Fantasy Baseball – FAAB Report, Wk.3

It’s tax day. So after you fill out the forms, I know you didn’t get on it early since everyone loves to procrastinate so much, here is my report on the just completed week of free agency for the main fantasy baseball leagues I’m doing this season.

TOUT WARS (15 team mixed): With Derek Jeter taking forever to get back out on the field, I’ve been using Luis Cruz for two weeks. No more. In his stead I added Ruben Tejada for $1. He hit .300 the past week with two runs scored and two RBIs. Hey, it’s better than Cruz has done in two weeks (he is hitting .091 with one run and one RBI). I also placed Zack Greinke on the DL and added two start hurler Eric Stults for a buck. He starts at the Dodgers Monday and then at the Giants on the 21st. Those aren’t world beating moves by any stretch of the imagination, but maybe I’ll get a good week or two out of them.

Trade: I gave up Howie Kendrick and Jon Jay for Kenley Jansen, David Murphy and $5 FAAB in a deal with Cory Schwartz of MLB.com. I need pen arms. Jose Veras isn’t getting it done and now Joel Hanrahan is dealing with that leg issue of his so I wanted to be a bit preemptive here (losing Greinke puts a damper on my SP hopes, so I thought I would attack the ratios with RPs). I can slot Daniel Murphy at second and then Emilio Bonifacio at the middle infield spot to cover up the hole Kendrick left. Oh, and I need power as well. David Murphy isn’t a huge power bat, but he could easily hit 10 more homers than Jay who I gave up. Plus, this is an OBP league and Murphy was actually 6th in the AL last season with a career best .380 OBP (except for that .384 mark he posted in 105 at-bats in 2007).

LABR (12 team, AL-only): This league has some different rules. If you remove one of the 23 starters from your lineup that were taken on draft day, then you have to release them. The only way you can change your lineup is to release a starter or to have one placed on the disabled (you can then obviously replace them in your lineup). Therefore, there doesn’t tend to be a ton of free agent movement each week (as an example I really want to replace Joe Blanton in my lineup right now, but I can’t because that would mean I would have to send him to the waiver-wire). There were six pickups this week: Eric Sogard ($6), Justin Grimm ($5), Hank Congar ($3), Munenori Kawasaki ($2), Steve Delabar ($1) and Joe Ortiz ($1).

FSTA (13 team mixed): Sean Marshall went to the DL to join Shaun Marcum and Hanley Ramirez. To take the two open roster spots this week (Marcum and Marshall) I added Matt Adams ($36) and Felix Doubront ($13). The Sox hurler is a two start arm this week (@CLE) and (KC) and Adams is killing it right now (11-for-18 with three homers). Isn’t it a matter of time before Allen Craig and or Carlos Beltran get hurt? There’s a 30 homer bat with Adams, though he doesn’t have a spot in the daily lineup so it’s more of a hopeful move than anything.

To see how others are evaluating players don’t forget to go to Fleaflicker.com where you can check out the owned percentages of all your favorite players.

SIRIUSXM EXPERTS (12 team mixed): I bid on two relievers, but both went for more than my bids. I tossed $7 at Jim Henderson. He went for $27. I then tried to add Kelvin Herrera for $6. He went for $18. A few others of note: Juan Francisco ($7), Evan Gattis ($6) and Paul Maholm ($6). In retrospect, I should have bid on Joaquin Benoit ($3) and Trevor Rosenthal ($1). This is what happens when you are in too many leagues. You sometimes don’t spend enough time looking over the waiver-wire.

SIRIUSXM LISTENER LG (11 team mixed): This is the only league with an open waiver-wire. Over the past few days I made a couple of moves. I dropped Edinson Volquez when Aaron Crow got a save on the off chance Crow might get a look in the 9th. He won’t. I then dropped Crow to add Sergio Santos later in the week. I then, and stop me if you notice a musical chairs situation with relievers, dropped Vinnie Pestano to add Josh Rutledge when Jose Reyes went down with injury. When Reyes was officially placed on the DL, we have two DL spots in this league, I put Reyes on the DL and then added Michael Saunders. I then put Saunders on the DL and added Wellington Castillo since Carlos Santana is still dealing with injury. Noticing that the Cards might go with Edward Mujica in the 9th inning, I then dropped Castillo and added Mujica. Oh, and then for good measure I dropped Santos and added Tony Cingrani when the Reds announced that Johnny Cueto could miss some serious time with a lat injury. See how much of a mess things can be when you have a first come, first serve waiver-wire?

