Achievers/Bums - 8/17/08

Sorry for the lack of posts. Donny and I have actually been busy with real life for once. Anyway, this isn't the Lifetime Network - let's talk baseball

Achievers
Melvin Mora - 3B - Baltimore Orioles - 3/4, 1 HR, 4 RBIS - Friday; 5/6, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs - Sunday. Baltimore hasn't seen anything this hot since Babs Johnson walked down the street. With 20 HRs and 91 RBIS, Mora has a chance to match his 2004 career highs (27 HRs, 104 RBIs). Mora is probably not available in your league, but if he is, stick him in your Utility or CI spot until he cools off.

Alex Rios - OF - Toronto Blue Jays - 5/6, 3 Rs, 2 RBIs - Yes, he had five hits. Rios also has only 9 HRs and 54 RBIs. Not exactly the figures for which managers were hoping when they drafted him.

Raul Ibanez - OF - Seattle Mariners - 5/5, 1 RBI - I can't leave out the other guy with 5 hits. Looking over my posts, I am sure that Fantasy Achievers mentions Raul Ibanez more than any other website. Tell your friends.

Andre Ethier - OF - Los Angeles Dodgers - 3/5, 2 HRS, 3 RBIs - Ethier smacked two HRs, including the GW HR in the bottom of the 9th. Ethier is deservedly getting more ABs than Juan Pierre, but Ethier is sitting down enough to make you think twice about leaving him in your line-up. Stay away from Ethier if you have to set your roster weekly, but maybe consider pairing him with Juan Pierre if you have the roster space (and time to sit by your computer 10 minutes before every game, fatty).

Johan Santana - W, 7Ks, CG SHO - Santana goes to 3-0 since the All Star break. You expected more than 11 wins and 148 Ks, but at least Santana is turning it on for the stretch. Santana is still solid, and you might be able to pick him up at a discount next season.

Bums

Josh Beckett - SP - Boston Red Sox - L, 2.1 IP, 8 ERs - The Red Sox have been dealing with injuries to their starting pitching, and it was time for Beckett to stand up and be the stopper for his team. No, not really. Beckett was smacked at home by a Blue Jays' team that is only ahead of the Mariners, Royals and A's in AL runs scored. After going 20-7 with a 3.92 ERA last season, Beckett falls to a paltry 11-9 with a 4.34 ERA. If the Red Sox are going to catch the Blank Rays, they better hope that Beckett was just having an off day.


Washington Nationals - No one cares about the Washington Nationals. Frankly, I don't think that I even do. However, Nationals GM Jim Bowden's desire to acquire as many middle IFs as possible drives me crazy. The Nats traded Luis Ayala to the Mets for SS Anderson Hernandez. Hernandez, who has the name of a Mexican accountant, owns a career MLB batting average of .138, which somehow makes his 2008 AAA batting average of .202 look respectable. While Ayala has frankly stunk this season (1-8, 5.77 ERA), his career numbers entering this season (26-24 with a 2.82 ERA) are pretty decent, on top of the fact that the Mets are a division rival. I don't expect the Mets to give up their top prospect (even though the Mets are the team that traded Scott Kazmir for Victor "I'm Not Carlos" Zambrano), but do the Nationals need another weak hitting 2B/SS? Are the Nats one switch-hitting Dominican away from enacting Bowden's master plan?

Hernandez is now battling other renown sluggers such as of Cristian Guzman, Pete Orr, Ronnie Belliard, Emilo Bonifacio (hitting .239 and 2 SBs with 22Ks in 16 games since being acquired for closer Jon Rauch) for the positions of SS and 2B. Perhaps it is not fair to call Ronnie Belliard a middle IF, as he (and his career .753 OPS) has played 20 games at 1B, splitting time with other sluggers Kory Casto (.495 OPS) and Aaron "Bleeping" Boone (125 HRs in 1,111 games).

Achievers/Bums - 7/27/08

ACHIEVERS

Johan Santana - SP - New York Mets - Win, 9.0 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 5 K's - Santana has been a disappointment this year because expectations were so high. I was looking at his numbers so far and was surprised to find that they are strikingly similar to Jon Lester's, although Santana has 29 more K's. Lester has obviously had a solid season, but this is not what anyone was expecting from Johan in his debut NL season. He's still a very good pitcher and he turned in a complete-game, six-hitter against the Cards last night, but if I own Santana, I might try to shop him around today and see what I could get. His K/9 is a pedestrian 7.62, which has him looking up at such strikeout kings as Sean Marshall, Wandy Rodriguez and Bronson Arroyo.

Alfonso Soriano - OF - Chicago Cubs - 3/5, HR, 3 RBI, 2 R - Soriano provided some sorely-needed offense for the Cubs. Could this be the beginning of a huge second half as predicted by Brandt?

Jake Peavy - SP - San Diego Padres - Win, 7 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 3 BB, 10 K's - Peavy finished off a great July, where he went 3-1 with an ERA of 2.12, by dominating the Pirates. His strikeouts are back to what you would expect from him, and he looks like he's in perfect health.

David Wright - 3B- New York Mets - 3/5, HR, 3 RBI - David Wright is a fantasy beast. I feel like he's underrated because he plays second fiddle to A-Rod as a NY third baseman, but I think he has clearly delivered as a top-5 fantasy player this year. In a standard roto league, I'd probably only take Hanley, Berkman and A-Rod over him in a draft right now. His status has gone up as Delgado's production has increased too.

BUMS

Ervin Santana - SP - Los Angeles Angels - Loss, 5 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 3 BB, 5 K's - Santana is who we thought he was. Remember, we thought he sucked on the road back in the day. Last night he reminded us why.

Javier Vazquez - SP - Chicago White Sox - Loss, 7 IP, 6 ER, 11 H, 2 BB, 3 K's - I love it when I try over and over again to trade for a player I covet, but the owner keeps giving me the middle finger, and then, on the same night that guy goes out and fails miserably, my guy, fresh of the DL, starts raking.