NL Central Prospects...Worth a Look

Let’s continue our series on viable prospects to consider draft day in 2014. These come from the NL Central Division. Some I like, some are a wait and see.

Chicago Cubs

 

Javier Baez could eventually be better than Castro and that’s saying a lot. Baez has raw plus power and has showcased it in the Minors over the last year. He accumulated 17HR, 19 doubles and 4 triples in only 337 plate appearances in a very pitcher friendly league before his last promotion. Baez has a very hard and violent swing that he never shortens or adjusts for and situation. He’s not very widely known yet, but within a year Cubs fans will be clamoring for a Baez-Castro infield combination especially with light hitting Darwin Barney not in the Cubs long term plans. Only an injury away from the bigs or if Barney hits below the Mendoza line in June up comes Baez.
 

Cincinnati Reds

Billy Hamilton will be on everyone’s radar come draft day looking for that potential 100 SB season.  The prototypical leadoff hitter needs position in the Red’s lineup and then needs to get on base. The only problem I see is the Red’s using him strictly as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. If that happens he drastically drops in vale. If he gets a starting gig he should be a 3^rd round draft pick with a stat line of 80 Runs and 80 SB.

Milwaukee Brewers

With the Brewers parting ways with Corey Hart and Mat Gamel they are in need of a 1B. Has the answer to 1B been inside the organization all along? At some point, Morris will be given a chance to prove he is the 1B for the job.  What he needs to do is be above average with the bat to have value. He does have thump by providing 57 HRs and a .219 ISO in 337 minor league games.  He is worth a draft pick if he is the front runner for the job in spring training.

Pitsburgh Pirates

A twin to the other Pirates phenom of Gerrit Cole, righty James Taillon is a genuine monster power arm with a very high ceiling, a top of the rotation guy. But for 2014 I feel it will depend if A.J. Burnett re-ups with the Bucs. If not Taillon make the show. He has cracked 100mph on radar and has a curveball that is a plus pitch. I will be drafting him in all leagues this year.
 

St. Louis Cardinals

Just about everyone has heard of Oscar Taveras but will he make a contribution to the Cards in 2014? Taveras lost a great deal on playing time in 2013 due to an ankle injury but is now fully healthy and will be given an opportunity to complete for the RF job in 2014. One problem with Taveras in 2014 is that the Cards have too many OF even after losing Beltran. The pickup of Bourjos, they already have Jon Jay, and they will be moving Allen Craig to LF to give Adams the 1B job. I love Taveras’ ability but it may be a numbers game that keeps him out of the line-up on a consistent basis. Unless it is a dynasty league draft I would hold off on Taveras.

Prospects in AL West...Worth a Look

Here is the next round of prospects to keep on your radar. With only 60 days until pitcher/catcher report it time to start ranking your players. I’m in my first mock draft with the guys at Fantasy Gameday and you can follow along here. Some surprises so far on player valuations with these managers.

American League West

Seattle Mariners

Taijuan Walker looks like a number one starter on almost any team but the Mariners do have King Felix. Saying that, he will get the nod at probably the #3 SP slot to begin the season. He has accomplished all he can in the minors and even got a quick look (15 innings) in 2013. He has 94-95 mph stuff with late movement, a sluvre curve and a straight change in the mid 80’s. He is worth a draft slot in any  format his year. I will be targeting him in the 22nd round area.

 

Texas Rangers

Michael Choice grew up driving past the Rangers Stadium as a youth. He is now back as the hometown kid. The 24 year old should take over the duties in LF for the Rangers on opening day after being traded from Oakland. He had a debut in September and went 5 for 18 in nine games. He has been a Minor League All-Star averaging 14 HR and 89 RBI while hitting .302 in 132 games.  The latest scouting report is a guy with raw power good bat speed and draws walks.

 

Oakland A’s

Addison Russell has moved up the ladder very fast in Oakland after being drafted #11 in 2012. Probably still a year away but an injury to Lowrie or Sogard could bring him up. His stat line from Double and Triple A last year was just sick…29 Doubles, 10 Triples, 17 HR and 21 SB while hitting .275. The scary part is that he still has room to fill out his 6’ 195 pound frame at on 19 years old.  

 

Los Angeles Angels

Kole Calhoun has less than 220 MLB ABs and may not be a true prospect but he gets the nod because he will be the everyday RF in 2014. In the minors he never hit below .292 and had a .354 season gong before being called up again in 2013.

 

Houston Astros

Even though Jonathan Singleton had the 50 game suspension setback last year he still has the chance to win the 1B job this year in Houston. Since only 7 1B hit over 25 HRs last year in MLB he has the raw power to exceed that figure and worth a draft pick. The knock on him is his dedication and of course it’s hard to draft an Astros player but he has the opportunity to work himself into a run producing spot in the middle of Houston’s line-up.

Prospects in NL West...Worth a Look

Well, it’s Zero degrees in my neck of the woods and no better time than now to start our Fantasy Baseball work for 2014.  I will open up the season with a breakdown of each team’s prospect that should have fantasy value at some point in the season. These guys may not break camp with the big club but they will contribute at some point. All of these players should be drafted in Dynasty Leagues and taken with late round picks to stash on your bench at least keep on your radar.

NL West

The D’Back’s have in my opinion the best pitching prospect in baseball. He is Archie Bradley. It seems strange to say that a  #7 overall pick in the 2011 draft has exceeded expectations but he has and here is why. His control and command. It is what moved him from High A to Double A in just 5 starts. He ended the season with a combined 14 Wins, 1.84 ERA and 162Ks in only 152 innings pitched.  With a 6’4” 225 pound frame he can consistently hit 94 mph and touches 97 with late life. He is Verlander/ Latos like and will not start the season with the big league club but should be a fixture in their rotation come June. Worth a draft pick to stash on your bench.

With the Rockies bringing up so many young players like Arenado, Rutledge, and Rosario over the last year plus the cupboard must be bare for prospects. That may be true for position players but the weakness of the Rockies has always been their SP. Their best prospect (that will see time in 2014 and provide Fantasy Baseball relevance) is Eddie Butler. He will not break camp with the Rockies but he is projected as a top of the rotation guy with the best Slider and Changeup in Colorado’s organization. A 1.90 ERA and an 8.2 K/9 minor league stat line is impressive. He will be 1^st call up to fill rotation spot for the often injured Rockies SPs. Not worth a draft pick but keep on radar.

It’s well known the Dodgers have OF depth as deep as it gets with Kemp, Crawford, Puig, and Either. It is also known they miss a lot of games due to injury. So if a trade does materialize to move an OF or the injury bug comes biting sooner than later up comes Joc Pederson. Playing this winter in the Venezuelan league to get more ABs he has projected again as a 20/20 guy at the MLB level. Last year he put up 22 HR and 31 SB in 123 games. A wait and see come spring training if he is worth drafting.

The Padres have one of the youngest teams in MLB and many of their top prospects are at the age of 20 years old. The only real prospect that has a chance to break camp is C Austin Hedges. He will get a shot because of Grandal’s injury when he came back from his 50 game suspension.  Grandal had reconstructive knee surgery in early July and should miss some time to start 2014. Hedges is a 15 HR guy with a little speed. He really only should be looked at in the deepest drafts this year.

The Giants are very deep pitching wise at the Minor League level but the best chance for an early season contributor will be Andrew Susac at catcher. With Posey possibly moving to1B and DHing at AL parks, Susac could break camp with the team as the 2^nd Catcher. What he does best is get on base. He sports and incredible .507 OBP in the Arizona Fall League and had a .368 OBP last year. He has some pop with 29 XBH is 262 ABs last year.

Finish Strong

I know it has been awhile since I have posted...due mainly to an injury, then there are kids, family and even a little burnt out. But it’s final stretch time; time to take out all stops and try to win your league. I want to help you gain ground in a category, block another manager from gaining ground against you and maximize your games played and innings limits down the stretch. Let me know how I can Fix Your Team.

Many injuries lately and they have rippling effects. Harvey goes down and that may keep the Mets from sending Wheeler out for the rest of the season. If it wasn’t already decided, Harvey’s injury will make Miami shut down phenom Fernandez very soon too. Those coming back from injury will be Kemp, Jeter, and Montero. Those still hurting are Tulo, Rasmus, Reddick, Weeks and Cain. The waiver claims are coming fast and furious. Some mid level vets may get placed in a high potent offense so keep eyes on Morales, Byrd, and Willingham.

