MLB Weekly Recap #6

There were multiple baseball headlines this week as the Cardinals captured the top spot in the power rankings for the first time in 2013, Joba Chamberlain and Mariano Rivera got into a “scuffle,” and the Cubs signed young first baseman Anthony Rizzo to a long-term contract. It’s arguably easy to have the Cardinals at the top and the feud has pretty much blown over, so let’s get started with the signing of the young powerhouse.

 

Anthony Rizzo

 

Rizzo has certainly proved his ability to hit so far this season and for the last half of last season. He has tremendous power and definitely has the potential to hit for a decent average and go consistently for 100 RBI’s. I have him on my fantasy team and it was hit and miss early on in the season where he would hit a 3-run homerun and go 2-4 one day, then not get a hit for the next three games. He stayed under the Mendoza line for a while and was quite frustrating, so I had no choice to bench him until he started to heat up as I had other guys in my lineup who were hitting for average and a decent amount of power. However, most recently, he has been a force to be reckoned with getting multiple hits per game and continuing to hit for power. This was the Rizzo I chose with confidence on draft day. The Cubs without a doubt stole a trade from the Padres and have a piece to build around for the future. Although, when you have guys like Cody Ransom and Luis Valbuena getting significant playing time, you’re not going to be very successful.

 

Los Angeles Angels

 

14-23. What isn’t going wrong for the Angels and who isn’t underperforming? The only men you could with is Howie Kendrick or Mark Trumbo. When you make GIGANTIC offseason moves like the Angels did and they fail as much as Pujols and Hamilton are, you look pretty stupid. Both of these men have struggled for the whole season and we keep saying, “Oh, it’ll come back next game, next series, next week.” But it doesn’t. Granted, Pujols took eons to get back to his “old self” last year, so everything is not yet lost. I talked about Hamilton’s struggles weeks ago on here, and I’m pretty sure nothing has changed except a few more RBI’s. I think Pujols can turn it around, but Hamilton has shown no signs of the Hamilton of old. It all starts with pitching though and there has been none of it thus far in Los Angeles. It certainly makes it tougher when your ace goes down in his second start and is out indefinitely. Under the radar pickups (Tommy Hanson, Jason Vargas, and Joe Blanton) also have not panned out with all of these men having ERA’s in the high 3’s and 4’s. Ernesto Frieri is still a great reliever, but hasn’t really gotten very many opportunities to strut his stuff as the Angels have rarely led in the 9th inning as shown by their record. If Jered Weaver can come back and be a Cy Young contender as usual and one of the golden boys can turn it around, then that record can be turned around as the division hasn’t show great strength besides the Rangers.

 

Jean Segura

 

This man has really shown me something this year. He was kind of overlooked in the Zack Greinke trade as just another prospect, but all the man has done this year is hit. He is batting around 0.365 and has even shown some signs of power with 6 homeruns. The Brewers haven’t been a bad hitting team this year obviously owning Ryan Braun, but Aramis Ramirez has done well recently coming off the DL and Yuniesky Betancourt has shown signs of life. But once again pitching is failing the team leading to their near last place record. I’m going to the Pirates game this Thursday night where I’m excited to see a little Francisco Liriano action, but also to see this kid Segura play.

 

Fantasy Moment

 

Top Adds

Hitters

1. Mitch Moreland
2. James Loney
3. Didi Gregorius
4. Justin Morneau
5. Marco Scutaro
6. Gerardo Parra
7. Oswaldo Arcia
8. Michael Brantley
9. Yonder Alonso
10. Marcell Ozuna

 

Pitchers

1. Heath Bell
2. Travis Wood
3. Hector Santiago
4. Kevin Slowey
5. Zach McAllister
6. Scott Feldman
7. Francisco Liriano
8. Junichi Tazawa
9. Jose Veras
10. Wei-Yen Chen

 

Top Drops

Hitters

1. A.J. Pierzynski
2. Daniel Murphy
3. B.J. Upton
4. B.J. Upton
5. B.J. Upton
6. B.J. Upton
7. Jayson Werth
8. Will Middlebrooks
9. Ike Davis
10. David Freese

 

Pitchers

1. Roy Halladay
2. Jonathon Niese
3. Jeremy Hellickson
4. Andrew Bailey
5. Joel Hanrahan
6. J.J. Putz
7. Kyle Lohse
8. Ian Kennedy
9. R.A. Dickey
10. Andy Pettitte

 

That’s all for this week. I have one more final on Wednesday, then it will finally be the summer, which will be filled with baseball and playing golf which I am perfectly fine with. As usual, leave a comment below if you have any questions or have a topic you would like me to discuss. Have a great week and hopefully the Pirates can bring in a victory on Thursday.

