The Hot N Cold Fantasy Baseball All-stars for Fantasy Pros 911: http://fp911.com/the-hot-n-cold-fantasy-baseball-all-stars-3/. The All-stars include Adam Dunn, Matt Joyce, Cody Ross, Juan Francisco, Alcides Escobar, Jason Kubel, Alejandro de Aza, Nick Hundley, Mat Gamel, Brent Lillibridge, Darwin Barney, Eduardo Nunez, Phil Humber, Wandy Rodriguez, A.J. Burnett, Jeff Niemann, Anthony Bass, Albert Pujols, Matt Garza, Chad Billinglsey, Brandon Morrow, Austin Jackson, Jeff Francoeur, and Zack Cozart.
Posts Tagged ‘Austin Jackson’
11 Apr
Come by 9:00 PM ET, as I’ll be #roto tabling it on The Fantasy Baseball Roundtable Show
The Fantasy Baseball Roundtable Show at 9:00 pm ET: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/fantasy-baseball-roundtable/2012/04/12/the-fantasy-baseball-roundtable-show.
We’ll talk small sample sizes, make fun of an absent Patrick and all things roto!
9 Sep
h2h Corner ~ Katy Perry (Hot ‘N’ Cold Fantasy Baseball) All-Stars
Players get hot and cold over a seven-day period, it’s as sure as the samples are small.
That is why Katy created the Hot ‘N’ Cold All-stars.
‘Cause you’re hot…you’re yes…you’re in…you’re up
Jason Bay – Well, for a week at least, Jason Bay earned his contact with the Mets by going 10/27 with three homers and a steal. Bay now has 18 HRs for the Mets over the last two years – 1/6 came over the last seven days. I was hoping this was part of a longer trend with Bay, but he’s been hovering between.230s and the low .240s in average since early May really. The 12 HR, 11 SB campaign isn’t actually all that bad, but the atrocious average makes him less useful than someone like Will Venable. Bay has hit a gargantuan amount of ground balls this year (at the expensive of fly balls, which isn’t a horrible trade off given his home ball park). Unless he can turn some of those ground balls into well struck batted balls, his BABIP and average will continue to be only useful in NL-only leagues. I don’t know if he’s lost bat speed, but he is suddenly getting eaten alive by fast balls, a pitch he dominated in his heyday. Oh well, the week was nice.
Jon Jay – I kind of hate but kind of like Jon Jay. I like him because I’m a fan of the Federalist Papers, I dislike him because I get into a lot of e-arguments about his merits versus Colby Rasmus. Well Jay, the ballplayer, has been great lately, going 11/18 with two homers over the last seven days and has five straight multi-hit games. Jay’s .354 BABIP is eerily similar to last season’s .350 and he appears to be hitting the ball a tad sounder this season – his line drive rate is up. He doesn’t swing and miss a lot, so he’ll put a ton of balls in play. He seems like a decent average source going forward with light power/steals – someone like Placido Polanco.
Brent Morel – Watch out for the Morel morsel! Or something like that. Morel was filthy over the last seven days: 9/25 with three bombs. Of course, he now has five homers on the year. He is by no means an option in anything outside of AL-only leagues. This time of year it makes sense to grab the hot hand, but Morel will never do anything like this last seven day stretch.
Marco Scutaro – As someone who was high on Jed Lowrie in the preseason and most of the year (with the omnipresent injury caveat everywhere), I’ve been slow to hop on the Scutaro bandwagon. After he went 12/20 with 11 RBIs over his last seven days, I can ignore him no longer, especially when shortstop is the worst position ever. Leading up to the play-offs, I imagine Francona is going to try to ride the hot streaks of his marginal players. So, as long as he hits, Scutaro will play. He probably won’t get 11 more RBIs all year, but he’ll post a user-friendly batting average and maybe a homer or two while scoring some runs. In short, he’ll be serviceable. Not a ringing endorsement, but he could be a good Jeter/Rollins (or insert other shortstop) fill-in as it appears they might get some rest down the stretch.
7 Sep
h2h Corner ~ Katy Perry (Hot ‘N’ Cold Fantasy Baseball) All-Stars
Players get hot and cold over a seven-day period, it’s as sure as the samples are small.
That is why Katy created the Hot ‘N’ Cold All-stars.
I know you’re just waiting for football to start (Go Eagles!), but, for those of you still winning, I’ll post some quick guys to think about down the stretch, then you can get back to football.
‘Cause you’re hot…you’re yes…you’re in…you’re up
Jim Thome – For some reason, I’ve written a ton about Thome this year, maybe it’s because he keeps putting together pretty good seven day stretches (most recent = three HRs and a .455 AVG). The dude has 21 HRs on the year. If you need power, he’s available and willing to relocate.
Ryan Kalish – Lost in the Red Sox lost season is the work Kalish has been doing. Over the last seven days, he has two steals and a .333 AVG. He got on base in the minors (.284 AVG and .372 OBP) and swiped bases and a nifty clip (84% success rate), so he could be a cheap source of steals and runs down the stretch. There could be an adjustment period, though, so don’t go adding him if you are worried about your ratio categories.
Austin Jackson – Left for dead not too long ago, Jackson has been doing work lately (eight runs and a .310 AVG over the last seven days). He is still existing based on a ridiculous BAbip (.418), but he has shown the ability to stay hot. During his hot streaks, he’ll score and steal a ton. I don’t see any reason not to add him at the moment. When he starts to strike-out again (which he will), simply dump him.
