2012 Fantasy Baseball Rankings, Advice & Analysis
 
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Andrew McCutchen
I have to say writing these headlines is possibly the best part of my job. Whats hard though is keeping them clean, because with corny headlines usually comes a bad joke. Well no joke here, Andrew McCutchen is the real deal and certainly the only hope the Pirates have of being a decent team. Yeah, Garret Jones is off to a hot start but his average has already dipped to around .200, so if anyone is going to lead this team its gonna be McCutchen.

He's robs and steals bases like a true Pirate would. Only 5-10 and a buck-seventy-five, he's built for speed (not pleasure). But there's more… he has power! It seems like all the speedy guys these days are lucky to even get on base. Look at players like Bourn, Furcal, Morgan, Gomez, Pierre, Podsednik, Davis – they can all steal, but can they hit homers and drive in runs? The only other speedy guy with real power out there is Crawford and we all know what a fantasy gem he is.

I've been waiting for the opportune moment to write about McCutch and today is as good as it gets. Four for Seven with 2 homers and 2 rbis - not too shabby. You say, but no stolen bases? Its okay, we can let him slide one game, he is leading the league after all.

I've been high on Andrew since early last year and knew we had a special player on our hands when he hit 3 homers and had 6 RBIs against the Nationals. Sure he was Minor League Player of the Year for the Pirates and then Baseball America's Rookie of the Year in 2009, but so many of these guys come and go. Its a great sign to see him off to such a solid start. Russell has given him the green light this year and he's already stolen 10 bases while only being caught twice.

So what can we legitimately expect from a sophomore player who may hit some slumps? Well in 3/4 of a season he had 12 homers, 74 runs, 54 rbis and 22 stolen bases. A full season of 600 ABs at that pace would get him around 15 hrs/92 runs/68 rbis and 28 stolen bases. I know that his RBIs will never be amazing but they will legit. If I were to guess at final 2010 numbers I'm thinking 23-25 hrs/100+ runs and 75 rbis. Here's the treat though, I don't see a reason in the world why he can't double or even triple his stolen bases from last year! He's quick and smart and the only thing that will get these Pirates wins in 2010 is running those bases for runs - because their pitching SUCKS!

Oh we Oh a pirate's life for me! Damn that songs gonna be stuck in my head all night…

Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Sports Blog, Fantasy Marx, Pittsburgh Pirates, Andrew McCutchen
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Buy Low & Hold 04/28/2010
 
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Mark Teixeira
Now is as good time as any to start eyeing those year after year solid players who are off to a slow start. Even though its early in the season many managers may be getting the itch if their top player just isn't performing. Like the stock market, people bail way too early and its your job to reap the rewards. The key though isn't to make a ridiculous offer just because they are ranked low. DO NOT, i repeat do not offer Kelly Johnson for Hanley Ramirez even though he is ranked 200 spots higher. Make a legitimate offer with room to negotiate.

Here a list of the top ranked players off to a slow start who you should focus on trading for:

Hanley Ramirez
His numbers aren't horrible, but for the number 2 ranked player they should certainly be much higher. Once he's gets into the swing of things, those 2 homers will be long forgotten. He's young and only going to get better. This year will be no exception.

Mark Teixeira
Mr. Consistency will undoubtedly make the turnaround soon and there is no such thing as a scoring drought on the Yankees. His 162 game average is an unreal 37 homers, 102 runs and 120 RBIs . You really think this year will be any different? He is number one on my list for slowest start with the most potential.

Prince Fielder
The Prince of Milwaukee only has 2 home runs so far and this has every manager scared shitless. Bottomline, Fielder's homers and RBI's will come and they will come big. Fielder's 162 game average is 38/92/108. Even if he falls back to his 2008 numbers you still will be getting All-Star stats.

Ryan Zimmerman
Capital Hill's big man on campus is a young star rising. Last year's numbers may be his top, especially playing for the Nationals, but minus his 2008 injury year his numbers have been pretty consistent and there isn't one expert out there who isn't high on this guy. He only has 2 homers and 10 rbi's so far but at lest he's batting .326. Keep an eye on the hamstring of course...

