Midseason Acquisitions

By Ryan Craighead

It’s now hovering around the midway point in fantasy world and the division races are starting to heat up, both in the big show and fantasy leagues nationwide. Maybe your team is healthy and performing, maybe your team has been well out of the playoff since week three or maybe your team is in the majority, fighting to stay above .500 and plagued by multiple injuries. All in all, you need some help.

This time of year is very fluid for fantasy owners looking for one or two difference makers that will give them breathing room in the standings or put them back in the race. Owners are willing to move players, so get out there and make trades. The best trades are not blockbusters shipping star players but small ones trading role players.

MLB front offices are also very busy in early summer trying to fill holes in their club with minor leaguers who have been playing well to replace big leaguers unfit for their roles. A key point in fantasy success is to pay attention to minor leaguers; these misty-eyed young bloods are eager to prove that they belong and will play hard. The ones that get a lot of buzz do so for a reason: they can play. Guys like Moustakas and Rizzo will be difference makers down the stretch and deserve to be owned in all leagues.

Finding role players is no easy task; it requires scouring stats for many (and sometimes fruitless) hours. Often times it involves no small level of risk to go with a guy who’s hot. Take Sam Fuld, for instance. Earlier this year, good ole Fuldie was on fire for a few weeks in a row, hitting for average, stealing bases and scoring runs. Highlight reel catches will only keep you in the line-up for so long, however, as poor Sammy is now struggling both to hit and see the field. Rightfully so, he has been consequently dropped in most leagues.

One of the more pleasant surprises has been Corey Patterson, who has been a consistently average producer since coming on to the scene in mid-April, hitting .278 with 35 runs, 29 rbi and swiping 9 bags. While definitely not exciting, he is a perfect fit in deeper leagues, in a shallow outfield.

Pitching is like the weather: almost impossible to predict. Sure, the big guns like Halladay, Lincecum and Verlander are going to be stand-out performers, but asking about those guys is like asking if there will be tornadoes in the mid-west or earthquakes in California. Who knew that the Pirates would have a respectable staff? More than just a staff-filler but who will still be available is Jeff Karstens. He does only have 47 strikeouts in 71 innings, he has only given up 12 walks on the year. That’s a walk and a half per nine innings! The Pirates are above .500 for the first time since the ‘90s at this point in the season and his 2.66 era will earn him more wins and keep your team era down.

The weather’s heatin’ up and so will the sticks, so stay active! Make trades and keep a sharp eye on rising prospects!  

2011 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers

By Baron Kuhn

I-5 Sports

Brandon Morrow, Tor SP

These are players you can get late in your drafts who will help you win your leagues this season.

Brandon Morrow SP – With a 1.13 WHS (Walks + Hits / Strikeouts) Morrow was towards the top of the charts in 2010. His other numbers however were not as great (10 Wins, 4.49 Era, and a 1.38 Whip). He really came alive at home for the Blue Jays posting an 8-1 record with a 2.74 Era, 1.09 Whip and 97 Ks in 82 innings. He is still only 26 years of age and is entering that breakout zone between 27 and 30.  I am targeting Morrow late in drafts and believe that he will be a top 20 starter by the end of 2011.

Jed Lowrie SS/2B – Last season Lowrie showed he can hit when given playing time and entering 2011 the same problem exists. Lowrie is blocked at short by Scutaro and at second by Pedroia. If Scutaro struggles or is traded at some point this season Lowrie could break-out in a big way. In 171 at-bats last season Lowrie scored 31 runs, drove in 24, batted .287 and hit 9 home-runs. Projected over 500 at-bats that’s 90 runs, 26 home-runs and 74 RBIs. I doubt he reaches 500 at-bats but if he gets 350-400 he will be worth a roster spot especially with shortstop as shallow as it is this season.

Brandon League CL – League’s numbers weren’t the greatest last season as he struggled away from Safeco (3.99 Era on the road). But with few other options the Mariners will have League close out games for them to begin the season. With David Aardsma (hip) injured to begin the season and likely to be showcased then traded when he returns, League comes in as my favorite to end the season with the most saves on the Mariners. League isn’t being drafted in a lot of mixed leagues so you can grab him really late or add him after the draft.

Michael Morse 1B/OF - Morse with his hot spring and major league leading 9 spring home-runs has earned a starting spot in right field! Thus I hope you all read my column below and drafted Morse before the world knew about him starting.
"Morse had a breakout campaign for the Nationals last season hitting .289 with 15 home-runs and 41 RBIs in just 266 at-bats. He was rewarded by the Nationals going out and signing Adam LaRoche to block him at first-base, Jayson Werth at right-field and Rich Ankiel at left-field. Unless one of those three gets hurt or Rich Ankiel continues his terrible hitting, Morse is in line for another sub-400 at-bat season. Morse is only 28 and has yet to be given a full-time starting job. In 618 career at-bats he has hit .291 and last year showed the power potential his 6' 5" frame has always possessed. Washington! Give him a chance to play!"

*More to be added soon!

Chase D’arnaud Interview

By Ryan Craighead

I-5 Sports

Chase D'arnaud, SS PIT

      The most important thing in professional baseball is attitude; not just how they feel about themselves, but how they feel about the game. For Chase D’arnaud, the game of baseball is fun. Admittedly it can be a grind, and times can be trying, but overall it’s still fun.

      The average workweek during the season is an almost nightmarish onslaught of games on a nightly basis; they get only two days off a month. To stay in shape, D’arnaud works out twice to three times a week by showing up to the ballpark five hours before game time.

      D’arnaud played for the Altoona Curve this past season, the double-A affiliate for the Pittsburgh Pirates. Not the ideal vacation spot, but it is a distraction-free environment that can be advantageous for people that need or want to focus.

