Felipe M
I continue to review our league's fantasy baseball teams. To read our preview on the Beer Belly Mashers, click here.
The following team is one of the more successful clubs in our league's history as he dominated with a juiced-up Barry Bonds early on and continued to succeed after he retired and "Fat Albert" took charge of the team.
WEST DIVISION--St Bernard Giants (fighting out of Louisiana)
PITCHING
I continue to review our league's fantasy baseball teams. To read our preview on the Beer Belly Mashers, click here.
The following team is one of the more successful clubs in our league's history as he dominated with a juiced-up Barry Bonds early on and continued to succeed after he retired and "Fat Albert" took charge of the team.
WEST DIVISION--St Bernard Giants (fighting out of Louisiana)
BATTING LINEUP
Like: Albert Pujols:
that is all. But he won’t have to carry
this team on his own as he has a nice supporting cast this season: Miguel Montero, Brandon Phillips, Marco
Scutaro, Alex Gordon, Jose Bautista, and Matt Holliday should be able to reach their projections this
season.
Dislike: I’m just
nit-picking at this point, but Michael
Young as a starting 3B just seems out-of-place because he’s not the
prototypical power-hitter at the position, but I really don’t have a problem
with it. This is as close to a negative
I could find on this team.
Look Out For: This
is a team full of established veterans so if I have to choose one player to
keep an eye on, it will be Kyle Seager as
many publications marveled at his potential for 2013. Seager finished 2012 on a strong note and it
will be interesting to see if he can keep up the pace or if his successful September
was just a fluke.
Bench: Paul Konerko
is just overkill on a team that really didn’t need a big bat like his. The team needed another starting pitcher so I’m
dubious at this pick. Considering they
have Pujols at 1B and Holliday at DH, plus David
Ortiz on the DL, when exactly is Konerko going to be used on this
squad? I also like the possible platoon
system at CF with Michael Bourn and Alejandro De Aza. De Aza has a bit more pop, while Bourn was
born to run. It should be interesting to
see which of the two will be more productive in our points league this
year.
2013
Hitting Projections
|
|||||||||
Player
|
Team
|
Pos
|
BB/K
|
AB/K
|
AB/HR
|
OBP
|
SLG
|
OPS
|
SB
|
Michael Young
|
Philadelphia
|
1B/3B
|
0.49
|
7.74
|
57.50
|
0.336
|
0.411
|
0.746
|
4
|
Kyle Seager
|
Seattle
|
3B
|
0.40
|
5.31
|
35.18
|
0.324
|
0.417
|
0.741
|
11
|
Alejandro De Aza
|
White Sox
|
CF
|
0.44
|
4.95
|
55.31
|
0.345
|
0.415
|
0.760
|
26
|
Michael Bourn
|
Cleveland
|
CF
|
0.44
|
4.36
|
108.24
|
0.337
|
0.369
|
0.706
|
45
|
PITCHING
Like: Matt Cain
proved last season why he should be considered one of the game’s elite starting
pitchers. And we just explained how good
Adam Wainwright is. Unheralded, Dillon Gee is
also on the team. The club is also
waiting for Phil Hughes to come back
from injury. They even found a way to sign finesse pitcher, Kyle Lohse.
Dislike: I have yet to read a positive review on the progress of Tim Lincecum in the spring as control, command, and drop in velocity have plagued the former Cy Young winner this spring. However, he can still rack up the strikeouts and that alone is enough to believe in him. Nevertheless, this team is depending too
much on him to emerge as the team’s 3rd best starter. He’s definitely in the right place, but a guy
that’s plagued with so many issues is not the way you want to build your top-half
of your pitching staff.
Bullpen: John Axford
is looking for a bounce back season and I was surprised to find plenty of
publications explaining his struggles last from 2012, but seeing him blow games
last season is too fresh on my mind to even consider selecting him for this
season. As much as I have rage for Grant Balfour, it seems that he always
finds a way of losing the closers’ spot one way or another, but this might be the year he can be the closer for a full year. And I've used Steve Cishek as a benchmark to compare other mediocre closers
before.
Look Out For: It
will be interesting to see if Vance
Worley can overcome elbow issues and a bad spring to be the ace that the Twins are looking for. He was recently named the team’s Opening Day
starter.
2013 Pitching Projections
|
|||||||
Player
|
Team
|
K/BB
|
K/9
|
BB/9
|
H/9
|
WHIP
|
HR/9
|
John Axford
|
Milwaukee
|
2.73
|
11.57
|
4.24
|
7.84
|
1.34
|
0.90
|
Steve Cishek
|
Miami
|
2.17
|
8.46
|
3.90
|
7.52
|
1.27
|
0.67
|
Grant Balfour
|
Oakland
|
2.83
|
10.45
|
3.70
|
6.75
|
1.16
|
0.64
|
Vance Worley
|
Minnesota
|
2.84
|
8.28
|
2.92
|
8.46
|
1.26
|
0.89
|
Dillon Gee
|
Mets
|
2.18
|
7.11
|
3.26
|
8.53
|
1.31
|
0.89
|
PREDICTION: This team has plenty of hitting to make them a threat for the playoffs, but the pitching is missing something as they're depending on breakout years from a few guys. Cain and Wainwright can definitely carry a staff throughout the year, but eventually, somebody is going to have to step up and if Lincecum continues to struggle, I just don't see who else can emerge as the #3 starter. Axford and Cishek, at any point, can be replaced as their team's closers.
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