Still In The Game

I know the NFL season got underway last night with a barn burner between the Saints and the Packers, but I’m still all about baseball even though my Giants have completely fallen apart. Here are some players who are flashing a strong finishing kick as the season nears the finish line.

Raul Ibanez is old, boring, and if he wasn’t on the Phillies you might have forgotten that he was still playing major league baseball. Still, the guy is on fire of late, and once again is an option in mixed leagues. Ibanez has seven hits in his last 17 at-bats, and over his last 10 games he is batting .378 with two homers and seven RBI. He’s also three doubles from a 10th straight season of 30, and with 37 RBI in his last 43 games he needs just nine RBI to push his season total to 80 for the 7th straight year and ninth time in 10 years. The old guy is still producing despite a .293 OBP an a .720 OPS, but make sure you buy a ticket to watch him play right now. This is likely his last hurrah.

Jon Jay of the Cardinals has 12 hits in his last 23 at-bats leading to a .522 batting average. During that run he has recorded 5-straight games with at least two hits. The recent run has pushed his season average up to .308 which would be the 7th best mark in the NL if he had enough plate appearances. The Cardinals have 19 games left on the year, and Jay currently has 428 plate appearances. Since you need 502 to qualify for the batting title he’ll need 74 plate appearances from here on out to make it. He’d need to average 3.89 PAs per outing. He can do that if he stays healthy.

Since returning from his stint on the DL Joe Nathan has posted a 2.96 ERA with 10 saves over 26 outings. Is he totally “back”? Well, if judged by his batting average against (.178 over 90 at-bats) the answer would certainly be yes.

Derrek Lee has had a down season to be sure, but he has been flat out killing it of late. Since he returned from the DL he has gone 10-for-20 with two bombs and seven RBI. He could still help you out if you need a corner infield boost in mixed leagues.

Carlos Pena has posted a .422 OBP and .993 OPS over his last 32 games thanks in no small part to the 26 walks he has received. He needs two bombs and 12 RBI the final three weeks for a fifth straight season of 28 homers and 84 RBI.

Ryan Roberts owns a .256/.354/.444 slash line which is boring and pretty much a carbon copy of his career numbers (.254/.344/.417). However, he’s been given every day playing time, and as a result some of his numbers are rather impressive. The 54 RBI stink, but the D’back has 77 runs scored. Pretty solid. He has 18 homers, again, pretty solid considering all the issues that third base has had this year. However, when you add in 18 steals, his fantasy value skyrockets. That’s right, this “no-name” is two homers and two steals from one of the most improbable 20/20 seasons in recent memory.

And the one downer of the list…

Rickie Weeks has been activated off the DL for the Brewers. It was thought that he would be able to pinch hit right away as he worked on strengthening his ankle. However, the team is now saying that it might still be a few days before he’s able to do even that. What that means is that you shouldn’t be counting on playing him next week in your H2H matchup. I’ve said it so many times, but it bears repeating: coming into the season he had three seasons of 100+ games and three with less than 100 games. He’s appeared in 104 games up to this point, so don’t come crying to me if you are disappointed. It’s just how it goes with Weeks who is looking more like J.D. Drew by the day.

By Ray Flowers

Answering Your Questions

People ask me questions every day, and I do my best to give a thoughtful, and hopefully well reasoned, answer to each of them. In what follows I’m going to answer some of the questions that were posted in the COMMENTS section of the Around the Horn, July 21st article.

What the outlook on Adam Wainwright for next year? Is he worthy on a keeper position in a 12 league (10 keepers)? Or would Jair Jurrjens or is Max Scherzer be a safer bet?
– Josh

It sounds like Wainwright is ahead of schedule in his return from Tommy John surgery. All reports point to him being full healthy and ready to go by Opening Day 2012 (in fact, there are rumors floating that he might even be able to help the Cardinals this year if they make the playoffs). Wainwright had 39 wins in 2009-10, the second best total in baseball (one behind CC Sabathia). He also worked 463.1 innings, 6th in the game. You can’t expect him to go out there and toss 230 innings in his first year back, but with 2-straight years with an ERA under 2.65, and back-to-back 200 K seasons, it would be pretty tough not to protect him given that you keep 10 guys. Scherzer is healthier, of course, but his upside at the moment may not be the levels that Wainwright reached the last two years. Jurrjens has been spectacular, but as I continue to say, he just doesn’t have the skills to keep this up long term. I’d keep Wainwright.

