Tag: Manny Ramirez (Page 12 of 26)

      2009 Fantasy Baseball Preview: Outfielders

      March 10, 2009 /

      All 2009 Fantasy Articles | 2009 Position Rankings

      The great thing about addressing your outfielder positions on draft day is that there are so many to choose from that chances are if you don’t like one facet about a certain player (i.e. age, inexperience, he plays for the Red Sox and you’re a Yankees fan, etc.), you can move on to one of the many other choices available.

      Conversely, with so many players to choose from, you’re liable to stick your head in an oven in order to avoid having to decide between which outfielders will explode and which will wind up on your league’s wavier wire after making you suffer for the first couple months of the season.

      The nice thing about having so many choices for outfielders is that you can draft certain players to fill certain needs. As your roster starts to take shape on draft day, if you desire more power, then there are plenty of outfielders that can address that specific need. If your team is lacking speed, there are outfielders that you can target to rack up stolen bases. And if you were able to draft for both speed and power in previous rounds, then adding a couple outfielders that can hit for average will only help you in the long run.

      That said, if you’re smart, you’ll pinpoint the outfielders that can do it all. Sure, they might not excel in any one area, but over the course of the season if you can land a guy that can spread out his production in home runs, RBIs, runs and average, it will do wonders for your team in the end. After all, balance is key in fantasy baseball and after you land your studs early on, you’re going to need to complete your roster with players that can produce in all areas.

      With a huge pool of outfielders to choose from, there are plenty of players that will give you the balance you’ll need all season. We’ve picked out a few below (that you’ll find in both middle and late rounds), so take a look and keep an eye on them come draft day. And for the sake of not insulting your intelligence, we didn’t list any of the outfielders in our top 15 (see the rankings below). There’s no sense waxing poetically about Ryan Braun, Grady Sizemore and Matt Holliday when you already know what they can do.

      Alex Rios, Toronto Blue Jays
      Rios flashed power in 2007 and speed in 2008 and if he can put everything together this season, 2009 could be a very good year fantasy-wise for the Blue Jay right fielder. If Rios falls into your lap after the top 15 outfielders come of the board, you probably won’t be disappointed. He should close in on a .290 batting average, 20 home runs, 100 runs and 90 RBI, all while stealing 25 bases. When we talk about finding balance in outfielders, Rios is exactly what we’re talking about.

      Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles Angels
      Vlad might not be the player he was a couple of years ago, but don’t be the one that passes on him because you’re worried about his age. He’ll still hit over .300 and chip in 25-plus home runs, 100-plus RBIs and 85-plus runs. He won’t steal any bases, but he doesn’t strike out much and he’ll likely finish with a slugging percentage around .530.

      Magglio Ordonez, Detroit Tigers
      Ordonez is another player that you might pass up due to age, but don’t forget that he hits in the same lineup that features Miguel Cabrera, Curtis Granderson and Gary Sheffield so he still has a ton of value fantasy-wise. Similar to Guerrero’s production, Mags will hit over .300, drive in over 100 runs and finish with 20-25 home runs if he can stay healthy. And much like Vlad, Ordonez won’t give you anything in the stolen base department but he’ll finish with a slugging percentage in the .520-range and score 80-plus runs.

      Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies
      If this guy can stay healthy, he’s going to be a hell of a fantasy player and could be in store for a solid season. Victorino lacks elite power, but he’ll still hit 10-plus dingers, score 95-plus runs and hit in the .280-range. He won’t knock in many runs, but he’ll make up for it by stealing 35-plus bases and add 7-plus triples.

      Jermaine DyeJermaine Dye, Chicago White Sox
      If Dye comes close to what he did last year (.292-34-96-96), then you’ll be more than happy to add him as your second outfielder. Dye loves hitting at U.S. Cellular and while he won’t hit for average like Vlad or Mags will, he’ll produce seven to 10 more dingers. The only disadvantage of drafting him is that he obviously doesn’t have much upside. He is what he is at this point in his career, so don’t expect better than what he produced last year, which certainly isn’t bad by any means but there’s not much to get excited about either.