 The call ups are coming soon so keep an eye on minor league studs like Castellanos in Detroit, and a Polanco in Pittsburgh. These two bats can give big dividends for 30 games. In Tampa any of their stud SP can come up and give a spot start. The Pale Hose have already called up Avisail Garcia after the Rios trade and he can play. The 2 studs in Minnesota should be called up but I feel only Sano gets the call and Buxton stays put. Would live to see both Springer and Singleton get the call in Houston but do not see the last place AAAstros doing either. Recently Seattle DFA’d Harrang so that leaves a chance Seattle’s best prospect Walker gets a few starts on the hill before the season ends.

League Updates

I have been down with a jacked up knee for 5 weeks now. It has cost me time with my kids and wife, ability to work effectively and time away from Fantasy Baseball. Nothing is worse than being injured. So what I need is a vacation so I am heading to Northern Michigan over All-Star weekend.  

I thought this would be a good time to give updates on my Fantasy teams. With the injury, it has kept me from being as engaged as I would have liked on an everyday basis. I had missed out on some great call-ups, line-up changes and waiver claims. Anyway, overall I am having a decent baseball season but it could be better. Here are links to my leagues.

http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/81865

Money where I am currently in 1^st place, 12 team 5X5 Roto.  Even with Kemp and Reyes going down for extended time I have been able to maintain a great standing. My pitching has been very dominating in this competitive league led by Scherzer, Bumgarner and a trade of Samardzija. Best pick up was getting Josh Donaldson for Ryu in early May. Currently next to last in Average so if I can pick that up could sail to a victory.

http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/1144

4^th year Dynasty League where I have finished 1^st, 1^st and 2^nd since its inception. Currently 3^rd after dropping from 2^nd last week. Daily 6x6 H2H league with OPS and Saves. This is one league that has suffered due to my injury. Just haven’t been as engaged in streaming players on short scheduled days and moved Puig before his call-up for Hamels and Nick Franklin. 12 team league where two managers have bailed. Will have openings if interested…let me know.

http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/109530

Auction Public Yahoo League. Currently 2^nd place and 5 point behind. I have bounced in and out of 1^st most of the year. 6 of 10 counting stats are in double digits with worst being Wins which I sit at 5.5 points. Best auction draft was Machado for $1…he will be at $30 next year.

http://baseball.fantasysports.yahoo.com/b1/126730

Roto Authority Invite 5X5 Roto Money League. Highly competitive league and currently I am in 8^th place and 38 points behind. In early May I was actually in 2^nd place but have free fallen since. I actually think I only posted 10 HR in the last 3 weeks of May.  Braun, Utley, Morneau, Howard and Aramis have hurt me as much as my knee hurts. Injuries are just part of Fantasy as in life….but they still hurt. Another problem with this team is I had no multi-position players so line-up flexibility was nonexistent. I will never do that again.

http://games.espn.go.com/flb/leagueoffice?leagueId=14805&teamId=6&seasonId=2013

Razzball Commenter League. Currently 4^th and 21 points behind. The 3 teams ahead of me are all at 90 points and I am at 69. Probably not going to compete for a championship but will try and hold on to my position. Personally I do not like the ESPN format but I play 1 of Razzball’s 40+ leagues every year.  The format of this league relies too heavily on staying healthy; only 1 DL spot and 3 bench spots. Biggest hurts have been Price and Braun. If those two were healthy or I had more DL room I could have gained another 5 points or so. I currently lead league in Ks but am next to last in HRs. The rest of my counting stats are 7,8s and 9s.

http://rotobanter.baseball.cbssports.com/

The most unconventional league I am participating in this year. Nearly everyone is a writer of fantasy sports and the counting categories are as follows:  Hitting OPB, SLG, PA, RP(runs produced), SB-CS. Pitching BB/9, HR/9 K-W/PA, K/9, RA(Runs allowed). Was in 1^st for a month, then 2^nd for 6 weeks and now currently 4^th. This league has huge roster with contracts and minor leaguers. Just recently I had 12 on DL…yeah I know. Biggest hurts were Tolu, Reyes, Peavy, Burnett, Halladay, Youk. Still think I can finish 3^rd or even 2^nd when I get healthy. That would put me in the money.  

