Around the Horn: September 4, 2012

(1) Kris Medlen, best pitcher in baseball?

(2) Jacoby Ellsbury struggling to produce.

(3) Chase Headley – out of control. Just killing it.

(4) Marco Scutaro strong pickup for Giants.

(5) Chris Iannetta surging at the dish.

(6) Wil Myers Minor League Player of the Year. Not getting called up Royals?

(7) Troy Tulowitzki nearing a return from groin injury?

By Ray Flowers

Daily Joust – Wk 21: Did We Learn Anything?

On Monday each week I take a look at the fantasy baseball game breaking down players who have produced noteworthy performances of late – not just positive outings mind you, but I’ll also delve into some of the players that have been sucking wind of late. Can you use this information to your benefit over at DailyJoust?

GAINERS OF THE WEEK

Brett Anderson (+171K up to $392,000 in DailyJoust Salary)
The A’s lefty has returned from Tommy John Surgery with flying colors mind you. In his first outing against the Twins he tossed one run ball over seven innings as he walked none and struck out six. A strong pitcher through 63 career starts, Anderson owns a 3.62 ERA and 1.25 WHIP for his career. Are those numbers he could match this year? It’s certainly possible, but remember it’s not always a linear path to success for guys returning from Tommy J. Think of Adam Wainwright. His April was dreadful, a 7.32 ERA and 1.47 WHGIP over four starts before he rebounded (for the season Waino has a 3.63 ERA and 1.18 WHIP through 26 starts). Anderson is well worth the add in 15 team mixed leagues, but those in 10/12 team leagues would be wise not to count on him too heavily until 2013.

Chris Iannetta (+35, $88K)
Three of the last four years in Colorado Iannetta hit at least 14 homers with 55 RBIs (the year he didn’t reach those marks he had only 188 at-bats in an injury shortened 2010). There was hope that Iannetta would get to 350 at-bats for the first time in his career this season, maybe even well into the 400′s in his new home in Anaheim, but injuries conspired against him. To this point he’s had only 134 at-bats and that has caused him to become an afterthought in two catcher mixed leagues. However, it might be time to start paying attention again. Over 20 games in August Chris has hit .286 with three homers, a .361 OBP an a .821 OPS, levels that he could maintain the rest of the way (well, maybe not the batting average, but it shouldn’t dip much below the league average).

Kyle Kendrick (+101, $356K)
The definition of average, there’s nothing that stands out with Kendrick. His K/BB ratio of 6.41 is a batter below the league average and his 3.13 BB/9 is league average. He allows 0.99 homers per nine. League average yet again. His 1.15 GB/FB is league average. Ditto his ratios – a 4.12 ERA and 1.35 WHIP. I wasn’t kidding when I said nothing stands out. So why mention him? Because it’s all working for him right now. Over his last three outings he has allowed a total of two runs while picking up three victories for the Phillies. He’s also walked a total of three batters while striking out 16. I’m not suggesting you completely buy into what is happening right now, it’s just not who Kyle is, but if you need a boost on the hill few that might be available are likely to be on a better roll (he’s owned in less than 10 percent of Fleaflicker leagues).

Angel Pagan (+30, $119K)
Pagan is 0-for-8 the lat two games but he’s still be flat out killing it of late. Over the previous eight games he produced 18 hits to push his average up from .280 to .290. In fact, he’s hit .301 over his last 40 games and .347 in August (25 contests). He’s not a power bat, he has only seven homers and 48 RBIs, but he plays every day, scores runs (69) and certainly has the speed to swipe a bag (21 on the year).

LOSERS OF THE WEEK

Joe Blanton (-149, $206K)
He should be much better than he is, at least in terms of the overall results. On the year he has a 7.76 K/9 mark, the best of his career, and his 1.57 BB/9 mark would tied his career best. As a result he has an elite 4.93 K/BB ratio that is virtually double his career 2.55 mark. The main issue has been the home run, something that often plagues him. Currently his HR/9 is a career worst 1.52, the third time it looks like he will have a mark of 1.38 or greater in the past four years (career 1.08). If he suddenly goes on a run of homerless ball to bring that number back to normal levels he just might be someone to turn to. As it is he’s looked awful with the Dodgers going 0-3 with a 7.71 ERA and 1.76 WHIP over four starts.

