BRAGGING RIGHTS 2013: Mediocre Season in the Works

Felipe M

It's been awhile since I wrote an update on my fantasy baseball team, the Black Hole Army.  I already explained the rules of the league at the beginning of the year, but quickly recapitulate, it's a Head2Head, Fantasy Point, Weekly Keeper League.  The name of the league is Mardi Gras Madness.

After getting off to a blazing start, winning 4 out of the first 5 games of the season, I've dropped 3 out of the last 4 games.  This has me with a 5-4 record although I'm very fortunate that I still have a winning record considering I own the 2nd to last worst record in terms of fantasy points.  So I could easily be 0-9.  The season is still young as only one team is really running away from the pack with an 8-1 record, team Balls Out.  All other teams, at worst, are only 2 games behind the wildcard standings.  That's definitely something to celebrate.  

The following is a what my team looked liked at the beginning of the season:

• Green=Keeper Player
• Yellow=Drafted Player
• White=Waiver Pickup

Week 1
Pos	Player
C	Carlos Santana
1B	Edwin Encarnacion
2B	Ian Kinsler
SS	Danny Espinosa
3B	Martin Prado
LF	Ryan Braun
CF	B.J. Upton
RF	Allen Craig
DH	Jay Bruce
P	A.J. Griffin
P	Tim Hudson
P	Tommy Milone
P	Andy Pettitte
P	J.J. Putz
P	Huston Street
P	Jordan Zimmermann
2B/3B	Jedd Gyorko
CF/LF	Desmond Jennings
P	Mitchell Boggs
P	Gavin Floyd
P	Brandon McCarthy
P	Rick Porcello
DL	Jason Motte
Minors	Chris Archer
Minors	N/A

At the last moment, I had decided to cut Ricky Nolasco to pick up Rick Porcello as the latter was pitching very well in spring training and Nolasco looked like a bust coming into the season.  Also, had to pick up Mitchell Boggs to replace the injured Jason Motte.  A great idea at the time, Boggs was terrible as the St. Louis Cardinals' closer.  Chris Archer was on my team last season and when I saw that he would not make the Tampa Rays' 25-man roster, I decided to insert him in my Minor League slot thinking that he had the inside track to be called up first to the Big League club.  Of course, Jake Odorrizi would be the first prospect to get a crack at the Rays' rotation when ace pitcher, David Price went down with an injury.  

This is what the team looks like now entering the current week:

Week 10
Pos	Player
C	Carlos Santana
1B	Edwin Encarnacion
2B	Jedd Gyorko
SS	Jed Lowrie
3B	Martin Prado
LF	Ryan Braun
CF	Desmond Jennings
RF	Allen Craig
DH	Josh Willingham
P	Andrew Cashner
P	Corey Kluber
P	Tommy Milone
P	Andy Pettitte
P	David Phelps
P	Dan Straily
P	Jordan Zimmermann
3B	Nolan Arenado
SS	Didi Gregorius
CF	Angel Pagan
RF	Jay Bruce
DL	Ian Kinsler
P	Shaun Marcum
P	Ricky Nolasco
Minors	Trevor Bauer
Minors	Taijuan Walker

Josh Willingham was a player I had on my team last season and he was one of the biggest reasons I had made it all the way to the championship game in 2012.  Was hoping I could reacquire him on draft night, but that didn't come to fruition.  Then an owner, surprisingly enough, dropped him and after Willingham had cleared waivers, I added him to my roster with much haste.  In his last 53 at bats, he's hit 5 homers and driven in 11 RBI.  Not bad for a waiver pickup.

I had been paying special attention to Jed Lowrie for the last 2-3 seasons but injuries and lack of opportunity has always been major hurdles.  This spring, Lowrie was in tight competition for the starting shortstop spot in Oakland.  Had he been given the job before the day of my draft, I would have picked him up as my starting SS.  But Oakland waited until the last moment to pencil him in as the starter.  Many people are down on Lowrie due to his lack of counting stats and power, but he's been getting on base and making great contact with the ball.  That's really all you can ask for from your waiver pickups.  

However, this is a points league and getting on base is only step 1 of the process.  What you do on the basepaths is how owners rack up points.  Lowrie had been battling foot problems that may or may not have caused him to slump in the last 2-3 weeks or so.  Not one to give up on Lowrie, but knowing I had to have a backup plan, I was pleasantly surprised that no one had picked up Arizona D'backs' SS, Didi Gregorius. Gregorius was one of the players that Arizona acquired for uber-prospect, Trevor Bauer. 

