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

Juan Rivera – Rivera has been the River of Dreams for my NL-only team with Gaby Sanchez batting like Gabrielle Reece. Over the last seven days, he is 9/25 with two homers and 10 RBIs. While he is batting an unimpressive .264 over his last 30 days, he has an impressive 25 RBIs. One’s place in the lineup usually isn’t important – however, with marginal guys like Rivera, batting clean-up can lead to a lot of RBIs he doesn’t really deserve. It’s a flawed stat, exploit it!

Jason Kipnis – In case you missed it, Kipnis came off the DL with a bang, pow! Over the last seven days, he is 9/26 with a homer and two steals. He is now 33/113 with seven homers and four steals in the majors. With Brett Lawrie going down, Kipnis is the premier young batsman to own down the stretch. Grab him!

Allen Craig – Craig’s season-long battle for playing time has finally been realized in the form of Matt Holliday’s untimely injury. Craig has taken the opportunity and beaten it: 8/29 with three homers over the last seven days. He is a must add in almost any format – certainly leagues that run 12 deep. He’s a great addition over most second basemen at this point.

Travis Hafner – A healthy Hafner is a good Hafner. Over the last seven days, he’s been a mashing heifer: 6/18 with two dingers. He has now hit safely in seven of the eight games he has appeared in since coming off the DL. If you were plugging holes with Mike Carp or Mark Trumbo, Hafner should be a better option.

h2h Corner ~ Deep League Detective

A line-up consisting of barely owned players who can help you fill gaps

C: Josh Thole would have been my guy but he just took a ball off the hand – not so good.

Salvador Perez – On August 29, the plucky Perez came a triple short of the cycle and smacked his first major league dinger against Max Scherzer. Perez, just 21-years-old, decided to run roughshod over AAA in his limited time there: 49 plate appearances with a .333/.347/.500 line. His promotion to AAA was a little odd, given that he looked good at AA but not otherworldly (.283/.329/.427). Still, he had 10 homers across 358 plate appearances in the minors this season. While he doesn’t strike out a lot, he also doesn’t walk a lot, so he relies heavily on the balls he puts in play. So far, his line drive rate (22%) is impeccable and his swinging strike rate (9.2%) is serviceable. I think Perez is capable of three more homers and a .270 rest of the way.

Honorable Mention: Tyler Flowers

1b: Juan Rivera – Since July 30, Rivera has 108 plate appearances and a .281/.343/.406 line. Without striking out more or walking more, Rivera has improved considerably since joining the weaker league even though his line drive, ground ball and fly ball percentages remain similar. What has changed then? Well he’s making a lot more contact – his swinging strikes have gone down and his contact rate has jumped four percent. He is likely not a .285 hitter, but .270 with three or so more homers? Yeah, I’d bank on that and I am in some deep leagues.

Honorable Mention: Kyle Blanks, Paul Goldschmidt, Brandon Allen who I’ve covered a ton and are probably owned in competitive leagues

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

 Jose Constanza – I’ve resisted writing about Constanza for as long as humanly possible. But, as noted in the Chicken Roaster episode from Seinfeld, you just can’t shake the name or the jingle “By Mennen.” Alright readers, I’ll be honest, the first time I heard about Constanza, I found him very irritating, but after seeing him play for a couple of times, he sorta got stuck in my head, Constanza! Well, over the last seven days, the plucky fourth outfielder has gone 10/23 with a homer and three steals. After looking like a promising little player in 2008 (at AA for the Indians he went .282/.378/.342 with 49 steals), Constanza hasn’t done much of note. Even that impressive season is marred by the fact that he was repeating the level. Constanza’s one positive attribute, speed, is rendered nearly void by the fact that he hasn’t figure out how to walk or really get on base without a BABIP north of .360. His MLB BABIP sits at .450 this year despite a paltry line drive rate (15.4%) and massive ground ball rate (69.2%). He doesn’t swing and miss, so he will put the ball in play, and we all know how many seeing eye grounders it takes to turn a .250 hitter into a .300 hitter, but he’s never going to get on base enough to make his speed matter. His upside is a slightly broken down version of Juan Pierre.

h2h Corner ~ Katy Perry (Hot ‘N’ Cold Fantasy Baseball) All-Stars

So I was watching the latest Glee* episode and I was struck by how important everything is in high school.

*Before you start, I began watching Glee with my girlfriend. She gave up on the show. I grew up on MTV. I love music videos. Santana is hot. There is really no excuse.

When you’re in your teens, you have a very short conscious experience timeframe. If you think about it, most people don’t have real memories from before they were five or six.

So, as a teenager, you have about eight – 14 years of experiences to draw upon. Things that seem life-altering and serious to you at 17 would be laughed at by 47-year-old you who has dealt with three economic collapses, four home purchases/refinances, two children and a puppy.

Watching the show, I was struck by what a big deal everything was to the Glee characters. For one, being prom king/queen was incredibly important. They simply couldn’t conceive of a world where everything didn’t go their way.

This is like the first month of the fantasy baseball season. We have very little data and games, so everyone overreacts to the samples we do have. We’ll call April the teenage stage of the fantasy baseball season, during which people throw fits over a 0-4 game with three Ks and glorify a 3-4 game with two steals. Things will plateau, trust me.

That is why Katy created the Hot ‘N’ Cold All-stars.