American League 25-Man Roster Surprises

Part One of the Opening Day roster surprises can be found here.

The Baltimore Orioles

Alfredo Simon is in the rotation after having a fantastic spring training.

The Boston Red Sox

George Kottaras chosen over Josh Bard to back up Jason Varitek. Chris Carter is the extra corner outfielder rather than Brad Wilkerson.

The New York Yankees

Rookie Ramiro Pena beat out Angel Berroa for the extra infielder job. Jonathan Albaladejo is chosen over several more experienced veterans for the last bullpen spot.

The Tampa Bay Rays

Jeff Niemann makes the rotation after all, thanks to the last minute trade of Jason Hammel to the Colorado Rockies and the demotion of David Price to the minors.

The Toronto Blue Jays

Rookie Ricky Romero and Scott Richmond are the numbers four and five starters.
The Chicago White Sox

DeWayne Wise and Chris Getz have not only won the starting center field and second baseman jobs, but are also batting first and second in the lineup. A lot of weight put on two relatively inexperienced players on a team expected to win.

The Cleveland Indians

That the Indians would rather play three players at their second best position rather than two at their best position and one at the position he is best suited for -- Mark DeRosa 2B, Asdrubal Cabrera SS, and Jhonny Peralta 3B -- and sticking with DeRosa at 3B, Peralta at SS, and Asdrubal at 2B.

The Detroit Tigers

The release of Gary Sheffield was mildly surprising but rookies Rick Porcello in the rotation and Ryan Perry in the bullpen have to be the greater qualifiers.

The Kansas City Royals

Mark Teahen looks like the starting second baseman -- his third position change as a Royal.

The Minnesota Twins

Manager Ron Gardenhire did not find a way to squeeze Michael Cuddyear into his starting lineup. But you have to like the potential of a Carlos Gomez, Denard Span, Delmon Young outfield. Left-hander Brian Duensing in the bullpen rather than Jose Mijares.

The Los Angeles Angels

If we ignore all the pitchers in the rotation because of injured veterans, the demotion of shortstop/third baseman Brandon Wood who probably deserved a chance in the majors.

The Oakland Athletics

Billy beane acquiring three major league veterans (Matt Holiday, Orlando Cabrera, and Jason Giambi) was pretty surprising, but not as much as throwing top prospects Trevor Cahill and Brett Anderson directly into the rotation.

The Seattle Mariners

Shawn Kelley made the team and will pitch middle relief.

The Texas Rangers

Kris Benson has returned to the major leagues and is in the Rangers rotation.

Top MLB 25-man Roster Surprises (National League)

Every season there are players that seem to come out of nowhere to surprise fantasy owners with their quality performances. We all wish we had drafted the Carlos Quentins of the world. One way to get a jump on the other owners in your league is to become more aware of the surprise additions (or even just the slightly unexpected in some cases) to the 25-man rosters.

Below you'll find the interesting roster developments on the Nationals League rosters. A bit later today, I'll post the American League version. And still later tonight my Waiver Wire column should be posted to CrucialTaunt.com. My article this week will feature write-ups on a lot of the more obscure additions.

The Atlanta Braves

Jordan Schafer is the starting center fielder.
The Florida Marlins

Emilio Bonifacio is the starting third baseman.

The New York Mets

Gary Sheffield was a late addition to the team and could see a significant amount of time in right field.

The Philadelphia Phillies

Chan Ho Park is in the Philadelphia rotation. Shane Victorino is betting seventh because manager Charlie Manuel doesn't believe he is quite ready for the season.

The Washington Nationals

Austin Kearns is starting ahead of Elijah Dukes.

The Chicago Cubs

Kevin Gregg being named the closer over Carlos Marmol shocked a lot of fantasy owners.

The Cincinnati Reds

Darnell McDonald winning a bench role at the expense of Jonny Gomes.

The Houston Astros

Geoff Blum is still considered the starter at third base, despite the acquisition of Jeff Keppinger.

The Milwaukee Brewers

Infielder Casey McGehee and outfielder Brad Nelson making the team as bench players when Tony Gwynn was waived and assigned to AAA.

The Pittsburgh Pirates

Nyjer Morgan is still the starter in left field.

