The AL west offers some unusual excitement this season as the Rangers and the Angels look to be the two top contenders heading into the second half. Seattle and Oakland will prepare for the future. Here are some trade possibilities for the AL West.fakeFCKRemove
As baseball races to the trade deadline there's lots to watch with hot and cold fantasy players. Here's a look at some recent trends.
As of this hour, Mark Berman of Houston's Fox 26 is reporting that the Phillies have a deal in place for Roy Oswalt and are awaiting his waiving his no-trade clause. This report has not, as yet, been confirmed and we have to remind everyone that Oswalt's agreeing to waive the no-trade is a MAJOR piece if indeed it has not been resolved.
It was a little creepy. I was enjoying wine with a friend after work. We exchanged silly stories that seemed to get more and more ridiculous the longer we talked. Laughter and wine ensued. At some point, I briefly mentioned my plummeting fantasy team, which is not at all funny. I’m sure for a moment, I had the look of despair and disgust.
Here is my latest USA Today column on Matt Kemp.
With the trade deadline approaching keep your eyes on the prize – especially in “only” leagues where a big-ticket player may be added to your league. In the meantime, let’s talk two-start non-stud pitchers for the upcoming week:
 The Rangers still owe...patrickdicaprio 30.7.2010 8:03 |
 Re: Who do you pick?AndrewFeingold 30.7.2010 7:51 |
 Re: Who do you pick?ErinSkelley 29.7.2010 23:19 |
| Re: Who do you pick? AndrewFeingold 29.7.2010 22:48 |
| Re: Who do you pick? ErinSkelley 29.7.2010 22:16 |
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Finally, I move into the NL Central to look at the top five fantasy baseball stories for the Cubbies.
 1. Which was closer to the real Geovany Soto, 2008 or 2009? Soto battled shoulder and oblique injuries that most likely severely affected his performance at the plate. His isolated slugging and HR/FB ratios both dropped significantly, suggesting those injuries were probably the culprit. On the other hand, his walk rate improved and contact rate increased slightly, while he maintained a strong fly ball rate. He also suffered from an awful .246 BABIP, which should rebound in 2010. Assuming he is back to full health this year, I would bet he finishes much closer to his 2008 line than his 2009, though I do feel that 2008 may have been his ceiling.2. Is there any chance that Derrek Lee repeats his surprising power output of last season? After posting sub-.200 isolated slugging rates the three previous years and two straight seasons of a HR/FB ratio below 13%, Lee reversed course to post a .273 ISO and 17.9% HR/FB ratio. Where the heck did this come from? Had he been hampered by injuries the last couple of seasons and this year he was finally fully healthy? Who knows. The one glaring fed flag, however, is that his fly ball rate jumped to a career high of about 46%. In 2008, that rate was at just about 34%, and previously, it was typically in the 38%-40% range. You have to assume his fly ball rate regresses back to his career average and his home runs will fall along with it. If his HR/FB ratio also dips, then he is right back into the low 20's for homers. So to answer the question, no, there is little chance Lee repeats his 2009 power output. 3. Who gets most of the 2B at-bats? It is between Mike Fontenot and new acquisition Jeff Baker to claim the starting role. Fontenot is a lefty and has posted a solid .783 OPS versus righties in his career, while struggling against lefties. Meanwhile, Baker is right-handed and has performed significantly better against left-handers, and worse against righties than Fontenot. Fontenot is coming off a disappointing season that may have shaken the confidence of Lou Piniella, so it might be tough for him to win the job in the early going. This seems like a classic platoon situation where Fontenot gets most of the at-bats when the Cubs face a right-handed starter and Baker starts when a southpaw is on the mound. Assuming a BABIP rebound for Fontenot, he could be a nice sleeper in NL-only leagues while their roles still appear up in the air. 4. What does the out-of-nowhere in 2009 Randy Wells do for an encore? Before we delve into expectations for 2010, we have to understand that Wells was quite lucky to escape 2009 with a sparkling 3.05 ERA. His xFIP was a less impressive 4.24, which is quite a jump from his actual ERA. Though his minor league skills were decent, they were not exciting, as his strikeout rates did not suggest anything more than a slightly above league average pitcher. An above average ground ball rate and good control helps, but that ERA is most certainly going to rise into the 4.00 neighborhood this season. 5. Can Carlos Marmol hold onto the closer role all season? It boggles my mind how a pitcher could walk 65 batters in 74 innings and allow fly balls at a 48% rate, yet finish the season with a respectable 3.41 ERA. Oh, and when was the last time you saw an ERA that low that belonged to a pitcher who also posted a 1.46 WHIP? Though I am tempted to thank the BABIP Gods for his lucky .262 mark, that is actually above his career rate of .247. His highest career BABIP is just .276, so it is safe to assume Marmol should sustain a well below league average mark. What really helped him though was an unrepeatable 2.6% HR/FB ratio. That is simply not happening again. Marmol's velocity was fine last year, in fact it actually increased for the third straight year, so it is hard to suspect a hidden injury affected his performance. However, I have a feeling he may have suffered from some elbow injuries that wrecked his control, which usually doesn't affect a pitcher's velocity. Marmol has never shown good control, but a 7.9 BB/9 is just unheard of. I expect a rebound in control if he is actually healthy, and his strikeout rate, combined with his BABIP prevention skills, are good enough to offset the fly ball tendencies and allow him to keep the job all year. Trackback(0)
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