Every week, we go over one player at each position and give some recent news and predictions about them. Last weeks Starting Lineup can be found
here.
Catcher J.P. Arencibia
It's quite possible that my article last week cursed a few players, namely last weeks featured catcher, Carlos Santana. Only a few days after my post raving about Santana, he goes down with a serious knee injury that required season-ending surgery.
This week, we'll spotlight J.P. Arencibia. I posted about his
background but it doesn't appear many people got the memo. If you would have taken my advice and picked him up, you would have gotten the 4-5, 3 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI stat line that he posted in his debut. Now, not even I could have predicted something that good, but we'll pretend I did.
Going forward, you might want to take caution with him. He will get the majority of the starts until John Buck returns from injury (sitting every 3rd game), that much is clear. What's not clear is what will happen to Arencibia when Buck actually does return. It's likely he will go back to Vegas, so he cal play every day rather than wasting his talent on the bench. I feel he could be Toronto's starting catcher as early as opening day 2011, and his value just skyrocketted in keeper leagues.
1B Justin Morneau
He came out of the gates absolutely on fire in 2010, becoming one of the most valuable first basemen in all of fantasy baseball. It was common knowledge he's had previous issues with back problems, but I don't think anyone was worried about a concussion. Thats exactly what happened, and the problem with concussions, is that we never have a definite time table of recovery.
I think that Morneau will be back in 2-3 weeks, but even when he comes back he might get a rest day rather frequently to aid in the long term recovery. Concussion symptoms can linger for months after the initial injury (Aaron Hill missed an entire season because of one).
Because of this, I feel that unless you're in a keeper league, you should try to sell on Morneau now. You will get much less value out of him then you expect given the stats he's produced this season. Obviously, don't be so quick to pull the trigger in a keeper league, but I would take whatever I could get for him in a yearly league.
2B Orlando Hudson
Last weeks featured second basemen, also went down with an injury. Thankfully for the Twins, Orlando Hudson was ready to come off the DL and resume his regular play at 2B. Great news for his owners, as the Twins are in the heat of a penant race and need all the help they can get.
Hudson can be a good source of runs, while also posting a decent average. Only expect home runs and stolen bases sporadically, and don't count on a ton of RBI's. His value mostly lies in batting in front of Joe Mauer. He is a threat to score a run every single time he gets on base.
3B Chone Figgins
Figgins is another guy that many teams have given up on too early. He is a premier source of steals, and thats about it. Most owners issues with Figgins lie in his inability to hit for a decent average. However, he's already quickly on the way to raising his average, hitting .481 in 7 August games so far. Expect a strong finish out of Figgins, who is on pace for about 15 more steals.
SS Juan Uribe
This is a guy who is owned in way too many leagues. Uribe is owned in 91.1% of standard ESPN leagues, something that really confuses me. He's probably one of the most unpredictable and sporadic hitters in the game today. He'll hit .400 for a week and launch 2 homeruns, and his ownership will skyrocket, then he'll hit .225 for 2 weeks and slowly get dropped. Back and forth back and forth.
Why should you drop him though? Because, Uribe is trending in the wrong direction. The chart below shows Uribe's AVG, OBP and SLG per month (non-cumulative). See if you can spot the trend.
Thats pretty alarming data, and should send up a red flag if you happen to be owning him. He might be a strong sell high candidate, but I doubt anyone will be buying him at this point.
OF Domonic Brown, Carlos Gonzalez, B.J. Upton
When Domonic Brown was called up, your league likely had an immediate bidding war over who was going to own him. Probably, whoever ended up winning the bidding war, paid too much. It's not that Brown isn't an elite prospect, it's that he won't get the opportunity just yet. As soon as Shane Victorino comes back from injury, Brown will lose playing time, and possibly be sent back to AAA. He will likely be an every day starter in 2011, replacing Jason Werth, but until then I don't think he'll have the massive impact owners initially assumed he would.
How could I write this column and not mention Carlos Gonzalez? Over the last week, CarGo vaulted himself to #1 on ESPN's Player Rater, making him the most valuable Fantasy player, overall, this season. An amazing run this kid is having. All I can say is, enjoy the ride if you have him, and do whatever you have to do to own him for the future. This kid is special, and while he might experience a slight drop in stats next season, the power/speed combo threat he owns is dangerous.
B.J. Upton, yet another name that owners have given up on this season. His terrible batting average and lack of all around production was likely the culprit. However, he playing much better lately, stealing 5 bases and launching 2 home runs in the last 2 weeks. The average still isn't there, but you can't complain about the power and speed production.
That raps up this week. If you would like us to write about a specific player, send us an email at sillyfantasybaseballgame.blog@gmail.com.
