KEEPIN’ IT ON THE D.L.
Surprisingly light week on injury front…
Ricky Nolasco is out for the season after tearing the meniscus in his knee. So much for another strong finish . Andrew Miller grabbed Ricky’s rotation spot. He’s worth a look in NL-only leagues, but is risky in all others.
INKED & AXED
Here’s our take on the players fantasy owners are adding and dropping the most. (Change in Ownership Percentages via CBS Sports leagues)
Hot Commodities
Danny Espinosa (up 14%): Lots of owners must’ve caught that Nats game on Labor Day. Espinosa swatted two home runs and just missed a third. With 18 HRs in Triple-A this season, he’s a nice short-term add while he fills in for Ian Desmond.
Jordan Zimmermann (up 12%): A 6-inning, 1-hit, 9-strikeout performance last week and his 2-start status this week made Zim a popular pick up. But owners who rolled him out there (including me) got burned when the Nats stuck to his strict 80-pitch limit. Given their cautious use of the kid, he’s not worth owning until next year.
Barry Enright (up 12%): He came out of nowhere to grab a permanent spot in the D-Backs rotation. I keep waiting for the guy to get pounded, but with five quality starts in six outings, he’s quickly gaining the confidence of skeptical fantasy owners.
Nothing wrong with owning Enright.
Cold Product
Rich Harden (down 10%): So much talent, so little consistency. These days, Harden’s coming out of the pen—and out of fantasy lineups.
Jonathan Broxton (down 9%): One of the shockers of the season. Joe Torre says things will be “status Kuo” in the Dodgers bullpen for the rest of ’10, meaning Hong-Chih Kuo will remain the closer. As painful as it may be, you need to dump Brox like a bag of rocks.
Dustin Moseley (down 9%): Down 9%? I’m surprised he was even owned in that many leagues. Must be because he’s in the pinstripes. Well, just ask AJ Burnett and Javier Vazquez how overrated that can be.
BIG SURPRISES
Guys who stepped up over the past week:
Carlos Gonzalez (.517 BA, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 3 SB) – Sure, he’s been doing this a lot lately. But overall, this is one helluva surprising season. Car-Go’s making a run at the Triple Crown and could be the #1 pick in drafts next year. Crazy, right?
Neil Walker (.481 BA, 2 HR, 5 RBI, 8 R) – Speaking
of next year’s draft. This guy’s steadily improving his 2011 draft
value. The steady pop bodes well for Walker’s fantasy future.
J.A. Happ (16 IP, 11 H+BB, 2 ER, 11 K, 2 W) – I don’t get why
the sabermetricians were so down on Happ coming into the season. He had a
nice ERA and is young enough to bring down his peripherals. Which is
exactly what he’s doing. Nice trade, Astros.
SUDDEN DEMISES
Stars who stumbled:
Albert Pujols (.050, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R) – I don’t believe my eyes.
Andre Ethier (.173 BA, 0 HR, 0 R, 0 RBI) – Pretty much a bad thing to own any Dodgers hitters lately.
James Shields (4.1 IP, 9 H+BB, 6 ER, L) – Just when you thought it was safe to get him back into your starting lineup…
Shields needs a shield fend off all the hard-hit balls he’s giving up this season.
STAT THAT LOOKS LIKE A TYPO…BUT ISN’T
0.45
That’s Torii Hunter’s pitiful success rate on stolen bases this year. And I thought Matt Kemp’s pace was a joke. Hunter has just 9 steals in 20 attempts.
HARDBALL HELP
Juan: Is the new Nationals pitcher, Yunesky Maya, worth picking up in a 12-team league?
The Fantasy Geek: Juan, Yunesky Maya is a very appealing free agent. The 28-year-old Cuban import fared very well in his brief stint at Triple-A Syracuse. If your team is in a comfortable position heading into the last few weeks, I don’t recommend the risk. But if you’re ready to roll the dice to make a late move, you might just catch lightning in a bottle with Maya.
WHERE AMAZING POLLS HAPPEN
NEXT
We’re sticking a fork in the Hardball Help Live Chat for the season. Many teams are done for the year, thus the numbers have been down lately. Plus, there are early games the next couple of Mondays, which messes with the timing. But we’re sticking to our word that we’ll help you through the very last week. Just shoot an email to thefantasygeek@gmail.com if you have a fantasy baseball question. And while one chat is ending, another one is starting up soon. We’ll have our first regular-season edition of the Gridiron Geek Live Chat an hour prior to kickoff in Week 2. Here are details on that and everything else goin’ on at Da Geek:
ALL THE TIME – Look for our tweets with player updates as well as quick posts
THURSDAY – TFG’s Football Picks are back with our winners vs. the spread and Survivor Pool tips.
FRIDAY – Simon Says with more fantasy fun and frivolity from Si
FRIDAY – Sammy’s going to try to unveil the new weekly football column he’s been working on
SUNDAY – Hustle Points with hot free agents, day-to-dayers and double-start pitchers
WEDNESDAY – Everyone’s favorite mish-mosh of fantasy news, The Geekly Update
SUNDAY 9/19 – Gridiron Geek Live Chat with Sammy and The Geek
For more, visit TheFantasyGeek.com
And for more updates, follow The Geek on Twitter
