Archive for the ‘Teams’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

StockWatch: Chris Perez

Indians closer Chris Perez pulled a muscle in his side and it will keep him sidelined 4-6 weeks. Perez says his goal is to return my March 15, but the Indians are likely to be very cautious with their closer and ease him back.

While his job may ultimately safe, you may look elsewhere before drafting him, since there’s no telling how this will affect him for the start of the season and what the Indians may do. When healthy, he’s been one of the more reliable options (36-for-40 last season) despite being on a bad team. We are particularly worried, though, about his strikeout rate dropping considerably (5.9 K/9 in 2011, down from 8.7 in 2010) and the fact that he’s always walked too many batters for a closer (4.19 career BB/9).

Watch how this develops, because Vinnie Pestano already was necessary as a handcuff to Perez. Pestano’s strikeout rate (12.2 K/9) and xFIP (2.80) last season was impressive, but he too walks too many guys (3.5 BB/9 in 2011). The other guy to worry about there is Dan Wheeler, who has closed before and could see some time in the role again if the Indians were to make a change.

StockWatch: Grady Sizemore

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Grady Sizemore is injured – already.

This time around it’s a back strain that may prevent him from breaking camp with the team, so at least it’s not his knees again (so far).

Obviously his injuries have been well documented as he was once one of the best players in fantasy baseball (he AVERAGED 27 HRs, 116 Runs, 81 RBIs and 29 stolen bases between 2005 and 2008), but has battled injuries ever since.

It’s probably time to just forget about Grady for fantasy baseball purposes.

StockWatch: Tommy Hanson

So according to reports, Braves starter Tommy Hanson has tweaked his delivery after a small tear in his rotator cuff last season. Fantasy baseball owners tend to pause when pitchers mess with their deliveries, but many experts have been afraid of Hanson’s jerky motion and worried about arm problems.

Hanson said he’s focused on getting rid of the momentary pause in his delivery that was causing the snapping motion. He says it should limit the stress on his shoulder and, as an added bonus, makes his delivery to the plate quicker to help defend against the running game. This could potentially vault him into the top-10 elite pitcher he has had the potential to become if he’s less of an injury risk and better at holding on runners.

“I’m really just cutting out that pause,” Hanson said. “I felt like I was throwing with all arm. Also, by changing, I could kill two birds with one stone as far as cutting down the running game. Somebody gets on and they have just run all day. I think it’s going to help both.”

Watching Hanson’s strikeout rate start to skyrocket last season (career high 9.83 K/9) to go with a 3.29 xFIP had to have many keeper league owners very happy until the injury occurred. His xFIP has decreased in each of his three seasons (3.97 in 2009, 3.87 in 2010, 3.29 last season) and few pitchers have ever been as good right from the start as Hanson.

Watch Hanson closely this spring because he may just be a pitcher who will outperform his draft day position (current ADP #92 at Mock Draft Central).

StockWatch: A.J. Burnett

There has been talk all winter about the Yankees moving the contract of A.J. Burnett to free up some money to sign a DH.

Now it appears the Yankees are closer to a deal with the Pirates, and the question then becomes: How much will it help Burnett’s fantasy value going to the National League. He would be facing considerably less formidable lineups and no designated hitters and not pitching in the AL East.

More importantly for Burnett is the fact that he was one of the unluckier pitchers in baseball last season, as his 3.86 xFIP was well below his 5.15 ERA and his home run rate (17.0 HR/FB) was by far the highest in baseball and jumped up significantly from the year before (11.6 in 2010) and his career average (11.3).

He still walks too many batters and his fastball has gotten a little slower each season, but his strikeout rate (8.18 K/9) is still among the top starters and would surely increase in the NL. He has made at least 32 starts and approached or surpassed 200 IP in each of the past four seasons, so it’s not crazy to think he could approach 200 Ks again. It’s also worth noting that the last time he pitched in the NL was 2005 with the Marlins and he had a 3.20 xFIP and 198 Ks in 209 innings.

Early Fantasy Baseball Rankings: Closer

Here’s an early peek at the RotoAce 2012 fantasy baseball rankings for closers. (more…)

Early fantasy baseball rankings: Starting Pitcher

Here’s an early peek at the RotoAce 2012 fantasy baseball rankings for starting pitcher. (more…)

Early fantasy baseball rankings: DH

Here’s an early peek at the RotoAce 2012 fantasy baseball rankings for designated hitter.

1. David Ortiz (left): Depending on how old you think Big Papi really is, he technically enters his age-36 season coming off a throwback year when he put up a .309-84-29-96-1 line. Ortiz managed to avoid the slow starts that plagued him in the recent past, but expect a little more to go wrong and numbers that come up a bit short of last year.

2. Billy Butler: Eric Hosmer’s arrival sent Butler back to DH, where he put up another solid but not spectacular season. Butler turns 26 in mid-April, so if a power spike is coming then this will likely be the season.

3. Jesus Montero: It took Montero almost two full seasons in Triple-A before finally getting the call to New York, where he was even better than advertised with a .996 OPS and four homers in just 69 plate appearances. Being traded from the Yankees’ offense-friendly lineup and ballpark to the Mariners’ league-worst offense and ballpark will limit Montero’s fantasy impact this season. (more…)

StockWatch: Jesus Montero

Sometimes in fantasy baseball, all it takes is a trade for an uber-prospect’s value to change dramatically one way or another. The question with Seattle’s new C/DH Jesus Montero now is: Which way will the trade swing his value?

Montero immediately becomes the Mariners’ top hitter in terms of their lineup and overall future value, but playing for an offense-challenged team in a pitchers’ ballpark is going to be drastically different than playing in the bandbox that is Yankee Stadium with one of the league’s top offenses.

I think the difference here may be playing time and pressure. Seattle manager Eric Wedge plans to keep his bat in the lineup nearly every day by playing him at catcher and DH and the Mariners can even play him higher in their lineup. The Yankees, however, would probably have played him towards the bottom of the order and would have been more likely to sit him during a prolonged slump.

RotoAce thinks the trade will help him overall, though playing in Safeco will surely bring a hit to his power numbers. But as Adrian Gonzalez proved, playing in an extreme pitchers’ park doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t hit for power. Extreme talent always wins out. Plan for a nice .275-.280 average with 19-21 homers and 65-70 RBIs in his first year and those of you in keeper leagues can expect better numbers down the road.

Early fantasy baseball rankings: Outfield

Here’s an early peek at the RotoAce 2012 fantasy baseball rankings for outfield. (more…)

Early fantasy baseball rankings: Shortstop

Here’s an early peek at the RotoAce 2012 fantasy baseball rankings for shortstop.

1. Troy Tulowitzki: Injuries again caught up to Tulo last season, but not until September in the form of a sore hip or before he had put up his customary huge numbers. He enters his age-27 season primed for a career year if he can avoid the injury bug.

2. Jose Reyes (left): The old hamstring issues cropped up again last season, taking a little of the luster off an otherwise spectacular season that saw him win the NL batting crown with a .337 mark. Now he’s taking his electrifying game to Miami, where he’ll try to live up to his $106 million contract with the Marlins while in his prime at age 28. (more…)

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »