Archive for Shortstops

Everyone remembers the great car chase scene from The French Connection, right? It’s basically Gene Hackman chasing a hitman in New York City. Except the hitman is on an elevated-train while Hackman is in a car below him. Hackman has to avoid a woman and her baby, oncoming traffic as well as plenty of other obstacles.

Alexei Ramirez faced his share of obstacles this season, not the least of which involved him chasing out of the zone. After posting an average .326 wOBA for his four season career, Ramirez saw his offensive game take a steep dive in 2012: he posted a .282 wOBA — ranking dead last among qualified shortstops. Despite this poor showing in the advanced side of the numbers, his fantasy tallies were sufficient to rank him as the 15th best shortstop.
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Another week, another position. If you haven’t already, then take a look at Zach Sanders’ Shortstop End of Season Rankings and we can scroll down together to find Cincinnati’s Zack Cozart, probably one of the more disappointing players this year, given the preseason hype and expectations. He was supposed to be this awesome blend of power and speed who was also capable of hitting for average, but after a season filled with a few bumps in the road, Cozart had left his owners wanting/needing more. Read the rest of this entry »

While most people spend a lot of their time scouting and researching a lot of these September call-ups, looking for even the slightest bit of fantasy contribution, players that are returning from extended stays on the DL are often overlooked by most owners.  And as often the case may be, plenty of them can still be of valuable service to you in your quest for a championship.  If players were dropped a while ago, chances are, some of these guys have slipped through the cracks and are available to you via the waiver wire.  Here are two who have been recently activated and have fairly low ownership percentages. Read the rest of this entry »

Between the rash of injuries and the flurry of trades we’re seeing right now, your league’s waiver wire should be a hotbed of action. It may or may not be depending on how many owners in your league have given up and turned their attention to the upcoming fantasy football season, but if you’re in a heated competition with just the two months remaining on the baseball season, then you should be keeping up to date with any player that is starting to sniff some regular playing time and can contribute to your cause. Here are two that may help you out…

Casper Wells, SEA  |OF|  Ownership:  ESPN – 14.5%  Yahoo – 5.0%

In the wake of the Ichiro Suzuki trade and the demotion of Justin Smoak, the Mariners appear to be going with Wells and Carlos Peguero in the corner outfield spots with recent call-up Mike Carp likely taking over first base duties.  All three are in line to receive major increases in playing time, but Wells, seems to be the most seasoned of the three and likely the one to play with the most consistency.  Sure, people will talk about Peguero’s power potential, but I look at his strikeouts and see a guy who could do more harm than good to your team.  Carp has some promise, but given the shoulder concerns and the weak numbers he showed in Triple-A this season, Wells might just be the safer bet here for some added power.

There are definitely some flaws in Wells’ game right now between the low contact rates and the excessively high SwStr%, but he’s never had a full-time job before and a lot of his impatience at the plate could be him trying to do too much because he feels like he has a limited number of at-bats to prove his worth.  That’s likely true to some extent, but now, in a situation like this where the Mariners are folding up their tents for the season, there’s little or no reason for him to put excessive pressure on himself.  It’s not that he can just coast the rest of the way, but he can certainly take some time to relax at the plate and get back to the basics.  With ISO numbers so strong at every level, there’s no question that the power is for real.  With a full-time job for two months and little or no pressure, Wells finally has the opportunity to blossom and show what he can do.

Josh Rutledge, COL  |SS|  Ownership:  ESPN – 13.4%  Yahoo – 8.0%

With so much still up in the air regarding Troy Tulowitzki’s return, Rutledge is looking like a solid pick-up if you need help in your middle infield.  Tulo insists that he will be back at some point in August, but as it stands right now, he hasn’t even picked up a bat yet.  Rutledge has filled in admirably recently and over a quick 10-game span, has his .368 with six runs scored, one home run, six RBI and three stolen bases.  His .382 BABIP is pretty inflated, but in looking at his recent minor league totals, he’s routinely posted high BABIP totals.  If he can continue to make strong contact and keep the ball in play like this, the hits should continue to fall.  True the sample size is small, but we’re also now dealing with a two month long season not six.  Short-term help can be quite beneficial, especially if the guy can get on-base regularly and can kick in with some speed.