Hope to have many more consistent postings and analysis after All-Star break. Sorry for such limited content during my injury and rehab. I appreciate all the readers that have contacted me and wished me well.

The Doubles Machine

Orioles’ third baseman Manny Macho continues to hit doubles at a record pace. Currently the 20 year old has 33 doubles in his first 72 games. The record is 67 set by Earl Webb back in 1931. He has a solid chance to set history. Machado has hit in the 2 hole all year and put up a .324 average to go along with 5HR and 37 RBI and 5 SB. His OPS is a whopping .845. He recently had a 14 game hitting streak snapped. But can right back with 2 knocks in his next game. A look at this doubles chart shows balls hit from foul line to foul line. This kid just plasters the ball to every part of the park including some ground rule doubles. Many think that when he hits 200lbs 20-30% of those doubles will be HRs. Scary!

I only own Machado in 1 league, it was an auction league where I put up Machado for a buck and no one countered. At the time I thought I had a below average 3B going into the season. How wrong I was, I am now winning this league thanks in part to Machado. At 20, Machado is Trout/Harperesque player without the media hype. I went and looked up A-Rods 20 year old season for comparisons in doubles. A-Rod had one of his best hitting seasons ever at age 20 so maybe not a fair comparison but here are his numbers at age 20 and 21. Remember though A-Rod was hitting in the 3 hole at that time too. 54 Doubles, 36 HR, 123 RBI, and 15 SB while hitting .358. At 21 A-Rods numbers look much more the same as Machado. 40 Doubles 23 HR, 84 RBI, 29 SB while hitting .300.

Machado may not get the Trout-Harper hype but he would be my main target in any Dynasty/Keeper League. Remember too that the day will come when he qualifies at SS. When that happens he could be a number 1 overall fantasy pick just like A-Rod was for nearly a decade.

If Machado can push his doubles count to north of 40 by the All-Star game it will be the talk of the All-Star break. So if you want to make a move for Machado try to do it now because the hype will increase 10 fold over the next 4 weeks and his remaining 23 games until the break.

Time To Buy Low

Earlier in the week we discussed some undrafted gold through the first 40% of the season. Now it is time to look at some highly drafted players who could be great buy low candidates. The struggling stars can help bolster your squad for the 2^nd half of the season. I have given you players at each hitting position that can give you a competitive advantage going forward. I feel every one of these players is definitely poised to rebound and should be targeted now for trades. When going after these players look what need the current managers has and fill it for him while pilfering the player you want. He are the players you should target for trades immediately.

Undrafted Gold

Looking back on drafts there are always players drafted that make manager’s look brilliant. Then there are players that every manager passed on and turn out to be fantasy studs.  I took a look at some of the best undrafted hitters to date and I was a little stunned to see so many out there. The players I have listed all had ADPs over 300 which made them undrafted in 12 team 25 man rosters. These top 10 undrafted hitters are all now ranked in the top 75 hitters in Fantasy Baseball. Most of these hitters are legit and I see only a small regression coming if any at all. My guess is if you have not plucked one of these players off waivers by now you are probably in the bottom third of your league. Hell, most of these players are still available and with all the injuries to key players out there right now you should nab a couple.