Aramis Ramirez
Ramirez is batting so piss poor right now, you can get him for dirt cheap right now. Hell he's even been dropped in a few leagues, so pick him up and hold onto him until he finds his stride. Last year's injuries may have set him back a bit, but 2004-08 he averaged 31 hrs and 105 rbis.

Jason Bay
The curse of the Mets lives on! What's worse, getting paid a boat load of money and playing for the Mets or gracing the cover of Madden and guaranteeing injury? Hmm, its a toss up. Ok I'm over exaggerating but still, Bay's numbers won't come near what he did in Boston last year. He finally hit his FIRST homer and is batting a measly .269. This being said, Bay has ridiculous career averages with 32/101/106. Even a horrible season for Bay will still get him 25 homers and 80 rbis/runs.

Justin Verlander
Verlander hopefully isn't taking us on a rollercoaster ride. His 2008 numbers scared everyone but he bounced back with a vengeance last year. So far he has a 5.53 ERA with a 1.45 WHIP and this is undoubtedly killing someone's categories so he's a good trade candidate. Should we be a little scared that he may have a 2008 year again? Sure, but fantasy baseball is all about taking risks and this Tiger has humongous reward!

Jon Lester
It's looking like Beantown may not be the same solid team as years past. Lester is off to a horrible start with a 6.23 ERA and 1.75 WHIP but the good thing is he is averaging a K per inning. He's been one of the best pitchers the past two years and although he may get a few less wins this year he will be still be a dominant force.

Javier Vazquez
The one thing we know is that the Yankees win. And although he is 1-3 with a 9.00 ERA the wins will come by seasons end. Javy has been dropped in a lot of leagues and there isn't a reason in hell not to pick him up and wait till he gets hot. He's only a career .500 winner but averages around 12-15 wins a season and that's especially great if your league doesn't have a loss column. Oh and by the way he averages 200Ks a year!

Josh Beckett
See Jon Lester above. Same story. Yeah its a cop-out, but it's midnight and I'm tired. Sue me!(please don't sue me, I have no money, in fact everyone that reads this please send me $1)

Twitter.com/fantasyfix_Evan
Twitter.com/thefantasyfix

Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Sports Blog, Fantasy Marx, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Boston Red Sox, Javier Vazquez, Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees,  Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers, Jason Bay, New York Mets, Aramis Ramierez, Chicago Cubs, Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals, Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins, Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers, Fantasy Stock Market, Buy Low Sell HIgh
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Barry Zito
We all know nothing in sports is better than a comeback story. Especially players who come back from devastating injuries or even juicier drug addicted tales. 2010 is different. Nothing major happened with these guys, they just slowly fell out of out the limelight. The most interesting thing about these 3 is that it all went downhill after 2006.

Zito's troubles came when the Giants signed him for a brazzillion gazzillion dollars. The pressure to perform literally destroyed him. Barry had an amazing 102-63 record before joining the Giants, but the past three years he's sadly 31-43. Thats means the Giants paid him about $1.75 million for each one of those wins. I personally think a player should have to return some of that money when they suck that bad. 2010 seems to be his rebirth with a 3-0 record, 1.32 ERA and 0.84 Whip. San Fran has the nastiest 4 headed monster in the league right now with Lincecum, Cain, Sanchez and Zito. Now if they could only hit...

Wells was top dog in our neutral neighbor up north from 2002-06. Many factors added into his powerless 07 season, when he dropped from 32 bingers to just 16. 2008-09 were filled with injuries and I think its safe to assume that we all thought his days of glory were over. Finally this year he is healthy and on a tear. Don't look for him to slow down any time soon. Just want to point out here that someone offered me Wells for Howard and as good as that sounds right now, Im not an idiot.