      Vernon Wells, Toronto Blue Jays
      By this point, everyone knows the book on Wells; if he can stay healthy, he has the capability of being a top 20 pick, but you can draft him as a top 30 pick. If avoids the injury bug, he’ll close in on .285, hit 20-plus home runs and score 75-plus runs. He doesn’t offer much in the RBI category, but he’s always knocking on the door of a huge season and worth a look if other owners in your league avoid him like the plague on draft day.

      J.D. Drew, Boston Red Sox
      This guy terrifies us, as well as he should terrify you. But there’s no doubt he can hit and in that lineup, Drew will have the opportunity to knock in close to 80 RBIs, score 80-plus runs and hit close to 20 dingers. He’ll also sniff .285 and chip in 30-plus doubles. The only problem, of course, is that he’s always a stubbed toe away from landing on the DL and he’s already complaining about his back. Be afraid…be very afraid. Still, there’s no doubt Drew offers a ton of value late in your draft.

      Hideki MatsuiHideki Matsui, New York Yankees
      There will probably be a point during your draft when you see Matsui’s name staring you in the face and you might be tempted to pass. Depending on what round it is and how your draft has shaken out to that point, Matsui could be a great low risk, high reward player. He’s coming off knee surgery, but he also will see plenty of time at DH this season with the Yankees, which hopefully will keep him healthier. If he does stay healthy throughout, there’s no reason he can’t hit .300 with 15-plus home runs and chip in 80 RBI and 80 runs.

      Xavier Nady, New York Yankees
      We’ll give you the bad news first; Nady plays in an awfully crowded outfield in New York and you have to be concerned about guys like Melky Cabrera stealing his at bats. But the good news is that he’s in a contract year and could flourish hitting in a stacked lineup. (Although A-Rod is set to miss up to 10 weeks so that certainly doesn’t help.) Nady will likely close in on .280, hit 20-25 home runs and score 70-plus runs. You could do a lot worse late in the draft.

      Fred Lewis, San Francisco Giants
      Lewis is a sleeper and could be a great value late in your draft following a breakout year of sorts in 2008. He’ll move into the third spot in the lineup sandwiched between Edgar Renteria and Benglie Molina, thus having the opportunity to score close to 90 runs while sniffing a .280 batting average. Unfortunately he probably won’t rack up a ton of RBIs, but he’ll more than make up for it with 20-25 stolen bases and he’ll even chip in 10-15 home runs and 10 triples. Not bad for a late round pick.

