Fantasy Baseball Geeks

Unclecharlie@fantasybaseballgeeks.com

No one has improved their team more this offseason than the Seattle Mariners making the new-look Mariners the team to beat in the AL West. The Mariners will rely on their speed and defense to stay in ball games as they lack a real power threat after losing Russell Branyan to free agency. Branyan rejected the Mariners one year offer this offseason to pursue a multi-year contract. Branyan’s void in the middle of the lineup will be filled by the enigmatic Milton Bradley who has all of the raw skills to succeed, but also comes with the temper of a WWE wrestler.

Milton Bradley - Icon SMI

New third baseman Chone Figgins will hit in the two hole behind Ichiro Suzuki which will make life tough on pitchers. Figgins will hit for an excellent average and steal a ton of bases making him essentially Suzuki’s body double minus the annoying batting stance. The other notable addition to the line-up includes the slap hitting but disciplined Casey Kotchman who makes his return to the AL West. He will hit in the middle of the line-up which will be enticing but won’t offer much fantasy value outside of deeper leagues.

Cliff Lee is undoubtedly the biggest offseason acquisition by the Mariners. The presence of Lee transforms a pitching staff with an ace and four question marks, into the American League’s most terrifying one-two punch… followed by three question marks. Pitching at Safeco Field and having a fast and aggressive defense behind him should increase his already staggering numbers.

Breakout: Milton Bradley, OF

Chicago spelled disaster for Bradley from the beginning. Think about it, last call at bars in Chicago is at 4 A.M, and the Cubs play roughly 2/3 of their home games during the day, you do the math. Bradley moves to a friendlier last call of 2 A.M. in Seattle and is blessed to be in the city that Starbucks calls home which should help him remain “focused” throughout the season. The low pressure environment of the North West might help him reach his full potential, that same potential that sent him to the all star game two years ago when he produced a major league leading .999 OPS. Bradley should hit behind Ichiro and Figgins in the Mariners line-up which will supply him with plenty of RBI opportunities. While Bradley is always going to be an injury risk you can wait till the late rounds to target him making him a great sleeper this season.

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Articles, Uncle Charlie Brandon League, Casey Kotchman, Chone Figgins, Cliff Lee, Ian Snell, Ichiro Suzuki, Jose Lopez, Michael Saunders, Milton Bradley, Russell Branyan

unclecharlie@fantasybaseballgeeks.com

Sweet Chin Music will feature a complete run down of fantasy relevant news as it relates to Starting Pitchers. I will cover pitchers who are hot, those that are not and those that are ready to rock down in the minors. I will also include my top 75 starting pitchers. My rankings will be ranked for their expected performance from this point on, not on the statistics that have already been accrued.

Clayton Kershaw - Icon SMI

Who’s Hot: Clayton Kershaw, SP LAD

Watch out for the Dodgers! Now that they have a legitimate #2 behind Billingsley they become one of the top teams in baseball. Kershaw has finally arrived as a fantasy ace, at the ridiculous age of 22. Kershaw has allowed only two earned runs over his last five starts covering 29 2/3 innings. He’s 3-0 over that span and has lowered his ERA from 4.13 down to 3.27. He is also averaging a little above a strikeout an inning during that span. Kershaw should be used in all formats right now and is capable of winning 15+ games this season for the contending Dodgers.

Who’s Not: Rich Harden, SP CHC

Harden has disappointed us all this season: Cubs fans, fantasy owners and the Canadians. I have always said Harden has some of the best stuff in baseball if only he could stay healthy. But, as a Harden owner this season I’m holding out hope he hits the DL soon so I don’t have to have an anxiety attack every time he takes the mound. In Harden’s last 5 starts he is 1-3 with a 6.39 ERA and a 1.70 WHIP. He’s still striking a batter out an inning but even that doesn’t make him valuable if he continues to pitch the way he is. I would suggest shopping him to an owner who still believes, I have never seen a stretch like this in his career which scares me.

