Dr. Robert Finkelstein had to drop out because of other committments. We'd like to thank the Doc for participating and look forward to working with him in the future.
C) Joe Mauer, Twins - When it was announced that Mauer was struggling with a back injury and would miss a few weeks of the year, I wrote him off; after all, Mauer had always seemed overpriced for someone who rarely reached 10 HR in a season and only ever really excelled in average. I figured, at best, he’d come back and be the Joe Mauer we know and love, with good totals across the board but nothing spectacular in any sense of the word. At worst, pre-season injury reports indicated that the back problems could linger and affect Joe’s swing. Boy, was I wrong: Joe Mauer has blasted 13 HR so far and posted a ridiculous .509 wOBA, while slugging .748 with a .408 batting average. With a .416 BABIP and an unspectacular 20.8% LD%, however, expect the average to come back to earth. The power should also regress - Mauer’s herculean 29.5% HR/FB% and .340 ISO are astronomically higher than his career averages and would put even Ryan Howard (career ISO .311, 33.1% HR/FB%) to the test. Clearly, his injury issues are in the past, but even when his numbers fall back to earth he will be a top 5 catcher as he’s been for the past few years.
The first thing that comes to mind when asked to name “The 2009 First Half All-Surprise Team” is to look at those individuals that have out-performed their predicted performance numbers.Another logical approach is to evaluate those players that have significantly under-performed their expectations.A third category would be to simply list the “bust” players that have greatly missed their mark largely due to injury.
Despite our many thoughtful pre-season calculations, some of which we would have swore by in March but wouldn’t be caught dead reciting in June, we are coming up on the halfway mark for the 2009 MLB season and there are several surprises that have baseball fans’ scratching their heads.
This week I am bringing you my “All Surprise” team, compiling a list by position of a bunch of fast starters that fantasy owners around the globe may not have seen coming in 2009. I considered listing the all “bad surprise” team, kind of like the surprise you get when you are expecting your first bike for Christmas and you excitedly run down to the lounge room to jump on your brand new shiny velocipede – only to discover that your “big surprise” is instead a brand new stamp collecting album with many colorful stamps from “Polska” already added! I decided however that listing names of such complete duds such as David Ortiz, Garrett Atkins and Russell Martin would be just too damn depressing for those owners who have to live through their continued failures every day. When it comes down to brass tacks, I am a “glass half full” kind of guy anyway, so read on for a team filled with great stories and pleasant surprises for fantasy baseball so far in 2009…..
The challenge this week is to provide a player profile for A Triple-A player on the verge of being called up. The names that immediately come to mind are of the super prospects that owners have been salivating over since draft day back in March.
Drafted in the 2nd round by the Mariners in the ’06 draft and acquired by the Orioles in the Erik Bedard trade, 21-year-old wunderkind Chris Tillman has risen through the ranks to become one of the most prolific prospects in the Baltimore farm system.
The Cincinnati Reds have just promoted pitching prospect Matt Maloney to their parent club.He is expected to make his major league debut against the Chicago Cubs this weekend. This follows his masterful complete-game performance on June 1, 2009 for the Red’s Triple-A farm team, the Louisville Bats against the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees.He allowed only three hits, walked none, and struck out ten in his shutout win.
“Stand up, raise your left hand, turn counter-clockwise and repeat after me: A ROOKIE IS A ROOKIE IS A ROOKIE”, Lenny Melnick says again at 4:00 am this morning.
This week we have to profile a minor leaguer, specifically a prospect in AAA who could be called up. Alas, FP911 found my weak spot: I don’t keep tabs on tons of minor league players, diving into farm system stats and looking for the next 18-year-old, potential A-Rod. What’s more, I’ll admit that my approach to researching players doesn’t involve watching tons of footage; I look at stats far more. This is for two reasons: 1) I don’t have the money to spend on the MLB cable package, and 2) my girlfriend would probably consider me MIA and break up with me.
We all know the San Diego Padres need to find some protection in the order
for 1B Adrian Gonzalez. Have no fear because that help is coming in the
form of 6'6", 285 1b. Kyle Blanks.
Tweet me!