PED Scandal & Fantasy Impact

First I want to say that I think I am ready to try some PED or HGH. I went down Monday with a knee problem that may be a partially torn ACL or a torn Cartilage and at my advanced age I want some help. My knee is as big as my head and my Ortho Doc wants to give me an MRI if the swelling doesn't subside by next week. I freakin' hate getting old!! Anyway, my take on the current PED scandal is really "no surprise". Money is just too big for players not to try and get an advantage, whether it be a contract year, just signing that big contract and wanting to live up to the expectations or a player just trying to keep himself in the show or on a 40 man roster.  The so-called 20 man list really only has 11 players to date with Fantasy relevance, which is what really concerns me.  In that 11 players, Gio Gonzalez is only suspected of buying legal substances but I guess it is guilt by association. The other 10 are to have purchased or were injected with banned substances by Biogenesis. One aspect of this hunt is that 3 of the players have already been suspended for 50 games for testing positive for high levels of testosterone or amphetamines. Too me this seems like double jeopardy if they get a 2^nd suspension. With all that said this is what I think will end up happening. Just before the All-Star break MLB will come out with a definitive list of players it will try to suspend. The Players Union will cry FOUL and will appeal all suspensions as a group and want to be able to have lengthy cross examinations with Tony Bosch. It will come out Bosch and his employees were paid for testimony. The final outcome will be no suspensions this year and that’s great news to Fantasy Managers but come next year many top stars could be sitting until July 2014. I could be wrong but that’s how I see this washing out. So if you own any of the players listed below and are nervous, especially if you own multiple players on the same team, you may want to test the trade waters. I have already seen a few of these players get moved today in leagues where if not for this scandal the quality of these trades would be suspect. But in time of uncertainty getting 50-60 cents on the dollar for a player isn’t bad. Remember part of something is better than all of nothing.  Personally, I am sitting tight on the players I own…but will entertain trade offer sent to me. I have other issues like 5-6 players on the DL at the same time…we all have troubles my friend. Here are the top Fantasy Players being targeted so far.

Ryan Braun	Brewers
Everth Cabrera	Padres
Melky Cabrera	Blue Jays
Francisco Cervelli	Yankees
Bartolo Colon	Athletics
Nelson Cruz	Rangers
Gio Gonzalez	Nationals
Yasmani Grandal	Padres
Fernando Martinez	Astros
Jesus Montero	Mariners
Jhonny Peralta	Tigers
Alex Rodriguez	Yankees

Insert Johnson Everyday Or Night

First I have to say I’m glad to be back from vacation. My teams took a small hit while I was gone as I was limited to internet access on a lake in Northern Michigan. Anyway back to baseball and the latest move happening in Atlanta.

A Search Brought Up Some Rotten "HAM" In Fantasy Baseball

While recently looking in one of my leagues for a manager who owned Cole Hamels, I typed “ham” into the player search box. The search revealed of course all the players in MLB whose name included “ham”. What surprised me was the 6 current players that came up in my search were all playing well below their pre-season rank and thus in some cases crushing their fantasy owners. One was a minor league player that most prognosticators felt could lead the lead in SB if called up. A majority of these players were early round selections and were anchors of fantasy teams. Here are the players with their pre-season and current Fantasy rank.

Gordon BeckHAM: Pre-season 339 now1023 3% owned. A late round pick in many leagues at MI. Many still think Beckham is a solid 15/15 option but he has been hurt and has taken up DL space on some rosters.

Billy HAMilton: Pre-season 305 now 1136 10% owned. The all team single MiLB season SB leader in history at 155 was suppose to be called up once any Reds’ player went down with injuries. Well that injury happened and then happened again but still no Hamilton. That is because he is struggling to hit above .200. 1 out of every 10 Fantasy managers is still holding out hope…not sure why.

Josh HAMilton: Pre-season 24 now 676 98% owned. One of my favorites to win AL MVP. Luckily I do not own him in any league as he went 1^st round in all my Leagues.  I liked him but not 1^st round. Those that did are floundering in the back half of most leagues. He is the type of player that most managers would rather sink with than trade at a low value.

Josh WillingHAM: Pre-season 122 now 370 71% owned. Willingham has battled injuries with his wrist. With 35 HR last year there was a big fantasy expectation for Willingham this year. I feel he is a great buy low candidate at this time.

Joba CHAMberlain: Pre-season 683 now 684 1%owned. Really his only fantasy option was for in Holds leagues. He is currently on the DL and is becoming categorized more as a bust as the Yankees have waited nearly 5 years for him to produce.

Cole HAMels: Pre-season 35 now 778 97% owned. Hamels has been very good in all but 2 of his starts but he is still 1-6 with an ERA near 5.00. The Phillies are near the bottom in all hitting stats and their OF is well below par defensively.  I do not own Hamels but would like to trade for him. Unfortunately Hamels owners would be trading on his name rather than his current stats. If you can snag him up on the cheap do so.

Jason HAMmel: Pre-season 244 now 930 44% owned. Hammel somehow has collected 5 wins on the year with a 5.72 ERA and a 1.57 WHIP. If you own him congrats on the Wins but his other counting stats have probably brought your staff way down. To me has amassed his win by smoke and mirrors and is not even close to owning.

