 |
| Does anyone else in fantasy baseball cause more headaches than this guy? (photo courtesy of Mike McCann's Field of Fotos) |
Josh C
(Editor's note: Josh was kind enough to answer a few, select fantasy baseball questions from this past week. You may know Josh as our resident Sacramento Kings' fan and is one of my biggest fantasy sports' rival, most notably defeating my baseball team in our league's 2012 championship game. He brings a different view on what he thinks makes for a successful fantasy baseball season).
QUESTION #1: "Need OF help and I have to choose between Coco Crisp, Jayson Werth, and Melky Cabrera. Who would you choose?"
Of course, Crisp and Werth are currently injured at the moment so Melky Cabrera is the default answer. However, if all three are healthy, I would definitely have Werth as my third choice. So it boils down between Cabrera and Crisp and what kind of OF your team is looking for. In terms of pop, Melky has a slight advantage, but Crisp is clearly the better base stealer. However, if you're looking for batting average, Cabrera is your man as I highly doubt that Crisp can continue to hit over .280. Plus Cabrera is hitting in a better lineup than Crisp. Toronto is struggling now, but when they turn things around, I want to have Cabrera in my lineup so he can reap the benefits and starts helping my team.
QUESTION #2: "Is Kyle Kendrick for real?"
Depends on your definition of "real." Is he as good as the numbers he's putting up? No, but he's one of those guys that you "power stream" (meaning you play them against everyone except the "power" lineups). I say he can finish the year with 12-14 wins, 3.34 ERA, WHIP of 1.19, and approximately 140 strikeouts. Not too shabby.
QUESTION #3: "I'm a B.J. Upton owner. Now what?" (I too have B.J. Upton on my current squad--Ed)
Huge fan of Justin Upton, but never been a fan of B.J. That being said, he can still contribute in all the major categories, except batting average and I still figure that he can hit around .240. Without doing the math, for him to have a "spike" from his current average of .138 to .240 means he's going to have a hot stretch at some point to get there. I think the fact that Justin is there with him this season is going to help him out of this slump. I wouldn't drop just yet and would continue to keep riding him in my bench until I see a glimmer of hope (if you insist that I should continue to practice patience...--Ed).
QUESTION #4: "Would you trade Giancarlo Stanton for Matt Holliday?"
Even if assuming that Stanton is healthy and Holiday can continue to be a durable player at his advanced age, I think I would still have to say 'yes' on this one. I don't believe Holliday is as good of a player as Stanton, but I was already doubting Stanton entering this season (and even long before I realized just how bad this Miami Marlins' lineup would be). His statements about how he felt about the organization after their fire sale in the offseason made me wonder how a guy with a fire inside like that is going to do when his team is the worst in the league and he doesn't have anybody in the lineup to protect him. The current results have answered all of my questions. Nobody is pitching to him, but then again, he's not walking that much either. That tells me that he's getting frustrated at not being pitched to and swinging at pitches he wouldn't swing at in the past.
I think the homeruns will come eventually this year, however (I'd take the over on 27), but not sure any of the other peripherals or counting stats will come around in 2013. Conversely, it's very hard to count out a guy when he has uber talent.
QUESTION #5: "Jim Henderson or Jim Johnson?"
I really want to say Henderson here, but I actually prefer him from a skills standpoint (I don't know about you, but I like my closers to be able to fan the side). However, for some reason, the Milwaukee Brewers love Axford. I just have this feeling that if Axford continues pitching well like he has been of late (although he took the loss yesterday against the Pirates--Ed), that they are going to give him another shot (or turn it into some sort of "platoon"/"closer by committee").
I have to go with Jim Johnson on this one because of the current solidity of his role.
QUESTION #6: "Lorenzo Cain or Starlin Marte?"
I like both of these guys, but Marte still hacks a little too much for me to completely believe in his average. He's going to steal more bases, but I think Cain has more ability to be a multi-way guy. Slight advantage to Cain.
More MLB content is available here.
Fantasy baseball content is available here.
No comments:
Post a Comment