And then there's Jones. He's probably the biggest drop off of the 3. His numbers were redunkulous from 1998-2006. His '05 and '06 numbers were off the chart. And then (yeah you guessed it) 2007 happened. He still hit 26 hrs but his average dropped 40 points to .222. The Dodgers and Rangers tried out the new fatter and lazier Jones but for some reason they didn't want a slob, go figure. Come 2010 and Jones is off to a hot start. He's curbed his eating habits, seems to be happy again and already has 6 homers. Out of the 3 he's probably the easiest to pick up in all leagues right now, so take a shot.

Is there a moral to this story? No, but its exciting to watch.

Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Sports Blog, Fantasy Marx, Andruw Jones, Chicago White Sox, Barry Zito, San Francisco Giants, Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays
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Chase Headley is on a roll and finally so are the red hot Padres. 
The first thing you'll notice on the depth chart is that there are only two veterans in the starting lineup with Adrian Gonzalez and David Eckstein (although the only thing that makes Eckstein a veteran is his tenure and definitely not his performance).

Having a young team can be a hard thing to watch for a sports fan because usually it means years of losses. But it also means that these young guys are going to grow together and learn from each others mistakes. 

With Headley leading the way, we see other players making a mark, like the Monster Kyle Blanks, Will Venable, and Everth Cabrera. Their starting pitching isn't top notch but their highest ERA at the moment is 3.57 and with bullpen aces like Heath Bell and Mike Adams things look halfway decent. If they can add one or two veteran starting pitchers next year, these Padres might actually have a chance at winning the west division (hell its early in the season, but they could even do it this year).

So we come back to Headley. He was halfway decent in his first full season last year but things seem to be different in 2010. Batting .355 with 12 RBIs and 5 Stolen Bases already (he only had 10 all year in 09). By the way he's 2-2 today which means, he must know I'm writing this article about him.

I'm looking for solid numbers this year from Chase. As long as the Padres keep winning I think we can expect 15-20 hr / 75-80 runs + rbis / and 15 stolen bases. Are they all-star numbers? No definitely not, but he's only owned in 65% of Yahoo Leagues so chances are he's out there. Ride him while he's hot!
Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Sports Blog, Fantasy Marx, San Diego Padres, Chase Headley
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Phil Hughes
Johnathan Sanchez - 78% owned
Two double digit strikeout games in a row one of them being a 1 hitter. Expect 200+ strikeouts this year. This guy is "Dirty"!!

Kevin Slowey - 76% owned
Only 5 runs allowed in 3 games so far. His numbers won't be dominating, but look for him to easily improve on his 10-3 record last year. 15 game winner?

Ricky Romero 76% owned
Check out Fonzy's article about this young gun. In 5 days he's gone from 62% owned to 76%. Come on people, pick him up before its too late.

Phil Hughes 64% owned
He beat out Joba for the SP job. It's just been a matter of time before we saw how good Hughes can be. This seems to be the year. 1 hit in 7.1 innings with 10K. Not bad, expect more of this as his confidence grows.

Brian Matusz 52%
Lots of hype behind this young kid. Whatever wins Baltimore gets this year will probably come from him. 2-0 with 23Ks in 3 games so far. ERA is high but will definitely go down.

What other young SP owned in 80% or less of your leagues would you recommend?
Leave your feedback and comments at the top of this blog entry!

Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Sports Blog, Jonathan Sanchez, San Francisco Giants, Kevin Slowey, Minnesota Twins, Ricky Romero, Toronto Blue Jays, Phil Hughes, New York Yankees, Brian Matusz, Baltimore Orioles, Fantasy Marx
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So long Frankie!!

To be frank, (sorry couldn't help myself) I never expected him to be the best closer with the name Francisco in the league but I still had high hopes for him. He started off so damn hot when CJ WIlson went down in 2009. 

Coming back from surgery this year, i thought he would put up a fight with Feliz breathing down his neck, but boy was I wrong. The back to back blown saves lost him the job, but since there wasn't anything special in the way of available relievers in my league I figured I'd hold onto him and see what happened.

Well he blew his 3rd game in 13 games, so Im gonna say farewell Frankie, its been nice knowing you. 

