(Re-Introducing)

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Welcome To Splitsville: Part 2

...Continued from Part One

Here's the rest of my 2010 All-Splits team for players owned by 50% or fewer teams according to Yahoo.

Vs. Righties

C: John Jaso (6% owned) Although he's cooled considerably since May, the 26 year old catcher came seemingly out of nowhere to perform admirably behind the plate for the Tampa Bay Rays. Jaso has put together nice numbers against righties, going .295/.412/.397 in 177 PA, while struggling against lefties in limited action. Interestingly enough, Jaso's MiLB Splits are pretty even throughout his five years on the farm. With enough plate appearances against big league lefties (since returning from injury, the struggling Kelly Shoppach has been getting a lot of appearances against southpaws), Jaso might be able to prove he's deserving of a full-time gig.

1B: Lyle Overbay (4% owned) It seems like you could pencil Overbay into this list every year and still somehow he manages to hold down a full-time job in Toronto. The veteran first baseman has always done better against right-handers (.264/.353/.443 in 269 PA so far in 2010) while doing little against lefties, but that split is even more dramatic this season as he's stunk it up to a tune of .192/.232/.308 so far. With first base so rich in talent, there's no reason to have to roster Overbay outside of the deepest of leagues. If you do however (maybe you own Kendry Morales and Todd Helton, both shelved with injuries), you'd do well to sit him against lefties or platoon him with a guy like Daric Barton or Adam Rosales.

2B: Omar Infante (9% owned) The man who may forever be known (through no fault of his own) as the worst All-Star selection ever is the only 2010 All-Star to also make my All-Splits team. The jack-of-all-trades has been consistently mediocre from both sides of the plate through out his nine years of mostly part-time, MLB play. This season however, the right-handed Infante has shown infinite prowess if not power against righty hurlers, posting a .364/.384/.447 in 138 PA in while disappearing against lefties in limited time (.262/.303/.311 in 67 PA). If he receives regular playing time, I would expect that gap to close quite a bit before season's end.

SS: Wilson Valdez (3% owned) Wait, what? Yeah I put Valdez on this list, what of it? That's how shallow SS is and the 32 year old journeyman plays in a hitter's paradise. While starting in place of the injured Jimmy Rollins at short and now Chase Utley over at second, Valdez has proved useful against righties (.283/.300/.449 with all 4 of his HR in 133 PA), while doing next to nothing against southpaws. Outside of a hot streak, I don't think he's rosterable in 12 team mixed, but I did have him for a cup of coffee on my 15 team mixed league a few weeks ago.

3B: Chase Headley (45% owned) The Padres every day third baseman started off like a ball of fire in April, only to come back down to earth with a thud in May and June. He's been picking it up again lately however, and remains solid against right-handed pitching going .306/.351/.427 with 5 of his 6 homers in 251 PA. His weakness against left-handers remains glaring however, as he's been shut down to the tune of .197/.258/.248 in 129 PA. His sneaky speed makes you want to pencil him in every day in case he swipes a bag, but his ineptitude while facing lefties removes that option unless you like zeros. Cavernous Petco Park saps his power and that weak Padre lineup does him no favors either, so unless you've got another 3B eligible guy to platoon him with, I'd stay away from Headley in all but deep leagues.

OF: Hideki Matsui (37% owned) Godzilla is a shell of the player he was a few years ago with the Yankees and he's been absolutely dreadful against lefties this year - .188/.224/.366 in 107 PA. Against righties however, Matsui can still hit and he's put up a useful .281/.381/.408 line in 231 PA. Consider him rosterable in deeper leagues, when platooned with an outfielder who can rake lefties like Matt Diaz, Jeff Francoeur or Cody Ross.

OF: J.D. Drew (44% owned) The captain of my all-splits team, J.D. Drew is the epitome of a platoon player - when healthy, of course. Drew demolishes right-handers with a .315/.400/.586 line, along with 9 of his 10 home runs in 210 PA. Conversely, he's atrocious against lefties, going .185/.265/.235 in 91 PA. If you've got Drew on your team, platoon him or else!

