I am a 39-year old baseball junkie. When I was eight, I became a Tony Gwynn fan. Everyone by now knows that I am a die hard Yankees fan. I have seen some great players that have come through the Bronx since I started watching baseball in 1983. None of them were ever able to over take Gwynn as my favorite.
Yesterday, social media, the internet, and sports stations were paying homage to this great human being with some beautiful commentary on his life. The entire time my phone was blowing up with people making sure I had heard the terrible news, as if I had lost a family member. Throughout the day yesterday, we heard and read a lot from reporters and friends recollecting his insanely amazing career. Today, I want to share with you the life of a legend from a Tony Gwynn super fan. I idolized this guy for so long that I have no problem admitting that Tim Kurkjian’s piece gave me the chills. Continue on to my homage to a legend
It’s that magical time of year. The time of year when the grills are afire and the Coors Light are acoolin’. What better way to celebrate dear old dad than with BBQ, beer, and baseball?
Throughout the course of sports history, there have been quite a few powerful gene pools across the major US sports. Every one knows about Bobby Bonds and Barry Bonds, and if you don’t, you really need to put down the Dungeons and Dragons and come outside for a little while. The Bonds’ father and son duo combined for 1094 drug induced home runs over their notorious careers and stand as one of the most famous combos of all time. The Griffey’s were so nice, they had to name them twice! Ken and Junior not only combined for 782 home runs themselves, they actual hit back-to-back bombs in the same game. When my dad and I bonded, he snuck me to get ice cream when my mom said I couldn’t have any. These two were bashing back to backers. Don’t get me wrong, I love my dad and I love ice cream, but the closest me and my dear old dad came to baseball immortally was when he coached my 3rd grade little league team (which Wayniac Nation’s own Sport Illuminati was a member of 31 years ago!). Keep reading for the newest Father/Son Sports Combos!!!
Welcome to June, fantasy baseballers. This is the time of year that pretty much half of the team that you drafted is hurt. There are twenty plus top starting pitchers, like Jose Fernandez, on the shelf and big offensive stars, like Prince Fiedler, are done for the year. Unlike fantasy football which you can win with the team that you drafted, baseball is all about the waiver wire moves you make in June and July. I have lost the likes of Fielder, Jose Abreau, and Andrew Cashner just to name a few, so I looked deep to find some people myself. Others I am keeping a close eye on, ready to pick them up any given moment.
Happy Memorial Day, America. It’s a time for barbecues, heading to the beach, and enjoying a long weekend with family and friends. There is usually a ton of booze involved and maybe you sneak in a two minute glance of one of the most famous non-stop left turns ever in the 98th running of the Indy 500. It is also a time to remember… hence the clever MemorialDay tag.
Ocean City, MD celebrating the weekend. (Photo Credit: Baltimore Sun).
The sports world has long been filled with athletes who remember that, although sports are entertaining and indeed a job, they are also just a game. Endless amounts of athletes have put their careers on hold to serve this country. While some of us spend this weekend celebrating relatives or friends who have served, lets take a look at some of the more memorable athletes to put America above their stats and illustrious careers.
As most of my followers already know, I am the head of the Yankees Minor League Coverage Team at YanksGoYard.com. Week in and week out, I bring you roundups of all the nights scores, features on individual prospects, as well as the bi-weekly Prospect Watch. To say I know a little something about the Yankees’ farm system is an understatement.
If you follow me on Twitter (which I hope you do by now!), you know I constantly get in discussions with other minor league junkies about our depleting farm system. @Draft2Dynasty is one of those such followers. Recently someone posed the question to @Draft2Dynasty: If you could take the entire Yankees’ farm system and make a 25-man roster of people who will make the bigs, what would it look like? Not only has @Draft2Dynasty posted his, he invited a couple of us minor league coverage guys to chime in with ours. Of course I jumped on any opportunity to make some sort of fantasy baseball roster!
