a woeful slash line of .220/.303/.424 and people are starting to wonder if last season was for real or just a fluke. Is he a good buy-low candidate? Read the rest of this entry »
With just about 10 games into the season and no one amassing more than 40 plate appearances, the Small Sample Size Police are in full force right now. Hot starts, cold starts, nothing matters to these brazen fantasy owners who dismiss such meaningless statistics at this time of year. But that doesn’t mean the rest of us can’t have a little fun and appreciate the good fortune bestowed upon us by the fantasy gods as our catchers come flying out of the gate, white-hot, and throw us some always helpful power stats. I mean, would you rather be sitting there lamenting Russell Martin’s ice cold start and wonder if his batting average will actually be worse than 2011’s .237 mark or give in to your child-like giddiness over the fact that Alex Avila has picked right up where he left off last season? Yeah, that’s what I thought… Read the rest of this entry »
You’re gonna have to learn your clichés. You’re gonna have to study them, you’re gonna have to know them. They’re your friends. Write this down: “We gotta play it one day at a time…I’m just happy to be here and hope I can help the ballclub…I just wanna give It my best shot and, Good Lord willing, things’ll work out.” — Crash Davis
While the influx of baseball chatter and interviews is sincerely welcomed at this time of year, we, as fantasy owners, must maintain a clear head and corral that child-like jubilation that a new baseball season brings. You’re going to hear a number of comments regarding players and teams from both coaches and general managers, as well as from the players themselves. You’re going to hear things that get you excited about a particular player and if you don’t take things with a grain of salt, you could get swept up in the pomp and circumstance of spring training, lose sight of what’s actually in front of you, and fall victim to the hype.
So with that, let’s look at some common phrases you’ll hear and how you might want to react to them. Read the rest of this entry »
There’s no question that Russell Martin’s power resurgence last season came as a bit of surprise. Obviously a move from pitcher-friendly Chavez Ravine to hitter-friendly Yankee Stadium (along with that surrounding Yankee lineup) was promising, but to watch a guy whose ISO went from .176 down to .085 over a four year span, there had to be some serious doubts in his ability to produce again. Overuse and injuries were likely to blame for the decline, in part, but as we move forward and examine some of Martin’s other numbers at the plate, there certainly has to be a reasonable amount of doubt in anything close to a repeat performance. Or is there…? Read the rest of this entry »
Regardless of which side of the fence you sit on as to who got the better end of the deal, Friday’s trade between the Mariners and the Yankees — Michael Pineda and Jose Campos for Jesus Montero and Hector Noesi — was a solid baseball deal that will improve both clubs in areas in which each were lacking. The Yankees were starving for arms and the M’s were in desperate need of a legitimate impact bat for the middle of their anemic lineup. We’ve already heard from Michael Barr on the fantasy angle of Pineda’s move to pinstripes, so let’s tackle the other side for immediate impact. Say what you want about Montero’s limited number of at bats at the major league level; this guy can hit. If you believe, then welcome aboard. If not, great! That’s less of an investment we smart owners will have to make.
As we make our way through these rankings, let me just add in one thing. While relative value is something we have left for you to ultimately decide, there are certain players whom I consider keeper worthy and those that aren’t in spite of things like the Fantasy Value Above Replacement spreadsheet that we have been using. Sure, Yadier Molina may have outproduced Wilson Ramos according to our 2011 retro value, but am I keeping a catcher who is moving into his ninth season and will turn 30 years old at the All Star break because suddenly, out of the blue, he doubled his home run production last year? Probably not. It’s very difficult for me to think that a player who put up near identical numbers for his first seven seasons, suddenly can double his ISO mark in his eighth year and maintain that as his future level of production. I see it more as a statistical anomaly than anything else. Therefore, like each and every year prior, I would not even consider keeping Molina and subsequently must leave him off these rankings.
So today, I’ll throw out a few names of players to continue what we’ve done and tomorrow will finish it off with a few honorable mentions. There will be some players left off this list, but again, we’re calling them keeper rankings and not every player is worth keeping.
We interrupt the 2012 Catcher Keeper Rankings to answer a question from one of our readers, Buck Turgidson, who asked, “Will Jesus Montero be eligible at catcher to start next season?
Plenty of people are wondering whether or not they will get to use the New York Yankees hitting phenom at the position he played in the minor leagues or if his late season call-up that saw him DH for 14 games and work behind the plate for just 3 will lock him in as a designated hitter. For the most part, those using ESPN and Yahoo as their fantasy site will be forced to begin the season with Montero as a DH and have to wait until he logs enough games behind the dish to qualify. Those using other sites, such as CBS Sports, may have a little more flexibility depending on their Commissioner capabilities. Personally, I think ESPN and Yahoo need to loosen the reins a little and allow for exceptions such as this. I don’t see anything wrong with Montero beginning the season as a catcher and even set up something specific in the rules for just such an example.
The catcher position, with respect to fantasy baseball has seen quite the inundation of new talent. There was a time when, if you didn’t own one of the big three — Joe Mauer, Brian McCann, Victor Martinez — it didn’t really matter who you had as your backstop. Sure, there were some that were more productive than others, but overall, there were numerous interchangeable players and whether you grabbed one in the 9th round or in the 15th round, it didn’t make much difference. Now, with blossoming stars like Carlos Santana, Buster Posey, Alex Avila, and Matt Wieters, things are looking a little different. The position is much deeper and production is on the rise. One of these rising stars, though, has an interesting future ahead of him and fantasy owners will have some tough decisions to make. What will come of Jesus Montero in 2012?
Back around the end of May, after a torrid start to the season, I posed the simple question about Tigers catcher Alex Avila — is he for real? At the time of the piece, we looked at his .333 BABIP, his 30.0 K%, his gaudy 17.4% HR/FB and not only wondered if his .250 ISO was the real deal, but if these numbers were indicating an over-achiever who was headed for a significant drop. Well, after watching him the rest of the way and looking at his current .304-17-65, it might finally be safe to say that he is, in fact, for real. Now the question is, what do we do with him next season?