Francisco Rodriguez used to be known for his emphatic celebrations and his shades. But K-Rod decided that he’d try to wear contacts during games instead of his signature sunglasses. After a bout with pinkeye, Rodriguez has decided he may go with the shades again.
READ THE FULL POST »
Closers are the biggest crapshoot in fantasy baseball. Saves is a tough category because everyone needs to have them, but only 30 or so guys at a time in the major leagues can get them. Closers are also tough to evaluate for fantasy purposes because a great pitcher on a bad team can have nice peripheral stats, but fall relatively short in the saves category. Its almost impossible to predict how many saves one closer will get, so you can’t really base your assessment on saves alone. The majority of full-time closers in the major leagues will get anywhere between 25-40 saves, and that is mostly the product of opportunity. That’s why I judge a closers value on three factors: 1. K/9IP, 2. job security, and 3. quality of team. After considering those three factors, I use ERA and WHIP as the “tie-breaker”. Unfortunately, there is no exact science to figure out the most effective way to acquire saves because injuries and opportunity are variables that are simply impossible to predict. That being said, to make your life a little easier on draft day I’ve ranked all 30 closers and indicated each team’s probable fallback option should an injury/trade occur.
Tags: closers, fantasy baseball, Fantasy Sports, MLB
Jenrry Mejia is 20 years old and is considered the Mets’ top-rated pitching prospect. But he’s only been playing baseball for a little over five years. Mejia, from Santo Domingo, only took up the game at the age of fifteen at his mother’s insistence. The new skill allowed him to leave his part-time shoe shining job behind for a five-figure contract.
READ THE FULL POST »
Francisco Cervelli is working his way back from being hit in the head by a pitch and he’ll have a slightly different look. The Yankees’ catcher has opted to wear the Rawlings S100 helmet. You may have noticed the helmet last year on David Wright, Ryan Dempster, and Shane Victorino.
READ THE FULL POST »
At least it’s not a hamstring. The recent thyroid issues troubling Jose Reyes will keep him out of action indefinitely. Tests showed that physical activity caused a spike in his thyroid hormones. You can read more on hyperthyroidism here. He won’t be able to engage in ANY physical activity for the next two to eight weeks.
READ THE FULL POST »
This offseason hasn’t been one of the best in Met’s history. Crankiness about (the lack of) moves combined with the typical Jose Reyes injury sideshow have put a damper on Spring Training buzz. But Jenrry Mejia may save the day. Word is that Jerry Manuel is intent on seeing if the young fireballer can make the Mets as a reliever.
So far, Mejia has dominated in Spring Training with 5.1 scoreless innings. Mejia relies on a mid-90s fastball with “Mariano Rivera-type” cutting action. If he does make the team, Mejia may take Bobby Parnell or Sean Green’s spot in the bullpen. If he doesn’t make the team, then Mejia would have a tough time filling his role as a starter at Double-A Binghamton since he’d need to be stretched out to handle the longer outings.
Tags: baseball, bullpen, jenrry mejia, MLB, new york mets, pitchers, relief pitcher
In Fantasy Baseball, much like in “Actual Baseball”, starting pitching wins championships. Every team needs their stud hitters, but in order to win your league you must have solid starting pitching. Four of your ten fantasy categories will be won or lost with your starting pitchers (W, Ks, ERA, and WHIP). While having elite relievers with strong numbers at ERA and WHIP is definitely helpful, your starting pitchers will be using up the majority of your innings so their numbers will carry much more weight in those categories. This is what makes starting pitching so important. It is the backbone of your team. You have be careful not to get too far behind the pack in these categories, because after the first half it is very hard to make up ground in ERA and WHIP.
There are many ways for an owner to build a top flight pitching staff. Some like to draft a couple elite starters early, and search for bargains late in the draft and on the waiver wire. Others like to stockpile steady options and a hope to hit to hit it big with a sleeper to lead their staff, like Zack Greinke or Javier Vazquez did last season (both ranked in Yahoo’s top 10 overall). No matter how you go about it, you have to build a strong rotation if you want to have a chance to win your league. Luckily for you, the reader; I am going to help you make that happen.
We’re big Luke Scott supporters here at BigLeagueScrew. First, it was based purely on the fact that he had earned the nickname “el monstruo del quadrangular” (home run monster) while playing in the Venezuelan League. Then when he became a more consistent power hitter (48 homers in 924 at bats over the past two seasons) we liked him even more. Now we hear that Mr. Scott is a huge fan of guns. New favorite player?
READ THE FULL POST »
A company called Baden Sports has released a new style of bat that ditches the traditional knob end. The handle is similar to that of an axe and it forces players to hold and swing it differently than a traditional ash bat. The design has received provisional approval from Major League Baseball but it does not have “full approval” which would allow players to use the bats in regular season games.
READ THE FULL POST »
It’s not even March yet and the Yankees have been facing some prickly questions from reporters. Earlier this week, Alex Rodriguez got a bit testy when he was asked about Johnny Damon’s departure from New York. Today, Derek Jeter was asked about potentially being a free agent before next season.
The Yankees’ shortstop is in the final year of his massive 10 year, $189 million contract. At this point, there’s no way that he could command that level of compensation. Jeter’s agent had initially contacted the Yankees about negotiation a new contract but was told that wouldn’t take place until after the 2010 season. Fortunately, Derek Jeter seems to have good perspective on his situation:
“I don’t have a problem with it. That’s the new policy that they have. They have every right to do that. I signed a long deal, I’m still under contract with that deal, and they have the right to do whatever they want.
“I’ve never gone into a season focused on the next season. My approach since Day One is to do whatever you can to help the team win in that particular year. I’m not thinking about what’s going to happen next season.”
So at least The Captain can deal with the negotiations with class. But it remains to be seen how this will play out from the Yankees side of things. General manager Brian Cashman has played hardball with other players entering free agency without hesitation. At the same time, he’s also paid to get players he deems critical for success. It’s doubtful that Derek Jeter would be put into a predicament where he seriously considers joining another team.
Even if that did happen, my gut still says Jeter works out a deal with the Yankees. The value of his New York endorsements is probably worth a lot more than the marginal dollars he’d gain by signing a “better” contract elsewhere. If push comes to shove, I could see Cashman working out a one-year “rolling” contract much like Tim Wakefield has with the Red Sox. With performance and playoff incentives, the Yankees could present a competitive offer without investing a lot of money up front.
Tags: 2011, baseball, brian cashman, contracts, derek jeter, free agents, MLB, new york yankees
Bryce Harper hasn’t had much trouble adjusting to college baseball. Through Valentine’s Day the 18-year-old was hitting .362, had an OBP over .420 along with three homers and 15 RBI at the College of Southern Nevada. You can see Bryce Harper’s first college homer here.
Here’s the video of his third career homer on Sunday. Harper takes the first pitch deep over the right field wall. As you can see, the kid has immense power. Though, he may have to work on his swing mechanics a bit. He seems to have an exaggerated “toe tap” timing step much like BJ Upton.
Many of the Red Sox are already at camp in Fort Myers, Florida to prepare for the 2010 season. Boston.com was on the scene to provide us with a nice photo gallery of the first day. There are a lot of familiar sights at Sox camp. Kevin Youkilis is still extremely ugly. Josh Beckett still has a stupid looking bush goatee (and is fat). But this post is about Tim Wakefield.
Tim Wakefield as a baseball player is equivalent to a prop comic. He can’t overpower your with raw ability and you pretty much know what’s coming. You might even call him lazy and predictable. That’s why it’s no surprise that Wakefield is still sporting a gut. You’d think he might want to lose some weight considering he missed most of the last two months of the season with back and leg injuries.
You can see the entire Red Sox spring training gallery here.