      1. Grady Sizemore, CLE
      2. Ryan Braun, MIL
      3. Carlos Beltran, NYM
      4. Carlos Quentin, CHW
      5. Alfonso Soriano, CHC
      6. Carlos Lee, HOU
      7. Josh Hamilton, TEX
      8. B.J. Upton, TB
      9. Carl Crawford, TB
      10. Matt Holliday, OAK
      11. Ichiro Suzuki, SEA
      12. Nick Markakis, OAK
      13. Matt Kemp, LAD
      14. Manny Ramirez, LAD
      15. Jason Bay, BOS
      16. Alex Rios, TOR
      17. Shane Victorino, PHI
      18. Nate McLouth, PIT
      19. Vladimir Guerrero, LAA
      20. Jacoby Ellsbury, BOS
      21. Curtis Granderson, DET
      22. Magglio Ordonez, DET
      23. Adam Dunn, WAS
      24. Jermaine Dye, CHW
      25. Corey Hart, MIL
      26. Bobby Abreu, LAA
      27. Ryan Ludwick,
      28. Jay Bruce, CIN
      29. Vernon Wells, TOR
      30. Raul Ibanez, PHI
      31. Johnny Damon, NYY
      32. Hunter Pence, HOU
      33. Brad Hawpe, COL
      34. Torii Hunter, LAA
      35. Chris Young, ARI
      36. Milton Bradley, CHC
      37. Lastings Milledge, WAS
      38. Andre Ethier, LAD
      39. Pat Burrell, TB
      40. Jayson Werth, PHI
      41. Conor Jackson, ARI
      42. Xavier Nady, NYY
      43. Nelson Cruz, TEX
      44. Justin Upton, ARI
      45. Fred Lewis, SF
      46. Mark DeRosa, CLE
      47. J.D. Drew, BOS
      48. Coco Crisp, KC
      49. Rick Ankiel, STL
      50. Adam Jones, BAL
      51. Shin-Soo Choo, CLE
      52. Carlos Gomez, MIN
      53. Cameron Maybin, FLA
      54. Hideki Matsui, NYY
      55. Willy Taveras, CIN
      56. Denard Span, MIN
      57. Elijah Dukes, WAS
      58. Adam Lind, TOR
      59. Mike Cameron, MIL
      60. Juan Pierre, LAD
      61. Jason Kubel, MIN
      62. Jack Cust, OAK
      63. Randy Winn, SF
      64. Jeremy Hermida, FLA
      65. Felipe Lopez, ARI
      66. Travis Snider, TOR
      67. Mat LaPorta, CLE
      68. Chase Headley, SD
      69. Jose Guillen, KC
      70. Michael Bourn, HOU
      71. David DeJesus, KC
      72. Gary Sheffield, DET
      73. Ryan Spillborghs, COL
      74. Ryan Church, NYM
      75. Ty Wigginton, BAL
      76. Aaron Rowand, SF
      77. Brian Giles, SD
      78. Eric Byrnes, ARI
      79. Michael Cuddyer, MIN
      80. Ken Griffey, SEA

      Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      Top 10 active OPS (On base plus slugging percentage)

      March 7, 2009 /

      Those of you gearing up for your fantasy baseball drafts might pay attention to OPS a little more than most folks. That is “on base plus slugging percentage,” measuring a player’s offensive worth more than almost any other statistic. Here is a list of the Top 10 active OPS leaders, minus players like Barry Bonds who are technically still active but not on a major league roster at this time:

      1. Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals (1.0489)—Albert is a freak of nature, averaging 42 homers and 128 RBI with a .334 batting average in his first eight seasons in the big leagues. Last year, he battled early elbow problems and wound up winning the NL MVP. This guy is just money year in and year out, and he’s only 29.

      2. Manny Ramirez, Los Angeles Dodgers (1.0044)—That sound you just heard was a combination of two things—a collective sigh of relief in La La land and the thud of millions of dollars landing in Manny’s bank account after finally signing a deal with the Dodgers this week. Like him or not, the Dodgers probably just bought a division title.

      3. Todd Helton, Colorado Rockies (1.0020)—I’m not accusing anyone of anything but it’s intriguing to me that Helton hit 49 homers in 2001, the same year Barry Bonds hit 73. And his numbers have been steadily declining ever since. I’m just sayin’, it sort of reeks of Brady Anderson.

      4. Frank Thomas, Oakland Athletics (.9740)—The Big Hurt has averaged 36 homers, 119 RBI and batted .301 over nineteen seasons. Are you kidding me? Dude is a lock for the Hall of Fame.

      5. Lance Berkman, Houston Astros (.9730)—Berkman hasn’t matched his highs of 45 home runs and 136 RBI in 2006, but he always strikes fear in opposing pitchers.

      6. Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees (.9671)—It’s been a rough month for A-Rod, first with steroid allegations and now with a hip injury that will sideline him for several weeks. But dude is still king of the regular season in the batter’s box.

      7. Jim Thome, Chicago White Sox (.9663)—For almost 20 years, Jim Thome has been one of the best left-handed power hitters in the game. And his .279 career batting average isn’t exactly shabby either. Not great, but not shabby.