Bauer, was cut in week 1 or 2 of the season as the Cleveland Indians decided to call him up for a spot start.  The owner decided to cut him not wanting to risk having an "illegal lineup."  Well, that's when I decided to swoop in and use my high waiver priority to pick up Bauer.  Hopefully, he'll be ready to go for the stretch run of the season when I will need his high upside to carry me to the wildcard berth.  

The other prospect I had recently signed was Taijuan Walker as I had given up on Archer thinking that the Rays might only call him up for bullpen duties.  Walker may not be called up this season, but his potential makes him a great, long-term player.  Also, the league has done a great job in stockpiling on the best prospects in the game right now so considering that the pickings were slim, I'm content with having Walker on my club.  

The injury to Ian Kinsler was unfortunate, but came at a time where #41 ranked prospect, Jedd Gyorko was finally figuring out how to be a Big League hitter.  #6 Prospect, Nolan Arenado was picked up as a backup plan to the struggling Martin Prado.  Both have been disappointing, but I'm holding out hope that both will play to their full capabilities sooner rather than later.  

Gyorko's teammate, Andrew Cashner was somebody I had high hopes for in 2013.  But injuries in the spring forced the San Diego Padres to start him out in the bullpen, therefore, making him a bad pickup on draft day.  As soon as he was named to the starting rotation, I immediately picked him up.  The lack of strikeouts has been a disappointment, but can't argue with his good control.  Another long-term project on the team.  

Another Padres' pitcher, Huston Street was dropped recently due to injury.  I picked up Dan Straily as he's pitched very well in his last 3 starts.  Also trying to make up for the fact that I had dropped his teammate, A.J. Griffin, perhaps a bit too prematurely.  

It's been that kind of season as I have been forced to play musical chairs with my pitching staff.  It was something I knew I had to do coming into the 2013 season, but it's been a lot worse than I had anticipated.  The frustration has not only come from players I picked up as long-term solutions to my staff fizzling out in their starts immediately after I had added them to my roster, but also from guys I was counting on on draft day.  Most notably, Tim Hudson, after showing signs of brilliance at the beginning of the year, I finally had to cut him loose as he was getting lit up way too many times for my taste.  I'm really hoping that Corey Kluber and David Phelps can continue to pitch like they did before week 9.  Both pitchers combined to score ZERO points in the last game.  Also betting on the fact that oft-injured Shaun Marcum can continue to get strong and healthier with each start that he makes.  You will also notice that I went ahead and reacquired Nolasco.

Finally, I can talk about my team without warning everybody about the great peril that is B.J. Upton.  There is a reason why I drafted Jennings alongside Upton.  Both players can prove to be explosive, especially in a points' league, but both come with poor plate approach, especially Upton.  Sure enough, Upton does terribly.  Upton is so bad, he's still a free agent player in my league.  Currently, Upton is owned in 71% of CBS leagues.  He was owned by 99% of the leagues in week 1.  That's a lot of drops.  He was replaced by somebody I should have drafted to be my starting CF in the first place, Angel Pagan.  His patience and contact skills make him an ideal, prototypical centerfielder in fantasy baseball.  Injuries, unfortunately, have been a nuisance however.  When healthy, Pagan has been a steady player on my team.

I'm not sure what the future holds for me this season.  I saw this season as one where I would not only have to rebuild, but stay competitive in a division that was there for the taking.  The Division may be out of reach now, but the wildcard is still there if I want it.  I have no excuses however.  I know my pitching staff is terrible, but I will continue to aggressively pursue pitchers to fill out my starting rotation on a permanent basis--not just spot starts.  My batting lineup, on the other hand, are full of players that I had targeted on draft day and are now on my team.  They're slumping right now, but the reason I acquired them was because their plate discipline would help extinguish slumps in a fast manner.  If anything, their approach would at least help them get on base, therefore, help these players score runs or steal bases.  So far, the plan looks like it has backfired, but I will continue to go to battle with these guys.  I'm encouraged to see Gyorko develop into the hitter I thought he could be in his rookie year and I'm hoping guys like Arenado, Lowrie, and Prado can follow suit.  

Feel free to share your fantasy baseball experience in 2013 in the comments' section.