A.J. Burnett (-92, $359K)
He has 15 wins an only four loses with a 3.63 ERA and 1.25 WHIP on the year. That’s as good as anyone could have hoped for after his last two years in New York that led to an ERA of 5.20 and a WHIP of nearly 1.50. However, things have taken a downturn for A.J. recently. Over his last three started he’s given up four homers, he’s walked eight batters, and he’s allowed 14 earned runs to add nearly a half run to his ERA. It’s tough to turn away from Burnett, his total of 151.1 innings shouldn’t be wearing him down, but like James McDonald before him maybe we’re just seeing a natural correction.

Matt Joyce (-20, $55K)
Since he was beset my injuries Joyce has been a shell of his former self. Over his last 32 games he has hit just .216 with a mere three homers. His OBP in that time is .295 which is only palatable when one glances over to his SLG and sees a number that should be his OBP (.345). At this point, even if you’re in a 15 team mixed with five starting outfielders it’s nearly impossible to think that you don’t have a better option for a fifth outfielder.

Jason Kubel (-21, $57K)
I warned you to be careful almost exactly a month ago in my July 23rd Column.

“There’s zero chance he sustains his line drive rate (it’s 24 percent)”
His line drive rate has dipped to 22.8 percent.

“There’s zero chance he sustains his HR/F ratio (it’s 20 percent)”
His HR/F ratio is down to 19.5 percent.

“He’s striking out more than ever before.”
After never having a K-rate above 21.4 percent that mark has skyrocketed to 26.4 percent.

“…we know all good things must come to an end, right?”
Kubel has hit .160 with a .549 OPS in August.

He’s only two homers from tying his career best of 28, and with 14 RBIs he’ll have the second best total of his career (best is 103, second best 92), and his .267 batting average is only four points below his career average of .271. The regression was always likely to occur.

DAILY JOUST CONTESTS

I’ve spent this article talking about baseball, which obviously isn’t at all odd given that this is BaseballGuys.com, but I’ve got a way that you can, in addition to playing fantasy baseball, also play some fantasy football. How can you do that? You can head over to DailyJoust and sign up for any of the myriad of games they have to offer. For those of you who are hardcore baseball fans like me they are still running daily fantasy games for you, well, daily. For those of you who are read to take on the gridiron, there are three pretty exciting games they have to offer. You can find a report on each at the following links (scroll down to the bottom of the articles for the explanations).

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By Ray Flowers

Player Profiles: Chris Iannetta & Ramon Hernandez

The landscape of catching was changed on Wednesday night as two of the more imposing backstops ever to wield the lumber switched teams. OK, I couldn’t type that with a straight face, so I had to stop before it got out of control. The truth of the matter is that a couple of catchers changed teams on Wednesday, and while neither of them is a star, both bring solid bats to their new homes and provide fantasy leaguers decent options after the elite hitting backstops are off the map.

Angels Trade: Tyler Chatwood
Rockies Trade: Chris Iannetta

First, and most obvious, is the fact that the Angels had a catcher that could sock the ball in Mike Napoli, and they soured on him and let him go in one of the worst decisions of last offseason. As a result of that terrible decision the Angels had hideously producing backstops with a bat in their hands last year (in fact, their catchers in 2011 hit .192 with a .252 OBP). Iannetta will certainly help to give the Angels a bat that can cause some damage on offense.

Iannetta has holes in his swing as his .235 career batting average would attest to. However, he does a couple of things very well. First off he powers the ball. Per 400 at-bats in his career Iannetta has averaged 18 homers. Only nine catcher eligible players hit 18 homers last season. Iannetta has never recorded even 350 at-bats in a season as the Rockies stubbornly refused to give him that much work – he had 345 at-bats last year – but all he needs is a few extra games at DH to make 400 a possibility.