Ray… what do u think of this trade Travis Hafner, Desmond Jennings, Rickie Weeks and Michael Young for Prince Fielder, Roy Halladay and Nick Markakis. 5 x 5 12 team roto. I don’t know if I’m just jealous the person didn’t trade with me or the trade was lopsided.
– Brian

I say it all the time, I don’t like deals that are this big – there are just too many parts to get a great read on the situation.

Hafner is locked into the UT spot, and for all his good with the stick, he just can’t stay healthy. Jennings has elite speed, and has shown more pop than expected in Triple-A this year, but he continues to be dogged by injuries. When will he be up? We all thought he would have been a month and a half ago. Weeks is an elite second baseman. Young is a solid hitter, .300 is always a reasonable expectation, and he qualifies at multiple spots.

Prince Fielder is a total beast, ditto Roy Halladay, and Nick Markakis it hitting .319 over his last 69 games. If this is a re-draft league I totally agree with you. This deal is completely unfair, obnoxiously so actually.

Evan Longoria is nursing an injury in his leg. Would you be worried he gets shut down early this year? Are you scared this injury could hurt him significantly in future years. Would you be scared if you owned him in a keeper league? Do you think Eric Hosmer has Ryan Braun/Joey Votto/Justin Morneau upside in a few years?
– Thomas

I don’t worry about Longoria being shut down unless he’s going to do long-term danger to himself. Of course, I’m not a doctor, and I didn’t stay at a Holiday Inn last night, so I really don’t know. I’m certainly not concerned about injuries being a long-term issue.

As for Hosmer, he could hit .295 with 22 homers and 77 RBI, the numbers of Morneau over his last 509 at-bats. However, I’m not going to sit here and say he’s gonna hit .320 with 35 homers like Braun and Votto as that would be unfair to Hosmer if he settles in as a .300-25 guy. Could Hosmer get to that upper level? Sure, but remember, you can count on one hand, two at the most, the guys that could go .320-35 year after year. I’s a very small group.

I need ERA, WHIP, K’s – my staff is Michael Pineda, Jeremy Hellickson, Yovani Gallardo, Johnny Cueto and Max Scherzer. I am scared of both Pineda and Hellickson inning limits so thinking of offering Hellickson, Howie Kendrick, Eric Hosmer for Cole Hamels, Alexi Casilla, Travis Snider…good move?
– Scott

Pineda could have his innings limited. In fact he likely will according to the Mariners. Hellickson, not so worried about him and the innings, but he could have his workload curtailed.

Kendrick is a .300 hitter with some pop, speed, and qualification at positions all over the field. Hosmer is a solid bat, but in a non-keeper league he isn’t close to being a top flight first baseman option. Hamels is elite. No reason to expect a drop-off moving forward. Casilla is hitting only .247 with a .290 OBP and two steals the last month. Snider is killing it, .326 with two homers and 14 RBI the past two weeks.

You’re giving up a ton of talent to get an ace. However, this move would fit your need, though I’d be reluctant to do it.

I was just wondering your opinion on two players. I recently got Melky Cabrera and Mark Trumbo on my team thru trade and free agency, respectively. What do you think about these players? Can they keep up their numbers the rest of the way? I think Melky is real interesting because before I got him I didn’t realize how young he was as it seemed like he’s been playing forever, all those years with the Yankees. Now he’s putting up great 5 cat numbers. Is he just coming into his own? And Trumbo, will he hit a wall soon?
– Jackson

Melky is on pace to produce a 5×5 line of .294-19-89-100-23. Every one of those numbers would be a career best. He’s doing tall that despite a career worst walk rate an a career high strikeout rate. He’s also bettered his career OBP by a mere .002 points (it’s a league average .331). His GB/FB ratio is 1.55, an exact match for his career level. Oh, his HR/F ratio is 11.1 percent, a massive increase on his career rate (6.8). Cabrera isn’t as good as he has looked. He’s basically doing what he always does, with never before seen power that I doubt will continue. He’s also a trade option, and I could see him getting dealt to a team where he plays four out of five days which would diminish his value. He’s not a 20 homer bat, he’s not a 20 steal runner, and he’s not a .300 hitter despite what we’ve seen to this point.

