Rankings: July-September

 Below are my rankings of individual players for the rest of the season. I figured I’d give you guys a little heads up as the All Star break approaches on who I think you should target if making a move. Many of these will be obvious as you’d expect, but sometimes there’s a distinct difference between the #1 and #3 best players in any given category. Trading is an important part of any fantasy team. Once you’ve drafted and played a few weeks you’ll start to notice certain flaws your team may have (lack of HRs, SBs). This can be fixed with a trade here or there. Without further ado, here’s my rankings from July – September:

Starting Pitchers:

1.       Roy Halladay- Philadelphia Phillies: This one should be obvious. The Albert Pujols of pitching, Halladay blows up less often than a NASA space shuttle (I’m sorry, Challenger). He’s the most clutch pitcher in the game and maintains himself like a machine. There’s no reason to think he’d slow down now, even in his home stadium, which is known to be a launching pad for homers. You’re gonna pay high for the NL Cy Young winner. Maybe even too high. But the peace of mind he brings can’t be matched.

2.       Justin Verlander- Detroit Tigers: Career year? Maybe. But he’s been a monster and I won’t get in the way of that. The two most impressive things about Verlander is the fact that he can still hit high 90’s – triple digits in the 9^th inning, and his WHIP. Sporting a WHIP of 0.86, Verlander makes for the most intriguing AL pitcher, and the obvious choice for the AL Cy Young.

3.       Jered Weaver: LA Angels: Weaver is another favorite pitcher of mine. His ability to strike batters out almost at will is what puts last season’s strikeout leader this high on my board. While there’s other pitchers with better looking lines than his right now, it’s not by much. That, coupled with the semi weak division he plays in (Seattle and Oakland are two of the worst hitting teams in the league) make him a solid play and a must start every time out.

4.       Cliff Lee- Philadelphia Phillies: Full Disclosure, I love Cliff Lee. If I had a kid, his or her name would be Cliff. While his K/BB ratio isn’t as strong as last year’s (an unfathomable 186/18), Cliff has still been on point. The only reason I don’t have Lee ranked higher is the same reason I love him: his unwillingness to walk batters. While I understand and agree that giving hitters a free pass is bad for the overall inning, I still think leaving one over the plate that the hitter can put out of the park is worse. Overall, I <3 Cliff.

5.       Cole Hamels- Philadelphia Phillies: “Look at him with his shirt off. He looks like a man.” – Phillies manager, Charlie Manual…… Alright Charlie, will do. I don’t know about shirtless, but Hamels is certainly playing like a man. With half the walks and more strikeouts than last year, oh, not to mention an ERA 1.40 runs lower, Hamels is looking like a serious Cy Young candidate.

Rounding out the top ten:

6.       Tim Lincecum- San Francisco Giant: Perennial Cy Young candidate. Strikeout king. Can blow up and give a few runs up.

7.       Felix Hernandez- Seattle Mariners: Big second half guy. Big park to play in. No run support.

8.       Clayton Kershaw- LA Dodgers: Strikeout pitcher. Youth is an issue for me. While he has a fresh arm, let’s see if it’ll last the year.

9.       CC Sabathia- NY Yankees: Big body has never been an issue with this guy breaking down, but the new Yankee stadium is a launch pad.

10.   David Price- Tampa Bay Rays: Great young talent, but pitches in the same division as the Yankees, Red Sox, power hitting Blue Jays and underdog Orioles. Can’t deny the talent though.

Honorable mentions: Dan Haren (Doesn’t walk a lot of guys), Matt Cain (Gets no love in Timmy’s town), Jon Lester (K machine when he gets in going)

Sell High: James Shields (I’m calling fluke)

Buy Low: Zack Greinke (Ratios good; ERA bad)

Catchers:

1.       Victor Martinez- Detroit Tigers: I’m a big fan of catchers who qualify as catchers but are actually DHs. It allows them to be position eligible without all the wear and tear of crouching behind the plate all day. In comes Victor Martinez. A quality catcher and even better hitter, Martinez plays in hitter’s park, in a weak pitching division, with Miguel Cabrera providing protection. Yeah, I’d take him any day.