A Call-Up in Tampa Bay Is Coming

With David Price getting pulled early last night due to triceps soreness and possibly looking at a DL stint the Rays will be forced to call up one of their Triple A studs. I personally feel Price needs the DL stint both physically and mentally at this point. If not a DL stint he surely will miss his next start at the very least.

The Quality Start...A Good Measure of Quality in Fantasy Baseball

In baseball, a Quality Start is a statistic for a SP defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least 6 innings and permits no more than 3 Earned Runs. In today’s Fantasy Baseball world there are leagues that use QS as a counting stat. Last year in a Points League I was in, it was one of the more weighted counting stats. Currently I am not in any QS leagues but do follow the stat.

Roy Oswalt Version 3.0

Is it time to own Roy Oswalt once again? Let’s see what the former NL leader in ERA, Wins, winning % and starts brings to the table. The 35 year old recently allowed 1 ER on 5 hits in his first outing for in extended spring training. It was 3 innings and 43 pitches. His stuff was consistent and his velocity was decent according to Colorado scouts. The projections on Oswalt are to arrive in Colorado’s rotation by early June.

We all remember the time in Texas last year where he signed late, had a poor performance as both a starter and a middle reliever. His line last year was un-Oswalt; a 4-3 record with a 5.80 ERA and a 1.52 WHIP.  His career numbers are better. A 163-96 record with a 3.28 ERA and a 1.20 WHIP over 12 seasons. Oswalt was always the quiet and consistent star in Houston, which I feel most people have forgotten because of the last two part time odd seasons. I know Oswalt has things to prove and he is ready to be a full time MLB pitcher. That means competing, not complaining and reporting for spring training next year, according to him

Things to remember; Oswalt has finished in the top 6 of the Cy Young voting 6 times, he has an excellent stat line while pitching in Coors. In 5 starts he is 4-0 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP and a K/9 ratio near 8. The word is he is taking this chance extremely serious and wants to pitch well beyond this year…so I would declare it is safe to say this is probably his last chance. With that being said I am picking Oswalt up on all teams I have bench room at the moment. No need to scoop up Oswalt immediately because he is still owned in less than 1% of leagues. If I just showed you his career number then labeled him as Player A and told you he was widely available you would be eager to pick that SP up. He is worth a month long look on your team.

Stashing Minors On Your Bench

It’s that time of year where we will start to see more and more players being called up, the AAAstros just brought up Trevor Crowe and Jimmy Paredes. The Rockies called up Nolan Arenado and he has already paid dividends. Everyone wants to find the next Trout or Harper and stash them on their bench until they make their MLB debut.  Now we are only talking about single season pick-ups because all these players are already on Dynasty teams. Here are the 10 most owned Minor Leaguers in CBS Fantasy Baseball and I will try and give you an analysis if they are worth stashing and taking up potentially valuable bench space.

What’s Happened To David Price?

 

His start over the weekend went from bad to worse. When he left the game he was charged with 4 earned runs. Then shortly after the game, the official scorer changed an error on Zobrist and that put Price on the hook for 9 earned runs.  That put his season stat’s to an abysmal 1W 3L with a 6.25 ERA and a 1.48 WHIP. He has now given up over 50% of his 2012 earned run total in just 7 starts. Hitters are pounding him to a tune of a .302 average.  The major reason for his inflated numbers this year is what he is doing with RISP.  Hitters are drilling him to a tune of a .478 average with RISP and 2 outs. In previous years he has dominated in those situations. He has only 1 K in those situations where as in the past he has posted a K 24% of the time.

April's Surprise Players

Now that we are into May let’s look back on some of the biggest surprises of April at each position. These players and their hot starts may not translate into yearlong Fantasy studs but they are worth a look and some are readily available in most leagues. The major criteria I looked at were Fantasy counting numbers and average draft position. What we can learn is that there is so much value late in drafts that drafting players in rounds 10-15 that out produce their counterparts will propel you the top of your leagues every year. Then there are those undrafted players who thrust themselves into mainstream Fantasy radar every year. So here is a snapshot by each position on who has come out of the April gate on fire.