Iannetta’s other skill, overlooked by some teams, is his ability to get on base. The owner of a .357 career OBP, Chris posted a mark of .370 in 2011, better than all but two catchers who had at least 450 at-bats (Alex Avila at .389 and Victor Martinez at .380). As a result of all the walks he also owns a career 0.64 BB/K mark. Teams should realize that his power/patience approach at the dish is ideal for a catcher.

The biggest concern with Iannetta is two-fold. (1) Will Mike Scioscia play him on a consistent basis? It’s not like he’s ever stuck with just one catcher and actually let him play since Bengie Molina left town. (2) Will Iannetta be able to hit away from Coors Field? Iannetta posted a .587 OPS on the road last year (.975 at Coors), and for his career his OPS is .162 points lower on the road (.707).

Rockies Sign: Ramon Hernandez
2-years, $6.5 million

The Rockies covered themselves by signing Ramon Hernandez to fill the gap behind the dish when Iannetta was dealt to the Angels. On the downside of his career at 35 years old, Hernandez can still be a productive offensive performer if managed properly.

The last time Ramon had 325 at-bats was 2008, but he can still do some things with the bat. After hitting in the .250′s 3-straight years (2007-09) Hernandez bounced back to hit .297 in 2010. Unfortunately he hit only seven homers in 313 at-bats. In 2011 both facets of his game were on display as he hit .282 with 12 homers. Still, there are some concerns.

Most obvious on the list of worries is Ramon’s age. Catchers have a habit of breaking down rather quickly when they hit their mid 30′s. If managed properly this is less of an issue, but it also means his fantasy value will be kept low because he won’t be playing every day. Second on the list for Hernandez is the fact that his GB-rate continues to grow. The last two years it has been over 51 percent. Even at Coors Field you aren’t going to hit a lot of long balls if more than half of your batted balls are killing grass.

OUTLOOK

If I was ranking these guys right now I’d have Iannetta ahead of Hernandez. I wouldn’t be shocked if Ramon had a better batting average than Iannetta, but I’d also be fairly surprised if his at-bat total was within 75 to 100 of Iannetta. As such, Iannetta figures to be a much better play in the counting categories in 2012. I also won’t be overly surprised if people end up drafting Hernandez a bit ahead of Iannetta because of the Coors Field factor making Iannetta a slightly better value. The bottom line is that in standard mixed leagues both guys seem like solid options as a second catcher.

By Ray Flowers

2011 Positional Review – Catchers

You remember back to March when I gave away all my position player rankings for free, right? For those of you who want to revisit my greatest hits, here’s where you would go to get all my rankings for hitters – 2011: BBGuys Hitter Capsules.

I’m nothing if not accountable, so I’ll review my top-10 predictions at each position as well as point out my biggest “hit” outside of the top-10 and my biggest “bust.” This should be fun.

Today, I’ll start with the catchers position.

2011 CATCHER Top-10
1 Joe Mauer
2 Victor Martinez
3 Brian McCann
4 Buster Posey
5 Geovany Soto
6 Carlos Santana
7 Mike Napoli
8 Matt Wieters
9 Miguel Montero
10 Kurt Suzuki

Mauer was injured from start to finish and he ended up with a .287 average, three homers and 30 RBI in 296 at-bats. It was a dismal season for a man who owns a career .323 average and a Hall of Fame bat.

V-Mart showed an astonishing lack of power with only 12 home runs, but he knocked in 103 runs while hitting .330 in what was a rather remarkable season.

McCann failed to hit .275 for the second straight year (he hit .270), and he also posted a 6-year low in RBI with 71. Still, he hit 24 homers and was the only catchers in the NL to hit more than 18 homers.

Posey‘s year ended after just 162 at-bats when he was plowed over at the plate trashing his leg. He is back to catching bullpens already and the Giants hope he will be at 100 percent by spring training next year.

Soto would have been my bust of the year if not for the failings of Mauer. Soto did hit 17 homers and knock in 54 runs, but he batted .228 while his OBP of .310 was .038 points below his career mark.