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Articles, Uncle Charlie Clayton Kershaw, Jake Peavy, Matt Latos, Rich Harden

unclecharlie@fantasybaseballgeeks.com

Sweet Chin Music will feature a complete run down of fantasy relevant news as it relates to Starting Pitchers. I will cover pitchers who are hot, those that are not and those that are ready to rock down in the minors. I will also include my top 75 starting pitchers. My rankings will be ranked for their expected performance from this point on, not on the statistics that have already been accrued.

Ranking starting pitching is a daunting task. I have already adjusted my rankings three times in the past three days, based solely on good and bad starts within that time frame. The perceived values for starting pitching seem to shift up and down faster than Jeremy Mayfield shifts gears on Meth. So how do you separate the starters that are for real from the starters that show up every other outing?

Jered Weaver - Icon SMI

I’m very fond of using the quality start stat as a benchmark to rank pitchers. A Quality Start (QS) is awarded to a starting pitcher who completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. I also pay attention to pitchers WHIP; odds are if he is limiting base runners than he is staying out of trouble and conversely lowering his ERA.

Now let’s take a look at some starting pitchers who are making a name for themselves for better or worse.

Who’s Hot: Jered Weaver, Los Angeles Angels

Weaver has been nearly unhittable over his last 3 starts. Weaver was widely considered as an after thought when it came to preseason fantasy aces. But he has quietly produced better numbers than CC Sabathia, Josh Beckett, Cole Hamels and various other preseason aces.  Weaver has 3 wins in his last 3 starts including a complete game shutout. In that span he has a 1.23 ERA, .91 WHIP and 21 K’s in 22 INN. Weaver has shot up my rankings based on his performance this season and if you own Weaver you can continue to ride your fantasy ACE for the rest of the season.

Who’s Not: Derek Lowe, Atlanta Braves

You can always pencil Lowe in for double digit wins and an ERA somewhere in the mid to high 3’s. So you have to believe that Lowe’s start on Sunday was just an outlier. Although I’m sure the 7 ER and 0 K’s in 2.1 innings against a slumping Baltimore offense left a bad taste in a lot of owner’s mouths.  He doesn’t have another outing this bad all season so let’s just call it what it is; a hiccup and move on. Then again if you play in a Head-to-Head league and happened to own both Lowe and Santana on Sunday you probably hate life and are refusing to move on.

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Articles, Uncle Charlie Chris Tillman, Derek Lowe, Jered Weaver, John Smoltz

unclecharlie@fantasybaseballgeeks.com

I would be a lost soul if I had to reenact the famous scene from Dumb and Dumber with every one of my preseason sleepers, the virtual hug to Xavier Nady accompanied by the overly tight hug, and “just go,” would be too hard for me to endure. However, the sight of Jason Kubel strolling towards the limo, brief cases in hand, would quickly erase the brief relationship Nady and I experienced. Call me a trashy owner but my early season limousine door is always revolving.

Jason Kubel - Icon SMI

I may be a bit overdramatic but I logged too many hours this preseason reviewing roster changes, projections and trends to gauge this crop of preseason sleepers. I spent the weeks after my preparation overly hyping my coveted sleepers: Xavier Nady, Pablo Sandoval, Alex Gordon and Cameron Maybin. Only to watch these players get hurt or struggle mightily out of the gate.

So the question we have as owners is when do we bite the bullet and drop those players who have not panned out? If you’re as stubborn as me you are probably giving yourself and those who you bragged to every excuse you can think of, “Oh, he has never hit well during night games in their away jerseys”, “He had given up Chipotle burritos this offseason and he is probably just feeling the effects now” and my favorite, “He is a perennial slow starter.” The truth is the first few weeks of the season are the most crucial weeks to make smart drops and acquisitions. At this point everyone is waiting to see if their sleepers will develop and neglecting those players who are scorching out of the gate. Cliff Lee, Ervin Santana and Nate Mclouth were examples of players added in many leagues early last season that went on to bring owners championships by the seasons end.

So let’s identify a few players I suggest snatching before it is too late.