 

-Robert

 

 

MLB Weekly Recap #2

Hey guys, first of all, I would like to send out my deepest sorrow and prayers all of those affected by the bombing at the Boston marathon. It’s a real shame for something like that to happen. But the sports world goes on and can even be an outlet for people. The last week has been filled with teams on fire and those who struggled. Many young guys have stepped up, taking advantage of their opportunities. Let’s get started.

 

Matt Harvey

 

Harvey has been unbelievable this season! In his first 3 starts, he has gone 7+ IP without allowing more than 3 hits in any of them. He has decreased in his strikeouts in each game going from 10 K’s to 6 in his most recent however, but he has done a good job getting ground balls. Granted, his starts have come against 3 subpar teams (SD, PHI, and MIN). I’ll be interested to see how he does against the powerhouses of the division, the Braves and Nationals. He is a good young arm though and the Mets certainly need him with Johan Santana being out for the year. Luckily, their offense has gotten off to a decent start as well as John Buck is swinging the lumber with some passion! He has 6 homeruns on the season (Mets catchers last year totaled 5). He won’t continue the pace, but the Mets should ride this duo for as long as they can.

 

Evan Gattis

 

This man is a perfect example of a guy taking advantage of an opportunity. The Braves turned to him when Brian McCann was placed on the DL and he has taken off from there. Check out this link of Gattis’ swing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ApV_CBuSM. The pitch was low and away and he still managed to pull the ball to left center, one of the deepest parts of the Marlins new park. This may end up being another Wally Pipp situation. For those of you who don’t know, Wally Pipp is famous for losing his job to Lou Gehrig on Gehrig’s way to 2,130 consecutive games played. There have been rumors that McCann may be shopped soon. I don’t think that is necessary as McCann may still have a couple good years left in him. Also, I believe Gattis has the ability to play outfield, but that spot is already taken by the Uptons and Jason Heyward, although I think B.J. is extremely overrated. On a side note to this, Gattis should definitely be picked up in all fantasy leagues as the catcher position is usually one of the thinnest positions.

 

Atlanta Braves

 

Obviously the hottest team in baseball, the Braves have established themselves as the early powerhouse of the league at 11-1. Coming off a sweep of their NL East rival, the Nationals, they dispatched star arms like Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez. Not to mention, Justin Upton has been one of the hottest hitters in the league, leading in homeruns. I moved him down in my ranks as he had an “off” year in his last season in a D’backs uniform, but he has certainly revamped his swing in Atlanta. I am also really liking the Braves’ arms in the bottom of the rotation (Mike Minor and Paul Maholm). Both have had stellar starts to the season; Maholm continuing his dominance from the end of last season when he was traded to the Braves from the Cubs. I predicted this team to capture an NL wildcard spot, but they have proved their capability to possibly win this division.

 

Cincinnati Reds

 

This team started the season of red hot, grabbing the number one spot in the power rankings at one point. However, this last week was not kind to the Reds, as they lost the series to the Cardinals and most recently got swept by the Pirates, who have turned their offense around in the last week. They have gotten some good production from their role players like Shin Soo Choo and Todd Frazier, to go along with the versatility of Brandon Phillips. However, their star players, Joey Votto and Jay Bruce, have gotten off to slow starts. Votto just hit his first homerun a couple days ago. One of their biggest problems has been their pitching. The bullpen has not been the greatest as their lightning fast closer Aroldis Chapman hasn’t gotten as many chances as I’m sure he would like. Jonathan Broxton has also been decent, but that’s pretty much it. It also doesn’t help that their ace, Johnny Cueto, was just placed on the DL. It’s still early though. They can definitely turn it around in the shaky NL Central.