Trumbo is having a nice season. With 18 homers and 44 RBI in 320 at-bats, he’s on pace to end the year with 29 homers and 72 RBI which would be wonderful numbers for a rookie. There’s no reason to expect him to hit a wall simply because the calendar is ready to move to August in a week and a half. He’s done a decent job with a strikeout per 4.32 at-bats, though he isn’t drawing many walks (5.2 BB-rate). He’s not likely to see his batting average increase much (.259) given that, but he should continue to pound the long ball.

By Ray Flowers

Zobrist on Fire – Lowe an Idiot

photo © 2009 Matt McGee | more info (via: Wylio)

Ben Zobrist had a day for the ages on Thursday. In Game 1 of a doubleheader with the Twins, Zobrist pounded out four hits including a homer and eight RBI (that’s not a typo). He also tossed in two runs and a steal for good measure. In the second game he only had three hits and didn’t steal a bag, but he did hit a homer, drive in two runs and score three times. Twp games netted Zobrist two bombs, 10 RBI, five runs and a steal and all of a sudden he looks like a star. Moreover, Big Ben, and that’s his new name in these parts, has knocked in at least two runs in five straight games and now leads baseball with 25 RBI in 25 games. Wasn’t it just a week ago that many of you, and you know who you are, were sending me emails and tweets about dropping this guy? Remember what I said? Hopefully you listened and held on.

I pointed this out before, though I know that no one listened to me at the time (in fact, I remember specifically sneers and derision followed my comments). I mentioned this preseason that I had no idea why Rickie Weeks was being taken in drafts 80 picks ahead of Zobrist. I even went as far as to compare the two directly to one another and suggest that Zobrist would likely be the better value play. How could I make such a statement? Per 500 at-bats over the past three years (2008-2010) there was really no difference between the two.

Weeks: .256-20-60-90-13
Zobrist: .265-20-79-81-18

Again, at the time I was called a fool by many. Now you know me and my sample size argument that I always throw out there, so I’m not going to sit here and say “I was right’ after just a month of games. I will say though that my side of the argument looks pretty good right about now, doesn’t it?

Weeks: .309-6-10-21-2
Zobrist: .258-7-25-18-4

If you look at the shortstop position you will see that Asdrubal Cabrera leads all AL shortstops in runs batted in with 15 and that he is second in the league in runs scored at the position with 14. Somehow, that hot start has caused everyone to think that he is going to be a fantasy star this year. Folks, it ain’t gonna happen. Over his last 11 games he has one RBI and it’s been 14 games since he hit a homer. Let me break it down for you all in case you were wondering – Cabrera really isn’t anything more than an average option in mixed leagues despite the hot start. Per 500 at-bats in his career he’s produced a fantasy line of .283-7-60-70-9. While that’s certainly a passable line for a middle infielder, it’s not much different than what a guy like Jason Bartlett has produced over his career (.279-6-48-71-20). Don’t be swayed too heavily by the hot start.

Derek Lowe received a DUI last night. According to the police report he was not only intoxicated but he was also racing his 2011 Porsche Panamera – a really nondescript car to be speeding in. Tell me, do you drive home drunk? OK, maybe you drive home after you’ve had a few drinks, but aren’t you extra careful to do nothing to gain anyone’s attention? You make sure to stop, you probably drive on the backstreets, and you certainly don’t act like Jimmie Johnson racing down the street, do you? That misses the real point though. According to BaseballReference.com Derek Lowe has made more than $80 million dollars during his career. For goodness sakes Derek, hire a flipping driver. I’ve never understood why pro athletes, who can burn money in the fireplace for heat, don’t pay some guy $150,000 to drive them everywhere. Make the guy sign a non-disclosure agreement so he won’t talk about all the elicit things he sees and just be done with it. Morons. Maybe @Dwade had it right on Twitter when he wrote “… in Lowe’s defense, it’s really hard to convince the limo driver to drag race.”

By Ray Flowers

Random ADP Thoughts

l probably touch on plenty of Average Draft Position data over the coming month plus as we get ready for the start of the regular season. Today, I’m gonna look at the data from Mock Draft Central and point out some of the more vexing things I’m currently seeing.

