Player Discussion

Solid Advice.

He’s worth drafting, but only a late-round flier. Let someone else overvalue him

FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball : Heads up on Headley

Thus, while Headley does possess power, his minor league track record may overstate just how much power he has. Furthermore, Headley plays for the San Diego Padres, which means that he has to play half of his home games in PETCO Park. PETCO, as you probably know, absolutely kills homers, hurts doubles, is relatively neutral on singles, and inflates triples. Judging from what we know about Headley, PETCO seems like it will hurt him even more than it might hurt another player – Headley won’t put too many balls in play, and will lose a tremendous amount of homers (and doubles, not that fantasy players care too much about them) thanks to his home park.

Yeah thats great. I started Forte of course, and he got me nothing. 50 yards I think. Even better, I benched Ryan Grant because he was facing the Bears D, ya know...
150 yards later .. oops

Chicagotribune.com Bears defense a holy mess

"All I can tell you is that, obviously, our defense isn't what it used to be," Brown said. "Everyone wants it to be what it used to be, and it's not that. It's all about performance, and we haven't been performing well. Wherever we're ranked, that's where we deserve to be ranked, know what I'm saying? "It is what it is. Once we come to grips that our defense isn't what it's supposed to be, we'll all be better off." "Our perception is that we have a good defense," Brown said. "The reality is we don't."

He is still very young, and was one of the top rated prospects in baseball only a few seasons back.

FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball Breakout candidate: Ian Stewart | FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball

While Stewart is raw and rather risky, he has a lot of upside, especially given the fact that he plays for Colorado and will qualify at third base. If he can cut is strikeout rate, his batting average won’t fall too much even after his BABIP falls, and if Stewart can continue to hit lots of fly balls he could produce excellent power numbers.

Kevin Kouzmanoff for Kevin Slowey?

FanGraphs Fantasy Baseball Slowey and Steady

Kevin Slowey had a solid year for the Twins, posting a 3.99 ERA in 160 innings. Slowey’s biggest strength is his impeccable control – he issued only 24 walks in 160 innings, the lowest walk rate (1.35 per nine) of any pitcher who pitched at least 100 innings this year.

However, Slowey also struck out his share of hitters, accumulating 123 strikeouts. But what’s more, Slowey appeared to improve his strikeout rate as the season wore on.

I don’t know if there is a pitcher in baseball better suited for PETCO Park than Kevin Slowey – a flyball pitcher who attacks the strike zone. Slowey predictably pitched very well on June 24 in San Diego, allowing no runs or walks in six innings, and striking out seven. And for only the second time all season, Slowey induced ten swinging strikes in his start.

As only John Brittain can ..

John Brattain Battling Boras … round 2 -- The Hardball Times

Barry Bonds won seven MVP titles, eight Gold Gloves and was 30-30 five times and 40-40 once; A-Rod has won three MVPs, two Gold Gloves, was 20-20 five times and 40-40 once. Your client has never finished as high as second in MVP voting and his defense and base running is the subject of humor and not excellence.

What I’m trying to tell you Mr. Boras is this: Bonds and Rodriguez offer a lot more than a potent bat, and both may hold a title reserved for the inner-circle of inner-circle Hall of Famers. This is what puts “asses in the seats” and not a one-dimensional DH that may reach the levels of Sammy Sosa, Ken Griffey Jr. and if the wind breaks his way, Willie Mays.

It also should be noted that for whatever faults the other two may possess, their teammates could count on them being in the lineup were they able to play—a quality no one could say about Ramirez.

Were your client the equal of Bonds and Rodriguez I would wholeheartedly concur that he deserves to be paid on the same scale, but quite frankly, the only common ground is the fact that like them, Manny Ramirez has an excellent shot at turning 42."

Great player comparison here between Hank Blalock and Mike Jacobs.

The Baseball Analysts: Adding Perspective to the Jacobs Deal

No longer able to handle the duties of third base due to a damaged right shoulder, how valuable is Blalock as a DH or even as a first baseman? Are there any comps that could shed light on this question? By golly, there is at least one that I know of, and it's none other than Mike Jacobs, the 1B/DH acquired by the Kansas City Royals ten days ago.

Before we take a look at the stats, be aware that Blalock will cost the Rangers $6.2M next season while Jacobs is likely to earn no more than half of that amount, be it mutually agreed upon or awarded in arbitration during the offseason.

Conveniently, these two players are about as easy to compare as possible. Both hail from San Diego and were born three weeks apart. Both players throw right and bat left. And both are nothing more than first basemen and/or designated hitters.

I think everyone knew this already, right? It was pretty much a given. If the vote had gone any other way, there would have been a revolution by all fourteen Tampa Bay Rays fans. Can't have that.

SportingNews.com Longoria is AL Rookie of Year, Soto wins NL award

Evan Longoria won the American League Rookie of the Year award Monday by unanimous vote, and Geovany Soto ran away with the NL honor.

New York Times Blog The Book on Oliver Perez, by Scott Boras

Chapter Three is titled: “Perez Is One of Baseball’s Top 5 Left-Handed Starting Pitchers.” It puts Perez in a grouping with C.C. Sabathia, Cole Hamels, Ted Lilly and Johan Santana, who was Perez’s teammate on the Mets in 2007. Two charts are included to show that in each of the past two seasons on the Mets, Perez was the youngest left-handed pitcher in the majors to have an earned run average of less than 4.25 while accumulating at least 170 strikeouts and 10 victories.

Robothols latest ..

Ken Rosenthal Angels will avoid long negotiations for Teixeira

Boras contends that teams frequently take a wrongheaded view with franchise players such as Teixeira and Ramirez, talking not about how they add revenue, but how they subtract from available payroll.

Consider Boras' take on Ramirez:

"We've got an exact model," Boras said. "We've seen the player in the market produce 5, 6, 7 million dollars a month for the franchise. That's additional revenue to their team. Certainly that's a rare player. And his impact obviously can be measured as well by the millions more they made in the postseason."

Teixeira, 28, isn't the same type of attraction, but he's eight years younger, far better defensively and a more consistent personality. If the Angels pass on him, the Red Sox, Yankees and other clubs almost certainly will jump. The issue for the Angels is not the player; it's the pace of the negotiations.

"A lot of it depends upon how quickly you get the information the player wants to hear," Boras said. "Sometimes the player wants to meet personally with teams. Sometimes he's very happy with where he is. If clubs come forward and meet what the needs are, it can move forward and operate pretty fluidly and quickly."

Yahoo! Bill James picks big numbers for Chris Davis

Fantasy leaguers, be advised: Bill James is projecting a breakout season for Texas Rangers first baseman Chris Davis, who hit 17 home runs in 80 big-league games in 2008 as a rookie. How big a breakout? James predicts 40 home runs, 118 RBIs and a .302 average from Davis.