2.       Joe Mauer- Minnesota Twins: I’d call Mauer probably one of the most overrated players in the game when it comes to price paid for a player, but that’d be unjustly using the term “one of the”. As much as I like Mauer as a figure head, and as great of a hitter he is, I just can’t justify spending the kind of pick that’s usually associated with him. His average is a true standout for a catcher, but where’s that power we saw in 2009? Once he makes the move to 1^st base or DH, then we can start talking about the number one ranking.

3.       Brian McCann- Atlanta Braves: McCann might be the most solid overall catcher in the game, but a few factors hold him back from being the best. First off, you have a potent but YOUNG lineup around him. Yes, one day Heyward will be a stud. Same with Freeman. But right now they’re just too unreliable for my liking. Second, he plays in the NL. This is an issue for me because he won’t normally get “days off” where he can DH, putting him out of the lineup more than an AL catcher. Also, he plays in the NL East, having to face Philly’s and Florida’s pitching staff. You can’t go wrong with McCann, but you can do a LITTLE bit better.

4.       Miguel Montero- Arizona Diamondbacks: Look at Montero’s defensive stats and wonder to yourself “Why is this guy in the big leagues?” Then look at his offensive stats and wonder “what could he do if he was on an AL team?” Montero is a future star in the making, and he’s ready to shine. He’s not quite a buy low opportunity, but he’s worth the risk.

5.       Carlos Santana- Cleveland Indians: Santana is one of the better young line drive hitters in the game. He’s got a nice, easy, straight through swing that produces nice little shots up the middle. In a division with bigger stadiums, this could create a good average with mediocre power. Luckily, he plays in the AL Central, where the only real power outage comes in Minnesota’s Target Field. He also has first base eligibility, which comes in handy, and plays in the AL. He’ll be a star for years to come.

Honorable Mentions: Alex Avila, Russell Martin

Sell High: Jorge Posada (On a hot streak, SELL FAST)

Buy Low: Matt Wieters (Too much talent to not eventually breakout)

First Base:

1.       Adrian Gonzalez- Boston Red Sox: This year’s AL MVP is easily fitting into his new lineup in Boston. People might be wondering why he’s not at 30 HRs already with the short porch in Fenway, but that’s easily explained. Gonzo tends to be an opposite field hitter, meaning you can count on doubles off of the Green Monster all year. The power IS there though. Expect 30+ dingers at the end of the year and an ABSURD amount of RBIs.

2.       Miguel Cabrera- Detroit Tigers: Is it just me, or does it seem like there’s never a lot of positive press about this guy? All the talk about Miggy is how he drinks more than Billy Joel. Hitting in that weak pitching division, with the ability to play DH a couple of days if he needs to break, Miggy should set the league on fire the rest of the season.

3.       Ryan Howard- Philadelphia Phillies: A slower start might turn some people off to this guy. It seems like he’s fallen off since his MVP season, but don’t be fooled: this guy can win it for you in September. Look at his splits. He’ll win you your league if history is any indication.

4.       Albert Pujols- St. Louis Cardinals: The wrist scares me. I know, I know, he came off the DL 15 days after being put on it. He’s a machine. But I need to see how his power looks before I move him any higher on my list.

5.       Paul Konerko- Chicago White Sox: Over Votto? I’m putting KONERKO over 2010 NL MVP Joey Votto? Am I losing it? No, I’m not. Konerko’s been a stud all year, hitting .300+ with 20+ dingers. His lineup is STACKED, he plays in a hitter friendly park and he’s looked healthy all year. If Dunn gets it going and can provide a little protection for him in that already monstrous lineup, expect an even better year than last season’s resurgence.