Is Andre Ethier really a top-11 outfielder like he is being drafted (ADP of 40)? The dude has a beautiful swing, you’ll get no argument from me there, but there are some serious concerns with me if you are thinking of going with Ethier in the top-40 or so picks. (1) He’s only had one season of 25 homers. (2) He’s only had one season of 85 RBI. He’s only had one season of 400 at-bats in which he hit .295. (4) He’s never stolen more than six bases. So let’s boil that down. How much would you pay for a .295-25-85 season with six steals? Aubrey Huff hit .290 with 26 homers, 86 RBI and seven steals last year and his ADP this year is 111. I’m just saying.

Rickie Weeks is going off the board eight picks before Ian Kinsler and 70 before Kelly Johnson. Huh. I know Kinsler is an injury waiting to happen, but really, is he any more of a risk than Weeks? In three of the his six seasons Weeks has failed to appear in 100 games. Kinsler has appeared in at least 100 games in each of his five seasons. Let’s compare the performance of each man per 162 games.

Weeks: .253-22-67-113-23
Kinsler: .281-24-83-115-28
Johnson: .269-18-70-91-11

I snuck Johnson in there at the end to show that he is likely the best option of all three if you are talking about a return on your investment. I wouldn’t put his upside anywhere near to the other two, but there could be value in selecting him five rounds later. By the way, I’m not sold on anyone taking Weeks before Kinsler.

I get why people are scared off from Mark Reynolds, I mean the dude hit .198 last year. But should he be going off the board at pick 129? Over the past three years, here is how Reynolds ranks amongst third sackers: he is first with 104 homers, fourth with 284 RBI, second with 264 runs scored and third with 185 extra base hits. Are you really sure he isn’t a better value than the Pirates up and coming slugger Pedro Alvarez who is going off the board with an ADP of 88? Alvarez hit only .256 last year, Reynolds is .242 for his career, and Alvarez struck out 119 times in just 347 at-bats. I really don’t see too much difference there.

Alex Gordon is barely cracking the top-400 right now, and with good reason after he hit a mere .215 in 242 at-bats with the Royals last season. Still, the guy was the #2 overall selection in the 2005 Draft, he’s just 27 years old, and I think the Royals will give him a legit shot at everyday playing time making him a terrific AL-only option with some mixed league appeal (if you grab him really late). Don’t overlook that Gordon punished Triple-A pitching last year to the tune of a .315-14-44-59-7 line in a mere 68 games. It’s now or never time for him, and he knows it.

Roy Oswalt led the NL in WHIP last season (1.03) and he is going off the board as the 27th starting pitcher with an ADP of 101. Let’s compare, for giggles, his work last season to that of Zack Greinke who is going off the board in the top-10 amongst starters with an ADP of 51.

Oswalt: 13-13, 2.76 ERA, 193 Ks, 1.03 WHIP, 3.51 K/BB in 211.2 IP
Greinke: 10-14, 4.17 ERA, 181 Ks, 1.25 WHIP, 3.29 K/BB in 220 IP

Surprised? I’ll give Greinke a boost in value since he will now be in the NL, and he clearly is the one of the duo who has more “upside,” but really, does that justify the fact that he is going off the board 50 selections ahead of Oswalt? Not in my mind.

If you have any questions drop me a line at rflowers@fanball.com, and make sure you follow me on Twitter at the Baseball Guys’ Twitter account.

By Ray Flowers

Turn Back the Clock: Second Base

In my continuing trip down memory lane I’ll review the second base position to see how my prediction for the top-10 at the position panned out (the following list is taken from the 2009 Fanball Annual Guide that was on newsstands prior to the start of the 2009 season).

To read previous positional reviews click on the following link:

CATCHERS

FIRST BASE

1. Ian Kinsler

2. Brian Roberts

3. Chase Utley

4. Brandon Phillips

5. Dustin Pedroia

6. Dan Uggla

7. Robinson Cano

8. Mark DeRosa

9. Kelly Johnson

10. Rickie Weeks

Kinsler was injured yet again and hit a career worst .253 making this call a bust right? Well, not really. Kinsler went 30/30 with 31 homers and 31 steals, as he also knocked in 86 runners while crossing home plate 101 times. Nothing wrong that that effort at all.