The St. Louis Cardinals

Chris Duncan pushes Colby Rasmus to the bench as a fourth outfielder. Joe Mather and Chris Perez optioned to the minors.

The Arizona Cardinals

Minor League veteran Ryan Roberts makes the team.

The Colorado Rockies

Top prospect Dexter Fowler makes the team but will sit on the bench behind Ryan Spilborghs and Seth Smith...for now.

The Los Angeles Dodgers

James McDonald won the fifth starter job, despite the Dodgers early claim they would break him in via the bullpen.

The San Diego Padres

Everth Cabrera (a Rule V pick) makes the team by impressing GM Kevin Towers. Shawn Hill wins a rotation spot without much of an audition.

San Francisco Giants

Fred Lewis is batting third in the order. Pablo Sandoval will be the reserve catcher, a situation that could impact his playing time in a negative way.

New Yankee Stadium - Park Factors

From MLB.com

...The baseball bounces a little bit harder off the walls here, Damon insisted. And sure enough, his point was proven on the first pitch of Saturday's game, as Alfonso Soriano scorched a line drive off the wall, only to be held to a single as Damon came up with the perfect play...

..."Sometimes I'll hit line drives that might be doubles in other stadiums that will sneak over that right-field wall," Teixeira said. "A lot of the balls that were hit the last few days would have gone out any day in any park, but I think this is going to be a good hitter's park."

...the deep drives came as no surprise to Cubs manager Lou Piniella, who accurately predicted the phenomenon before Saturday's game. "I looked at this thing [Friday] night," Piniella said. "It doesn't seem like the ball goes too well to center field. At least now, it doesn't look like the ball travels too well to left-center. I think, basically, there's a wind tunnel out to right field. It really, really, really shoots the ball out that way." Piniella said that the Yankees would have to wait for the weather to warm up in May or June to get a true indication of how the park will play. But his suggestion for the Indians and Athletics, the stadium's next two visitors, would be to pitch to the middle part of the ballpark...

...There is also more space in foul territory behind first and third bases, giving infielders more of an opportunity to help pitchers and snag outs. Had the Yankees been playing here in 2004, Jeter might have avoided bloodshed on that dive against the Red Sox...

A Bunch of Stuff to Read While I Draft...

Jason Grey of ESPN is probably my favorite fantasy baseball analyst. In this article he gives lots of Draft Day Auction advice. Pretty standard stuff but good reading anyway. I always slot my auction dollars in a similar fashion though I probably go more extreme to the hitting side than most will dare.

My buddy Brian Joura writes about his own Daniel Murphy obsession. I know I have one. I recently traded a $26 Brandon Phillips for a $6 Daniel Murphy(w/Seth McClung) in my primary NL-only league. I wish someone would wager with me...

A lot of owners are avoiding Texas Ranger starters as they used to avoid Colorado Rockies pitchers. Because of the great hitter's park where they play their home games. I have a hunch those owners will begin making exceptions with the great crop of arms coming up and the tremendous investment in pitching minds like Mike Maddux and Nolan Ryan to guide them. Though expecting Kris Benson to become an ownable pitcher is not dissimilar to expecting Mike Tyson to win a humanitarian award.

I went into winter with the assumption that Elijah Dukes would be a regular in the outfield for the Washington Nationals. Despite signing Adam Dunn, everything I read suggested that remained the case, until now...

My favorite Top Prospects List...

Gary Sheffield is a New York Met (and my boy Daniel Murphy still has a full time job!) and could reach 500 homers in New York. I knew the Mets couldn't start the season without an aging injury risk on the roster!

Adam Ronis - A Knight of the Roundtable

Adam Ronis of News Day is the host of the Fantasy Baseball Roundtable this week. He asked the assembled Knights if there were players that we would not draft no matter how far they slipped in the draft or auction. You can read the entry at the link below:

Fantasy Baseball Roundtable Hosted By Adam Ronis

Moving Up: Marcus Thames

With Gary Sheffield's release last week Marcus Thames received a huge boost in fantasy value. He should receive close to regular at-bats by taking most of the designated hitter at-bats as well as playing some left field when Carlos Guillen is unable to play or just needs a break. But how good is Marcus Thames?