 

Fantasy Moment

 

Top Adds

Hitters

1. Evan Gattis
2. John Buck
3. Mark Reynolds
4. Starling Marte
5. Jean Segura
6. Vernon Wells
7. Brandon Moss
8. Gerardo Parra
9. Franklin Gutierrez
10. Denard Span

 

Pitchers

1. Jim Henderson
2. Justin Masterson
3. Kelvin Herrera
4. Barry Zito
5. Jose Fernandez
6. Chad Billingsley
7. Andy Pettitte
8. Shelby Miller
9. Ervin Santana
10. A.J. Griffin

 

Top Drops

Hitters

1. Cameron Maybin
2. Pedro Alvarez
3. Jason Kipnis
4. Mike Moustakas
5. Victor Martinez
6. Jesus Montero
7. Carlos Gomez
8. Dayan Viciedo
9. Ike Davis
10. Ichiro

 

Pitchers

1. Jarrod Parker
2. John Axford
3. Brandon McCarthy
4. Matt Harrison
5. Dan Haren
6. Greg Holland
7. Ryan Vogelsong
8. Roy Halladay
9. Edwin Jackson
10. Homer Bailey

 

That’s it guys, hope everyone enjoys all the games coming up this week. If you have any questions for me or topics that you would like me to discuss, comment down below. As usual, you can follow me on Twitter @RobertMoodis. Thanks for reading!

 

-Robert

 

Fantasy Rankings Part 2; Predictions for the Season

Hey guys, hope everyone had a great week since I last posted. Welcome back to The 2-2 Pitch. As promised, here are the rest of my fantasy rankings. I decided to not rank the DH’s as many of them are already in my rankings at other positions (David Ortiz is the only one not in other rankings). However, here are the rankings for the pitchers.

 

Starting Pitchers

 

1. Justin Verlander (DET)
2. Stephen Strasburg (WAS)
3. Clayton Kershaw (LAD)
4. Matt Cain (SF)
5. David Price (TB)
6. Felix Hernandez (SEA)
7. Jered Weaver (LAA)
8. Gio Gonzalez (WAS)
9. Cole Hamels (PHI)
10. Yu Darvish (TEX)
11. Cliff Lee (PHI)
12. Madison Bumgarner (SF)
13. C.C. Sabathia (NYY)
14. Adam Wainwright (STL)
15. R.A. Dickey (TOR)
16. Johnny Cueto (CIN)
17. Chris Sale (CWS)
18. Aroldis Chapman (CIN) *may stay in the bullpen
19. Zack Greinke (LAD)
20. Jordan Zimmermann (WAS)
21. Kris Medlen (ATL)
22. James Shields (KC)
23. Yovani Gallardo (MIL)
24. Doug Fister (DET)
25. Mat Latos (CIN)
26. Brandon Morrow (TOR)
27. Hiroki Kuroda (NYY)
28. Jake Peavy (CWS)
29. Matt Moore (TB)
30. Max Scherzer (DET)
31. Dan Haren (WAS)
32. Lance Lynn (STL)
33. Brett Anderson (OAK)
34. Josh Johnson (TOR)
35. Jonathon Niese (NYM)
36. Ian Kennedy (ARI)
37. Roy Halladay (PHI)
38. Wade Miley (ARI)
39. C.J. Wilson (LAA)
40. Jon Lester (BOS)
41. Jarrod Parker (OAK)
42. Matt Harrison (TEX)
43. Ryan Vogelsong (SF)
44. Tim Hudson (ATL)
45. Anibal Sanchez (DET)

 

Relief Pitchers

 