OF: David DeJesus (50% owned) The Royals outfielder is quietly having a very nice year all around - 45 R/5 HR/ 36 RBI .326/.395/.460 and his career splits aren't that far apart, however this season he's really shined against right-handers, going .344/.403/.478 in 275 PA. I've currently got him in my 12 team mixed league and I sit him against lefties in favor of Dexter Fowler, since his .272/.372/.407 line with little pop or speed in 95 PA doesn't offer much in that format. DeJesus has been mentioned in trade talks with the Red Sox, where I see him in a platoon with Mike Cameron, once Jacoby Ellsbury gets back, which would certainly help his counting numbers against righties.

UTL: Angel Pagan (50% owned) Currently the Mets leader in batting average (.315), Pagan will get the bulk of the playing time in a platoon with Jeff Francoeur, once Carlos Beltran gets back. His speed makes him playable every day right now, but if you can afford to, it's best to platoon him to take advantage of his splits. Against lefties Pagan has been pretty underwhelming with a .273/.309/.386 line in 96 PA. Facing righties though, Angel has been heavenly, belting out it out at a .335/.398/.512 clip. Platooned with a lefty killer and you're looking at steady production in the second half.

I'm ending my list here, but there are lots of other players around, who if platooned properly can provide your fantasy team with a nice lift. Who do you think are some other players who could have made the Splitsville All-Stars?

Monday, July 12, 2010

Welcome To Splitsville: Part One

It's common knowledge in baseball today that hitters generally find it easier to bat against pitchers of the opposite hand. It's easier for the hitter to pick up the pitch as it leaves the pitchers hand and most breaking balls will break into the center of a hitter's field of vision, rather than away from it. When a team's roster allows, managers regularly deploy platoons to gain the upper hand on the day's opposing starter.

Ever since Bob "Death To Flying Things" Ferguson (how's that for a great nickname?) first took to hitting from both sides of the plate, back in the formative days of our pastime, players and managers alike have understood the advantage that a hitter has when facing a pitcher of the opposite hand - even if teams were not actively platooning players to get the most out of this advantage until years later. According to Bill James' essay, "A History Of Platooning," featured in "The Complete Book of Armchair Baseball" the first manager known to utilize the lefty/righty platoon was Detroit Tigers manager, Bill Armour, who juggled catchers to take advantage of their handedness in his final year in The Bigs, 1906. As roster size expanded and the dead-ball era waned, managers such as John McGraw and later Casey Stengel would popularize the strategy and make it common practice in modern baseball.

In deeper fantasy baseball leagues, owners often roster players whose splits are extremely weighted to one side or another. With awareness of these splits, astute owners can make daily lineup decisions (if league rules allow of course) just as real managers do to get the most out of their players strength and minimizing their weakness.

In keeping with this week's All-Star theme, I present to you my position player picks for the 2010 all-left/right-splits team, based on a pool of players who are generally rostered on approximately 50% or fewer teams according to Yahoo. So without further ado, or a profanity-laced Ichiro speech, here are some guys to consider platooning when the opportunity arises.

Note: In a one catcher league, I would not recommend rostering two catchers unless one is also playing another position and his currently catcher eligible.

Part One: Vs. Lefties

C: Ivan Rodriguez (20% owned) The man who's caught the most baseball games in history has shown slightly more aptitude hitting left-handers over his career. In 2010 however, his splits are quite notable in an admittedly small sample size. Against lefties, Pudge has raked to the tune of a .383/.413/.500 line in 63 PA, while posting a pedestrian .263/.291/.346 triple slash against righties in 166 PA.

1B: Gaby Sanchez (34% owned) In his first year as a starter in Florida, the 27 year old first baseman is showing surprising hitting prowess against both lefties and righties. His .285/.347/.434 line against right-handers is nothing to sneeze at for a guy who you probably took a late-round flyer on or possibly even picked up off of waivers. Against lefties however, Sanchez has raked up a gaudy .350/.416/.563 line in 89 PA. He's good enough to start every day in my league, but against lefties he's been money.