K-BAD (12 team mixed): As the owner of Cishek, Jansen, Parnell, Storen and Robertson, I’m clearly loading up on big time arms that may or may not get saves. Thought I might as well add another to the mix so for $42 of $1000 I rostered Andrew Bailey. I didn’t have to drop anyone as I put Hanley Ramirez on the DL as I did with Gordon Beckham. I replaced the White Sox second sacker with Chris Getz for $14. Howard Bender went nutso in one of the most aggressive weeks of FAAB spending I have ever seen. Howard adding five players… at a cost of $497. Wow is right – Jeremy Guthrie ($71), Vernon Wells ($76), Justin Maxwell ($86), Justin Masterson ($163) and Cody Ross ($101). Talk about going for it. Two others of note that didn’t go to Howard included Yonder Alonso who went for $154 and Barry Zito who went for $91.

FANBALL (13 team mixed): I admit it. I went for the gusto. Going against my usual common sense approach, I decided to add a big armed, totally unproven arm in Tony Cingrani for $9. I dropped the struggling Edinson Volquez to do it. I don’t know how long Cingrani will stick around but thought I might as well take a shot on what could potentially be one of the biggest arms we see come up from the minors this week. Evan Gattis ($8), James Russell ($5), Cody Ross ($4), Jake Westbrook ($3) and Eric Sogard ($3) were the only other adds that cost more than $2.

 

By Ray Flowers

Mailbag: May 24, 2012

Each week I’ll be here answering questions that have been sent to me at the BaseballGuys’ Twitter page.

What do you think of this trade offer: Dan Haren for Ryan Zimmerman?
– @toastedonry

Haren has lost his last four trips to the hill and he’s given up at least three runs in all four of the outings. He’s also dealing with a bit of a wonky back, an overall he’s 1-5 with a 4.37 ERA and 1.33 WHIP. Is it time to grab a pitchfork and a flaming torch to storm the castle? Not so fast. Haren is matching his K-rate from last season, though it is in the 7.2′s for the second straight year after 3-straight seasons over eight. His walk rate would be an 8-year high but we’re still talking about a 2.26 per nine mark. His BABIP is slightly elevated (.315) while his LOB% is slightly down (71 percent), and his GB/FB ratio of 1.08 is within shouting distance of his 1.19 career mark. He hasn’t pitched anywhere near as poorly as it would appear from his record and ERA. There are some signs of erosion of course, but it’s a gradual thing and not something that should add a run to his ERA and cause him to lose 15 games this season.

Zimmerman continues to be bothered, at least somewhat, by his shoulder. The result is a poor slash line of .248/.341/.350 from a guy who has career mark of .287/.354/.475. That’s right. Zimmerman’s current SLG is below his career OBP. A look at the rest of his line this year reveals a 0.62 BB/K mark, slightly above his 0.55 career rate, and his BABIP of .300 is just a hot week or two away from being right there with his career mark of .318. What has changed this year is a lack of fly balls, and this is a concern. Since the start of last season Zimmerman has hit more than 50 percent of his batted balls into the ground, that the is going to make big homer totals impossible to attain given his 12.5 percent career HR/F mark. In fact, his 1.50 GB/FB ratio since the start of last season is something you want to see on the back of the ball card of a 30 steal guy, not a middle of the order thumper.

Both these struggling options should improve as the season progresses. Third base has been hit by some injuries this year, including the one that has felled Zimmerman, so it would be understandable to add the Nationals third sacker with the hope that he is healthy. Given that I’m not sure he is, I’m going to side with Haren here but under the proviso that there are certainly setups in which it would make more sense to add Zimmerman (i.e. if your roster was deep in pitching and you needed a boost at the hot corner).

Stay the course with Miguel Montero at catcher?
– @Kronis_kek

Last year Montero was a top-5 catcher as he hit .282 with 18 homer, 86 RBI, 65 runs scored, a .351 OBP an a .820 OPS. This season he has been far from that level as he has hit .255 with two homers, 21 RBI and 16 runs scored. However, he’s still on pace for 75 RBI and 57 runs scored, numbers right in line with his production last year. He also is sporting a .350 OBP which is virtually identical to last season, and his 0.44 BB/K mark is just under the 0.48 mark he had last year. The average should come up, Montero has hit .282 the past three years, and it’s unlikely that after 4-straight years with a line drive rate of at least 19 percent that he’ll continue to struggle along at 16 percent the rest of the way. The power? That’s the big issue here. An 11 percent HR/F guy for his career, that number is just 5.7 percent this year. Of course, if Montero hits three homers in the next week that number will be right back where it should be. Bottom line for me is that Montero should still be a solid #1 catcher by the time the season is over if he stays healthy and you remain patient.