The following 25-man roster (we are allowed an additional five roster spots for the DL, which in the minor leagues can be because you sneezed softer than usual) encompasses the four active Yankees’ minor league affiliates: The Charleston RiverDogs, the Tampa Yankees, the Trenton Thunder, and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. @Draft2Dynasty hasn’t followed Charleston much this season, so he excluded them. I however, have watched them on the internet, so I am taking a few of their brightest stars. Again, these are the 30 players that I see having a shot to play in pinstripes, not just good ball players. That is pretty much the challenge in a nutshell, so without further ado:
Well, folks, another week has come and gone. I once again lost twenty smackers in less than two minutes picking the wrong horse’s name out of a beer pitcher. I drew Pablo Del Monte who was a 30-1dog. My guy flew out of the gates to take the first leg but it’s amazing how long the next minute and a half took with a little bit of money on the line! Needless to say, California Chrome came through as expected and predicted by Wayniac Nation’s very own Triple Crown analyst, The Sport Illuminati, and crushed the competition. (Please be sure to follow him via Twitter for horse racing, baseball, and soon enough, football odds at @SportIlluminati.)
Enough of the ponies, we got bigger fish to fry. Andrew Cashner, starting pitcher for the San Diego Padres, is the most recent in a slew of baseball’s promising young pitcher’s to hit the DL with a sore elbow. There is most likely a trip to the infamous Dr. James Andrews in his future. Cashner and the Padres are hopeful they don’t hear those awful words most often heard from a Dr. Andrews visit: You need Tommy John surgery.
Well, folks, for those of you that don’t know, I just got back from a long weekend bender in good ol’ Las Vegas. It’s time to put the chips down, step away from the Sports Book, and leave the fruity drinks at the pool and get back to reality. Or fantasy, as this week’s title may suggest.
My view the last 4 days. I hope you understand how important you all are to me…
It’s time to catch up on a little Fantasy Baseball. So far this 2014 season I have given you my breakout players as well as some pleasant early surprises. Most of these players have held up thus far like Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Abreau, and Charlie Blackmon. For every great player that a fantasy “expert” finds there is an equal bust. Now, it is entirely too early in the season to deem someone a bust, but it’s never to early to call someone out for pissing me off on my fantasy team.
There are quite a few early season disappointments in 2014 fantasy baseball. What I find most disturbing is that a lot of them are on one of my two fantasy teams. I know what you are thinking: why should I continue reading this guy if he is flat out telling me he can’t draft? Well, put your mind at rest. I’m one game out of first place in both leagues and amongst the top three scorers in both as well. A few bums here and there don’t hurt the overall chemistry of a fantasy genius.
The following is a list of people that most likely have you ripping your hair out as we are just over a month into the season. I’m not focusing on guys you took a gamble on in the 20th round and aren’t panning out. If you really thought Josh Reddick was going to bounce back from his atrocious 2013 and took him any higher than the 20th round, that’s the drafters fault, not the players. I also won’t be touching upon players like CC Sabathia. Is he a tremendous let down thus far in 2014? Absolutley. However, CC was diminishing in velocity and ability last season. If you took him in the first ten rounds, again, you should be looking in the mirror for your blame. This list is composed of players that are keepers or players that are annually drafted in the first 10 rounds. This list is perennial All-Stars and multi-millionaires who are costing us hundredaire fantasy players our hard earned money.
TOP 5 DISAPPOINTING FANTASY BASEBALL PLAYERS IN 2014 SO FAR
5. Jedd Gyorko, 2B, San Diego Padres. (.162, 5 HR, and 19 RBI)
If you’re wondering how to pronounce his last name its BUM
Gyorko was my minor league keeper two years ago and came into the 2013 season as my starting fantasy baseball third baseman for The Lammerts. He turned out to be one of the many problems that had my team go from 18-5 and 10 points shy of a championship to missing the playoffs. Gyorko turned it around late last season and hit 23 home runs, but I had already dropped him by then. This season I avoided him altogether and it is looking more like Gyorko, once one of baseball’s top prospects, may be a Quad-A hitter, or for those not versed in baseball lingo, a career-minor leaguer. Gyorko shifted to second base this season, a weaker position than third base, which should have given him a prime opportunity to put up Top 5 stats for his new slot. However, it is now May, and he is barely hitting a 9th grader’s weight. I am no longer a believer in Gyorko and if you have him, it is time to move him.