On a side note - congrats to anyone who picked up Rodney for the quick 5 saves he got before Fuentes comes back today.

Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Sports Blog, Texas Rangers, Frank Francisco, Neftali Feliz, Fernando Rodney, Brian Fuentes, Fantasy Mark


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Matt Wieters.He's graced the cover of Sports Illustrated and is hyped as the Orioles future.
The future may have wait a few years though. The truth is, as good a player he is, he can't do it on his own and his statistics will suffer if the players around him don't step up to the plate. The Orioles are 2-11 right now and most certainly will finish last in the AL East. 

Trust me I see big things for this guy, but its going to be a slow process, building his numbers over the next few years. Its a young team and there is great potential in players like Adam Jones, Nick Markakis, Brian Roberts and pitching gem hopeful Brian Matusz.

I drafted Wieters in the 11th last year, jumping on the boat a little too early. My hope really was that he would show enough potential that I could use him as a keeper but I just didn't see enough there. And as early as the season is right now, I'm glad I didn't use him as a keeper.

That being said, his numbers will still be fairly decent by years end probably ending up with a .285 average, 20-25 homers and 80-90 rbis. If you drafted Wieters late enough, those numbers aren't half bad. I'd actually say right now is an opportune time to make an offer for the "big bird" since he's only batting .267 / 1 hr / 3 rbis. If you're in a keeper league he will hopefully be the #2 catcher for years to come, only behind reigning MVP champ Joe Mauer.

Bottomline, be patient with Wieters, his time in the sky will come.

Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Sports, Baltimore Orioles, Matt Wieters, Fantasy Marx, Evan Marx
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Jason Heyward
Is Jason Heyward the real deal?

Sure I have a man crush on him. Who doesn't get a little excited when you draft a player in the 13th round that could possibly be your keeper for years to come? Plus he's a Jersey Boy, growing up just minutes from where I live.

I first read about Heyward last year. He was one of the top 25 prospects. They were comparing him to a young Fred McGriff, mostly because he's a lefty, but also because he's a 5 tool player with a great eye and immense power.

So what signs do we look for to tell if he will be the next Pujols?

He's 20 years old and a monster of a boy. (6'5"- 240)
Now that he's in the big leagues he will have access to a major league training facility and conditioning coaches who will make him bigger and stronger than he already is - Yikes! 

First good sign… In spring training batting practice he was blasting homers into the parking lot and breaking car windows. The Braves actually had to pay for higher netting. You don't hear stories like that too often.

Then the Say Hey Kid gets the call that he will be the Braves starting Right Fielder. Not bad for 20. What does he do to prove he belongs in the big leagues? He pulls a Will Clark and homers in his first at bat!

Now there have been plenty of players over the years that have come up scorching hot and then disappeared into the baseball black hole. I think everyone's favorite (or unfavorite) disappearing act was Kevin Maas. Even more recently we had Jay Bruce come up with a monster start but then fall way back down to earth. 

Unlike those two examples, Heyward seems to be taking it slow but steady. He has amazing plate discipline and doesn't just hit for power. In 40 at bats so far he's hitting .300, 3 hr, 12 rbis, 7 runs, and 7 walks. A little quick math tells us that if he gets 550 at bats he'll hit 41 homers, 165 rbis, 96 runs, and 96 walks. Okay okay, those numbers are crazy to expect out of a rookie, but even if he gets 50-75% of that, they are still pretty impressive.

The Braves are rebuilding (seems like they have been for a while now) and it looks like they may have found their future leader. I'm riding high on this Man Boy and might be eating my words by season end, but I'm a gambler and I would absolutely double down on this guy. Its doubtful he's available in any leagues at this point so make a decent trade offer for this guy. You won't regret it.

What are your thoughts?
Any other prospects primed for a breakout year?
Leave a comment at the TOP of this blog!


Tags: The Fantasy Fix, Fantasy Baseball, Atlanta Braves, MLB, Fantasy Sports Blog, Evan Marx, Jason Heyward
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