Roberts is historically good, and I’ve written it before. He has produced at least 100 runs, 30 steals and 40 doubles in 3-straight years. It may not sound like much, but it is an all-time major league record for second sackers.

Utley would have been the #2 guy on the list if it wasn’t for concerns about his surgically repaired hip (remember this was back in January when we thought Utley could miss April, and yes, I would have still had Kinsler higher than Utley last season even if dude was healthy). All Utley did was go 20/20 for the first time while hitting 31 bombs with 93 RBI and 112 runs.

You are pretty darn good when you’re an afterthought after the top group despite going 20/20 in each of the past three years. If you have to “settle” for Phillips consider yourself in good hands.

Dustin Pedroia didn’t repeat his MVP effort of 2008 (.326-17-83-118-20), but that was never going to happen anyway – though he got awfully close. He settled in and had a fine season one that was well worth a top-5 selection at the position (.296-15-72-115-20).

Uggla is a beast at the dish, a fact I recounted in Player Movement Thoughts.

Cano was, simply put, amazing. He hit a career best 25 homers, knocked in his second best total of 85 runners, scored a career-high 103 runs all the while batting .320 with 48 doubles. Time to include this man in the discussion of outright stars at the position.

DeRosa was traded from the Indians to the Cardinals, and dealt with a left wrist injury that eventually required surgery when the season was over. He wasn’t great, but it’s not like a .250-23-78-78 line is weak if you play second place.

Johnson completely tanked – completely. After 2-straight years of at least .276-12-68-86-9, Johnson struggled all year hitting just .224 with eight homers and 29 RBI in just 303 ABs. Eventually the Braves turned to Martin Prado who hit .307 and now appears the favorite to start at second for the club in 2010.

I was higher on Weeks than anyone on staff. Though mid-May, I was looking like a genius. Unfortunately, Weeks was once again struck by another wrist injury, and as a result he appeared in a mere 37 games. Still, if we quadruple his effort we would end up with a .272-36-96-112-8 line which would have made me look like a genius. What could have been.

By Ray Flowers

Cry Baby Cry

We all can whine about the plight of our teams. I’m sure you all have a story about how you missed on the guy you wanted to draft by one selection, or the guy you drafted seems to think that the aim of the game is to swing and miss rather than ripping line drives all over the field. I get it, believe me. So I’m gonna let the tears flow today and let you know how upset I’ve become with a few of the guys I have selected for my various fantasy baseball teams in 2009.

Mike Aviles: I certainly didn’t think he was going to hit .325 again, but .183? Currently on the DL with a strained right forearm, Aviles will only need to go 20 for his next 20 to raise his average up to .300 when he returns. I feel that’s doable – you?

Grant Balfour: Last year 1.54 ERA and a 12.65 K/9. This year, 5.48 ERA and a 8.61 K/9. A regression was coming, but to half of last year’s value?

Chris Davis: Twelve home runs is great. A .194 batting average, not so much. He could set a record for futility as well as he is whiffing 46.7% of the time. That’s right, he already has 77 Ks this season in 165 ABs, or more strikeouts that Albert Pujols has had in any of the last seven seasons.

Joey Devine: The potential closer a year after posting a 0.59 ERA and a 0.83 WHIP, Devine didn’t throw a single regular season pitch before being sent to the DL and ultimately requiring elbow surgery costing him the entire season. Thanks Joey, not like I was counting on you for 30 saves or anything.

Rafael Furcal: Glad you had him in your top-5 at shortstop now that he is hitting .253 with one home run and three steals?

Corey Hart: What happened to that breakout campaign? After back-to-back 20/20 seasons he is barely on pace to go 20/10, though he is almost certain to set a career high in Ks with 50 in 48 games, almost halfway to last year’s worst of 109 in 157 games.

Howie Kendrick: The man can hit .300 in his sleep. He must be in a coma since he is batting .225.

Brandon Morrow: The Mariners’ reliever has a strong 8.22 K/9 mark. Oops. That’s his walks per nine inning mark. How amazingly putrid is that? By the way, his K/9 mark is 10.57.

Ricky Nolasco: So bad he was demoted to the minors where he has dominated in two starts. He has been exceedingly unlucky as his BABIP is astronomical at .402, but that doesn’t help to wick away the tears after he has posted a 9.07 ERA and a 1.81 WHIP through nine starts.