2B: Clint Barnes (47% owned) With a .289/.337/.496 career line against lefties versus .247/.290/.384 against righties, The Rockies middle infielder has always displayed lefty-heavy splits. Seeing more playing time since Troy Tulowitzki has been on the shelf, Barnes has used the opportunity to display even more extreme splits this year. Against lefties Barnes has gone .304/.371/.430 in 89 PA while posting a pedestrian .238/.301/.386 against right-handers.

SS: Orlando Cabrera (45% owned) We may not find more extreme splits than those of the the Cincinnati Reds shortstop. Cabrera has been stellar against lefties - .344/.394/.427 in 105 PA and absolutely awful against righties - .207/.241/.291 in 272 PA. I wouldn't roster him with your team, but you have him in a very deep league, I'd pair him up with another SS capable of hitting righties well, such as Mike Aviles or Omar Infante - both of whom hit right handed but do their best work against hurlers coming from the same side.

3B: David Freese (20% owned) In his first full year in the majors, Mr. Freese was offering the Cardinals and fantasy owners alike surprisingly solid offensive numbers through the first three months of the season, before hitting the DL on June 28, with a deep ankle bruise. He's hit lefties at a .357/.416/.457 clip in 78 PA, while posting a respectable .271/.339/.382 against righties. You're likely to want more out of your hot corner, but paired with Chase Headley (who can only seem to hit right-handers), you have a potent 3B duo that can do damage.

OF: Cody Ross (41% owned) With an honorable mention to Rajai Davis - who's 27 steals makes him pretty much an every day player on most rosters even with his struggles against righties. Ross makes for a good platoon candidate, going .303/.354/.513 with three of his seven homers coming in 82 PA against southpaws. His power numbers are markedly improved facing lefties, as he's hit 40 career jacks against lefties and only 39 against righties in more than twice as many plate appearances.

OF: Dexter Fowler (13% owned) Since coming back to the big club from AAA, the Rockies outfielder has been a huge spark for the resurgent Rox. With only 773 PA in the majors since debuting with a cup of coffee in 2007, we'll use his entire MLB resume here to find that Fowler's noticeably more effective against lefties with a .314/.388/.462 line versus the paltry .221/.338/.354 he's posted against righties. At 24, Fowler's still young though and his recent success leads me to believe he'll close that gap enough to give him full-time playability in 12 team mixed leagues.

OF: Lastings Milledge (3% owned) Once thought to be a "can't miss" prospect, Milledge has just about disappeared off of the fantasy radar the past couple of years. In 2010 however, Milledge makes an appearance on my all splitsville team. While righties are still giving Lastings a hard time (.255/.297/.327 in 177 PA) the 25 year old has found his stroke against the southpaws going .318/.431/.518 in 102 PA. Notably, he's hit all three of his homers against lefties and perhaps even more telling he has a 17/11 BB/K ratio, a lot better than the lousy 8/36 BB/K split that he's posted against righties.

UTL: Jeff Francoeur (27% owned) Free swinging Frenchy has always hit lefties much better (.302/.345/.484 in 924 career PA versus an anemic .256/.297/.406 in 2341 PA against righties). With Carlos Beltran returning to Flushing to roam centerfield, it seems that the sizzling hot Angel Pagan will slide over to right and form a potent platoon with Francoeur. With the switch-hitting Pagan wielding a better bat from the left side of the plate, Francoeur will be relegated to taking his cuts against lefties, who he's pounded this season (.348/.403/.449 in 77 PA). In deeper leagues where he might rostered, this could be used to a fantasy owners' advantage by pairing him with a righty killers like Pagan or David DeJesus.

No this isn't an NL only team, that's just how it worked out. I assure you that when we see who's carrying the righty heavy splits, you'll see some A.L. players. Tomorrow, I'll flip around and swing from the other side in Part Two...