Ike Davis – The Ike test might be a great generational question. When you say the name Ike, who does it remind you of, the character from South Park or a former general turned president? Well, for Mets fans, if Ike Davis turns in seven day stretches like he has recently (two HRs and a .364 AVG), they’ll forget all about the animated series and 34th president. While his average won’t help you, he does have 17 HRs on the year. See if he continues his recent surge and, if so, add him.
Nick Hundley – I had a billion Todd Hundley rookie cards when I was a kid, which makes me kind of despise Nick Hundley. However, Nick has been real good over the last seven days (two HRs, seven RBIs). In fact, over his last 40 ABs, he has hit .293. Unlike, say, Miguel Olivo, Hundley won’t destroy your batting average. Sure he doesn’t hit for a ton of power, but you can do a lot worse at catcher.
Jordan Zimmerman – It is always nice to see players bounce back from injuries. In this case, Zimmerman has come back from a lengthy lay-off to get major league hitters out – no small feat (just ask Brien Taylor). Over the last seven days, Zimmerman pitcher 10 innings, struck out 11 and posted a 0.90/0.80 ERA/WHIP. He won’t throw a ton of innings, so his value is limited. However, in the interim, there is nothing wrong with someone who is going to strike-out a batter an inning.
Ian Desmond – I swear, even though I live in D.C., I’m not a Nats fan. Katy Perry, even though she wants to establish residency in a far inferior country, just seems to like the gleam in their player’s eyes. Desmond has long been a favorite and keeps putting up usable weeks (five runs, four RBIs and a .476 AVG). You can (and probably are) doing much worse at the middle infield position.
Luke French – It’s easy to overlook what French has done this year (just 26 Ks in 59.1 IPs), however he keeps putting up useable turns (seven shutout IPs and a 0.57 WHIP over the last seven days). He has been a tad lucky (.250 BAbip) so his season-long ERA (3.64) is a bit nicer than it should be. However, I see no problem with spot-starting him at home against weaker hitting ball clubs.
Chris Sale – Awhile back, I spoke with Joel Henard about the Chris Sale call-up. At the time, the White Sox bull-pen was in fine form, so I saw Sale as nothing other than an incredibly useful situational lefty. Well, over the last week, with relievers not getting their Rolaids, Sale struck out five batters over 4.2 IPs, got a win and a save and didn’t allow a run. For those chasing saves, he is a pretty attractive option.
Madison Bumgarner – For some reason, I find Bumgarner’s name distasteful, like a mouth-full of sand. Anyway, that’s about all I can find distasteful, as he keeps putting up solid turn after solid turn. Over the last seven days, he hurled 13.1 IPs, struck out nine and posted a 0.68/1.05 ERA/WHIP. He has been a tad lucky with a strand rate near 80%, but other than that he is a super useful pitcher. He is a nice add in mid-sized leagues.
Then you’re cold…then you’re no…then you’re out…then you’re down
Tommy Hunter – What a great name! He’s no Tommy Gunn, but, well, Gunn did end up in the trash, while Hunter should simply end up in the free agent pool. Seriously how many weeks does he have to have like the most recent (12.2 IPs, only seven Ks and a 6.39 ERA and 1.58 WHIP) before you drop him? On the year, he has a .257 BAbip and 80.7% strand rate – he has been real lucky. While his ERA is a smidge below 4.00, he has pitched much more like a pitcher with a mid-5.00 ERA. Do yourself (not your opponent) a favor and drop him for, say, Madison Bumgarner.
Javier Vazquez – The thing people haven’t realized about Vazquez is that, even amid his horrific year, he’s been lucky! That’s hard to do. Yet people still went out and added him when he got a rotation spot back. Well, he rewarded them, with 4.2 IPs, a 9.64 ERA and 1.71 WHIP over the last seven days. He has a .269 BAbip. Pinstripes turn him into something vile, just ditch him.
Anibal Sanchez – Sanchez did some damage to teams when they needed him most (11 IPs, a 5.73 ERA and 1.27 WHIP last week). Well, I’m going to ignore that and say you need to trust him this week. He has been legit all year (.316 BAbip, 70.7% strand rate and 7.01 Ks/9). Sure, he has somehow completely limited his HR/FB rate (just 3.7% this year), but I still think he is a definite match-ups play.
Carlos Pena – This is the typical spot where I say that players like Pena will end up here a lot because they strike-out a ton and thus have wide average swings. However, I’ve not going to do that. Instead, I think weeks like the last one (0/17) have become commonplace for Pena. If you don’t care about AVG and really need power, sure keep him around, but that’s the only reason to own him.
Adam LaRoche – Second-half juggernaut LaRoche hasn’t been very X-men villain-like. Sure his slugging is up a bit, but he’s on pace to hit the same amount of HRs as he did in the first half. What’s worse is that he seems to be sputtering toward the finish line (just .182 AVG over the last seven days). With the depth of the first base pool, I wouldn’t be waiting for a vintage LaRoche endgame.
Pablo Sandoval – As Jack Bauer would say, “you’re running out of time!” Seriously, Sandoval has yet to kick it in gear (.111 AVG over the last seven days) and I don’t think you should wait on him. Miguel Tejada makes a more attractive third base option at this point.
All stats as of noon September 7, 2010.
FB101’s 411: Be sure you know how to judge a hot streak. Thome, Jackson, Zimmerman, Desmond, Sale and Bumgarner make good adds. Keep your eye on Kalish, French, Hundley and Davis. You are allowed to sort of give up on Javier Vazquez, Carlos Pena, Tommy Hunter, and Pablo Sandoval.
h2h Corner 