Your Weekly Stop By The Fantasy Baseball Water Cooler...
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Mojo's getting burned by Howard's lack of production.
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I
hope some of you last place team owners followed my advice last week. I
couple smooth trades here and a punt there may have already started
your climb. J.J. Hardy and Reggie Willits are still doing it as I predicted and Josh Hamilton is falling off teams faster than rock stars change wives.
Bobby Abreu heated up a little bit but still worries me. Hey, nobody is perfect right?
This
week I thought I would check in with some earlier season slumps and try
to figure out why they are happening and if they will stop. It seems a
lot of people are worried about Albert Pujols, Ryan Howard and Manny Ramirez. They might be right to worry, as we shall see.
I have a lot wrapped up in Howard myself in a few leagues, so I am very eager to find out what I think.
Weekly Mojo: Slump or Chump?
Assuming you didn’t read the nine sentences above and then
took a six-hour nap thereby forgetting it all, I am going to go with
the feeling that you know what I am about to dive into here. But just
in case you did, I am going to look at some guys we all expected to
carry or teams that are actually dragging them down.
Albert Pujols (1B, STL)
19 Runs, 7 Home Runs, 23 RBI, 0 Stolen Bases and a .273 Batting Average
Those
numbers are not horrible if your name wasn’t Pujols. But
since it is, these numbers are killing teams. This guy was drafted
number one in almost every league in America this year and those that
drafted him expected far more than this. He keeps talking about his
knee. It is never real bad but apparently it isn’t real good
either. Color me worried on Pujols. If there is a guy that can bust out
of a slump and turn his season around quick, it is Big Al. But until I
see a sign of life I am going to curse his name in my Vermont league
that I “thought” I stole him in with the number two
pick.
Ryan Howard (1B, PHI)
13 Runs, 6 Home Runs, 23 RBI, 0 Stolen Bases and a .204 Batting Average
Much
like Pujols, Howard went real high in most drafts and is practically
destroying any team he is on. He actually came out with an injury and
has missed some real time now on the DL. His numbers are low partly
because of the missed time, but more due to his lack of power. With any
luck the time off will help him come back strong. If he comes out slow
though it is going to really ruin my New York league, where I traded
quite a bit to get him.
Manny Ramirez (OF, BOS)
21 Runs, 6 Home Runs, 25 RBI, 0 Stolen Bases and a .245 Batting Average
I
am a Red Sox fan and I have to admit, even I am getting sick of the
old, “Oh it’s just Manny being Manny”
line to explain his cold start. How about Manny just be Magglio Ordonez?
He doesn’t appear to be hurting really and I will hold out
hope that June’s warm weather will bring heat to his bat. The
Sox have been cruising without him playing like he can and I just worry
that the lack of pressure to perform makes him feel like he
doesn’t have to yet. I am in first place in my global league
but the margin isn’t as high as it could be if Manny would
just start being the stud I drafted there.
The
real problem with all these guys is that they are COMPLETELY
undroppable and trading them away means you will run the risk of
selling way to low only to see them heat up on the new owners team.
Here is my honest advice of how to deal with these types of guys. RIDE
THEM OUT.
In
my mind it is far better to lose because your number one pick never
panned out than it is to lose because you traded away your slumping
number one pick only to watch him carry the team that was behind you to
a championship. If you can trade one for the value you would get if
they were playing as they were predicted to play, make the move. But
selling short on a Pujols, Howard or Ramirez because they are slumping
just rarely ever turns out well.
Jocks & Jokes
JOCKS
Mark Teixeira (1B, TEX)
– Like the two first basemen I listed above, Teixeira started
off slow this year and worried many owners of an impending injury or
horrible season. But he has turned his season around lately and is
really heating up at the plate. He blasted two more home runs on Sunday
and is batting well over .300 the last couple weeks. I should have made
the move for him instead of Howard I guess.
Carlos Pena (1B, TB)
– Pena joins my ever-growing list of free agents I added to
my team that has paid off immediately. He is on a seven game hit streak
and has put nine balls over the fence so far this year. I am more than
happy to have him in there on my team while Howard is on the DL. It may
not last much longer and playing time is not guaranteed once Greg Norton is ready to go, but ride him while you can if you are looking for help at first base right now.
Kevin Youkilis (1B, BOS)
– I swear I didn’t mean to make almost this entire
article about first basemen but it just happened that way. Youk is on
fire and qualifies at 3B and OF in some leagues. He is on a nice nine
game hitting streak and batting .474 in the process. He is scoring
runs, driving guys in and has six homeruns himself. His batting average
is way up there too overall at .340 and if he can stay hot until the
All Star break, I will take the risk that he won’t slow down
right after.
JOKES
Barry Bonds (OF, SF) –
My brother and I live on the East Coast and he has come up with the
moniker of Home Run Fairy for Bonds because for a nice stretch he would
go to bed and wake up to find Bonds nailed a dinger in the late night
game. But lately I have been trying to throw a new nickname at him
– West Coast Walker. The home run barrage is a distant memory
already for me. Over the last week he has one run, zero home runs, zero
RBI, and zero stolen bases and his batting average is nothing to brag
about. He is walking at a fast clip though so if your league runs on
OPS then at least he is getting you one category right now.
Chone Figgins (2B, 3B, OF, LAA)
– Many a fantasy owner grabbed Chone at the draft, waited
through his DL stint and cheered his return to the big leagues. With
only seven hits in his first 65 At-Bats since retuning he is causing
those same owners to curse his name and even drop him. There seems to
be no signs of him turning it around and the word
“fluke” may be creeping into some articles soon. He
is wroth stashing if you have the room, but if you are counting on him
you are setting yourself up for failure.
Richie Sexson (1B, SEA)
– OK, OK I promise next week, no first basemen at all. But I
had to throw Sexson down here. He is hitting .162 with only five home
runs. Last year he started slow and then ended up with some descent
numbers but I just don’t see it coming this year. Seattle
plays like a team without hope and Sexson seems to be joining in. I
have seen him dropped in a few leagues and no one is rushing to the
waiver wire to grab him.
Want to send Mojo the love or give him some hate? Send it to mojo@sportsgrumblings.com.
