Another Great First Name In Cleveland

With Grady going on the DL for the second time this year it may be time to take a look at his replacement. The Indians may own the league record for craziest first names as they inserted Ezequiel Carrera into CF for yesterday’s double header. He responded with 2 SB. We now have the Asdrubal and Ezequiel show in Cleveland.

The guy has no power but has been a solid slap hitter in his 6 years in the minors. The Venezuelan has a career .291 minor league BA, along with an OBP of .372 to date. He walks, hits, steals bases and collect a few runs. This year in 81 minor league games he had 35 SB in 39 attempts.

I picked him up in a couple of leagues where I owned Sizemore. With Sizemore’s recent knee problems he could be out for an extended period of time or be shut down for the season again if Cleveland falls out of the race. The bottom line on this kid is he can get you some quick steals over the next two weeks along with a BA that won’t kill you and score a few runs. He should continue to bat in the 9 hole which can hurt over the long haul, but for a quick fix it is not a real concern. He is definitely worth a spot in deep leagues and AL only Leagues.

Time To Sit Young Man

That time of year when young SP and those coming back from injury are told they will be shut down in the near future. This happened to one of my SP this week. I have been trying to trade him but no takers even though most league mates haven’t realized why I want to move him. I had been holding off on this post in hopes of moving him before I posted this, but it’s time to let my audience know about the situation in Washington. Jordan Zimmerman has been put on a 160 IP limit for the season. That leaves him roughly 45 innings left, so maybe 6-7 starts. He will be benched by Labor Day and miss 5-6 starts at the end of the season. Back in early June I warned you about these situations especially with Michael Pineda. In the coming weeks more and more SP will be shut down once they are out of the race or have any sign of pain or fatigue. If you own Zimmerman, this weekend would be the time to move him for whatever you can get. By the end of the month he will have absolutely no value.

Let The 2nd Half Begin

Back from vacation and ready for some baseball. The break for the All-Star game makes me feel like I do in the winter when there is no baseball, hungry for more. This one man show called Fantasy Baseball Vision can become consuming, draining, and fulfilling all-in the same day. The breaks I take here and there make me think what direction I want to take this site. From the responses I get from my readers/followers they enjoy the advice and insight I provide. Feel free to let me know what kinds of articles, postings, projections you would like to see every week. If not for my audience there is really no need for this site, so for that I thank you.

Over the next couple of weeks, until the trade deadline, I will monitor all trades and give feedback on the fantasy impact of those trades. So far we have seen a couple of players moved and their fantasy relevance increased and decreased.

July 13, 2011: The New York Mets traded Francisco Rodriguez to the Milwaukee Brewers for 2 players to be named later from a group of 5 candidates. These players will be moved sometime in September to the Mets.
(Impacts – Francisco Rodriguez loses significant value, he will not close games therefore losing saves. If you are in a Holds league he still has great value. John Axford may occasionally lose a Save but his value remains high. Jason Isringhausen and Bobby Parnell will battle for the Saves in NY, personally I feel Izzy will get the first cal but both are worth owning if you have the space on your roster.)

July 12, 2011: The Toronto Blue Jays traded Juan Rivera to the Los Angeles Dodgers.     (Impacts – Juan Rivera will gain in LF for LA and maybe a look at 1B if he hits and Loney continues to struggle. James Loney will lose a few Abs every week with the arrival of Rivera, and Tony Gwynn Jr become useless. Personally, I would not roster a single one f these players except for in very deep leagues.)

The next trades I see be to completed in the near future will be Beltran going to a contender and Nunez moving to anyone that will take him.

Vacation Time

Off for a weeks vacation in Northern Michigan. Bear Lake Michigan to be precise. Baseball duties will resume upon my return for the All-Star game.

Closers On The Move

With the trading deadline approaching it’s that time of year to start looking at what current closers could be shipped and not be closing for their new team. For fantasy purposes this can be devastating for your roster. You can have a couple of the best closers (stats wise) for saves one night then they can be shipped to a contender as a set up man virtuously making them useless in fantasy baseball. You could literally lose out on 15-30 saves depending on how many closers you lose by this means.

So what is a fantasy manager to do? First try and analyze which bad teams have expendable closers with movable contacts. Then open up a roster spot to possibly handcuff their successor as the trade deadline approaches. I have listed what I feel are the top 7 current closer candidates to be moved to help a contender down the stretch. The only team I feel that will pick up a closer from another team and insert him in as “their” closer is The Phillies. Teams like Boston, Yankees, Tampa Bay, Cincinnati, Colorado, and Cleveland may all look to pick up bullpen help if they are still in the race but only Philadelphia will insert one as a closer.

Here is the list of Closers I feel will be moving to new teams, I have also listed who you should handcuff in the next couple of weeks to ensure you have a closer in waiting.

Heath Bell ~ Mike Adams

JJ Putz ~ David Hernandez

Leo Nunez ~ Steve Cishek

Kevin Greg ~ Koji Uehara

Matt Capps ~ Joe Nathan

Francisco Rodriguez ~ Jason Isringhausen

Brandon League ~ Jamey Wright

These closers all have team friendly contracts with the exception of Rodriguez for the Mets. Even with his contract the Mets will look for a trading partner. You and I know these type of players get traded every year in baseball, be prepared for the loss this time.

Picking Up The 10X DL Pitcher

Originally posted at ProFantasyBaseball By Brett Barton

Former ace Rich Harden is back to starting games again. The other night he pitched very well with a stat line of getting the Win with 6IP, 2ER, and 6Ks without giving up a walk against the D-Backs. Compared that to last season’s miserable numbers of a 5.58 ERA and 75/62 K/BB ratio over 92 innings with the Rangers and he looks like he may be back to his old dominate self. The problem with Harden is of course the injuries. He also has lost a couple of MPHs on his fastball, he is a SP who relies on changing speeds and when the fastball and changeup start getting closer in speed the Harden riddle has been figured out by the league.

In his 9 year career Harden has made 146 starts which averages out to only 16 starts a year. Therefore it can be said he has actually missed as many starts as he has made. The DL stints prove this 3x in 05’ 2x in 06’ almost the entire year in 07’ 1x in 08’ 1x in 10’ and of course this year. The total is 10x over a 9 year career. These injuries include back, arm, shoulder, oblique, lat and a combination off all.

The question now is what can he give the Fantasy community? The answer is; a former ace worth giving a shot on your roster. I personally have picked him up in a couple of leagues. With the shrewdness of the A’s front office he will be showcased a couple of more times then be traded to a contender down the stretch. That means he will be playing for a winning team with a good offense putting up Runs for him. I see a great source of Wins and Ks from this supposedly washed up 29 year old. Currently he is available in 90% of leagues but it will change quickly after another quality start. So ride the horse until he completely breaks down or pick him up and trade him yourself for someone a little more durable.

Dynasty League Prospect

I just reviewed and signed another player in my Dynasty League. This player was selected by the San Diego Padres with the 10^th overall pick and signed immediately. His name is Cory Spangenberg, a left handed hitter with A+ speed. He batted .477 this past season at Indian River State College. That was the 6^th best BA among all Jr. College players. Though he doesn’t have much power and therefore will move from 3B to 2B for the Pads he has like I stated blazing speed with very strong on-base abilities. Some listed him as the fastest player in the recent draft. Over his first 11 games with the Friars he has seen 37 at-bats as a pro, Spangenberg is hitting at a clip of .405 with 1HR and 11RBI. That includes 4 doubles and a fantastic 13 walks. He is sporting a .566 OBS with a .595 SLG meaning his OPS is 1.161…I’ll take that!!