Do you think Felipe Paulino is a better value than James McDonald or Carlos Zambrano?
– @andy1mat

Paulino has always had a big arm, one that has produced a total of 349 strikeouts in 373 innings. Unfortunately injuries have long been a part of his game, as well as the fact that teams haven’t been sure if he would be best served as a starter or reliever. The Royals are committed to him as a starter, an in four starts this year has has allowed zero runs three times as he’s blown away hitters with 29 Ks, and just seven walks, in 25.1 innings. Obviously it would be wise not to read too much into four starts, so let’s look a bit further back. In 25 career appearances with the Royals (24 starts) Paulino has a 3.66 ERA, 1.33 WHIP and 148 Ks in 150 innings. Could I see him pitching at that level this season? He certainly could given his power arm. There is a question about durability though. Here are his innings pitched totals for his career starting in 2006: 126.1, 131, 0.2, 132.1, 95.2 and 139.1. Clearly he is far from certain to be a guy we can bank on taking the ball in September.

McDonald has made nine starts this season and he has yet to allow more than three runs in a start leading to a 2.51 ERA. He;s also been rather stingy with the walks allowing no more than three in any outing which has helped him to post a 0.99 WHIP. James has also struck out 58 batters in 57.1 innings as he is fulfilling the potential that had the Dodgers so excited about him for years. However, consistency has always eluded him which brings up the question of what expectations should be for the rest of the season? Is McDonald going to be able to hold on to his batter per nine gain in the strikeout column? Is he going to be able to hold on to the batter per nine inning reduction he’s provided in his walk rate (Currently 2.83 per nine)? Is he going to continue to be so stingy with the home run ball which seems unlikely given that his 0.31 HR/9 mark is less than half his career 0.88 mark? Is he going to continue to have a BABIP of .264, below his .299 career mark, which has enabled him to hold batters to a .198 batting average?

Until Wednesday, Zambrano had been off to a remarkable start to the season. Even with the beating he took at the hands of the Rockies (seven runs in five innings) his numbers are still rather impressive highlighted by his 2.85 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. Still, his K/BB continues to languish at 1.76, his BABIP is about .045 points low at .233 and for a guy has had a GB/FB ratio under 1.25 in each of the past three seasons it’s pretty hard to believe he’ll be able to sustain the 1.76 mark he currently owns. Zambrano has a great set of ratios, but they are deceiving. He really hasn’t pitched much different than “normal” and there is always the possibility that he could go postal on something at any point which has to make you nervous.

If I was ranking these guys, and let’s face it that’s what I’ve been asked to do, I’d go McDonald, Paulino and Zambrano.

Would you drop Josh Willingham for Matt Adams? Keeper league, but competing for 1st this year.
– @AdamTuteur

Willingham has tanked of late as he’s hit .212 in May with only one homer in his last 12 games. However, let’s not be too short sighted here. Willingham was terrific in April so in total he’s hitting .283 with eight homers, 27 RBI and 24 runs scored putting him on pace to go .281-30-100-90 which would  be the best season of his career (his previous bests are .277-29-98-75). Willingham has also ramped up his walk rate helping lead to a .400 OBP while his .565 SLG is nearly .100 points clear of his career mark (.479). Overall, a terrific start to his Twins career.

I touched on the outlook of Adams earlier this week in the On Deck Circle where I mentioned that Adams has a big bat but that he lacks experience. I also mentioned that playing time could be an issue since Matt Carpenter was around to potentially take at-bats from Adams. Consider one road block removed as Carpenter was placed on the DL with an oblique issue. The Cards will welcome back Allen Craig shortly, but Adams should be given an ample opportunity to secure a full-time position given the bat he possesses.

It’s a keeper league and that certainly swings the pendulum toward Adams, but at the same time if you’re playing to win this year you have to hold on to Willingham. Not only is he the one locked into a full-time role, he’s also the one who has the experience/success at the big league level. Put it this way – Adams hopes to one day be what Willingham is right now, so if you’re goal is to win now keep Willingham.

Ray Flowers can be heard daily on Sirius/XM Radio on The Fantasy Drive on Sirius 210 and XM 87 from 5-8 PM EDT, Monday through Friday.