      The past year was not an ideal one for D’arnaud, and he said he was not happy with it. This lead to a discussion of the battle of complacency; at the start of the year, D’arnaud was a highly-touted prospect who was guaranteed chances to make the big league club and started to not play the day-to-day battles, but had the mindset of turning everything into the major leagues. The quest for the big leagues is a very big picture; it is imperative to leave that up to those white-collar office-holders to make those decisions. D’arnaud has been dedicating himself this offseason to getting back to the blue-collar, yeoman’s work that got him to this point.

      D’arnaud has been invited to the big-league spring training this year, after 10 separate non-invitee visits last year. Keeping with the theme, all D’arnaud would say about expectations for this spring training is that he’s going to take advantage of big league coaching to help him get ready for this season. With a little encouraging, he went on to say that increased exposure means good things and is the reason why he was invited back so many times last year.

      The atmosphere of a minor league clubhouse is as expected: 30 guys, all in their young adult life, being in close quarters everyday for long periods of time. The best teams, D’arnaud says, have the lightest-atmosphere clubhouses, where jokes run rampant and those that can’t take a joke are at the mercy of the majority. Hell, they are all big kids that do not need to grow up; it is baseball, after all.

      He only had positive things to say about Andrew McCutchen, the phenom that currently patrols centerfield for the Pirates, citing his cool demeanor as the thing he would want to emulate most. D’arnaud has the goal of not letting his body language or demeanor give away what type of game he had; he doesn’t want anyone to tell whether he hit for the cycle or had a golden sombrero (he’s hit for the cycle already in his career and never a golden sombrero, which equals 0 for 4 with 4 k’s).

      There is a group of players in D’arnaud’s draft class that he has grown with the past couple years that he enjoys playing with and can see himself at PNC Park with: Josh Harrison, Matt Hague and Anthony Norman. D’arnaud also has a great deal of respect for pitcher Rudy Owens, saying that his lower body strength is impressive.

      As a kid, D’arnaud was just like everybody else and had his favorite professional ballplayers. He liked Omar Vizquel, the slick-gloved middle infielder who is a professional in every sense of the word. For the other half of the game, D’arnaud watched A-Rod and was enraptured by how easy the game comes to that guy. When asked if he models his swing, stance or playing style after anybody, D’arnaud said no, he does not, but has been working on his own style, which is respectable.

      The thing that D’arnaud wanted people to know was that everyone’s path to the show is different; more often than not a minor leaguer will get to the bigs with a different team than what drafted him; his own brother, catcher Travis D’arnaud, has seen this happen when he was traded to the Blue Jays before last season. Then, on a more sober note, there are the long-term minor league guys, whom are known as 4-A players who spend an eternity in the minors. If D’arnaud is ever one of those guys, he said, who keeps getting jerked around and winds up playing nothing but minor league ball for years on end or when the game becomes just a job, he will hang it up and return to Pepperdine University to finish his degree; upon hearing Chase talk about his desire, drive and ambition, this is not what he has to worry about. It is more appropriate for Chase to continue his charity work that he started this year , as his ascension to the majors is all but assured. 

(Walks + Hits) / Strikeouts

Brandon Morrow

By Baron Kuhn

I-5 Sports

    WHS or (Walks + Hits)/Strikeouts is a way that I developed to find pitchers who may outperform last years numbers and which ones will fall on their faces. What WHS essentially does is describe how many walks or hits the pitcher gives up per strikeout. Critics of this method will argue that the stat gives an unfair bias toward strikeout pitchers and leaves at a disadvantage those who pitch to contact. Yes, it absolutely does and for good reason. When a pitcher has the ability to strikeout a lot of batters it allows him to reduce his risk. It takes factors beyond the pitchers control out of the equation. He no longer needs to rely on his team’s defense, the ballpark factor, the elements, the game is in his hands and his ability to come up with strikeouts allows risk to be lessened. Now I’m not saying that with 2 outs and the bases loaded Jered Weaver (Ks leader last season, 1.03 WHS) strikes out Batter A since his WHS was low but I am saying that it is more of a possibility than Mark Buehrle (2.98 WHS last season). In a sense WHS is a risk limiter, putting more control in the game in the pitchers hands. If a pitcher has a high chance of striking out a batter it often means he has pretty good stuff. There’s a reason the Cy Young award winners almost every year goes to a dominate strikeout machine.
    Another reason for using WHS is because in our beloved game of fantasy baseball one of the more forgotten categories (along with runs on the offensive side) is strikeouts. A lot of fantasy managers (to their own demise) tend to focus on wins and era which for the most part fluctuate from year to year. This is due to the fact that pitchers aren’t really in control of either of those stats. Take Felix Hernandez (1.14 WHS) for example, he was the Cy Young winner in the AL this past season and had only 12 wins. Put him on the Yankees (Mariners fans forgive me for this) and King Felix wins 20+ games. In the pitching world you either got it or you don’t and strikeout pitchers tend to be guys who have been making people miss since high school. I use WHS to chart growth from year to year in young pitchers and use it to find pitchers who already have the strikeout numbers but don’t quite have the other stats just yet. This season keep an eye on Brandon Morrow (1.13 WHS in 2010) and Bud Norris (1.44), two young pitchers who have the ability to rack up huge strikeout totals but haven’t yet taken that step to the next level. You can grab either of these guys pretty late in your draft based on their peripheral numbers (Morrow 10 wins, 4.49 ERA and 1.38 Whip, Norris 9 wins, 4.92 ERA and 1.48 WHIP) and should provide some great value.

Click Here for WHS Spreadsheet and Chart