4. Wil Myers, OF/1B, Tampa Bay Rays (.257, 4 HR, 19 RBI)
Myers isn’t doing absolutely terrible one month into the young season. However, those who drafted him after his astounding 2013 Rookie of the Year campaign invested highly in the sophomore. Last season Myers, once the top prospect in baseball for the Kansas City Royals, came over to the Rays as the center piece in the James Shields trade. He was called up and in just over half a season, he put up the numbers of a superstar in the making. This season, however, he is struggling to live up to the high expectations he set for himself last year. It isn’t time to move on from Myers yet, but you may have to bench him for other options until he escapes his funk.
3. Hunter Pence, OF, San Francisco Giants (.250, 2 HR, 10 RBI, 6 SB)
It seems like for the last decade Hunter Pence is one of the safest plays in fantasy baseball. He consistently bats .280 to .295ish, bashes 25 to 30 HRs, scores about 90 runs, and drives in 90 to 100 runs all while stealing a nice amount of bases EVERY year. I never had the luxury of having Mr. Consistency, so when he was sitting there in the seventh round, I jumped on him. Now, he sucks. Ok, that is a bit harsh as it is only May and if there is one thing Pence doesn’t do, it is suck. He just isn’t performing at the elite level he usually does. Pence, over his 8-year career, has been a second-tier fantasy baseball outfielder, not quite a Jacoby Ellsbury but better than a Nick Swisher. This year, however, he isn’t making the same contact. He is getting on base and scoring a ton of runs though, so right now despite disappointing numbers, that shows he can turn it around. It isn’t worth trading him at this juncture because you won’t get anywhere near the return you invested in him. So you do what I do: sit back and curse him after every at bat until he breaks out of his early slump.
I got two veggie burritos in here. (photo credit: Star-Telegram)
The Son of Cecil has been my fantasy keeper for five years now. People told me I should look to move on after last year’s down year. He still had 25 HRs, 106 RBI, and 82 runs scored in a “down year”, I said. He is going to play at The Ballpark and players have bashed home runs in a Rangers uniform since the mid-90s, I said. Now, Prince is making me look stupid.
The real problem he had last season that I should have noticed was his drop in OBP. On base percentage is the most important stat in real and fantasy baseball because it really determines everything else. If you get on base at a high percentage, it usually is because you can work counts. If you work counts, you either walk or, in Prince’s case, wait it out until you get your home run pitch. Fielder averaged nearly a .410 OBP over his first three seasons as my keeper. Last year, he dropped to .362. That’s a 50 point drop and that should have been a red flag. But I remained loyal to a guy who always produced for me and kept him. 25 home runs is no longer elite at the first baseman position neither, but I thought going to Texas would help him bounce back. Of course, the Rangers don’t have Miguel Cabrera batting in front of him, another red flag I should have noticed. If anyone can turn around a season in a week, it is Prince Fielder. But I think it is time to move him. The only question you have to ask yourself is this: how the hell does a vegetarian get that big?
Thanks for the money chumps.
1. Brian McCann, C, New York Yankees (.213, 4 HR, 12 RBI)
I drank the Kool-Aid. I saw McCann sitting there in the ninth round and though it was an absolute steal. I also thought I was pretty darn good at fantasy baseball, but now I wonder.
I live in Atlanta. I have been telling people this since last season. The second I saw Evan Gattis was a decent enough player for the Braves to move forward with, I knew Brian McCann would be coming to the Yankees. I gushed over how consistent he has been as one of the elite catchers in the league, and how the Little League dimensions of Yankee Stadium would make him the best catcher in baseball. So far, I am a bit off.
There is light at the end of the tunnel. McCann has been facing that pesky infield shift nearly every at bat over the first month. So instead of coming in and posterizing the right field fence as many thought he would, he has been learning how to use the entire field and beat the shift. As opposed to other players (Mark Teixeira, I’m looking at you, sir), McCann is trying to hit to all fields instead of going right at the shift and hitting a home run or bust. He has been coming around and spraying hits up the middle to center and left field. What the shift is doing, however, is making his career monster power numbers practically non-existent. There is no need to panic just yet, though. If he continues to grow and beat the shift, the infield will have to adjust back to normal, and McCann can start unloading on that right field porch. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been throwing stuff at my TV screen when my ninth round pick continues to struggle early on in 2014 though.
There you have it, fellow fantasy baseball friends and geeks. Remember, more than any other fantasy sport, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. There is plenty of time to turn the season around, but trends may deem otherwise. If you hold on to the wrong guy because of his past you may perish down the stretch.