Santana was the best catcher in the AL not named Martinez. Santana, in his first full season in the bigs, was the only catcher in baseball with 20 homers, 70 RBI and 70 runs scores (27, 79 and 84). The 84 runs led the position.

Napoli was a superstar this season, and I wrote all about his efforts in Player Profile: Mike Napoli.

Wieters was one of three catcher eligible players to hit 20 homers with 65 RBI and 70 runs scored (he had 22, 68 and 72). Matt killed it in the second half hitting 14 homers with a .840 OPS in 61 games.

Montero was a rock all year for the D’backs. After hitting .294-16-59 in 2009, he was injured in 2010 and limited to 85 games. He bounced back this year with the best effort of his career (.282-18-86-65).

Suzuki was my #10 catcher because of one main reason – consistency. He did appear in 130 games for a fourth straight year, and his total of 14 homers was an exact match for his 2009-10 average, but his average fell to a career worst (.237) while he lost 37 RBI from 2010 (71) and 44 from 2009 (88).

Hit: Chris Iannetta #14
The Rockies have still never given him 350 at-bats in a season, but with 345 this year he blasted 14 homers, knocked in 55 runs and scored 51 times. Only 11 catchers in the game went 14-50-50, and only three went 14-50-50 with a .370 OBP (the others were Alex Avila and Napoli). He may have hit only .238, but he walked 70 times leading to that impressive .370 OBP.

Bust: Joe Mauer #1
What more needs to be said? He stunk.

By Ray Flowers

Mailbag: May 10, 2011

photo © 2008 Steve Paluch | more info (via: Wylio)

Here are the answers to some of the quick hitters that I received at the BaseballGuys’ Twitter account.

Is it time to cut bait on Corey Hart?
– @DeKampanilya

Hart’s season started late because of injury, and then the Brewers made the mistake of activating him too quickly (he had only 15 at-bats appearances in the minors and produced two hits). “Maybe we could have kept him there longer but some of that has to do with the player… Corey thought he was ready,” said manager Ron Roenicke. Clearly, Hart wasn’t ready. Through 34 at-bats he is batting .176, has a .382 OPS and hasn’t produced a single RBI. So do you drop him? Would you drop Troy Tulowitzki? If you weren’t aware, he has been  worse than Hart the past two weeks hitting just .093. Obviously Tulo is a better player than Hart, but the point should be obvious – you don’t want to panic and drop guys with track records of success because of down periods. Coming off a season in which he hit 31 homers, knocked in 102 runs and scored 91 times – something only seven other hitters in the game did last year – it would be pretty darn tough to recommend dropping Hart unless you are desperate or in a really shallow mixed league.

Raul Ibanez off waivers? Yeah, I’m that desperate.
– @Chris_Rinaldi

Ibanez had an 0-for-35 stretch recently, and the results of that slump are clearly evident in his .222 batting average for the season. At the same time, the guy has completely turned things around of late with five multiple hit games in his last seven outings. In fact, over the last seven days Ibanez is hitting .462 with two homers and five RBI as he is on his way to putting that massive slump to bed. However, there are concerns with Ibanez. First, he will be 39 years old next month and coming off his worst HR total (16) in six years and his worst RBI mark (83) in seven years. Second, Domonic Brown is closing fast hitting .367 with four bombs, 10 RBI and 11 runs in 13 minor league games as he works his way back from injury. Will Brown eat into Ibanez’s playing time? He may not if Ben Francisco continues to struggle so mightily (he has one hit in 18 at-bats in May), but both Ibanez and Francisco could be put on notice shortly when Brown is called up.

Ibanez is a veteran run producer and manager Charlie Manuel is nothing if not supportive, sometimes to a fault, of his veterans. There isn’t much reason to think that Ibanez can’t replicate the numbers he posted last season (.275-16-83), even with his slow start, so you’ll have to decide how much value there would be in your league for an outfielder like that.