Honorable mentions: Joey Votto (Tough pitching division), Prince Fielder (In ATROCIOUS shape), Mark Teixeira (Loss of average, power there), Billy Butler (OPS and AVG; No power)

Sell High: Lance Berkman (Love the guy, have him on my team, and still don’t trust him)

Buy Low: Adam Dunn (Played bad enough to warrant a flier; Take the risk for HRs)

Pitcher Common Sense

Here’s some common sense for you with regards to pitchers that I’ve come up with. It only makes sense that pitchers could be rated and judged by more than just their DNA makeup alone. Here’s the four factors I take into consideration when deciding which pitchers I like from this point on:

1.       Ball Park Conditions: As with hitters, stadium conditions play into the success of a pitcher in either league. I’d take a pitcher in Petco Park (San Diego) over a pitcher in Coors Field (Colorado) any day, granted they had similar skill sets. Stadiums with bigger dimensions or thicker “sea” air (Such as in San Diego, Seattle) can equate to big success for a star pitcher or moderate success for an average pitcher.

2.       Team Defense: A team with a solid defense can make or break a pitcher. While ERA is only calculated based on EARNED runs, giving up a bunch of hits or having a ton of errors behind a pitcher can wear him down throughout the game and season.

3.       Rate of groundballs: A pitchers ability to induce groundballs is crucial to his success. Think about it like this: How many groundballs have you see go over the fence? Groundballs also lead to more double plays when the pitcher has a man on base. A ground ball can get the pitcher out of a dangerous inning.

4.       Walks: I’m a big fan of Cliff Lee. Why? Because he HATES walking people. Issuing a walk does one thing: Puts a man on without the chance of getting him out at the plate. It’s like letting the hitter hit 1.000 against you for that at bat. The problem with pitchers who hate to walk batters is that they tend to leave the ball over the plate, which leads to four base walks (homeruns, duh.) A pitcher needs to know when it’s ok to walk a batter, not that it’s ok to walk every other guy.

These are the basic rules I use when determining how to draft a pitcher, or who to pick up for a quick spot start.

Hitters Common Sense

When trying to decide which hitters will ultimately deliver the best results, you have to take more than just pure talent into question. I consider there to be three major factors in how a player will fare the rest of the season. They are:

1.       Ball Park Conditions: Where do they play? If the skills were somewhat evenly matched, I’d take someone that played in Colorado over San Diego any day. Bigger parks mean the hitter’s really gotta send it out of the stadium to hit dingers. This should be common sense. Duh.

2.       League: I always prefer AL hitters to NL hitters. Again, it just makes sense. AL hitters have an extra batter (the DH) to knock them in or get on base to have you knock them in. The 9 hole hitter in the NL will bat around .080, if you’re lucky, whereas your AL 9 hole hitter should be hitting at least at .200.

3.       Surrounding Lineup: If you have a lot of talent around you, it pays off. Another common sense nugget. Duh. The more quality hitters around your player, the more chances at RBIs they’ll have The more chances to score they’ll have. They’ll even be pitched to different. Always take the surrounding players into consideration.

Keep these things in mind and you'll form the strongest fantasy lineup. 

Welcome to Make Believe Baseball

Welcome gentlemen (and any ladies that might play fantasy baseball) to The Triple Play. The first fantasy baseball blog with a formula behind it. So much of baseball is based on formulas and stats that one day I just figured “There has to be a perfect formula to figure it all out.” And I was right, as usual. What you’ll read in this blog is my formula to success that you should follow if you’d like to f***ing dominate your fantasy baseball league. I know what you’re thinking: “Why start it midseason?” Well, my answer is this: “Why complain about it? Just read it.”…. I consider myself the Kenny Powers of fantasy baseball, without all the failing and losing my fastball. I currently sit ranked 1^st, 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 5^th in my fantasy leagues. The 3^rd and 5^th are flukes. I didn’t get to draft those teams the way I wanted to. Sh*t, the 2^nd’s a fluke too. Everyone knows I’m the f***ing best. So read on if you wanna win your fantasy league, get the girls that come with being winners, and make dollar dollar bills with make believe baseball.

P.S: I’ll answer any question that someone comments on my page. Even if it’s stupid. Just know that I’ll tell you if it’s really that stupid.