Until next time, let’s hope Donald Sterling keeps his mouth shut.
Here we are once again, folks. Round 2 of the Red Sox and Yankees rivalry 2014 version. It’s a topic that has been discussed, blogged, and written about for decades yet up until right now I’ve never given my two cents on it. Being that it’s tax season and the IRS once again took about all the money I had in my savings account, I’m lucky to have two cents to give you.
But I do, so you’ll listen. I hate the Red Sox. I hate their players, I hate their stadium, and I despise their fans. These guys are serious jerks. Philly fans are awful, don’t get me wrong, but Red Sox fans… ugh. You see the problem with Red Sox fans is that they have tunnel vision. Nothing is better than the Red Sox and nothing else exists. The Red Sox could finish 32-130 and the Chicago Cubs could go 162-0 and break their World Series curse, and a Red Sox fan would have no idea that it was happening. All they would know is that they finished 100 games under .500 and somehow it would be the Yankees fault. Me, as a Yankee fan, sure I want to see the Red Sox go 0-162, but there are plenty of other teams I loathe. The Mets — screw ’em. The Rays -we can’t beat these bastards. They literally own the Yankees and they aren’t even that great a team. Stay focused, Wayniac… we are talking about Red Sox fans.
I met Golden in 1997. He was a diehard Sox fan from Boston and he quickly became part of my close knit group of friends at University of Delaware. He, however, was unique. He knew everything, I mean everything, about baseball. He actually used the word “respect” when discussing Yankees/Red Sox history. I am still in a fantasy league with Golden 17 years later and I can tell you he was the first Red Sox fan I could talk shop with in my life and would dare call a friend. (I know you’re reading this @bosoxforever, but we went to high school together in New Jersey. @bosoxforever never gloated about the Red Sox, and no one really believed that someone in our high school could actually be a Red Sox fan with how close we lived to Yankee Stadium. So even though we still talk 25 years later, he’s a high school friend, not a Red Sox fan).
Then I moved to Atlanta in 2002 and these guys were everywhere. I mean they were like a virus, infesting every sports bar inside the perimeter. This was when the Sox were getting good and priming up for their current run that has them as the reigning World Champs for the third time in a decade. I was working at Jocks and Jills when I met Orlando and Evan.
These guys were Boston. I don’t mean they lived near Boston and were from the city. I mean these guys pahked their cah in the pahking lot when they came to work. They liked American beer and reeked of baked beans. They didn’t just like the game of baseball, they more importantly knew baseball, and we clicked. I watched Boone go yard standing right next to Orlando. It was glorious: We were at Jocks and Jills watching because both of us had the night off. Boone cranked that pitch and Orlando threw his beer bottle across the bar (through the air not giving a crap who or what he hit, mind you) as soon as Boone made contact. I took a running leap onto Bob’s back, a fellow Yankee fan who happened to be working and had a tray full of drinks in his hands. To this day, I’m not sure what was more amazing, Boone’s home run or Bob’s tray balancing skills. A year later, Orlando sat right next to me during Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS. I stormed out of Benchwarmers because I, to this day, firmly believe if I didn’t see it happen, then it never did. You know, it’s just like Carl Everett’s take on dinosaurs: if Carl Everett never saw a dinosaur, then there must have never been any. These two guys taught me all Sox fans aren’t terrible. Most are, but some pass the test. Orlando and I will always have that tie of where we were when two of the most monumental events in the oldest rivalry in pro sports went down and that forms a kinship, friend or foe. I could sit down with either of them right now and talk shop. Sure, we would rip each other apart and it would get heated, but Yankees and Red Sox debates are not for the faint of heart.
Almost two years ago, I met the love of my life and she was perfect in every way… well, almost. She loves sports, which I think is damn sexy, but she is from New Hampshire. She is a Red Sox fan and it is miserable. Not only did I have to endure a playoff-less 2013 with her as my girlfriend, the Sox had to go and win the freaking title. It was brutal, and because of it, there is now a picture of Fenway Park hanging on the wall of our place. That is just sickening and I am ashamed to admit to it but alas, ’tis true.
Her father is one of the biggest blow hard, Yankee haters I know. I had to sit there and watch the Sox win Game One of the 2013 World Series next to him. I have literally stormed out of the room because he is one of those Sox fans who honestly believe Derek Jeter sucks and is overrated. I mean, come on. I hate, HATE, HATE, David Ortiz. I want him to eat so many cheeseburgers he puts on that 400 pounds that he lost and can never play again. But, if he were to sign with the Yankees tomorrow, I say put him in pinstripes and let him bat third. If he brought the Yankees a title like Johnny Damon did, he would soon become likable.
As it turns out, he gets more of a kick out of pushing my buttons than he cares about my Yankee allegiance. Once I realized that he was riling me up on purpose to get a laugh, we got along fine and I can watch games and talk smack with him now. It’s actually comical how worked up he gets over the Red Sox. If a guy flies out with a runner on first he’s a “loser”. If he hits a home run on the next at bat, he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Now, we even talk smack long distance. This is what I got from him the other day:
It doesn’t matter how much you like someone or accept who they are, when it comes to Red Sox and Yankee fans, on game day… it’s war.
So, I had to fight and get around it. Some people don’t understand how hard it is. Some people are like, it’s sports, it shouldn’t effect reality. But it’s more than that. It’s passion, it’s memories, it’s riding the lows to get to the ultimate high. You ever hear of ecstasy? Cocaine? None of those compare to the euphoric feeling that one of my teams winning a title gives me. I get so pumped. Back when I was a Northerner, when the Yankees won a title and hundreds of strangers were in a bar or in the streets or anywhere, we ran around hugging or high-fiving everybody until you got home. That’s an experience I can never have with my girlfriend. She wouldn’t even say congratulations if the Yankees won, and she didn’t get mad at me when I refused her fist pump after the Red Sox did. That’s the way it’s going to be and we are ok with it.
My editor, who is more of a Phillies’ fan sent a text to me while reading over this. He posed a great question. What makes Yankee fans so perfect? If you ask me, you both suck. I get it. Yankee fans have a swagger because of all those trophies we have. We Yankee fans wear those trophies as badge of honor.
Swagger? Varrass asked dumbfounded. It’s kind of lame, no? You’re like the popular high school kid who peaked his senior year. You live off your past achievements. No matter how bad you do, a Yankee fan always brings up the rings. And if you didn’t notice, the Red Sox have more than you do over the last 10 years.
Holy crap… am I Al Bundy?
Are Yankee fans the reason behind the Red Sox fans’ bitterness? Did the arrogance we call swagger divide two cities because of baseball? This bothered me, because until right there, I never thought a Yankee fan to be at fault. I thought about all those people who wear the NY on their head because the Yankees are the best and they don’t know a single player on the roster. I think about those fans who desecrate the logo in camouflage or pink or any other stupid color and then I start getting mad at my own. Then I thought about last season.
Don’t you shake that hand, Mo… it’s a trap… (Credit: Boston Globe)
The Red Sox team and fan base gave The Sandman the warmest sendoff of all the teams on his Farewell Tour last season. Red Sox fans actually stood and applauded for the man who gave them trouble for nearly two decades. They were genuinely cheering the retirement of one of their greatest enemies of all time. I wondered if there was a single Red Sox in all my life that I would have ever felt that way for and the answer is no. Is Varrass right? Are Yankee fans really the scourge of the earth? Are Red Sox fans… nice?
Who the hell cares if we are? I will continue to prejudge anyone in a Red Sox hat as a Masshole and they will continue to hate me for being a Yankee fan. Through that hatred, the greatest love is born. The Red Sox Yankees rivalry transcends baseball. It’s life. And I wouldn’t live mine any other way!
Usually I spend quite a few minutes each week before my posts to think of a witty title for each one. I try to find something that is relevant and hopefully tickles your funny bone. This title took less time to think of than it did to type. That’s because I’m just so darn tootin’ excited!
Aside from writing and running the Wayniac Nation, I write for the Sports Illustrated affiliated Yankees’ site called Yanks Go Yard. My first article published in early February so, much like the real Yankees, I was starting my Spring Training, too. It has been an interesting ride as I went from an unexperienced blogger to a guy who would write about the prospects that no one heard of, to having my own Monday feature column called The Bronx is Boiling where I tell Yankee fans what grinds my gears about the squad, and now I head up the minor league coverage team.