Chris Iannetta and John Buck are on a tear lately. Which would you rather own?
– @chillmodious

Back in January I broke down Buck in How to Evaluate a Player. You can read that piece to find out why I felt that Buck didn’t appear likely to replicate the numbers he posted last season (.281-20-66-53). So far this season I’ve been sort of right. Buck is hitting a poor .236, though predicting a regression in his batting average was the easy to do after last season, but the counting numbers have been solid. If Buck were to maintain his current pace over 409 at-bats, the total he received last year with Toronto, here is how his 2011 effort would stack up.

2010: .281-20-66-53
2011: .236-15-63-59

While admitting my initial thoughts of a regression appear to be taking hold, I’m surprised at the fact that Buck has done as well as he has this year. At the same time, Buck has three homers and eight RBI in his last 10 games, or his numbers would look awful. He still isn’t getting on base (.317 OBP), but I will commend him for his BB/K mark which is 0.52. Of course, only once in his career has that mark been 0.40, and for his career it’s 0.28, so it’s doubtful to hold up. So in the end, I’m still sticking with the regression I predicted three and a half months ago.

I’ve long been a fan of Iannetta. He’ll never hit for a strong average, he is currently batting .247 and striking out 35 percent of the time, but he has always had plenty of power (five homers in just 77 ABs) and he has always known how to work the count (his OBP is a whopping .414). The difference between these two backstops boils down to this for me. Iannetta is younger (by three years), hits in a better park and knows how to take a walk. Sooner or later those factors will overcome a grip it and rip it hitter like Buck. While their numbers look pretty similar at this point, I’d offer this slant. Let’s compare each hitters career numbers, per 400 at-bats, and see what we end up with.

J. Buck: .243-15-56-47 with a .302 OBP and .723 OPS
Iannetta: .235-19-67-55 with a .358 OBP and .799 OPS

Give me Iannetta who has slightly more power, a much better eye, is younger and hits in the better ball park.

I need Closer. Would you deal Robinson Cano for Heath Bell and Grady Sizemore?
– @mattsenatore

Cano was drafted as the best second baseman in fantasy baseball. He’s done little to dissuade anyone from that view as he is hitting .290 with eight homers, 24 RBI and 18 runs scored. For those of you who love “pace” talk – that would equate to a season long fantasy line of .290-40-121-91-10. Uh yeah, that’s pretty good. Clearly you would only move Cano if the return was substantial.

Bell just lost his streak of 41-consecutive save chances converted, but he has still been dynamite yet again. Through 14 appearances Bell has posted a 1.29 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and has converted eight of nine save chances. His strikeout mark is down almost two full batters from his career mark (7.71 compared to 9.45) and he is walking more batters than ever before (his current BB/9 mark of 3.86 is well above his career rate of 3.03), but I would take those two numbers to be more of a reflection of a small sample size than declining skills. With all the turnover in the 9th inning this year, there can’t be any argument whatsoever that Bell is one of about 10 “locks” at the backend of bullpens right now.

Sizemore started out on fire (he hist .378 in April), and then slumped miserably of late (.143 in May). In total, he’s hitting .288 with a .342 OBP. For his career he has hit .273 with a .363 OBP, so he’s pretty much right on track there. However, he’s really upped the homer pace with five bombs in 73 at-bats leading to a mark of one homer every 14.6 at-bats. Given that he hit one every 25.3 at-bats over his first 3,259 at-bats, you’d have to assume that rate will regress moving forward. However, the biggest concern with Sizemore is his utter lack of thefts. Sizemore has attempted only one steal and he was unsuccessful. It’s no a shock that he has curtailed his running since he is coming back off major knee surgery, but there is a massive difference in terms of the value of a player if he is swiping 20+ bases, as Sizemore did from 2005-08, compared to the a guy who just isn’t running.

I’d hold on to Cano. He’s as certain as any hitter in baseball to meet his lofty projections as an elite option. Sizemore, until he starts running, simply isn’t close to being an elite level fantasy outfielder. Bell is elite, but with seemingly half the teams in the league switching things up in the 9th inning on a daily bases you have, and will have, plenty of options to turn to if you need save help moving forward.

Ray Flowers can be heard daily on Sirius/XM Radio on The Fantasy Drive, 5-8 PM Eastern, on Sirius 210 and XM 87.