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BRAGGING RIGHTS 2013: Felipe's Dreadful Draft Experience

Jay Bruce will be counted on to provide power and run-production in 2013.
(photo courtesy of Mike McCann's FIELD OF FOTOS)

Felipe M

I have been playing in a keeper league for the last 10 seasons or so.  The League is Mardi Gras Madness.  My team name: Black Hole Army named after the villains of this video game:

Sunday night was the draft from hell for my keeper league's annual draft.  Aside from the fact that the league’s draft module kept breaking down on us, it seemed every time I was getting ready to draft somebody, another owner would swoop in and swipe that player out of my hands.  So I ended up selecting a lot of players that I really was not excited to have on my team, but these will be the guys I will be going to war with in this 2013 season:

KEEPERS

• Carlos Santana--C
• Edwin Encarnacion—1B
• Ian Kinsler—2B
• Ryan Braun--LF
• Allen Craig--RF
• Jay Bruce--DH
• Jason Motte--P

I actually like these players as they were the core to my run at the title last season only to fall short in the championship game.  Santana is an elite backstop and still young enough to fulfill potential.  Encarnacion and Craig had breakout years last season and their respective teams consider them part of their future.  Kinsler is still one of the best 2B in all of baseball.  Braun is arguably one of the best hitters in the league.  Meanwhile, Bruce can supply points by the truckloads due to his power bat and Motte can rack up the saves because of his power arm.  Unfortunately, Motte is expected to be placed on the DL to start the season with elbow issues—bummer.  Recently picked up Mitchell Boggs off waivers to offset the Motte injury. 

So coming into the draft, I have a few positions on offense to fill out, but I would have to focus on pitching, pitching, and pitching.  Will this strategy pay off?  It would have to because technically, coming into this draft, I have no pitchers.  Here are the results:

DRAFTED PLAYERS

• Martin Prado—3B
• Jordan Zimmerman—P
• B.J. Upton—CF
• Desmond Jennings—CF
• J.J. Putz—P
• Huston Street—P
• Brandon McCarthy—P
• Tommy Milone—P
• Tim Hudson—P
• Andy Pettitte—P
• Jedd Gyorko—3B
• Danny Espinosa—SS
• Gavin Floyd—P
• A.J. Griffin—P
• Ricky Nolasco—P

Clearly, other than Zimmerman (whom I was thinking of keeping instead of Motte until I read reports of ‘Z’ having issues with a “dead arm” earlier in the spring), a lot of the starting pitchers that I drafted this year are not my type of pitchers.  But what can I do?  All elite pitchers were kept by other teams coming into this draft.  So I was stuck selecting pitch-to-contact pitchers with good control.  Not very happy with the pitching staff, but I did what I could under the circumstances. 

I’m also not very happy with being stuck selecting both B.J.Upton and Jennings, but in the 3^rd and 4^th round, they seemed to be the best and most explosive players available in those two rounds. I’m not high on either one of them, but hopefully the gamble on picking the low patience/contact rate hitters will pay off in the end.

As you guys should know by now, I really like Prado and I even attempted to trade for him in the offseason, but couldn’t make a deal in time to beat our league’s offseason trade deadline.  So when I saw him available with the 11^th pick overall, I did away with my “select nothing but pitchers” strategy and jumped all over the very steady, high patience/contact rate hitter.  He also qualifies at LF so the versatility is an added bonus.

Putz and Street are two of my favorite relievers in the game and somehow, I’m always lucky enough to at least have one of these pitchers in one of my teams for the last three seasons.  In my Yahoo! league, I had both of them on my team, en route to a championship game loss.  I had Street in this keeper league last season as well.  So I was more than happy to see these two closers available to bring some sort of respectability to my pitching staff.

Not happy with the Espinosa pick, but he was my “last line of defense”shortstop.  I was actually going after Elvis Andrus in the 3^rd round, but he was immediately grabbed in the middle of the 2^nd round.  Ian Desmond was my second choice, but somehow, he also got picked up in that same round as well.  I was so desperate for a SS, I was even thinking of picking Derek Jeter, but our resident New York Yankee fan picked him up in the 13^th round.  Guess I’ll be keeping a very close eye on the waivers this season for another shortstop.

Before picking Espinosa, I rolled the dice and reached forGyorko.  As you guys should know, I’ve been excited about Gyorko for awhile now.  Whether I reached too early for him is debatable, but seeing how there were only a handful of players that I would consider selecting before him, I think I made the right choice going with Gyorko’s upside.  And he will eventually qualify at 2B as well and I have Prado manning 3B for now so Gyorko will be riding my bench for awhile until he shows that he can handle big league pitching.

Not really happy with my team, especially my pitching staff, but the best part about it is that it forced me to step out of my comfort zone and go after pitchers I would have never considered drafting in years past.  Last year, I did a good job in picking the pitchers that fit my paradigm as to what a fantasy pitcher should be.  The result last season?  I had the worst pitching staff in our league last year (I still don't know how I reached the championship game in 2012, but that's baseball).  So hopefully, this change in thought will bring me different results and put me over the hump and help me earn that elusive baseball title. 

