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Written by Collin Hager
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Monday, 22 February 2010 08:47 |
So after using Joey Votto last week, the request was for a more direct comparison this week. Attacking another superstar is probably not the best way to go, so this time the examination comes in the form of another top-30 Outfielder. This one, in fact, is very close to cracking the top 20. Shane Victorino brought fantasy owners some solid value last season, and currently is being selected with pick 70 overall. His numbers, though, may not pan out to make that selection worthwhile.
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 March 2010 11:41 )
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Written by Chuck Anderson
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Wednesday, 27 January 2010 00:00 |
At this time last year fantasy players were slowly becoming frustrated with Felix Hernandez. His draft position was greater than his value dictated, requiring people to draft him hoping for a spike in statistics that had been anticipated since 2006. Since he at least met, and probably surpassed, all expectations in 2009 (he finished fifth among pitchers in Wins Above Replacement) he is being drafted among the first tier of starters. What really led to his increase in value and is it sustainable?
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 March 2010 11:41 )
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Written by Andrew Cleary
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Friday, 02 October 2009 00:00 |
Going into the season we ranked Ian Kinsler as our top pick at second base. Though you could still argue this late in the year that Chase Utley might have deserved an edge on the Rangers' second baseman, you can't fault the fine contribution Kinsler has made: 97 runs and 85 RBI through Thursday (to Utley's 112 and 93), and 31 home runs and 30 stolen bases (where Utley has 31 and 23). Kinsler's entry into the 30-30 club makes him the second Ranger to record the feat, and only the third second baseman to do it in major league history.
All the same, it's strange to say that Kinsler has managed all this with the worst batting average of his major league career. Granted, he only has a .280 career average to begin with, but this year it dropped to .253, and it shouldn't take long to figure out why:
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 18 March 2010 11:44 )
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Written by Andrew Cleary
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Thursday, 24 September 2009 22:43 |
Joey Votto was one of the players we most closely followed this season; we wondered at draft time whether he would turn out to be a worthy pick as your first first baseman, and halfway through the summer we considered how his performance to that point might bode for his rest-of-season success. And now, with another full season in his record, it looks like Votto is a legitimate contender for one of the top first basemen entering 2010.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 September 2009 19:33 )
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Written by Andrew Cleary
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Wednesday, 16 September 2009 21:37 |
Signed by the Angels as an amateur free agent in 2002, Erick Aybar has played with no other organization since, and stepped through the minors year by year, one league at a time, until making his major-league debut, aged twenty-two, on May 16, 2002. Aybar showed himself to be a fair, if not great hitter in the minors, with an above-average fielding ability and exceptional speed--in his five full minor-league seasons, Aybar stole a total of 169 bases, and over 30 every year from 2003 through 2006.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 January 2010 20:36 )
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Written by Andrew Cleary
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Thursday, 10 September 2009 23:16 |
Signed by the Blue Jays as an amateur free agent in 2001, Alfredo Aceves played in the Dominican and Mexican leagues thereafter, until the Yankee signed him as a free agent in 2008. Aceves made his debut in the American minor leagues in the Yankees organization, and soon made his first appearance with the major-league club on August 31st of that year, pitching two innings of scoreless relief against, in one of baseball’s many pleasant coincidences, the Toronto Blue Jays.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 January 2010 20:36 )
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Written by Andrew Cleary
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Thursday, 03 September 2009 19:55 |
In a last-minute signing earlier this week, Brad Penny was whisked from a release from the Red Sox to a spot in the Giants rotation, bringing him back to the National League from a brief, failed experiment in the AL East. He had a 7-8 record with a 5.61 ERA over his tenure in Boston, blown to outsize proportion by a ghastly string of starts in August. In five starts from July 27th through August 21st, Penny pitched an average of five-and-a-third innings and gave up a total of 27 earned runs.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 January 2010 20:36 )
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Written by Andrew Cleary
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Thursday, 27 August 2009 23:07 |
It's the last weeks of the fantasy season, and you may be finding yourself scrambling for starting pitchers. The problem is that all the ones you know are good are long since taken, and even most of the gambles for success--be they Justin Masterson or Carl Pavano--are snapped up on someone's roster.
So you start to sift through the many pitchers with short resumes and low ownership rates, and you look at the impending roster expansion as a chance to finally see some more pitching options. But before September 1st rolls around, there's a pitcher on the Seattle 25-man list that might be worth your time.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 January 2010 20:37 )
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Written by Andrew Cleary
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Thursday, 20 August 2009 22:28 |
If you have been playing close enough attention to know the sort of sleeper-breakout hype that has surrounded Lastings Milledge over the last few years, you have likely also noticed that he's so far failed to live up to the expectations. Milledge was a first-round draft pick for the Mets in 2003, and built a quick series of arguments for his major-league potential that he couldn't close before being traded to the Nationals after the 2007 season.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 January 2010 20:37 )
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Written by Andrew Cleary
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Tuesday, 11 August 2009 19:49 |
Last week the Indians traded Carl Pavano to the Twins, and he promptly made good on the move with a seven-inning Saturday shutout of the Tigers. Pavano has seen some success in spots this year, and is arguably pitching better than he has since 2003. In the interim, Pavano struggled through a series of injuries, Tommy John surgery, and some much-reported bad blood in the Yankees organization.
After landing in Cleveland as a free agent this year, and subsequently being traded from out-of to in-contention, Pavano could be pitching with a newfound confidence, seriousness, and/or competitiveness to fuel his resurgent success. Or not. In any case, it's the peripherals behind his performance that make a strong case for him as a pitcher worth adding to your team in the waning weeks of the season.
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 05 January 2010 20:37 )
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