2011 Player Capsules: Catchers

Over the next little while I’m going to release hundreds of player capsules for hitters. I’ll break them down by positions each day, and give you a sampling of what I’m going to provide to each of you. So this is how it will work.

(1) You stop by BaseballGuys.com.

(2) You’ll get a chance to review a handful of the players at the position of the day.

(3) You’ll find a CODE at the end of the article.

(4) You’ll take that CODE and email it to me at: fantasyfandom@yahoo.com

(5) I’ll send you back a PDF file with the top-50 or so players at the position that is under discussion for that day.

How does that sound to you?

The best part?

How about the cost… it’s 100% FREE.

All I ask is that you tell a friend.

Here is an example of what to expect.

Chris Iannetta
For some reason the Rockies haven’t trusted this guy despite the fact that per 500 at-bats in his career that he has averaged roughly 23 homers and 83 RBI. His batting average is an eyesore, he owns a career .234 mark, but with ample power and an ability to take a walk (.353 career OBP), it’s odd that he has been given more than 300 at-bats just once in his career.

Yadier Molina
A batting average booster in 2007-09, Yadier fell on hard times last season posting his worst average since 2006. Despite that fact, there is reason for optimism. His walk rate was up last season leaving him with a career average BB/K mark, and his line drive rate was a career-high 21 percent. A .281 BABIP likely speaks to a bit of poor luck for the Cardinal in 2010.

Jorge Posada
At nearly 40 years of age, Posada simply can’t handle the rigors of catching on a daily basis. That’s why the Yankees plan to use Posada as their DH in 2011. Can Posada still hit? He will be a threat to 20 homers and 70 RBI – totals he has reached eight times in the same season – if he can stay healthy, but beware his declining bat speed and what that might do to his average.

The Catcher code is: Tools of Ignorance

By Ray Flowers

All Good Things Come to an End

Dallas Braden threw a perfect game a while ago – you heard about that right? On Thursday he pitched a strong game allowing one run over six innings, but he had to be removed after 83 pitches because of some concern over his forearm, and he was awarded a no-decision when the bullpen blew the game. Braden hasn’t won a game in seven starts since his perfect game on May 9th.

Adam Dunn has at least two hits in 11 of his last 21 games, and now he is batting .288. Dunn has never hit higher than .267 in a season, and owns a .251 career mark, so you know the average is going to regress moving forward, but he will continue to draw walks and blast balls into the seats. What is that saying again? Oh yeah, chicks dig the long ball.

It might officially be time to jump off the John Ely train. He was tattooed for seven runs in 4.2 innings on Thursday by the Reds. That’s 3-straight starts of at least four earned runs allowed (none lasting more than five innings), and in those three outings his ERA is 9.20.

Travis Hafner will not play for 9-straight games in interleague play because he simply cannot play defense with his bum shoulder. Talk about a way to screw up a guys swing. Reason number 8,729 why interleague play is a bad idea. Reason number 8,730? A team like the Rockies has to use a guy like Chris Iannetta at the spot when he is hitting .179.

Speaking of that Rockies game, Ubaldo Jimenez is flat out filthy. He tossed another eight innings of 1-run ball on Thursday to lower his ERA slightly to 1.15. Dude is scary good right now.

Who doesn’t wish they were me? I might see Rick Springfield in concert tomorrow night. I might take my VHS camera to record the event so I can play it on my huge 26 inch television.

Chipper Jones might retire at the end of the 2010 season. (1) Big shock. How can anyone be surprised when he’s hitting .234 with an OPS that doesn’t even hit .750? (2) Why is it such a big story that he might hang them up? Until he announces that he is retiring everyone should let it go.

Sorry Mike Lowell. It seems like you may never end up being traded. The Red Sox can’t seem to find a fit with either the Twins or the Rangers as both clubs aren’t willing to give up a player of quality unless the Red Sox shoulder a lot of the money Lowell is owed.