I really like the batting lineup I have assembled: Encarnacion and Craig are not flukes, I feel this is Santana’s year to blow up, Gyorko and Prado at the hot corner, Jennings and Upton sharing duties in CF, Espinosa is a 15/15 guy, Bruce can light up the scoreboard with his power, and of course, they will all be led by Kinsler and Braun throughout the season. 

So that’s my team—what’s yours?

More MLB content is available here.  

2012 MLB PROSPECT REVIEW: #45-41

Felipe M

The following is a review of a list that was compiled way back in March of 2012.  "2012 Outlooks" are based on a summation of scouting reports (entering the 2012 MLB season) of each player condensed into a sentence or two for easier reading.

45. Alfedo Silverio--OF--Miami Marlins

• 2012 Outlook: "Might get shot at LF, but more of a long-term prospect."
• 2012 Accomplishments: N/A
• Conclusion: Silverio had a pretty chaotic 2012. Last January, he was involved in a car accident that derailed his baseball season as he suffered an array of injuries including a concussion. In May, he underwent Tommy John surgery. Eventually, the Dodgers designated Silverio for assignment in November only to re-sign with the team. Ultimately, he would be picked up by the Marlins in the Rule-5 draft where he has "a moderate chance to stick with the Marlins all year long." He has shown a capability to steal a few bases and hit for a high contact rate, which is his preference to get on base, but will need to show ability to take more walks. 

44. Ryan Lavarnway--C--Boston Red Sox

• 2012 Outlook: "Power/Average combo, might steal Catcher's spot for Boston in 2012."
• 2012 Accomplishments: Named Best Defensive Catcher in International League; Played 46 games for the Red Sox.
• Conclusion: Was completely overmatched by Big League pitching, posting a BB:K of .27. However, that small sample doesn't take away from the fact that he has potential to be a consisten Big League hitter. He has posted a .57 BB:K in his last two seasons in the Minors and has a career .376 on-base%. Power production did dip a bit in 2012, but still managed to display good contact rate. The problem in Boston is that the Red Sox are clogged up at catcher with David Ross and Jarrod Saltalamacchia on the roster and Mike Napoli, although will take over 1B, will add a 4th catcher to the mix (if and when both Napoli and the Red Sox finally make the deal official). Because of the team's depth at catcher, Lavarnway has been heavily involved in trade rumors this past offseason. 

43. Taijuan Walker--SP--Seattle Mariners

• 2012 Outlook: "Best long-term prospect in Seattle's system.  He's only 19."
• 2012 Accomplishments: #2 Best Prospect in Mariner's system; #2 Prospect in Southern League.
• Conclusion: The Mariners are very highly committed on Walker's upside and talent. They have all ready warded off trades with other clubs, including one with the Pittsburg Pirates. He has shown struggles with control in the Minors (averaging a BB/9 of 3.6), but did post a K/9 of 8.4 in 2012. Reports indicate that Walker will more than likely get an invitation to Spring Training with the Mariners, but subsequently he will see himself start the year in the Minors.

42. Willin Rosario--C--Colorado Rockies

• 2012 Outlook: "Power hitter, but poor plate discipline."
• 2012 Accomplishments: Played in 117 games for the Rockies; Finished 4th in Rookie of the Year voting; Played in Dominican League
• Conclusion: Rosario's power was on full display in the Majors last season hitting 28 homers, 71 RBIs, and slugging .530. Despite his success, he still has a lot of improvements to make. The Rockies are concerned with his defense and is the primary reason why he went to play in the Dominican League this offseason as he looks to work on his catching skills. He also displayed poor plate discipline (BB:K of .25). His Minor League career saw him post a BB:K of .29, .267 batting average, and an on-base% of .316. Very underwhelming in on-base abilities and contact rate, but proved once again that his calling card is in his power (career .449 SLG% in Minors; 1 homer run every 24 at bats, roughly one dinger per week). He's all ready penciled in as the Rockies' starting catcher in 2013.

41. Jedd Gyorko--3B--San Diego Padres

• 2012 Outlook: "Long-term prospect, has higher ceiling than fellow prospect, James Darnell."
• 2012 Accomplishments: #10 Prospect in Pacific Coast League; #11 Prospect in Texas League
• Conclusion: Unlike fellow farmhand, Darnell, Gyorko will actually be given an opportunity to win a starting job for the Padres in 2013. Even though he's listed as a 3B (played in 223 games at the position in the Minors), his ticket to the Majors will be playing 2B (48 career games in the Minors). He has a career BB:K of .54 and OPS of .913. If he is able to win the Padres' job at 2B, he might benefit and take advantage of the fact that the Padres will be moving in the fences at Petco Park.

Prospects #50-46 are available here.

Prospects #40-36 are available here.