1. Craig Kimbrel (ATL)
2. Aroldis Chapman (CIN)
3. Rafael Soriano (WAS)
4. Fernando Rodney (TB)
5. Jason Motte (STL)
6. Jonathan Papelbon (PHI)
7. Jim Johnson (BAL)
8. Sergio Romo (SF)
9. Joe Nathan (TEX)
10. Mariano Rivera (NYY)
11. Joel Hanrahan (BOS)
12. John Axford (MIL)
13. J.J. Putz (ARI)
14. Greg Holland (KC)
15. Bruce Rondon (DET)
16. Chris Perez (CLE)
17. Addison Reed (CWS)
18. Jason Grilli (PIT)
19. Grant Balfour (OAK)
20. Tom Wilhelmson (SEA)
21. Rafael Betancourt (COL)
22. Steve Cishek (MIA)
23. Huston Street (SD)
24. Casey Janssen (TOR)
25. Ernesto Frieri (LAA)

 

That finishes up my fantasy rankings. Disagree? Leave a comment below sharing your opinion so we can discuss. With that behind us, let’s move to a new topic: the teams. The debate has been ongoing as the Toronto Blue Jays exploded out of the gates in the offseason and the Marlins pretty much gave up the whole team and their new washing machine in the deal. But many other moves happened that may have flown under the radar and may turn into some surprising or disappointing results. Batter up!

 

AL West

 

Winner: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

 

Right behind the Blue Jays in the offseason were the angels who landed arguably the most coveted free agent, Josh Hamilton. Although he declined in production at the end of last year, cut the man some slack as it would have been quite difficult to continue his monster stats from the beginning. Along with Mike Trout and Albert Pujols, they will be feared by any team. Also, somewhat under the radar, is Mark Trumbo who provides even more power in the already stacked Angels lineup. Ace Jered Weaver leads the rotation along with newly acquired Tommy Hanson, Joe Blanton, and Jason Vargas. They also boosted the bullpen with former Nats reliever Sean Burnett. Ernesto Frieri is the new closer and was an All-Star relief pitcher last year. I can’t see the Rangers being able to compete with this ferocious squad as they lost too much in the offseason (Mike Napoli, Ryan Dempster, Josh Hamilton, etc.). Oakland seemed to surprise everyone last year with their young lineup that many people probably never even heard of, but they managed to grab a Wildcard spot. Look for them to be contenders of similar caliber this year. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mariners finished ahead of the Rangers this year as they managed some key role players off the market that can revamp their careers in a new city. We won’t even talk about the Double-A Astros.

 

AL East

 

Winner: Toronto Blue Jays

 

As mentioned several times above, the Blue Jays were the clear winners of the 2012-2013 offseason. With blockbuster trades such as the Jose Reyes and company trade with the Marlins along with signings such as Melky Cabrera, the Jays may have just hopped from the bottom of the AL East right to the playoffs. Go ahead and name a weak spot in their lineup, you probably won’t be able to find one. Not to mention their new pitching staff. Their “ace” of last year, Ricky Romero, is now their 5th starter and it’s not because he’s a bad pitcher. Granted, R.A. Dickey most likely won’t be as dominant as last year, but he showed his ability to lead a staff. Tampa will definitely be able to compete as they have a lot of overlooked talent each year; look for them to grab a Wildcard spot. Baltimore is too similar to last year’s squad to reach the playoffs. They were good last year, but the offseason moves of other teams leapfrogged them past the Orioles. The Yankees will be injured at almost every position as their age is severely catching up to them. They responded by then signing more veterans such as Kevin Youkilis and they have recently contacted Derek Lee to possibly replace Mark Teixeira. Unless, guys like Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter and possibly Michael Pineda have stellar years off injury, I can’t possibly see them coming close to the playoffs. The Red Sox made some acquisitions, but I feel they were the wrong moves. Shane Victorino has been on the downslide and Mike Napoli is a walking injury machine.

 

AL Central

 

Winner: Detroit Tigers

 

The Tigers should easily take the division as the other teams simply cannot match their superstar talent. Prince Fielder and Miguel Cabrera are a dynamic duo in the lineup. Victor Martinez is just icing on the cake coming off injury. Obviously Justin Verlander is one of the most dominant pitchers in the game and should continue that dominance. I hope Doug Fister can stay injury-free this year as he has not completely lived to his full potential with the Tigers yet. One inhibition might be rookie closer, Bruce Rondon. If he’s great, expect continued dominance, if not, it can lead to a few losses along the way, a mere hiccup in their reign however. Watch out for the Royals though. Young guys like Eric Hosmer and Mike Moustakas may have finally found their swing in the MLB and could have an impact in the Central, not to mention James Shields now anchors their rotation. Cleveland signed everyone and their brother to a contract this offseason, but it might be difficult for all of that to come together in one season. The White Sox have Chris Sale and Paul Konerko, but that’s about it. The Twins don’t stand a chance.