Friday, July 09, 2010

Cliff Lee Traded to the Texas Rangers

Cliff Lee has been traded within the American League but not to the New York Yankees as many were speculating. Instead, the Seattle Mariners have sent Cliff Lee, Mark Lowe, and cash to the Texas Rangers for first baseman Justin Smoak and prospect right-hander Blake Beavan, Frisco reliever Josh Lueke and second baseman-outfielder Matt Lawson.

Texas Stadium (or the Ballpark or whatever) is not an ideal place for any pitcher to call home. But Lee owners should not panic. Lee will be pitching in front of a solid defense team. Whatever he loses because of the park (not a lot I expect) should be more than compensated for in offensive support.

Smoak as a left-handed power hitter should be able to succeed in Seattle's pitching park. More on the prospects after I get to do a little research.

The Return of Carlos Beltran

Less than a week from today Carlos Beltran is expected to be on the field for the New York Mets. That is something that has been impossible to say with any conviction for most of the last two seasons. Beltran missed a large part of the 2009 season and the entire first half of the 2010 season basically preparing and then recovering from surgery on his right knee. On July 15th he is expected to return as center fielder of the New York Mets. But how much can he contribute?

Before the 2009 season, Beltran was considered one of the best players in baseball and one of the more consistent fantasy options. In NL-only leagues Beltran is probably already on someone's roster. In the shallower mixed leagues he may still be available. Beltran contributed in every batting category. I still expect Beltran to hit for average. He is one of the most disciplined hitters in baseball. He rarely swings at balls out of the strikezone and has an extremely good contact rate. He has a career .302 BABIP and a .283 career batting average.

Beltran has been one of the better base-stealers in the game. His success rate has always been one of the best in baseball. Although he has not stolen 40 bases (nor more than 25) in several years, he has been a consistent threat to steal 20 or so bases a season. This was true even last season before the injury when he had 11 stolen bases (1 cs) in 308 at-bats. I expect we will see Beltran attempt fewer stolen bases. Even if the knee is healthy I think the Mets will do everything in their power to keep him healthy which unfortunately includes taking away the green light.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel has suggested installing Beltran directly into the third spot in the lineup. He told ESPN.com that it depended on Beltran's energy level and also a bit on David Wright's production.

"I've thought about it a couple of different ways," the manager said. "If he appears fresh, I was thinking of having him probably third. If not, I'll probably bat him around fifth or sixth."

And asked about keeping NL RBI Leader, David Wright in the third spot.

"As long as he keeps doing that, we could bat Carlos right after him [at cleanup] and give David that switch hitter with experience behind him to make sure he stays hot," Manuel said. "Not that [incumbent No. 4 hitter] Ike Davis doesn't hit, but [Beltran] is an All-Star player -- a switch hitter, power both sides."

Before he succumbed to the knee injury, Beltran was enjoying a fairly good season marred only by a disturbing lack of power. In retrospect, it is not difficult to surmise that the knee was bothering him all along and playing with the injury was sapping his power. However, the 33-year old Beltran has also experienced a three-year decline in HR/FB (21.1, 17.1, 15.7, 10.8) one of the leading indicators of a player's power. It is very possible that with the knee finally fixed, there is a rebound in Beltran's power numbers. That seems likely to me. Beltran's batted ball ratios have remained steady. My guess is he bats at a 20-30 homer pace which should make most owners happy.

In Conclusion
Fantasy owners should scoop up Carlos Beltran if he is still available. If he is truly healthy he should hit for both average and power in the middle of a productive lineup. The Mets will protect him at first but within a few weeks I expect the kid gloves to be off.
For the balance of the season look for a line like this:

300 at-bats .290/.375/530 with 12-15 homers, 60 runs, 50 RBI, 3-5 stolen bases

What Beltran's Return Means for Angel Pagan and Jeff Francoeur
Manager Jerry Manuel has stated that Beltran will play two games and receive at least one day and perhaps two days off before starting again. This should ensure that both Angel Pagan and Jeff Francoeur receive plenty of at-bats. There has been a lot of debate on who will start when Beltran plays and who should start between Pagan and Francoeur.