Alexei Ramirez: How had has he been this year? Despite the fact that he is batting .329 over his last 70 at-bats, the man is still hitting just .253 on the year. He is on pace for 30 steals, but the 10 home run pace is pretty awful for a guy who hit 21 last year in just 480 at-bats.

Alex Rios: Is he ever going to put it all together? His career best numbers across the board are .302-24-85-114-32. Currently he is on pace to hit about .275-22-80-80-12.

Jimmy Rollins: Hitting just .230 on the year, Rollins has only three home runs giving him 14 taters in his last 769 at-bats dating back to the start of 2008. Will you finally believe now that his 30 home run season of 2007 was a fluke?

Andy Sonnanstine: Luckily for him I drafted Nolasco or he would be feeling a lot more of my wrath for going 3-5 with a 7.66 ERA and a 1.78 WHIP.

Rickie Weeks: Out for the year with wrist surgery. What could have been considering he was on pace to hit more than 30 home runs with about 100 RBI and 100 runs.

Chris Young: 25/25 as a rookie. 20/10 as a second year player. On pace for 10/10 as a third year player. Flipping great.

By Ray Flowers

The All-Star Fallacy

Major League baseball wants the fans involved, but they don’t. They want everyone to love them, but at the same time they don’t really care what we, the fans, think.

Did you happen to take a glance at the All-Star voting for the National League that was just released? I could go on and on about how stupid it is to allow the fans to select the starting lineups each year which almost always results in some undeserving player taking the roster spot of some deserving option, but I will do it quickly with three potential landmines thanks to the ballot box stuffing that is going on in Milwaukee

Rickie Weeks, out for the season, currently ranks second amongst all second baseman in votes.

J.J. Hardy, hitting all of .247 as of this writing is second in the voting at the shortstop position.

Bill Hall, making Hardy actually look like an All-Star with his .223 average, is also second at his position – third base.

The bottom line is that most fans are “homers” or flat out have no idea about anything related to performance on a ball field (not any of you reading this of course, I’m talking about those “other” fans). But I’ll save my consternation over that for another time.

The real issue currently facing MLB and its fan voting for the All-Star game is that Manny Ramirez, suspended 50 games for violating the league’s drug policy, is currently fourth amongst NL vote getters in the outfield putting him within striking distance of actually being voted to start the game. Manny will have served his suspension and officially be allowed to return to active duty with the Dodgers before the All-Star game, so how could major league baseball step in and stop Manny playing in the mid-summer’s classic if that’s what the fans want? Leave that to Mr. Doofus, aka Bud Selig, the commissioner of baseball, to step in a throw a monkey wrench in the plans.

“I’m going to think about that,” Selig said. “He doesn’t come back till July 3. Normally, I’m sensitive to the wishes of the fans. If the fans choose someone, I’d like to honor that. But we’ve been testing players for a long time, and it bothers me that someone would [cheat] at this stage in the game. I’ve got some time to think about this one.”

Or how about this one from Manny’s own manager, Joe Torre, who had this to say when asked if he felt Manny should be on the All-Star squad if he is voted in by the fans.

“No,” Torre said. “I think if you asked Manny, he’d give you the same answer…To me, I think the significance of the All-Star Game is to reward players who have a good first half.”

I’m no apologist for Manny, and in fact I blasted him when the whole scandal broke in my article entitled Shame On You, so I have to say that I agree with Joe Torre completely here – you should only be allowed to play in the game if your performance earns you that right, which is why I mentioned the word “fallacy” in the title of this piece and decried the stupidity that is rearing its ugly head in Milwaukee with their idiotic ballot box stuffing.

As for what Mr. Selig said, my response is more biting.

Mr. Selig, do you EVER make the right choice? I could list a myriad of instances to show you how profoundly asinine the majority of his decisions are, but I won’t bore you other than to comment on the current situation.

Mr. Selig you gave the fans the right to vote for whomever they want to see start the All-Star game. Therefore, you have to live with their choices no matter how profoundly ridiculous they are.

Are we living in a communist society with a dictator arbitrarily making up his own rules when he doesn’t like what he sees going on? I’m sure we would all like it if we were driving down the street one day, going 35 in a 35 zone, only to get pulled over by a police officer who, despite the fact that the law states it is a 35 mph zone feels that it’s too fast so he’s going to give you a ticket anyway. A stupid example perhaps, but it still illustrates the point – societies operate on an agreed upon set of rules, and in this case Mr. Selig is taking about amending those rules mid-stream.

I don’t know if any of you remember your political science class from high school, but back then we learned about a little thing in our legal system called “ex post facto law” which states that government may not change a law today to punish you for something you did yesterday. I know we aren’t talking about a legal system here with baseball, but the bottom line is that if there is nothing on the baseball books about removing a player from All-Star consideration because of a failed a drug test, and if there is no one has ever shown it to me, then Manny, no matter how much of a shame it would be, must be allowed to start the game if the fans vote him in. Last time I checked, despite all of its legal privileges, MLB was not outside the realm of the U.S. Constitution (see Article I, Section 9), so Manny must be allowed to play.

Do you think I missed my calling and that I should have gone into law school instead of sports? Me neither, though it’s fun playing a fancy pants, morally superior person every once in a while. You might want to try it yourself sometime. God knows Mr. Selig does it all the time.

By Ray Flowers

Tuesday Digest

Did you catch the Nick Swisher pitching outing on Monday? It was a classic. Besides working a scoreless inning in the Yankees debacle (they lost 15-5), he was the only one of the five Yankees who threw a pitch and didn’t allow a run, Swisher also went deep at the plate. As a result, he currently leads the Yankees in batting average (.450), home runs (three), RBI (10) and ERA (0.00). Asked about his outing on the mound in which he threw “fastballs” ranging from 71-80 mph, Swisher had this to say. “I felt that I wanted to go out there and get three outs. I had fun with it. I mean, when am I ever going to have the chance to do that again? Probably never.” The best part of the whole deal? After striking out Gabe Kapler, Swisher asked to keep the ball. Whatever you think of the guy, there isn’t a “looser” guy in the game. Gotta love that attitude.

At the other end of the spectrum as far as personality goes is Lastings Milledge. I was going to do a big expose on the meat head, but Ted Carlson beat me to it with Gut Punch . I’m not giving up on Milledge yet, and it might be a great time to try and get him on the cheap from his undoubtedly frustrated current owner.

Melvin Mora appears likely to be headed to the DL due to continued issues with his hamstring. If that is the case, Ty Wigginton will become the immediate third baseman and must be owned in all fantasy formats. Ty has averaged 23 home runs the past three seasons despite only picking up an average of 459 AB a season, and only needs a spot in the everyday lineup to be a valuable fantasy option. Don’t forget he is also eligible at third base and the outfield giving him even more value. As for Mora, he shouldn’t be out long-term, but if Wigginton impresses, Mora may not so easily recapture his daily spot in the lineup. Ah who am I kidding, when he is healthy he will be out there.

The White Sox are down to Brian Anderson in centerfield now that DeWayne Wise has been placed on the DL due to the shoulder injury he suffered which will keep him out 6-8 weeks. Think they wished they had held on to Nick Swisher now? As for Anderson, well, the Sox clearly have to upgrade the position if they are serious about contending in 2009, and by that we don’t mean calling up Jerry Owens, which they did, or signing Scott Podsednik, which they did. In 603 career ABs, Anderson has gone deep 18 times with 62 RBI while he has also stolen 12 bags. While that sounds like decent production for a centerfielder, the rest of his line is embarrassing for a guy who thinks he deserves a shot at a full season of at-bats: .221/.278/.376. Speaking of Podsednik, he should be worth a look in AL-only leagues as he is clearly a better option than Owens with his ability to get on base (.337 to .321) and steals bags (40 as recently as 2006 for the White Sox).

Milton Bradley already on the shelf for 3-5. What a shock.

Cody Ross is just 2-for-22 this season (.091). He has struck out five times without a walk, a terribly slow start for a guy who hit 22 bombs with 73 RBI last season in 461 AB. Look for him to rebound, though we probably saw the upside he has to offer last year.

Rickie Weeks is a man. He took an Edinson Volquez up and in fastball off his chin and said he is fine. Week’s wasn’t in the lineup on Tuesday, the team chose to give him a day off after he has played every game so far, but he should be back for the team’s next game. He is off to a solid start hitting .276/.364/.448 with four RBI, seven runs and a steal in seven games.