 

NL West

 

Winner: Los Angeles Dodgers

 

The Dodgers made some major trade deadline moves last year, but couldn’t quite get it together in time for the playoffs. Now, it’s their first full year together and it could get a little scary as they feed on the likes of the Colorado Troy Tulowitzkis and the Padres. Just think, on top of Adrian Gonzalez, Hanley Ramirez, Zack Greinke, and Matt Kemp, what if Carl Crawford has an amazing comeback year and becomes Crawford of old? What if Hyun-Jin Ryu is a sneaky good pickup in the offseason? Always present though are the Giants even though they don’t quite have the superstar talent, they have a lot of solid players. Matt Cain and Madison Bumgarner are a great 1-2 combo. Their offense is also a bit better with Hunter Pence and Marco Scutaro, but the pitching is the main strength of this team. They’ll easily grab a playoff spot in the Wildcard. The D’backs can win some games, but their pitching is not quite there yet; a lot of middle of the road guys. As said above, the Rockies and Padres are going to be a little tough to watch this year.

 

NL Central

 

Winner: St. Louis Cardinals

 

This may be one of the tightest divisions in the league as many of the teams are of similar skill. The Reds will stick around the whole year with Johnny Cueto anchoring the rotation and Joey Votto leading the offense with newly acquired Shin-Soo Choo. Not to be left out are the Pirates who have recently started strong, but fallen off the radar when the playoffs come into play. I don’t think they will be contenders until they call up such prospects such as Gerrit Cole and Tony Sanchez. But the Cardinals just have a stronger team than the others. Matt Holliday, Allen Craig, and Carlos Beltran lead the offense into a strong pitching staff with Adam Wainwright and Lance Lynn. They also have a great bullpen with Mitchell Boggs and Jason Motte who was in the top 5 in saves last year. Sorry Cubs fans, but it will be another year to add to the World Series drought. I can’t see the Brewers being able to compete despite their possession of Ryan Braun. Their pitching staff is very weak in comparison to the upper tier teams in the division.

 

NL East

 

Winner: Washington Nationals

 

The Nats surprised many people last year when they came shooting out of the gates to grab the NL East title. Their pitching staff is arguably one of the best in the league with the likes of Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez. Not to be left out though is their explosive offense with Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman. Alright, it’s not the most explosive offense with the prettiest names in the league, but they certainly get the job done. Right behind them are the Braves who I think will grab the other Wildcard spot. Watch out for Julio Teheran to be an up and coming ace in the league and for Andrelton Simmons to be a sleeper at the shortstop position. Although I think both Upton brothers are overrated and Brian McCann is on the decline, younger players like Freddie Freeman, Chris Johnson, and Jason Heyward will lead the offense. The Phillies could possibly return to their form of a few years ago if their pitchers Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay can back on the winning track. Their offense has definitely taken a dip with age and injuries, but they can still do some damage. The Mets also can compete with some young players and Captain America, David Wright. The Marlins, as I mentioned earlier, traded away their whole roster, so don’t expect any big things from them.

 

The 2013 season is certain to be a good one and I can’t wait for it to start next week. I really hope the Pirates can finally overcome that hard-to-reach .500 mark. I hope to head to a few games over the summer! Over the course of the season, I will be posting weekly to analyze the past week’s action. If you have any questions, leave a comment below, email me at moodirt11@juniata.edu, or follow me on Twitter @RobertMoodis. I will most likely not be posting next week as the season will only be a few days old, so there won’t be very much to talk about (unless you would like to read my opinions on other sports: March Madness, NHL, or NBA).  Thanks for reading and have a great week!

 

-Robert