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.