Here are the highest draft picks to have been dropped so far in my Yahoo! 12-team mixed H2H league (22-player rosters): Justin Upton (Round 11), Chris Iannetta (11), Derrek Lee (11), Milledge (12), Carlos Guillen (13), Kawakami (14), Jose Lopez (14), and Delmon Young (15).Of this list, the players that I am most confident will rebound are Jose Lopez and Chris Iannetta.
Other Notes:
After a rough start, Motte has quietly settled down. After giving up 4 runs in his first appearance, he's pitched 6 innings, given up only 1 run, and has 1 walk and 6 Ks. He's probably not an option when not getting saves, but he's worth watching.
I've read more talk about how Chris Ray will take over the closer role from Sherrill, and maybe sooner than most folks think. I believe it because it makes sense. Sherrill is most valuable (to Baltimore) when not in the closer role. Don't believe me? Check out how bad he is against right-handed hitters (1.73 WHIP, 26 BB, 28 K in 2008) and how good he is against left-handed hitters (1.06 WHIP, 7 BB, 30 K, in 2008).
Other closer types that are worth watching include Santiago Casilla, Garrett Mock (Nats), Nunez, CPerez, Motte, Arredondo, Zumaya, Balfour, Izzy (TB), Aardsma, RMadson (PHI). Oh, and with Joakim Soria missing a minimum of 3 games, look into Juan Cruz.
Brandon Wood hasn't played single inning in three games so far. He supposedly will play a little this weekend. I don't get it. If you aren't going to play him, why call him up?
Other middle infield news: Aviles is playing horribly. I predict he will be dropped soon by most managers. Also: Ass Cab (Asdrubal Cabrera) has been solid of late.
When it comes to a steals-only type player to pick up, consider Iwamura (5 steals) to be potentially more valuable than Gardner (4 steals) or Elvis Andrus. Iwamura hits for decent average (.280-ish), scores a lot (91 times last year), and is on pace for 50 steals right now. Speaking of on-pace stats...
Fun With Stats:
The season is already 10% complete, as teams have played 15-to-17 games. The cool thing about this is we can add a zero to any counting stat and get that players' 2009 pace. For example:
Han Ram: 20 HR / 20 SB
NCruz, Inge, & Pujols: 60 HR
Abreu: 80 SB
Kemp: 30 HR / 40 SB
Kinsler: 50 HR / 70 SB
Markakis 180 Runs, 190 RBI
Pujols: 180 Runs, 210 RBI
Aaron Hill: 290 Hits
Kevin Millwood: 300 Innings
JSantana: 270 K
CBills, Wandy, & Haren: 40 Quality Starts
Heath Bell: 70 Saves
2 comments:
Sure, Sherrill's closing job may be at risk after tonight, but is Ray really any better? I'm not sure Ray is the answer, either. He still walks way too many guys and needs to prove that he is fully recovered from his Tommy John Surgery.
Also, I really like Kawakami and Jose Lopez in your Yahoo league. Both would be nice speculative pickups.
I was able to nab Jose Lopez but Kawakami slipped away. I also want Derrek Lee, but didn't put that into the post because a few of my leaguemates read this blog and DLee hasn't cleared waivers yet. (They don't read comments, so this disclosure should be safe.)
I'm not sure if Chris Ray is any better...he is one of those guys that when he was the closer back in the day, other folks always seemed to like him more than me. But the thing is, if you are in need of a closer, without regard to how good he is, Chris Ray isn't a bad speculative add, as Sherrill is proving that he is most effective as a situational reliever. His lefty/righty split is absurd. I do think it is only a matter of time before that transition happens.
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