Randy Wells allowed just two runs to the A’s over seven innings on Thursday. I’m no pitch Nazi, in fact I have no idea why pitchers today, with all our medical and training advances, can’t throw more frequently than in the past, but letting a guy throw 130 pitches in a game, which the Cubs did today with Wells, has proven to be rife with danger. Look for him to breakdown or in the least to see his production regress in his next few starts.

And finally, Darin Erstad has retired. One of my favorite players because of his all-out, never quit attitude, Erstad’s body betrayed because he flung it around with such reckless abandon. He ends his career with 1,697 hits and a .282 career average, but he will always have a place in the hearts of those that played fantasy baseball back in 2000. That year Erstad made the All-Star team, won a Gold Glove, and a Silver Slugger award on his way to an 8th place finish in the AL MVP race. Erstad lead the league in at-bats (676) and plate appearances (747), as he rapped out a league leading 240 hits. All told he hit .355 with 25 homers, 100 RBI, 121 runs scored and 28 steals in one of the most complete fantasy season in recent memory as he produced one of only two seasons in the history of baseball of .355-25-100-120-25 (the other was by Larry Walker in 1997 when he hit .366 with 49 homers, 130 RBI, 143 runs and 33 steals). Via Con Dios my friend.

By Ray Flowers

Wacky Wednesday

Wednesday is a weird day. It’s the middle of the five day work week for most, but for me its just another day (I can’t remember the last time I actually worked only five days in a week). In fact, I can’t remember the last time that I took a real vacation – it’s been years. That signals a couple of things. (1) I’m the best employee of all-time. (2) I need to get a life. (3) I really need to get a girlfriend so I have a reason to take some time off. With that off my chest – I wonder if that was some Freudian comment related to #3? – let me get to some comments about what is going on across the field of baseball on this day.

* Milton Bradley ahs been activated from the restricted list and is back in the lineup on Wednesday for the Mariners. Hopefully he won’t fall asleep in the dugout between innings with Ken Griffey Jr. I put the over/under at a Bradley outburst or injury at nine days.

* Ike Davis will be the Mets’ cleanup hitter for the foreseeable future according to Adam Rubin of ESPN. Makes total sense doesn’t it? I mean Davis is hitting .241 over his last 16 games, has one homer in his last 11 games and has 17 Ks in his last 54 at-bats. Do the Mets ever do anything that makes sense?

* Am I the only person in America who thinks that Chris Berman of ESPN has an expiration date that we are about eight years past?

* Trevor Hoffman will spend the next few days working on his mechanics to see if he can fix whatever in the hell is causing him to look like the best batting practice pitcher in baseball. Quickly, here is what I see. He has allowed 69 percent of batted balls to go in the air, 20 percent above his career rate. Combine that fact with a 20.0 percent HR/F mark, almost triple his career rate (6.7 percent), and it’s easy to see why he has struggled, that and the fact that he has almost doubled his walk rate. He’s actually throwing his fastball at 85.4 mph, a mere tenth of a mile below his career 85.5 percent mark. While people continue to deride the location of his pitches, it is odd to see that the percentage of pitches he has thrown outside the strike zone that have been hit is 66.7 percent, a massive increase over his career rate of 51.6 percent. You could probably get him for nothing at this point, and that’s something I would do since I don’t think he is done being an effective big league hurler. It wouldn’t hurt to pick up Carlos Villanueva though since he should at least get a shot a few saves in the short-term thanks to his 11.76 K/9 rate and 1.06 WHIP over 19 appearances this season.

* What the hell are the Rockies doing with Chris Iannetta? The Rockies claim they have a plan to get the young bopper back in action with the big club, but at this point I’m wondering if that outfit is being led by Elmer Fudd. I mean really. Iannetta is hitting .375 with five homers, 21 RBI and a 1.205 OPS in 14 games in Triple-A. You think he should be in the majors given those numbers? Morons (and yes I’m upset because I have Iannetta wasting away on one of my rosters).

* Freddy Sanchez has been activated from the DL for the Giants. He’ll likely end up being eased back into action. There is no truth to the rumor that the average age of the Giants’ infield will be high enough to get them a senior citizen discount on the Grand Slam breakfast at Denny’s.

