I’m in a bunch of leagues every year, probably too many. Invariably I’ll wind up with some repeat players on a bunch of teams, sometimes by design, sometimes by coincidence. Today, we’ll discuss these names and what I expect. <\/p>\n
I’ve arranged the list of players from most significant to least significant; keep in mind that some of the less-exciting names at the bottom of the list were purchased because of their nominal price, not because I expect wonderful things. <\/p>\n
Sometimes my common link purchases will be home runs (Nate McLouth<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> 2008, Cedric Benson 2009), sometimes they’ll crash and burn (Felix Hernandez<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> 2007, Skip Hicks 1999). We’ll figure that out over the next six months. <\/p>\n Justin Upton<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span> <\/strong>I don’t think it’s possible to draft him too early, so long as you’re somewhere in the middle-to-late part of the first round. He’s capable of filling every category, he’s still on the escalator, the Arizona backdrop is a bonus, etc. <\/p>\n Adam Wainwright<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> I’m not going to sweat the innings jump given his age and build. This is a very safe place to park your money. <\/p>\n Jayson Werth<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> The batting average might be a mild drag but the other four categories look safe and bankable to me. And owning Phillies has been a blast over the past few years, especially when the weather heats up and they start pelting pitchers at Citizens Bank Park.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Dustin Pedroia<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> Perhaps the most underrated star player in the American League. He went after Ian Kinsler<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> all month (I know, I botched that rank too) and given their levels of durability and recent production, that’s not right. <\/a><\/p>\n Jered Weaver<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> This is a market-driven pick, I guess I like him more than the general consensus. If you’re going to live with AL pitchers for your mixed-league exercise, at least get them from the western part of the map.<\/p>\n Johnny Damon<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> An Ibanez All-Star all the way. Sure, he’s going to regress merely by leaving New York and Yankee Stadium, we all know that. But that’s all priced into the ADP. Identifying a likely regression on its own is not the full story. <\/p>\n Manny Ramirez<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> Another Ibanez type, and while I don’t think too much about contract year motivation, perhaps it’s worth considering in the World of Manny.<\/p>\n Ian Desmond<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> I love his offensive game, just hoping he doesn’t bobble his way out f the job with his messy fielding. And I’m also a little concerned that Jim Riggleman will play Cristian Guzman<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> far more than he should.<\/p>\n Alex Rios<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> Let’s not hold the massive contract against him, it’s not like you and I have to pay it. His average season over the last three years brings you 19 homers, 24 steals. <\/p>\n Bengie Molina<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> Drafted once, picked up as a FA scrap once. Someone’s gotta catch, otherwise you’re looking at a lot of passed balls. <\/p>\n Michael Cuddyer<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> A lot of people seem to be treating Target Field like it’s Yellowstone National Park. The Metrodome wasn’t that good for hitters, kids. Target might help the pitchers but that doesn’t make it a park to avoid for offense. Cuddyer’s dual-position grab (1B, OF) helps the cause. This is also an example where a career year (or at least a year relatively equal to his 2006) did not result in an inflated price the following season. <\/p>\n Sammy Gervacio<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> My favorite non-closer on the board, watch him pitch, go get him. Look at that torque. Look at that slider. Look at the spotty options in front of him. Look at those ridiculous numbers from spring training. Then again, there’s another story here . . . <\/p>\n Matt Lindstrom<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span> <\/strong>Yeah, I got him a bunch of times, too. The price was next-to-nothing. He’s always had a power arm. Maybe Brad Arnsberg was able to tweak his slider in such a way that Lindstrom can hold the ninth inning. Closing out baseball games isn’t all that hard if you’re only asked to get three outs with no one on base, often with a multiple-run lead. On the down side, I think Houston is going to be horrendous this year, but even bad teams can support a closer for fantasy purposes. <\/p>\n Brian Wilson<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> A second-level closer who consistently went at a third-level price. Maybe one year I’ll get burned by not investing major bucks into the closer market, but it hasn’t happened recently. <\/p>\n Kelly Johnson<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> I’d feel a lot better if he had a prime batting slot. But this is an obvious setup for a comeback year. The price was a lot more fun three weeks ago. <\/p>\n Ryan Franklin<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span> <\/strong>I know, I know, another easy regression call. But even if his ERA climbs a run or two, it’s not the end of the world so long as La Russa and Duncan keep him for the ninth. Jason Motte<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> isn’t Mariano Rivera<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> from the mid-90s, he’s still learning to pitch, too. <\/p>\n Adam Kennedy<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span> <\/strong>Multi-position grab, and you know the non-star Nats, they never cost anything. <\/p>\n Troy Glaus<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> If he stays healthy, 25-30 homers. If he gets hurt, you get next to nothing. But the price makes him a free spin. <\/p>\n Will Venable<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span> <\/strong>Athletic kid, basketball background, still learning to play this game but there’s a 20-20 upside if it all clicks. He’s still figuring out lefties and Petco will sap the power, but most of the opposing arms are right-handed and the Padres play a road schedule like everyone else. Bottom line, my flavor of the week, "we’ll see" pickup. Big spring, if that matters to you (.345\/.406\/.724, four homers, nine steals). <\/p>\n Aubrey Huff<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> Maybe he’s close to done, but anyone holding down a cleanup spot for a MLB club will get some stats. That said, sometimes I feel sorry for Giants fans, this front office has some crazy ideas. <\/p>\n Jorge Cantu<\/a>(notes)<\/a>:<\/span><\/strong> He looks like a Bond villain, doesn’t he? Another multi-position grab, and a better hitter than given credit for. In all but one league, I think he was a late value.<\/p>\n There are plenty of names I wish were on this list. I have no shares in Ricky Nolasco<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> which bothers me greatly. I only got Chase Utley<\/a>(notes)<\/a><\/span> once. No Alex Rodriguez<\/a>(notes)<\/a>,<\/span> just one Doc Halladay<\/a> to this point, no Jon Lester<\/a>(notes)<\/a>.<\/span> And so it goes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m in a bunch of leagues every year, probably too many. Invariably I’ll wind up with some repeat players on a bunch of teams, sometimes by design, sometimes by coincidence. Today, we’ll discuss these names and what I expect. I’ve arranged the list of players from most significant to least significant; keep in mind that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4321,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-506994","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506994","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4321"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506994"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506994\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506994"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506994"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506994"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}