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Articles, Uncle Charlie Edwin Jackson, Emilio Bonifacio, Jason Kubel, Marco Scutaro, Orlando Hudson, Zach Duke

What doesn’t Kill you Makes you Stronger

unclecharlie@fantasybaseballgeeks.com

The “What’s on the Menu” column is geared to give Head to Head owners advice on making the right moves when setting their lineups for the upcoming scoring period. Every week Uncle Charlie provides you with the players who will become the fantasy studs for your team. I will also include my thoughts on players who are not worth adding and the column will end with a bold prediction for the upcoming week.

Welcome back to the restaurant my over-indulging fantasy eaters! I can’t believe the 2009 baseball season begins this Sunday, that means plenty of new menu items for week one here at “What’s On the Menu”.

Erik Bedard - Icon SMI

It seems the vile memories of owning Hafner, Bedard and Victor Martinez still have not subsided from last season. I can honestly say I’m pumped for Sunday, last time this year I was surfing the internet at 3:00 A.M. to get results from Rich Harden’s first start in Japan and now I can surf my remote over a cold beer at 5:00 P.M, most would agree this season is already looking up for me.

The first week brings 8 days of action in most fantasy formats so be prepared for some inflated weekly numbers.

The Soup of the Day - I feel this player might be worth a “taste” for the upcoming week.

Ryan Spilborghs, OF Colorado Rockies…The expected everyday CF for the Colorado Rockies flat out mashed this spring training, batting .386 to go along with 4HR and 5SB. This kid did more than impress the Rockies; he also won over many owners’ hearts as a popular late round sleeper. With 3 games in Arizona and 3 games at Coors field we can expect some heavy hitting from this solid sleeper. Not to mention he has great plate discipline; usually walking as much as he strikes out, so he gains even more value in leagues that penalize strikeouts. Activate this flavored soup before Sunday and expect a spill of stats (Get it? Spill for Spil-borghs. Never mind.)

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Articles, Uncle Charlie Erik Bedard, Jordan Zimmermann, Nelson Cruz, Ryan Braun, Ryan Spliborghs, Trevor Cahill

unclecharlie@fantasybaseballgeeks.com

Easy Mac - Check.

Red Bull -Check.

Repetitive stress injury stemming from over-clicking the mouse button - Check.

No, this is not my check list when cramming for a college final this was my checklist for cramming for my first Roto draft in over 5 years. What can I say I’m a sucker for Points leagues you could call it a replacement addiction after fantasy football has passed but I overly enjoy the excitement and strategy of setting my lineup each Sunday night.

Alexei Ramirez - Icon SMI

This was my first season participating in the Geeks Writers League. So I wanted to make sure I stepped up my game and played up to my competition. I was given a gift from the fantasy gods when I was handed the 3^rd overall pick, this made my first round selection almost effortless; I could have showed up after the first round and been happy with the auto draft selection I would have been handed at the third spot. Either way I was getting Hanley, Pujols or Reyes. My Roto inexperience initially had me pondering David Wright with the third pick because of his performance in all five categories but when Pujols was on the board when I was on the clock I hesitated for .001 of a second before hitting the draft button. That was the easy part of the draft; I have outlined some highlights, lowlights and tragedies of my draft strategy and selections below:

My strategy and examples of it: My strategy was to focus on proven consistent players, high-K pitchers and take risks on younger players that had the ability to steal bases. I wanted to ensure I performed well in the steals category because I tend to neglect this stat when drafting for points leagues. I always try and build my offense starting with the infielders and work my way to the outfield. I feel there are a couple of outfielders who come out of nowhere and produce each year so if I can focus on a couple high ceiling OF later in the draft and they don’t end up producing, odds are there will be some ample fill-in OF on the waiver wire at some point.

I was also hoping to stay away from players that didn’t contribute in one specific category and if I did have to settle with a player that fits this profile I would need to balance it with a player that contributed in the categories the other player failed to.

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Articles, FBG Writer's League, Uncle Charlie Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Alexei Ramirez, Aubrey Huff, Cameron Maybin, CC Sabathia, Conor Jackson, Denard Span, Elijah Dukes, Ervin Santana, John Lackey, Rafael Furcal, Rich Hill, Ryan Theriot, Vlad Guerrero