When Beltran and Bay are both in the lineup, the most likely scenario is that Pagan plays against right-handers and Francoeur will start against left-handers. Obviously when Beltran is out of the lineup, they should both start. Francouer will probably pinch-hit and play late inning defense quite a bit when he is on the bench.

Chime In - Join the Conversation By Adding to the Comments Section
Are you targeting Beltran? Is my projection for the balance of the season too optimistic? Will he make the Mets better or disturb the chemistry of a team playing fairly well? Let us know what you think in the comments section!

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Call To The Pen

Hi everyone, my name's Andre (aka 3FingersBrown) and I'm the newest contributor to Advanced Fantasy Baseball. Jon was kind enough to pick me up off of the waiver wire and give me an opportunity to share my baseball insights and observations with you and I hope you'll find what I have to say useful and entertaining.

I've been involved with fantasy baseball for six years but I've been playing baseball simulations since the mid-80's, be it through pen and paper games like Strat-o-matic or computer sims such as Micro League Baseball and Earl Weaver.

As long as I can remember baseball has been an obsession. From the moment I gripped a bat, to the day I opened the cover of "Moneyball," my passion for the game has only grown over the years. As I've gotten deeper into fantasy baseball and begun reading more advanced statistical analysis, I have begun to focus my writing on my favorite sport, ultimately starting my own baseball blog, Three True Outcomes.

Currently I'm playing in two leagues. One is a 5x5, 15-team mixed roto league, that counts OBP instead of AVG and features NFBC style rosters. My home league, which drafts live, is a 6x6 (standard 5x5 plus OBP and QS) 12-team mixed keeper league. Now in it's fourth year, I'm coming off a championship season in 2009 and I have my eyes set on a repeat performance.

I have a background in the film and television industry, where I've worked in a number of different roles over the years. I'm also a freelance writer with work in a variety of subjects such as music, film and pop-culture essays, commercial copy and screen-writing. One of the die-hard Flushing Faithful, I'm holding out hope that this is the year that the Mets finally return to championship glory after a 24 year drought.

I'll be posting on a number of different baseball-related topics such as in-depth player profiles, prospects, advanced statistical analysis, fantasy strategy and more. With all that said, I'm looking forward to continuing the endless narrative that our great American pastime provides - so lets Play ball!

First-Half Offensive MVPs, Goats and Waiver Wire Studs

I know Jon posted his fantasy all-stars yesterday, but I have been working on this for a few days now, so please forgive me if there is a little bit of repetition here. I will go by league and position pointing out the MVP, Goat and Waiver Wire stud (someone who went undrafted according to average draft position in ESPN leagues) with a very brief description of my reasoning. For outfielders, I will pick two of each. Let’s get some good discussion going on this!

Catcher
AL MVP: Victor Martinez – The lack of depth at catcher really shines through in the AL. Joe Mauer is hitting a great .301, but has managed just 4 HR this season, so the honor falls to Martinez, who definitely struggled mightily out of the gate, but has turned things around in the last couple months.

NL MVP: Miguel Olivo – Not only is Olivo the MVP on the power of a .311 average with 11 HR, but he is also my pick for WW Stud at the position in the NL. He was largely undrafted in ESPN leagues this season (he was the 16th choice among catchers).
AL Goat: A.J. Pierzynski – The disaster of a season for the former all-star catcher seemed to be turning around in early June, but he has fallen back into a slump and his batting average sits at .237. He is 1-for-15 in July so far.
NL Goat: Bengie Molina – Since Bengie was just traded to the AL last week, I will still count him as a NLer for this article’s purposes. Molina looks like he has turned the corner (in a negative way) and has struggled to a .255/.310/.325 mark with just 3 HR this season. This is a guy who belted 20 HR last year!
AL WW Stud: John Buck – Wasn’t drafted at all this season pretty much anywhere and stands sixth overall in my points league.
NL WW Stud: Olivo (see above)

