Sunday, May 19, 2013

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 1st round in all my Leagues.  I liked him but not 1st 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.

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