I really like minor league baseball. For one, nobody knows who these kids are. You can go to any newspaper, Yankee site, or blog and find a readily available article about Jeter, Tanaka, or CC. But I get to provide you daily with information about the Charleston RiverDogs and Mike Ford. I write about the Trenton Thunder and bring you updates on Mason Williams and Tyler Austin. I watch the Tampa Yankees and get excited when Rafael De Paula blows one by more of the opposition. I also keep tabs on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders because at the Triple A level, they have the future Baby Bombers most ready to be in pinstripes.
Courtesy of ESPN. Sadak is the one on the left labeled John Sadak.
John Sadak is the RailRiders play-by-play man and watches a heck of a lot more minor league baseball than I do. That’s why it was perfect that he was my first interview on my long journey towards establishing myself in this sports writing game. Sadak is a pretty highly decorated announcer twice winning the the Delaware Sportscaster of the Year, then adding the Carolina League Announcer of the Year award 2012, and last season with the RailRiders he took home Ballpark Digests’ Broadcaster of the Year. Plus, for nearly a decade, he was the voice of my alma mater’s women’s basketball team. GO BLUE HENS!!!
When my editor at Yanks Go Yard, Billy Brost, asked if I could jump on this Q & A for him, I did not hesitate… and I’m glad I didn’t. Sadak was the perfect first interview and gave me insight as to how these should go in the future. That is, in hopes that there are many more in the future!
Enough of me. Let’s get right to it. Due to certain legalities I can only provide you with the link to my article at Yanks Go Yard, so enjoy this Q & A with John Sadak!
Well, folks, it was quite the weekend in Augusta. Bubba Watson sure came to play, didn’t he? There was also a lot of baseball going on, which means us fantasy geeks are trying to figure out who is for real and who is about to fall apart. It is still early but thus far there have been some pleasant surprises.
No, no, no… not this kind of Fantasy Baseball.
Take, for example, Giancarlo Mike Stanton. I had a chance to make him one of my keepers entering the 2014 season but I passed for two reasons. He burned me bad last season and every fantasy junkie has “The List”: a group of players that no matter how good they are will never appear on your team again because they were a bust for you the one time you had them. I was also worried about the lingering injuries that slowed him last season. Boy, was I wrong. He is the top scoring player in most fantasy formats right now and he is absolutely smashing home runs. I’m talking about moonshots here, folks.
Enough about Stanton and how he continues to find ways to screw my fantasy team without even being on it. Let’s take a look at a few guys that came out of the gate on fire and are still under owned in many fantasy leagues.
5 BIG SURPRISES IN THE 2014 FANTASY BASEBALL SEASON:
5. Charlie Blackmon, OF, Colorado Rockies.
From that point on… I was runnin
I have followed Blackmon for awhile because my friend Ariel, aka Earl, grew up with him. He has never been a big power bat but he can hit and hit at a high average. Any player who is good at making contact and has the luxury of playing at Coors Field definitely deserves a look. He’s currently batting .488 and getting on base nearly half the time he comes to the plate. He only has one homer, but again, he plays in Colorado. The air there can make me a double-digit home run guy, so as long as Blackmon keeps putting that bat on the ball, he has a chance for a few dingers. His speed also helps as he already has registered three stolen bases. That speed also helps him leg out extra bases turning singles into doubles.
BUY IT? In some leagues, he is still a free agent. If you are in one of these leagues, again, please leave me an invite in the comment section below. There is no question that he should be on your fantasy team. He has simply been waiting for the chance to be an everyday player and now he has it. No matter how much the Rockies struggle, it is most often due to their pitching, not their offense. Blackmon bats leadoff in a line-up that features Michael Cuddyer, CarGo, and Tulo hitting right behind him. He will continue to hit right around .300 all season which means he will continue to get on base for the big boppers in Denver and score tons of runs. If you are in a standard three outfield league, he is a fringe starter right now depending on your options. If you are in a four outfielder league, however, get him into your lineup now.
