Week 3 in Review

George Springer

After draft day the best opportunity to get an exciting player is when a promising high ceiling prospect is being called up. In the last years we got accustomed to these players arriving at the majors no earlier than late May or early June.

Springer was drafted by the Houston Astros in the 1st round (11th pick) of the 2011 amateur draft. Baseball America ranked him #18 on the 2014 top 100 prospects. He has a power speed combination although his high strike rate prevents him from being a real elite player.

His early call, it is still April, caught me by surprise and by the time I checked the waiver wire in the John Marzano Listeners league he was already gone.  Although there’s a risk with every rookie, Springer projection for this season looks very promising.  Pecota project him for a .244/.327/.440 line, 68 RBI, 24 HR & 29 SB.

If you missed on Springer, looking ahead to the next big call up the best candidates are Arizona’s RHP Archie Bradley, Pittsburgh’s OF Gregory Polanco and couple of Mets pitchers Noah Syndergaard and Rafael Montero.

 Ike Davis

In a previous post I wrote it looks like if Ike is going to repeat his 2011-12 numbers it won’t be with the Mets. Well, Davis was traded to the Pirates and is going to be their everyday first baseman. Now it is all up to him to show if he still can be a productive player.

Weekly Transactions

I dropped Oswaldo Arcia when he went on the DL and picked Juan Uribe.  Arcia had a poor start for the season but I wasn’t worried about that. What made me drop him was the nature of his injury – his wrist. Wrist injuries are notorious for long time of recovery and sapping power. We have Two DL spots in the John Marzano Listeners League. One is occupied by Mike Minor and I preferred to save the other for Kole Calhoun.

I picked Uribe for two reasons. With Kyle Seager struggling I wanted insurance for 3^rd base/corner infield.  I picked him on Thursday to fill a roster spot and got a homerun from him on Friday. Even though Uribe isn’t a great player he has a nice start and I plan on using him while he’s productive.

In a second transaction I swapped outfielders: Josh Reddick out David Murphy in. Looks like Reddick became a platoon players playing only against righties. I drafted him at the start of the 18^th round thinking he’ll rebound from the bad year he had in 2013, but his performance since the season start wasn’t encouraging.  Like Reddick Murphy had a bad 2013 (.656 ops compared to .729 and .859 in 2011/12 respectively.) So far he has a nice .884 OPS and .382 wOBA.

Another kind of fantasy

Is it a fantasy when your "real" baseball team wins a game? Or a series? I guess it is if you are a Mets fan and just witnessed the team sweep a four games series from the Evil Empire from the Bronx. Of course the Mets went on to get swept by the powerhouse which is the Miami Marlins. #ycpb
There is no fantasy without some sort of base in reality so I'll allow myself a few thoughts on baseball, fantasy baseball and the relations between the two.
 I don't know why people play fantasy baseball but I know why I do. For me it's the challenge: to prove to myself how well I know this game. I can’t play the game, not even in a movie and I can’t manage so playing fantasy baseball is my last chance to connect with the game.
 At the same time, for me fantasy baseball is also a tool to deepen my knowledge and understanding of the game. There’s no way a casual fan know who’s the 2b of the Royals if he’s not a Royal’s fan. Fantasy players will know who’s the current player on that position AND the replacement player, especially if he’s a highly touted  prospect J. You can also be certain that no fantasy player think a home run is a “rally killer”.

 The New York DailyNews

The previous week
Like I said, I love to be active with my roster, dropping and adding players whenever it seems to improve my team.

I picked Dan Straily for a home game against the White Sox. Straily play in Oakland which is a pitchers park and the Sox are the worst offense in the AL and second to last in all of baseball. The results? No win, but 6 innings, 8 k’s, no walks, 6 hits and one run allowed. Like one of the 411 tenets say “You can’t chase wins”.

One of the Lilings weaknesses is saves so when the Padres closer, Huston Street, went on the DL I Jumped on the opportunity and picked Luke Gregerson who’s going to replace Street.   

Another DL move gave me another chance to improve: The Dodgers A.J. Ellis went on the DL so I dropped him and picked the Phillies Erik Kratz who in the last week went 7 for 21 with 2 HR’s and 5 rbi’s. Not bad production in a 2 catchers league.

Picking the Mariners middle infielder Nick Franklin allowed me to drop Darwin Barney who was mostly on my bench and pick the Marlins Outfielder Marcell Ozuna. He went 11 for 26 with 7 runs,  6 rbi’s and a SB last week.

On June 4^th here’s how the Lilings doing:

The Lilings gained 1.5 points and now share first place. Not a bad week :)