Thames has shown the ability to hit 40 plus homers if given a full season of at-bats (550-600). Unfortunately, even if he receives those at-bats he isn't likely to hit better than .250-.260 and potentially worse than that. He does not walk much so his on-base percentage will be fairly low, though he may receive more walks due to the intimidation factor of an increasing homer total. This is not the player that will turn your team from a loser to dominate (if such a player even exists), but he can turn a good team to an even better one assuming that you are not also rostering Adam Dunn, Ryan Howard, Russell Branyan, and Mark Reynolds.

His stats courtesy of FanGraphs.com:

Season	Team	BB%	K%	BB/K	OBP	SLG	OPS	ISO	BABIP	wRC	wRAA	wOBA
Total Postseason	- - - - - -	7.7 % 4.5 %	28.0 % 28.6 %	0.30 0.17	.302 .273	.498 .333	.801 .606	.257 .095	.265 .333	183.6 1.5	9.5 -1.2	.338 .266
2002	Yankees	0.0 %	30.8 %	0.00	.231	.538	.769	.308	.250	1.5	-0.1	.321
2003	Rangers	9.9 %	24.7 %	0.44	.298	.274	.572	.068	.259	5.5	-4.8	.259
2004	Tigers	8.8 %	25.5 %	0.38	.326	.509	.835	.255	.283	26.2	3.4	.352
2005	Tigers	7.8 %	35.5 %	0.24	.263	.411	.674	.215	.226	10.4	-3.8	.287
2006	Tigers	9.6 %	26.4 %	0.40	.333	.549	.882	.293	.274	61.8	12.9	.370
2006	Tigers	4.5 %	28.6 %	0.17	.273	.333	.606	.095	.333	1.5	-1.2	.266
2007	Tigers (AAA)	0.0 %	12.5 %	0.00	.375	.750	1.125	.375	.333	1.9	1.0	.491
2007	Tigers	4.6 %	26.8 %	0.18	.278	.498	.776	.257	.263	34.0	-1.1	.327
2008	Tigers	7.1 %	30.1 %	0.25	.292	.516	.808	.275	.260	44.1	2.9	.339
2009	Bill James	8.3 %	25.1 %	0.36	.314	.512	.826	.261	.268	50.9	2.8	.352
2009	CHONE	8.2 %	27.7 %	0.32	.314	.506	.820	.257	.274	53.3	7.7	.352
2009	Marcel	7.6 %	26.8 %	0.31	.306	.490	.796	.244	.275	49.8	1.7	.337
2009	Oliver	7.7 %	25.4 %	0.33	.312	.514	.826	.261	.275	45.8	4.9	.348
2009	ZiPS	7.8 %	27.7 %	0.30	.309	.512	.821	.263	.274	43.1	5.7	.349

New England Rotisserie Baseball Association

NERBA, or the New England Rotisserie Baseball Association, had its draft on Tuesday night. Nerba, as we affectionately refer to the league, is entering season 22. The number of teams has varied over the years from 20 in the good ol' days to down to 14 in the worst years. But it has been pretty stable lately at 16 teams. It is obviously a mixed league and uses standard 5x5 categories. It is not a snake draft. The pick each team has varies in each round, which can create unique challenges when you end up with 32 selections between picks twice in a row. Most of these guys are 20-year veterans of fantasy and know their stuff pretty well.

This is one of many leagues where I usually avoid pitching until after the first 8-10 rounds. I varied from that strategy hugely by taking three pitchers in the first eight rounds. I tried to draft as many power/speed combos as possible but mostly I was just winging it.
The Really Rad Running Rebels (in this league I'm a different sort of running rebel every season)

C Kenji Johjima
C Jesus Flores

1B Mike Jacobs
3B Aubrey Huff
CI Todd Helton

2B Alexei Ramirez
SS Elvis Andrus
MI Placido Polanco

OF Matt Kemp
OF Shane Victorino
OF Torii Hunter
OF Daniel Murphy
OF Jordan Schafer

U Kendry Morales

SP Tim Lincecum
SP Javier Vazquez
SP Kevin Slowey
SP Manny Parra
SP Kenshim Kawakami

RP Trevor Hoffman
RP Brad Zeigler
RP Scott Downs
RP Jeremy Affeldt

Thoughts?