First Base

AL MVP: Miguel Cabrera – Beast. Total, unadulterated B-E-A-S-T. He is by far and away the points leader on the season.
NL MVP: Joey Votto – Votto edges out Albert Pujols by virtue of having one more HR and a few points higher batting average on the day I wrote this. Of course it could go either way.
AL Goat: Chris Davis – If you drafted him (he went 153rd overall on average in ESPN leagues), you likely don’t have him anymore. He’s the dictionary definition of the term BUST.
NL Goat: Todd Helton – Hey, this guy has treated us to years and years of terrific production. Age has just seemed to catch up to him now, as he is dealing right now with a gimpy back and hammy to go with a career-low .246 BA.
AL WW Stud – There really haven’t been any players who were truly “undrafted” that have made a huge impact; however, with a few more good games this month, Russell Branyan would take the honor – I’m just not ready to hand it over yet.
NL WW Stud: Aubrey Huff – Huff has as many points as Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder this season. For someone who started the year on every waiver wire, that’s amazing. Yes, I know he plays mostly OF now, but he qualifies at 1B everywhere.

Second Base
AL MVP: Robinson Cano – Cano is the easy choice here – not only is he blowing away everybody in the league in scoring, but his best competition, Dustin Pedroia, is injured right now.

NL MVP: Martin Prado – A pair of HR last night raised Prado’s SLG% to an even .500. I thought this guy was going to be a slap hitter! A lack of stolen bases is distressing, but his numbers across the board have been pretty astounding. Oh yeah, he was the 15th second baseman taken on average in ESPN leagues.
AL Goat: Aaron Hill – This guy is making me pull my own hair out. He hasn’t been able to get himself over the Mendoza Line for more than a couple days all season long. Hill’s draft-day price (8th second baseman taken, on average) makes him one of the biggest busts on this list. Apologies to Brian Roberts, I know you deserve to be here too!
NL Goat: Chase Utley – Not many choices on the NL side, so considering his average draft position (first 2B taken with the 6th overall pick on average), I will call him the goat. The fact that he will miss all of July and most of August will have many owners agreeing.
AL WW Stud: Alberto Callaspo – He has quietly been having an above-average season so far, with 8 HR and a .279 average.
NL WW Stud: Juan Uribe – Freddy Sanchez and Edgar Renteria’s injuries helped propel Uribe to 12 HR and 46 RBI this season. Definitely above replacement value.

Third Base

AL MVP: Alex Rodriguez – You could make a case for Evan Longoria – heck, even Michael Young, but ARod is sitting in the clubhouse with the most RBI (67) among all Major League third basemen. And he started slow!
NL MVP: David Wright – He has gone ahead and officially proven that last year’s power outage was a total aberration.
AL Goat: Chone Figgins – Apologies to Gordon Beckham, but Figgins went 9th overall among third basemen on draft day. He has rewarded his owners with a .233/.330/.272 mark. Even 23 steals can’t make up for that.
NL Goat: Aramis Ramirez – Taken 8th overall among third basemen on draft day, holy cow Ramirez has been AWFUL! He is only 32 years old, but struggled to a .189/.250/.342 mark – and that was before he started getting injured. He and Aaron Hill are competing hard for bust of the season.
AL WW Stud: Jose Bautista – Face it, nobody could have predicted that Bautista would be leading Major League Baseball with 22 HR on July 8! NOBODY! And just about everyone who owns him snagged him off waivers.
NL WW Stud: Scott Rolen – Troy Glaus also deserves some recognition, but Rolen went undrafted according to ESPN and has scored more in my points league than Ryan Zimmerman, Mark Reynolds and Adrian Beltre. Not sure many of us were predicting the .296/.362/.560 line he is putting up.