Stanton Down & Ozuna Up

With Giancarlo Stanton being shelved for a few weeks the Marlins have called up Marcell Ozuna.  Ozuna was a dangerous power hitter in the Marlins low minor’s organization. In fact, he has only played 10 games above A ball but in the last two years he has put nearly identical slash lines. 2011 and 2012 he hit .266 with 23 HRs and 24 HRs. He had slightly more Doubles too. This season in Jacksonville he was hitting .316 with 5HR. He will slide into right field and probably hit 5^th in the lineup. This could be a showcase for the Marlins and if Ozuna can hit MLB pitching Stanton would be on the move for a boatload of prospects sooner than later.

Expect some occasional mammoth power and a very high strike out rate. I know it is hard to own anybody in a Marlins uniform but if you are desperate for some power in your lineup it might be worth picking up Ozuna for a week and try to get a couple of HRs. Ozuna does have some 10-15 SB speed so a nice parker and pilfer could happen in the same game.  The down side is his low contcat rate so your BA could take the brunt of the disappointment. Personally I will not be picking up Ozuna in any leagues because he is a true boom or bust fantasy player. If I had to compare him to a player it would be Dayan Viciedo but with more speed.

The Magnificent Marwin Gonzalez...Who?

So who is Marwin Gonzalez? That’s what I said when I first heard his name. That time came when he was the one who broke up Yu Darvish’s perfect game earlier this month. Since then he has beaten out the career light hitting Ronnie Cedeno for the stating SS position in Houston.

An Angel Will Be Stealing

I recently picked up Peter Bourjos in every league he was available. I had him on my watch list since the drafts ended and thought he would have increased fantasy value if he could hit in the 2 hole this year. Well, Scioscia has actually put him in lead off since the Aybar injury.

I didn’t have Bourjos on my radar for his BA but he is going into tonight hitting over .300 with an OBP of .380. Though he has not even attempted a SB this year he is one of the fastest men in baseball. Now that he is hitting leadoff I expect him to start running and showcasing his blazing speed on the base paths.   One reason he is now leading off is he has a modest 6 game hit streak and has more walks than Ks in the last 10 days. As I mentioned here back in February, Bourjos was the forgotten man in the Angels potent line up. Remember just a few years ago he was hyped as much as Trout was in the Minors.

If Bourjos can continue to draw some walks I am expecting a small explosion in SB in the next month. He once swiped 50 in the minors and 22 as recent as 2011. A top the Angels order the Runs should come in bunches too. A great pick up this week as he is only owned in 9% of Yahoo Leagues, 7% of ESPN. Do not expect the BA to stay north of 300 but as Bourjos matures, age 26 season, he gets better and better. He should beat out at least 1 infield hit a week. Remember that the Angels GM had every chance to move him once Hamilton signed but he was the one who stayed this winter…not Morales or Wells.

Closer News

The changes come quick and often in Detroit. Many thought Rondon would be the closer for the Tigers and I saw him scooped up in many leagues. Then Leyland told the media that Valverde and his post Save Dance had been signed and will be closing games starting Wednesday.

As you all remember Valverde had 35 Saves last year but fell out of favor after an atrocious post season. He then had trouble finding work and didn’t sign MBL contract. Well he’s back and to me the post season, big lights, high drama means nothing to the Fantasy community. Valverde can pitch, he can collect Saves with that team, and he has significant value.

In other Closer news it looks like Rodney has no way to replenish his pixie dust magic from last year as I predicted, as he blew the game tonight after a solid Price outing. Look for Farnsworth to make the jump back into his closer role that he held in 2011 sooner than later.

Most Added Analysis

Here is a compiled look at the most added players this week in fantasy baseball and my analysis on each.

Rk	Player	% Change
1	Crawford, Brandon SS SF	36
2	Quintana, Jose SP CHW	36
3	Bailey, Andrew RP BOS	34
4	Corbin, Patrick SP ARI	31
5	Cingrani, Tony RP CIN	30
6	Villanueva, Carlos RP CHC	29
7	Johnson, Chris 3B ATL	25
8	Mujica, Edward RP STL	25
9	Detwiler, Ross SP WAS	22
10	Davis, Wade RP KC	21
11	Betancourt, Y. 2B MIL	18
12	Cabrera, Everth SS SD	16
13	Gattis, Evan OF ATL	16
14	Schierholtz, Nate RF CHC	16