2011 MLB Spring Training Review: Week of March 27th

SPRING TRAINING QUICK HITS

Nyjer Morgan was traded to the Brewers. How do you get cut by the Nationals? That is pretty bad. In Milwaukee, Nyjer will be bottling beer with Laverne and Shirley and hope to share playing time with Carlos Gomez, to form the *biting palm* Lenny and Squiggy Duo Part Deux. Avoid.

Here’s what else happened this week…

Top Fantasy Baseball Seasons by Position

I have seen this done in different variations, but thought by position would be a great reference. So here you have it, the best fantasy seasons by position. I welcome your own nominations and would consider revising mine. Even now I would not be opposed to swapping Gehrig’s two seasons as well as Walter Johnson and Koufax. Good conversation piece before we head into Opening Day 2011 tomorrow. Enjoy!

C: Mike Piazza, Los Angeles Dodgers (1997): .362/104/40/124/5

Honorable Mention – Roy Campanella, Brooklyn Dodgers (1953): .312/103/41/142/4

1B – Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees (1927): .373/149/47/175/10

Honorable Mention – Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees (1931): .341/163/46/184/17

2B – Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals (1922): .401/141/42/152/17

Honorable Mention – Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals (1925): .403/133/39/143/5

3B: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (2007): .314/143/54/156/24

Honorable Mention – Al Rosen, Cleveland Indians (1953): .336/115/43/145/8

SS – Alex Rodriguez, Seattle Mariners (1998): .310/123/42/124/46

Honorable mention – Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers (2001): .318/133/52/135/18

OF – Babe Ruth, New York Yankees (1921): .378/177/59/171/17

Honorable mention – Babe Ruth, New York Yankees (1920): .376/158/54/137/14

SP – Walter Johnson, Washington Senators (1913) : 36-7/1.14/0.78/243

Honorable mention – Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers (1965): 26-8/2.04/0.86/382

RP – Eric Gagne, Los Angeles Dodgers (2003): 2-3/1.20/0.69/137/55

Honorable mention – Bruce Sutter, St. Louis Cardinals (1984): 5-7/1.54/1.07/77/45

2011 Bounce Back Player of the Week: Chris Young, New York Mets

Chris Young has always been a tantalizing player with the capability to be a top tier pitcher, but never able to prove his prowess over the long run. A plethora of injuries have allowed him to pitch no more than 180 innings in a single season during his major league career and over the last three seasons he has maxed out at 102 innings in 2008.

2011 Fantasy Baseball “September Stars” Series: Brian Matusz

This week we take a look at our final “September Star”: Brian Matusz.

Matusz was a 2010 pre-season fantasy sleeper as he lit up the opposition in spring training. As most will point out, don’t place too much stock into March heroes. In his first full season, he compiled a line of 10-12/4.30/1.34/143 in 175+ innings for the Orioles. From August on, though, he looked every bit the ace many were hoping he’d become.

Let’s look at those final two months and decide if he is ready to turn in a full season of magic…

Post Draft Pick Ups

The season hasn’t started yet but it’s not too soon to take a look at the waiver wire and see what kind of talent is available.   Chances are you didn’t have the perfect draft and your team has some holes that need to be filled.  The following guys are available in at least 50% of Yahoo leagues and could help you replace an injured player, give you a boost in weak stat category, or add some depth to your roster.

2011 Fantasy Baseball Rankings: DESIGNATED HITTER

Short and sweet, here are our DH rankings…

RANK	PLAYER	Brian	Mike	Killboy	Jesse	Eric	COMP
1	Adam Dunn	1	1	1	1	1	1
2	Vladimir Guerrero	2	2	2	2	2	2
3	Michael Young	3	3	3	3	3	3
4	David Ortiz	4	5	4	5	5	4.6
5	Adam Lind	–	4	5	4	4	4.6

2011 Fantasy Baseball Busts: David Price

At the young age of 25, David Price has already started in an All-Star game, pitched in the World Series and finished runner-up  in the 2010 Cy Young voting. In 2010, he posted a 2.72 ERA with 19 wins and 188 strikeouts in 208.2 innings. Those numbers look outstanding but, the numbers under the surface paint a different picture.

2011 Fantasy Baseball Projections: Assembling a Team After Pick 250

ADP data can be one of the most useful items of information you can have with you at your draft. Not only will you afford yourself the knowledge of knowing who you can  and can’t grab later, but you’ll also find hidden gems that the rest of the fantasy baseball community are letting slip too far. It is these gems we will focus on in this article as I lay out my All Forgotten Team…

2011 MLB Spring Training Review: Week of March 20th

 

This week in spring training the news was as follows, beginning with last Sunday and running through Saturday the 26^th:

 

2011 Bounce Back Player of the Week: Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals

Lance Berkman Gettin His Ugly On In St. Louis

During the first decade of the 2000’s, Lance Berkman was a staple in any conversation about the best hitters in baseball. Through almost 12 seasons in Houston he had become the face of the franchise along with Roy Oswalt and was a former member of the killer B’s taking Derek Bell’s place in 2000 along with Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell.