The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa

Hi everyone,

I’m contributing weekly to a season-long series on Steve Gardner’s Fantasy Windup blog on USA Today’s website - here’s my entry for Week 11!  

Each week I’m highlighting 9 players who are largely unowned and may be able to help improve your team’s results.  I’ll offer a good mix of players both by position and by league.

Have a great week!

The Sherpa

Fantasy Baseball Sherpa

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Blog

@fantasy_sherpa on Twitter

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Facebook fan page

Hi everyone!

We’re midway through Week 11, and Pedro Alvarez is the only big-name prospect to be called up so far this week.  It’s strange to have all teams playing 6 games this week (and next); take advantage if your league allows daily lineup transactions to maximize your ABs and IPs before your fellow league owners realize what’s going on (if they haven’t already).

Need to know which under-the-radar players to pick up and which overvalued players to stay away from?  Be sure to check out Zack O’Malley Greenburg’s entries on the SportsMoney blog on Forbes.com.  I’m one of several contributors to Zack’s blog, along with Scott Pianowski (Yahoo), Paul Bourdette (AOL Fanhouse), and Ron Shandler (Baseball HQ).

This is the Week 11 installment of our weekly in-season “Makers & Breakers” recommendations.  Each week throughout the baseball season each contributor will identify one undervalued player who’s likely to be available in most leagues (i.e. - the Maker), and one overvalued player who’s likely owned in most leagues but capable of doing serious damage to teams that include him (i.e. - the Breaker).

Enjoy!

The Sherpa

Fantasy Baseball Sherpa

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Blog

@fantasy_sherpa on Twitter

Hi everyone,

Highlights from Weeks 8-10:  Following Roy Halladay’s perfect game at the end of Week 8, Armando Galarraga pitched an imperfect game in Week 9.  No truth to the rumor that the Hall of Fame called to request Jim Joyce’s arms.  At least Galarraga won’t be called “Andres” any more (we hope).  In the last week and a half baseball said good-bye to The Kid, hello to The Natural, and prepared for the highly-anticipated debuts of three mega-prospects (and no, I’m not talking about Jesus Feliciano).  By the way, if you missed Roy Halladay’s perfect game, plenty of good seats are still available! (unfortunately, this trend seems to be catching on). 

Thoughts from Weeks 8-10

• Hurt locker - Recent new arrivals on the DL include Grady Sizemore (out for the season), Gregg Zaun (ditto), Kendry Morales (out for the season after one of the strangest injuries you’ll ever see), Nelson Cruz (an encore performance), Jacoby Ellsbury (ditto), Jimmy Rollins, Travis Snider, Takashi Saito, Alfredo Simon, Derek Holland, Oliver Perez (???), Aramis Ramirez, Nate McLouth, Jason Bulger, Marcus Thames, and Gabe Kapler, just to name a few.  Consider Austin Kearns, Nick Hundley, Lyle Overbay, Jason Donald, Angel Pagan, Michael Wuertz, Manny Parra, Trevor Cahill, Kevin Kouzmanoff (more on him in a bit), Melky Cabrera, Aaron Heilman, Ryan Sweeney, and Darnell McDonald as potential replacements.

• Son of Slam - Jorge Posada made his 250th home run a memorable one, belting the eighth grand slam of his career on Saturday in the Yankees’ victory over the Astros.  Just for good measure he hit his 251st career home run and ninth grand slam (warning: annoying audio accompanying the video) on Sunday in yet another Yankee victory over the ‘Stros.  At this rate Posada will break Lou Gehrig’s career grand slam mark of 23 in early July.  For dramatic effect neither one of Posada’s slams could touch the Saturday slam belted by Red Sox rookie outfielder Daniel Nava on the first pitch he saw in his major league career (not bad: one pitch, one curtain call)!  It’s only the fourth time in MLB history that a player has hit a grand slam in his first at-bat, and only the second time it’s happened on the first pitch (Kevin Kouzmanoff was the other in 2006).  Oddly, one of the two other players to hit a first career at-bat grand slam was Jeremy Hermida, the player Nava replaced in the Red Sox lineup (Hermida was a Marlin when he accomplished the feat in 2005).

• Welcome, and enjoy The Show! - The floodgates have officially opened:  Buster Posey, Stephen Strasburg, Mike Stanton, Carlos Santana, Jake Arrieta, Jose Tabata, and Brad Lincoln have all made their debuts within the last two weeks, and Neil Walker has also been making a name for himself in his brief time in The Show.  Pedro Alvarez, Brett Wallace, Madison Bumgarner and Tyler Flowers will all likely be up soon too.

• Welcome back! - Max Scherzer, Ryan Raburn, and Danny Worth are all back with the Tigers after brief stays in the minors.  Pat Burrell had a mini-vacation after being released by the Rays, but he’s now a proud member of the San Francisco Giants.  Chris Capuano has completed an amazing journey back to the big leagues, even though it looks like his stay in the Brewers’ rotation was a short one.  Jesse Litsch also pitched Saturday for the first time since undergoing Tommy John surgery, but the results weren’t pretty.  Chad Tracy is back with the Cubs, and Emilio Bonifacio is once again a Marlin.  Finally, St. Louis, which has a well-earned reputation as the MLB equivalent of The Land of Misfit Toys, opened its arms to Jeff Suppan and Randy Winn, who were recently let go by the Brewers and Yankees, respectively.

• Thanks for playing; better luck next time - Among those sent down to the minors recently were Matt LaPorta and Josh Reddick.  Expect to see all of them back in the bigs before long.  The A’s designated Jake Fox for assignment Sunday after not giving him much of a chance to showcase the power the offensively challenged team desperately needs.  Go figure.  Mark Grudzielanek, Saul Rivera, Mike Lamb, Chris Coste, and Gary Matthews Jr have all likely played their last MLB game for some time, if not forever.

• Closer roulette - Most of the recent closer intrigue has been in the NL.  Huston Street’s return date has been pushed back yet again, so hold on to Manny Corpas.  In Philadelphia Brad Lidge has regained the closer role from Jose Contreras.  In Arizona Chad Qualls continues to struggle, and it seems like it’s just a matter of time before the D-backs make a trade for a new closer or give Aaron Heilman a shot.  John Axford has settled in as the Brew Crew’s closer, and Brandon Lyon is filling in for Matt Lindstrom in Houston while the latter rests a bad back.  Alfredo Simon should return this week for the Orioles, and Brian Fuentes continues to hold off Fernando Rodney in Los Angeles Anaheim.  Finally, things are still a mess on the South Side of Chicago, where manager Ozzie Guillen may be gone before Bobby Jenks finally cedes his spot to J.J. Putz, Matt Thornton, or Sergio Santos.

• Role play  - As noted above Jorge Posada has returned to the Yankees, but Francisco Cervelli will likely continue to see the bulk of the starts at catcher to give Posada time to heal on the job.  Hanley Ramirez is back in the Marlins’ third spot after a brief encore performance as a leadoff hitter.  Carlos Guillen has settled in as the Tigers everyday second baseman, and Manny Parra has been placed back in the Brewers’ rotation. 

Strategy Corner

• Interleague play redux - Interleague play will wreak havoc with fantasy lineups yet again this week.  Five AL teams (Bal, CWS, Oak, TB, and Tex) will be without their designated hitter spot all week as they play six games in NL parks.  Try to find alternatives if your lineup includes Luke Scott, Mark Kotsay, Jack Cust, Hank Blalock, or Vlad Guerrero.  On the other hand Arizona and the NY Mets both play six games in AL parks, which means that Gerado Parra and Chris Carter will likely have more fantasy value than usual.  

• Streaming pitchers - Most fantasy owners who rely on streaming pitchers to maximize their innings pitched make a quick qualitative judgment about both the pitcher’s ability and the strength of the opposing team’s offense.  To take some of the guesswork out of the process, analyze a team’s offensive stats the same way you would analyze the offensive stats of a hitter you are thinking of adding to your roster.  Obviously, the process works in reverse when analyzing teams rather than individual hitters:  instead of looking for teams that hit lots of homers, steal lots of bases, and hit for a high average, you’re looking for the exact opposite.  This process is far from fool-proof, but if applied consistently over a length of time, it can help you identify pitchers with the most favorable upcoming match-ups. 

Wrapping Up

• I’m writing a weekly entry this season for Fantasy Windup, which is USA Today’s fantasy baseball blog.  Each week I highlight 9 players who should be on your radar screen if you need to make a roster adjustment for the following week; the entry will generally be posted late Sunday afternoon or early Sunday evening.

• I’m also contributing to a weekly entry called “Makers & Breakers” on Forbes.com’s Sports Money blog, which is edited by Zack O’Malley Greenburg.  Each panelist suggests one widely available player who is likely to make a better-than-expected contribution to your team’s title chances, and one highly owned player who is likely to disappoint you and sabotage your team.  This entry will generally be posted Wednesday afternoon or evening.

• If you have any topics you’d like us to address in future newsletters, send us a note with your suggestion!

• If you’re not already a subscriber, you owe it to yourself to sign up today for the Sherpa’s In-season Updates!  Use this revolutionary tool to make roster moves, set your lineup, and evaluate trade proposals.  The Sherpa has finally found a way to put his Harvard math degree and 17 years of experience as an actuary to good use!  Whenever an MLB team makes a move (e.g. - minor league call-ups, DL, batting order position changes, closer changes, role changes, trades, and other roster moves) playing time for all affected players is updated.  We have 990 players in our database, and our Remainder-of-Season forecasts and rankings are updated for every player, every day!  Sign up today, and let the Sherpa guide you to victory!

Have a great week! 

The Sherpa

Fantasy Baseball Sherpa

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Blog

@fantasy_sherpa on Twitter

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Facebook fan page

Hi everyone,

I’m contributing weekly to a season-long series on Steve Gardner’s Fantasy Windup blog on USA Today’s website - here’s my entry for Week 11!  

Each week I’m highlighting 9 players who are largely unowned and may be able to help improve your team’s results.  I’ll offer a good mix of players both by position and by league.

Have a great week!

The Sherpa

Fantasy Baseball Sherpa

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Blog

@fantasy_sherpa on Twitter

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Facebook fan page

Hi everyone!

We’re at the end of Week 10, and most of the big-name prospects have finally been called up to The Show.  This Strasburg kid looks like he might be pretty good.

Need to know which under-the-radar players to pick up and which overvalued players to stay away from?  Be sure to check out Zack O’Malley Greenburg’s entries on the SportsMoney blog on Forbes.com.  I’m one of several contributors to Zack’s blog, along with Scott Pianowski (Yahoo), Paul Bourdette (AOL Fanhouse), and Ron Shandler (Baseball HQ).

This is the Week 10 installment of our weekly in-season “Makers & Breakers” recommendations.  Each week throughout the baseball season each contributor will identify one undervalued player who’s likely to be available in most leagues (i.e. - the Maker), and one overvalued player who’s likely owned in most leagues but capable of doing serious damage to teams that include him (i.e. - the Breaker).

Enjoy!

The Sherpa

Fantasy Baseball Sherpa

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Blog

@fantasy_sherpa on Twitter

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Facebook fan page

Hi everyone!

We’re midway through Week 9, and the rate of perfect games (and perfect games with imperfect umpiring) is making fantasy owners’ heads spin!  At least the Tigers got to avoid a Kendry Morales-style celebration.

Need to know which under-the-radar players to pick up and which overvalued players to stay away from?  Be sure to check out Zack O’Malley Greenburg’s entries on the SportsMoney blog on Forbes.com.  I’m one of several contributors to Zack’s blog, along with Scott Pianowski (Yahoo), Paul Bourdette (AOL Fanhouse), and Ron Shandler (Baseball HQ).

This is the Week 9 installment of our weekly in-season “Makers & Breakers” recommendations.  Each week throughout the baseball season each contributor will identify one undervalued player who’s likely to be available in most leagues (i.e. - the Maker), and one overvalued player who’s likely owned in most leagues but capable of doing serious damage to teams that include him (i.e. - the Breaker).

Enjoy!

The Sherpa

Fantasy Baseball Sherpa

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Blog

@fantasy_sherpa on Twitter

The Fantasy Baseball Sherpa’s Facebook fan page