September Will Not Be Boring with Manny in Chicago

Manny Ramirez and Ozzie Guillen in the same clubhouse.

Kenny Williams has serious guts. The guy who exists in his own little world and the guy with no control of his mouth, together at last. Can you imagine the battle of wills that develops if Ozzie has a problem with Manny say loafing in the outfield or taking a day off to rest an injury to a part of his body he can't quite recall? Oh, you think Manny will be happy to DH? He once had a problem with moving to left field from right field. He has also stated his distaste for the idea of DHing. This should be a ton of fun to watch.

I would not expect Manny to hit like he did in his first month with the Los Angeles Dodgers but he should be a positive in the lineup as long as he's happy. If he's productive Ozzie will probably go out of his way to keep him happy. If he slumps that's when "things" will escalate. Either way, assuming that Manny takes Mark Kotsay's place in the lineup, he should help the White Sox as they chase the Twins.

In the last seven days he hit .286/.444/.571 in just seven at-bats as the Dodgers have refused to start him. For the season he has a slash of .311/.405/.510 with 8 homeruns and 40 RBI in just 196 at-bats (.392 wOBA). He has been hitting more groundballs than he typically does and his 14 percent HR/FB rate is far below his career rate of 21.2 percent which explains his disappointing power output.

Manny's walk and strikeout rates are around his career numbers but his plate discipline is not at its usual level. He is swinging at more itches out of the strike zone. His contact rates are steady but obviously it is changing the results.

If fantasy owners are still looking for a bat to add to their lineups, this is probably as good as it will get. He should hit for average with decent power, even if that is far below his career power rates. The White Sox have something to fight for and that tends to bring out the best in Manny.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=2974

http://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=210&position=OF

Darin Erstad - Major Sleeper?

Darin Erstad is a player that any serious baseball fan knows. Erstad is the guy that might be a decent player if he could only stay on the field. His heart is huge but his tendency to run into walls and such has kept him from having an impact on the field for the majority of the last few seasons. Kenny Williams brought him into the White Sox fold this winter when the Los Angeles Angels decided not to offer him a contract.

One of the things I preach that most so-called experts counsel against is drafting the injury prone guys while they are healthy. A guy like Erstad who in a full season of at-bats could put up stats worth anywhere from $20 to $30 will be available at a huge discount. From all reports Erstad is one hundred percent healthy as spring training starts. At present he is projected to be the fourth outfielder for the White Sox behind Scott Podsednik, who has injury issues of his own as well as a slipping performance level, and Brian Anderson, a young player who was very disappointing in 2006. I'm betting that in most AL-only leagues Erstad will be available at less than ten bucks. At that price you should grab him as your fourth or fifth outfielder.
Ozzie Guillen has vowed to get back to Ozzieball this season. A big part of Ozzie's game is the stolen base. Erstad coming off the bench for say 220 at-bats could grab you 10-15 stolen bases, hit for a decent average and maybe toss in a few homers to boot. For a single digit price I'd take that in two seconds. The extra-added bonus is at less than ten bucks he should be fairly replaceable even in deep leagues.

Grab Erstad cheap or in the late rounds of your draft. I don't think you'll regret it.


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