By Ray Flowers

The Wacky World of Baseball

The Rockies made a stupid decision, more star players have ended up on the DL, the Orioles bullpen continues to be a mess and Roy Oswalt has a story that will make you love him.

I don’t get it. The Rockies gave Chris Iannetta a 3-year deal worth $8.3 million. The club then brought in Miguel Olivo in on a 1-year, $2.5 million deal to serve as his the backup. Three weeks into the season, the situation has been reversed. In fact, it’s worse than that as Iannetta has actually been sent down to Triple-A. Does this make any sense? I know that Iannetta is hitting .133 with 11 Ks in 30 at-bats, Olivo is hot as he is hitting .311 with five bombs, but how can the team possibly send out their “starting” catcher after 30 at-bats? Just what in the heck is Chris going to prove at Triple-A? After all, this is a man who has 293 games of big league experience. I know it’s not the best way to compare players, but here is what each man would do based on a 162 game season.

Iannetta: .239-23-86-70 with a .357 OBP and a .799 OPS
Olivo: .244-21-72-63 with a .279 OBP and a .707 OPS

Clearly Iannetta is the more complete hitter, and three weeks doesn’t change that at all. I preach patience all the time in the fantasy game. Clearly, I have to start preaching the same thing to real world teams as the Rockies pulled the classic, knee jerk move of making a move that they will regret when the summer hits.

Jason Bay hit his first homer of the year on Tuesday ending a drought that had reached 108 at-bats dating back to last year. Look for him to relax and possibly take off shortly.

Vladimir Guerrero is playing right field on Tuesday as the Rangers were forced to put Nelson Cruz on the DL with a hamstring issue. I don’t think that is a plan the club should follow. Leave Vlad at DH where he has been ripping it up to the tune of a .371 average, and put David Murphy in the field. Not only does this make the most sense because of the health concerns with Vlad, it also would help my Jed Wars team where I have Murphy as one of my outfielders. Speaking of Jed Wars, here is a link to one of the videos I did for the league. It explains my love of fantasy baseball in The Illustrated Ray Flowers. Do you love my art or what? I know, Picasso has nothing on me.

The Orioles will no longer simply give the ball to Jim Johnson in the ninth Inning. “Whoever can get outs is going to get a chance,” manager Jim Trembley said. “I don’t think there are any roles. There is no closer right now for me.” Seems like Mike Gonzalez will have a good shot at reclaiming the role once he returns. Too bad we have no idea when that might be (a report suggested that he won’t been cleared to throw until Monday).

If you didn’t love Roy Oswalt already, these two stories should clinch it. (1) Oswalt’s parents live in the same town, in the same house, that they have since Roy was a child. Oswalt bought a home that is about ½ a mile from his parents house. The family owns a restaurant there. Oh, and Roy married a gal who is from the same town. Gotta love that. (2) Oswalt’s career was saved by, and I’m not making this up, an electric shock. In 1999 his shoulder was jacked up (it took six Advil for him just to get to sleep). How did he get past it? No, not surgery, but a spark plug. While working on his truck a bolt of electricity ran through his body and fixed his shoulder. If you don’t love all that, I don’t know what to tell you.

Ryan Zimmerman (hamstring) continues to be out of the starting lineup. I’m not ready to call this a Red Sox-like situation with how they handled Jacoby Ellsbury, but if all Z. can do is pinch hit, why not just put him on the DL to make sure both his hamstrings are healthy? He hasn’t played a full game since April 21st.

By Ray Flowers

Around the Horn: April26, 2010

(1) Ryan Howard backs up the money truck, and it’s fully loaded.

(2) Ian Kinsler to hit 5th upon return.

(3) Red Sox lineup in flux.

(4) Miguel Olivo gaining more looks at expense of Chris Iannetta.
*NOTE: After video was made, the club demoted Iannetta to Triple-A in the hopes that he will relax and rediscover his stroke.

(5) Jeff Suppan out of rotation, replaced by Chris Narveson.

(6) D’backs offense looks good with Johnson-Young-Reynolds.

By Ray Flowers