But there’s also the chance that Rutledge sticks even when Tulo makes it back, so long as he’s playing well.  It’s not like Jordan Pacheco is tearing it up at the plate and the Rockies have made the rest of the league well aware that Marco Scutaro is available.  If Scutaro goes, then Rutledge can slide over to the keystone once Tulo returns or, if he doesn’t, then perhaps he gets a chance to play some third.  He’s an interesting choice for the short term and could easily pan out to be a full-time guy over the next two months.

Lots of roster tweaking going on right now as fantasy owners everywhere are trying to put together the perfect squad.  But while most of your league has scooped up the top post-draft talent remaining, there are obviously a few strays lying around that could serve as quality bench guys for you to plug in when needed.  With the middle infield positions sitting so thin, you might want to start there. Read the rest of this entry »

Injuries are just the worst.  While, in most leagues, you have the ability to add and drop players on a regular basis, nothing ruins a fantasy season more than when your team gets decimated by injuries.  You may possess the most in-depth knowledge of both baseball and statistics, but when the injury bug makes a run through your team, you can only do so much to keep pace.  In most cases, you simply cannot predict when it’s going to happen to your guys.  Fluke injuries happen all the time.  However, there are, obviously, numerous players out there that have a very visible track record and you need to decide come draft day (or even in a trade) if they are worth the risk.  So here’s a list of the top 10 most injury-plagued major leaguers with some thoughts as to whether you should take a chance or let them be your competition’s problem.  We’ll cover the first half today and then bring you home with the rest tomorrow.

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Over the last week or so we’ve done plenty of articles discussing the impending move of the Houston Astros to the American League and how it will impact those in the fantasy baseball community.  But no matter how many times we attempt to look on the bright side and find the silver lining in it all, there’s one common thing that seems to come through in every piece.  It’s like that early montage in the movie Major League where the Indians’ fan base is looking at their 40 man roster in disbelief — from some guy asking who Mitchell Friedman is to the groundskeepers’ claims that “these guys are sh*tty”.  There’s almost no love for the 2012 Astros and very little hope for the club moving forward.  However, just like the old fantasy adage (is there such a thing?) that states that even closers on bad teams can be good and helpful, the same can be said about everyday players from Houston.  Just because the team is in relative shambles, doesn’t mean that you can’t find some helpful players at a bargain cost.

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With so many articles discussing players and fantasy strategies to help advance you in the standings this year, it’s time to throw a bone to those in keeper leagues that are out of contention in 2011 and are already thinking about what to do in 2012.  Remember the game “Would You Rather…?”  I’m sure most of you do, but if you don’t, it’s simple.  You’re given two choices — sometimes both really good and sometimes both absolutely horrific.  Either way, you are obligated to pick one over the other.  Well, this is going to be an ongoing keeper league series now in which you’re given two options of which player you’d rather keep for the following season.  Since we’re in Erik Hahmann’s regular shortstop article time slot, we’ll begin there…

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As you’re tweaking your lineup here and there, looking for a way to steal some points from your opponents, check out how adding some stolen bases to your squad can help you out.  It always seems to be a very movable category in roto leagues and an often disregarded category in head to head.  Adding an extra stolen base guy can give you a nice cheap way to to boost you in the category while also helping you out in areas like runs scored and even batting average.  Here’s a pair of speedsters that seem to be available in plenty of leagues. Read the rest of this entry »

Obviously, one of the keys to making savvy waiver wire pick-ups is to do so with a specific category in mind.  Whether you have a particular need in your head to head league or you have a roto category that looks like you can make a big jump in points, you should be targeting specific players to help out in that area.  Maybe they don’t help in other categories, maybe they do, but for the immediate need, they make sense.  Stolen bases is usually that category.  It always seems to be one of the easiest to move up in in roto leagues and an easy one to match or beat your opponent in head to head.  Here’s a look at a pair of infielders that just might be able to help you make that jump right now. Read the rest of this entry »