      8. Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles Angels (.9634)—Check out these career averages—36 homers, 117 RBI and .323 batting average. How has Vlad only won one MVP award? Oh, I know—Montreal.

      9. Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves (.9554)—Chipper is about as steady as they come, and he seems to be getting better with age. It’s too bad that hardly anyone goes to that ballpark in Atlanta.

      10. Jason Giambi, Oakland Athletics (.9421)—Yeah, okay, we know Giambi used banned substances to aid his performance. But dude is still a pretty good hitter even off the juice.

      Source: Baseaball Reference

      Bullz-Eye Sports Channel, Fantasy Baseball, MLB

      When in doubt, go for the healthy young guy

      March 6, 2009 /

      All 2009 Fantasy Articles | 2009 Position Rankings

      If you’re a fantasy baseball or football owner and you don’t read Rotoworld every day (or, in my case, several times a day), you’re not only missing out, but you may very well be costing yourself a chance at a league title. As far as free and comprehensive fantasy advice goes, nobody does it better than Rotoworld. Their player updates pull from all sorts of local and national sources and are updated throughout the day, and their columnists offer up plenty of great insight, both during the season and leading up to draft day. They even have their own draft guide, although you’ve got to pay $15 for that.

      Howard Megdal (who, as far as I can tell, is new to the Rotoworld staff this season) just posted a great article about the value of youth and health on draft day:

      So when I draft, I want as much predictability as possible. Therefore, my two touchstones are getting as many players in their age peak (roughly 25-30), with an added focus on injury history. Such a strategy provides no guarantees—no strategy does—but puts me in the best position to consolidate my gains. And as a bonus—a healthy player of peak age, more likely than not, is going to be a player who has that surprise season you were hoping for from the rookie, anyway.

      I’m always amazed by how many owners don’t pay attention to age or injury history during their drafts, especially in the early rounds. Every year, someone drafts a guy like AJ Burnett too early, and every year Burnett goes down with some kind of injury. Go ahead and take Lance Berkman in the second round — I’ll gladly wait another round or two and snag the younger Adrian Gonzalez or Prince Fielder. Upside, upside, upside.

      Megdal goes on to target some of the likely first-rounders that he’s avoiding this year:

      Ian Kinsler is another top-12 player with red flags of the white bandage variety. For the third straight season, he showed that when healthy, he is an offensive force at a position, second base, with very few of them. But he played in just 121 games, this time due to a sports hernia, and his season-high through three seasons is 130. No reason he can’t help a fantasy team—but let someone else draft his injury history first.

      Also consider dropping Jimmy Rollins, who played in 137 games last season and already has back issues in spring training, and Carl Crawford, who was limited to 109 games with a finger injury last year. Crawford in particular appears to be healthy this spring—but grab the guy who just put up 150-160 games in 2008. An extra 10-15 games out of your best player could be the difference in some leagues.

      Instead of Kinsler, who averaged fewer than 124 games per season from 2006-2008, how about Brandon Phillips, who has averaged around 150 games per season? Phillips is 27, suggesting that his best year may come in 2009.

      I’m pretty high on both Kinsler and Phillips, as I noted in my second base preview, but while Kinsler is younger (by one year) and may arguably have a little more upside, Phillips has the much healthier track record and can be snagged a little later than Kinsler, which likely makes him the better value of the two. When you consider the premium you’ll need to pay for Kinsler (a late first or early second rounder), Phillips becomes that much more intriguing.

      Megdal wisely suggests not becoming a slave to this (or any) draft strategy, because remaining too loyal to a plan could close you out of any mid- to late-round bargains that may fall into your lap. But when it comes to debating the merits of Carlos Delgado vs. Adrian Gonzalez, AJ Burnett vs. Edinson Volquez, or Carlos Lee vs. Nick Markakis, you’d be wise to go with the younger, healthier guy.