4. Scott Feldman, SP, Houston Astros.
This hot start truly came out of no where. I mean, seriously, let’s face reality. He hasn’t had any fantasy value since his fluke 2009 17-win season. His surprising start isn’t just based on his sexy 2-0 record, 0.44 ERA, or 7 Ks. The real shock comes when you see who he has done it against. All three of his 2014 starts are quality starts and he has pulled it off against the Yankees, Angels, and Rangers. Allowing one total run to those powerful lineups make you start to wonder. Maybe Feldman has turned the corner.
BUY IT? No shot. Despite this hot start, he has three factors against him. One, he plays for the Houston Astros. Unless Feldman continues to hurl shutout innings, the losses will begin mounting behind that offense. Two, he has 8 walks over those three starts. He is getting bailed out for now, but control like that comes back to haunt you. Three, he’s Scott Feldman people. There is a reason that he, in his tenth year in the league, has soared to the great heights of being the “ace” of the Astros staff.
3. Francisco Rodriguez, RP, Milwaukee Brewers.
K-Rod is about six years removed from being the best closer in the game. Here’s the thing though. He “busted” out with teams like the bottom-of-the-barrell New York Mets. Then he came to Milwaukee and was relegated to the set-up man role because John Axford was already the closer. Now, he has been given the opportunity once again to close and he is taking full advantage of it: 4 saves, 11 Ks, 1 BB, and ZERO runs.
BUY IT? No question. In my CBS league, only 82% of teams own K-Rod and a mere 75% start him. That is outlandish. His only competition is Jim Henderson, whom, much like Brewers’ skipper Ron Roenicke, I have no faith in whatsoever. Plus, many casual fantasy players think in his 13th season that he’s a weathered veteran. Remember, K-Rod came into this league at the young age of 20 and is only 32 right now. That cannon has a lot of ammo left in the tank and this Brewers team is going to rack up wins. K-Rod is a must start right now.
2. Scott Kazmir, SP, Oakland As.
Did somebody say Kashmir?
I remember drafting Scott Kazmir in my Donkey League draft to man the bench for The Lammerts. Shortly after we drafted him, my teammate J.D. asked me if he was injured yet. Well, it is halfway through April and the oft-injured lefty is on fire and not the DL. He threw yet another gem today as he took a no decision after six shutout innings against the Mariners. Kazmir currently sits at 2-0 with 19 Ks and just four walks to go along with a dazzling 1.40 ERA. All three of his starts have been quality starts as well. He is the number two in a solid Oakland As rotation.
BUY IT? For now. Talent has never been the issue for the former first-round draft pick. His fragile body has always held Kazmir back. He is very rarely going to go more than seven innings and may never see 30 starts in a season again. That being said he is in a great situation. The As are really good. There is a chance that if Kazmir is healthy he could be sitting at 8-2 at the All-Star break. If that’s the case then you need to move him, maybe even before that if he has two more amazing starts. There is a sucker in every league, find the one in yours who will take him for a high price early so you don’t get burned later.
1. Jose Abreau, 1B, Chicago White Sox.
Here’s another guy on The Lammerts current 2-0 fantasy squad. He was actually an accidental pick. Our draft room froze (I know, I know, you’re thinking, “You had problems with the CBS Sportsline Draft Room? That never happens“) and we “auto-picked” Abreau. Instead of complaining we rolled with it and I’m thankful that we did. Yes, much was expected of the highly touted Cuban import, but I don’t think people saw it coming this quickly. He isn’t simply mashing homers but, more importantly, hitting them when runners are aboard. His low .255 batting average isn’t much of a surprise as an adjustment period was expected but he is getting on base at a high .351 tick. Abreau has already been intentionally walked three times on the young season so clearly pitchers are fearing him. His four homers and 14 RBI are only going to grow.
BUY IT? Does a bear use rabbits for toilet paper? We are looking at the AL Rookie of the Year here. I personally expected a Rob Deer (or for you younger folks, Mark Reynolds) type season with a ton of home runs and a low batting average and very little RBI. This hot start, however, is frightening for other teams. He is seeing the ball extremely well and appears to be making a seamless transition to stateside baseball. It is going to be exciting to watch him unload all season long.
It is only two weeks in, but hopefully you are beginning to make minor tweaks to your lineups. These surprising stars are still out there on waivers in quite a few leagues so if you have a shot at them, grab one and roll the dice. Until next time, enjoy watching the last game of this wonderful Red Sox/Yankees opening bout!
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