Shortstop
AL MVP: Derek Jeter – He is a little behind his 2009 numbers, but Jeter is pretty much blowing the rest of the AL away (not that hard to do at shortstop) with 8 HR, 40 RBI and a .277/.344/.398 line. His only AL competition would be my WW Stud below…

NL MVP: Hanley Ramirez – Hard to make the call for anyone else. Even if a .296 average isn’t up to his usual lofty standards, we will all take the 13 HR and 16 SB.
AL Goat: J.J. Hardy – The move to the AL and a few injuries have derailed his season. Hey, he never really hit for average in Milwaukee, but at least he was driving in runs with the long ball. These days, he boasts a whopping 3 HR and 13 (yeah, 13!) RBI in 149 at-bats this season.
NL Goat: Jimmy Rollins – It’s hard to penalize a guy for being injured, but considering that he was the fourth SS taken off the board and has managed just 102 at-bats this season, I think it’s safe to call him a bust for now. Let’s see if he can salvage something in the second half.
AL WW Stud: Alex Gonzalez – Can you tell that Toronto is having an above-average season? Alex is the third of the Blue Jays’ WW Studs, and a humongous April (7 HR) has powered him to be the fourth-highest scorer among all SS in my points league.
NL WW Stud: Cristian Guzman – Not many choices on the NL side, but Guzman has proven his versatility – rotating between second base and SS to post a .297 average with 38 runs scored. He has outperformed teammate Ian Desmond, who was projected to put up better numbers.

Outfielders

AL MVPs: Josh Hamilton and Carl Crawford – Hamilton has been other-worldly good and is second to only Miguel Cabrera in scoring this season (in points leagues). Crawford has been nearly as devastating and is the only non-specialty player (such as Juan Pierre or Michael Bourn) with more than 25 steals this season. Of the five players with 25 or more steals, Crawford has the same amount of HR as the other 4 combined. Apologies definitely go to Vladimir Guerrero (even though he is basically a DH, he was the 152nd player taken overall on average and has been absolutely dominant this season – wow the Angels made a huge mistake).
NL MVPs: Adam Dunn and Carlos Gonzalez – The NL hasn’t been anywhere near as strong as the AL among outfielders. Dunn ranks behind five AL Outfielders. Dunn gets the nod because he has somehow managed to post a .280/.367/.572 line despite an already death-defying 100 strikeouts. Gonzalez (.307/.339/.514) has been solid all season long, and he has 15 HR and 12 SB to his credit. You should see some of the names that were drafted ahead of him – from Curtis Granderson to Shane Victorino to Adam Jones to Raul Ibanez (and the list goes on) – he has outperformed them all.
AL Goats: Jacoby Ellsbury and Grady Sizemore – Another pair of injury casualties, Ellsbury has only managed 44 at-bats this season due to a variety of maladies. Sizemore was horrible LONG BEFORE he had the knee surgery that ended his season. These guys went 6th and 8th overall among all outfielders on draft day – OUCH!
NL Goats: Carlos Lee and Nate McLouth – Not nearly as egregious as the two guys above, still Carlos Lee has fallen off the planet and can’t seem to get his average above .230. McLouth started slow and continued to be slow until the Braves (mercifully) put him on the DL in early June with mysterious “concussion-like symptoms.” Up to that point, he was batting .176 with 14 RBI – that’s a long way from his Pittsburgh glory days.
AL WW Studs: Brennan Boesch and Austin Jackson – You know the Tigers must be having a good season if two of their three OF made the WW Stud list! You may not have heard of the rookie Boesch before, but unless you have been living under a rock, you know who he is now. Boesch ranks 24th in RBI among all OF – he also has fewer at-bats than anyone in the top 30 because he was called up on April 24! This is a guy who was completely unowned in April and is 100% owned today – now that’s some good ROI. Jackson may have slumped in late May, but he is again firing on all cylinders and is batting .306 with 50 runs scored and 13 steals.
NL WW Studs: Corey Hart and Jonny Gomes – Full disclosure, I had to stretch the “undrafted” part of my criteria to include Hart, although his average draft position was 232.7 on ESPN (blame the lack of great options in this category, OK?). After an excruciatingly slow start, Hart exploded for 10 HR in the month of May and maintained his good play in June. Gomes wasn’t supposed to have a full-time gig on draft day, but he has jumped on his chance for increased playing time and has responded with a .280/.333/.473 mark in just 264 at-bats this season.