      Fantasy Baseball, Fantasy Football, General Sports, MLB

      Manny Ramirez, Dodgers have deal in place

      March 4, 2009 /

      My God, it may be finally over.

      According to the Los Angeles Times, free agent Manny Ramirez and the Dodgers have a deal in place on a two-year, $45 million contract and that the outfielder could report to spring training as early as Thursday.

      For those that still have a shred of interest in this story after months of speculation, the Dodgers only upped their offer another $3 mil. Manny and Boras just rejected a two-year, $42 million offer last week, but apparently a two-year, $45 million deal was good enough.

      Awesome.

      There are Americans all over the country losing their jobs hand over fist and these ass clowns (i.e. Boras and Ramirez) put the Dodgers through the ringer for another $3 million? I thought this whole stance by Boras was so that Manny could get at least a three or four year deal? But they eventually broke down and compromised on an extra $3 million? What a joke.

      Good for the Dodgers for never giving in on their two-year offer. They were steadfast all along in that they wouldn’t up the years of their contract offer and they never did.

      Anyway, so the one place Manny was always expected to go was the exact place he wound up. The Dodgers are now the clear favorites to win the weak NL West and as long as their pitching holds up and some of the youngsters produce, they’ll have a great shot at battling the Phillies, Mets and Cubs for a pennant.

      As for the Giants, one has to wonder if they were ever interested in Manny in the first place or if they just feigned interest in order to mess with the Dodgers. They could have pretended to be interested this entire time in order to delay L.A.’s signing of Ramirez just long enough to piss everybody off. After all, it doesn’t appear that they ever made an official offer to Manny.

      But the thing is, GM Brian Sabean isn’t that smart. Chances are, Sabean was interested in Manny the entire time, but just wasn’t willing to pull the trigger with the ghost of Barry Zito’s contract still calling out to him in the dead of the night. Either way, the Giants can continue their rebuilding plan and pray that youngsters Fred Lewis and Pablo Sandoval overachieve this year offensively.

      MLB

      Dodgers, Manny starting fresh in contract talks

      March 2, 2009 /

      According to the L.A. Times, Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt wants to start fresh contract talks with free agent Manny Ramirez and his agent Scott Boras.

      Manny RamirezMcCourt said the latest phase of negotiations ended the moment agent Scott Boras made him a counterproposal instead of simply accepting or declining an offer the Dodgers made Wednesday of a two-year, $45-million contract with much of the money deferred without any added interest. By Thursday evening, Boras had made two counterproposals, the second one asking for two years at $45 million with an opt-out clause Ramirez could exercise at the end of the first year, only with no deferred salary.

      McCourt on Sunday called that counteroffer “too little too late” and said negotiations would resume with “a fresh start.” He said he stressed to the agent that he had wanted a resolution by Friday because he didn’t want the negotiations to dominate conversation Sunday, the day the Dodgers opened the gates of their new spring training ballpark.

      But why not consider the offer when the two sides appear to be so close?

      “Because we’re going to start from scratch,” McCourt said.

      But why start from scratch when you’re so close?

      “I answered it twice,” McCourt said.

      He looked away from the reporter who asked the question and didn’t say another word until another question was asked by another reporter.

      I don’t like to compare athlete’s contracts to the common man’s salary. Athletes and celebrities live in their own worlds and the money they make doesn’t even seem real. Furthermore, who am I to say what an athlete should or should not ask for when it comes to his salary?

      But even I have to admit that this contract situation between Manny and the Dodgers is absolutely ridiculous. Every day, more Americans lose their jobs across the country and Boras is fighting the Dodgers for $1.5 million. Ramirez is 36 years old, doesn’t play the field that well and quit on the Red Sox last season. It’s insane for him and Boras to argue over $1.5 million when some Americans are working for $7.50 an hour just trying to get by. Ramirez should have to play for free at this point.

      MLB

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